Willow & Grave (Ivy & Bone #5)

Broken

TRIVIA

She was nothing and no one.

All she knew was darkness.

Her mind drifted aimlessly among the cavernous void that surrounded her.

But there was another presence nearby. She could sense it.

Someone was watching her.

A tingling sensation swept over her, like a chill or a whispering wind. Only, she had no physical form. So how could she feel such things?

Echoes of screams and cruel laughter surrounded her—a taste of the horrors within Pandora’s box. The screams of the victims, and the laughter of the darkness.

The most painful part of it all was that she still retained her memories. She still knew she was Pandora. Or Trivia. One of those two. She knew she had willingly sacrificed herself to seal up the box.

But the longer she floated in this infinite chasm, the less sane she felt. Were they memories at all? Or constructs of her imagination? Had she ever truly had a body of her own?

Of course she had. She remembered heat and longing and pleasure… A face with midnight blue eyes and golden hair.

Sometimes she could even hear Sol’s voice whispering in her ear.

Other times, the details of his face and voice and laughter slipped through her mind like water droplets she was desperately trying to keep from running through her fingers.

Perhaps she had been trapped here for years. Or perhaps it was merely days.

Somewhere out there, Sol and Gaia were living their lives. Without her.

But she had chosen this. And she would do it all over again, if it meant saving them.

My debt is paid, she thought. I have fully atoned now.

She wanted this to bring her some semblance of peace. She wanted to move on. To leave this wretched place and cross over to the next world as a soul released from death.

But this hell would never release her. And she would never be free.

That was her sentence—an eternity trapped in Pandora’s box.

Fitting, since it was her fault it was opened in the first place. She had no one to blame but herself.

A soft chuckle sounded nearby. This wasn’t a faint echo, like all the other sounds in the darkness. This one felt too close, like the person stood only a breath away.

She wanted to speak, to ask who was there, but she had no voice. No mouth.

And even if she did, what could she say? The evil that lurked here was monstrous and vile, but it could not hurt her. She had nothing left for it to hurt.

She was already shattered. Broken. Fragments of a soul who had once been.

And this was how she would always be.

“Do you ever stop pitying yourself?” asked a voice.

That same shuddering chill swept over her mind. Who was speaking to her? Who was even coherent enough to do such a thing?

This place was a prison for all. Including her.

“Not for me,” said the voice. “I alone am free.”

This couldn’t be true. No one was free in Pandora’s box.

“Except for… its creator.”

Oh gods, no. She wanted to vanish from existence, to hide from this presence that had haunted her for her entire life.

Of all the sins she wanted to escape, this was what she yearned to be rid of the most.

“You cannot hide from me, child. You never could. I am always with you. And now that we are in my domain, I have the power I have always craved.”

A form shimmered into view, piercing through the darkness. Golden tan skin. A white dress draped over one shoulder. Raven black hair. And burning amber eyes.

Pandora. The true Pandora.

The goddess smirked, then flicked her wrist.

With a gasp, Trivia inhaled her first breath in what felt like eons. Her own body materialized, hovering directly in front of Pandora. Her skin was just a shade darker than Pandora’s. Her hair looked like flames against the darkness. It floated behind her as if she were completely weightless.

Perhaps she was.

A cold sweat broke out on her skin—gods, it felt so strange to have skin. She blinked, her eyes dry and irritated. Her throat burned, and every inch of her ached with a bone-weary exhaustion that made her want to crawl into a hole and never come out.

“That would be too easy,” Pandora crooned. “No, you must be present for this part, dear Trivia. I offered you freedom, and you threw it all away. To rest peacefully amidst the darkness would be too light of a punishment for you.”

“I would hardly call this peaceful,” Trivia snapped, her voice raspy from days—months? Years?—of silence.

Pandora planted a hand on her hip, one thin eyebrow raised. “Are you complaining? You chose this.”

Trivia had no argument for that. Because it was true; she had chosen this.

But somehow, she hadn’t realized it meant an eternity with her. Somehow, she had believed she’d finally been free of the goddess who tormented her.

How foolish of her.

“Mm, foolish indeed,” Pandora agreed, smiling wide enough to show her teeth.

“Stop reading my mind,” Trivia snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. She realized she was dressed in a burgundy tunic and brown trousers—the same clothes she’d been wearing when she and Sol had activated the failsafe in Elysium.

The last day she had seen Sol, she’d been wearing this.

When he’d screamed her name, begging her not to give herself up…

And she’d sobbed, pleading with him to save her mother instead of her…

“Gods, you’re pathetic,” Pandora sneered, waving her hand at the darkness that surrounded them.

In an instant, the world shifted, and a square of light appeared to Trivia’s left. Through the square, she could see all manner of shapes and colors. They spun in a dizzying array, making her feel nauseous and disoriented. She shut her eyes, but Pandora tsked at her.

“None of that. I need you to see this.”

An invisible force peeled back Trivia’s eyelids, forcing her to watch. When her gaze fixed on the image in the square, her heart tumbled in her chest.

Sol.

He was standing next to the portal alongside Gaia. It looked like they were arguing, though Trivia couldn’t hear anything. Sol gestured with his arms, his expression dark with anger.

So many times, that fury had been directed at her.

A lump formed in Trivia’s throat at the sight of him. Gods, he was gorgeous.

“Mmm, isn’t he?” Pandora purred.

“Stop doing that!” Trivia hissed. “Stay out of my head!”

“You don’t get to command me anymore. This is my domain, child.”

“I never commanded you,” Trivia said. “You may not have had a body, but you were always in control. Even when you led me to believe otherwise.”

Pandora smirked, her face full of triumph. “It took you far too long to realize that, didn’t it?”

Yes, Trivia thought. Far too long indeed.

Perhaps if she had known sooner, she could have changed things.

She could have saved the Underworld. Elysium. So many had perished because of her.

Pandora made a retching sound. “You think too much. How about we just watch instead?” She gestured to Sol and Gaia, her lips curling in satisfaction.

“Why are we watching this?” Much as she wanted to, Trivia couldn’t tear her gaze away from Sol’s beautiful form.

Each moment she watched him, it felt like a blade was being wrenched through her chest. The sight of him, when she could no longer touch him, smell him, taste him… It was too much for her to bear.

“You’ll see,” Pandora crooned.

The tone of her voice made Trivia’s skin prickle with dread. What was Pandora planning?

Then, she saw it. A tendril of black smoke inched its way toward Sol. It was so faint that Trivia would have missed it if she hadn’t been looking.

Sol didn’t notice. He continued shouting something at Gaia. Meanwhile, the darkness coiled around his calf, twining up his leg.

“Sol!” Trivia shrieked. “Sol, watch out!”

“He can’t hear you, you fool,” Pandora snapped, but her face was full of glee.

Another coil of shadows snaked up his other leg.

Trivia couldn’t breathe, her eyes wide as she watched, helpless to stop it.

Pandora flicked her fingers sharply, and the shadows suddenly tightened around Sol’s legs, jerking him down to the ground.

He buckled, gritting his teeth as he finally looked down to see that the darkness from Pandora’s box had snatched him.

On his knees, Sol sent a jet of sunlight directly into the shadows. But they held fast.

Gaia stretched her hands toward the darkness, murmuring an incantation Trivia couldn’t hear. Vines and leaves sprang up from the ground, attacking the darkness.

Pandora made a frustrated sound. “Damn this earth magic.”

To Trivia’s surprise, one of the tendrils of smoke dissolved as Gaia’s barbed vines severed it.

Together, with Sol’s magic, they managed to loosen the second shadow as well.

Sol scrambled away from the shadows, his eyebrows lowering in rage.

He shot more sunlight at the darkness, and it retreated, slithering away like a serpent.

A relieved breath whooshed from Trivia’s chest. She closed her eyes briefly, thanking the gods that Sol had escaped.

But Pandora’s chuckle had her eyes opening again and fixing on the goddess.

She still looked smug.

“That was only a taste of what I can do from here,” she said. “Imagine if I unleashed it all on him. He would be powerless to stop it. You’ve seen the darkness yourself. You know how indestructible it is.”

Trivia’s chest seized with horror. “Why?” she croaked. “Why are you doing this?”

“Haven’t I made myself clear?” Pandora drew closer, her amber eyes flashing. “This is all to punish you. We could have had freedom, child. We could have had everything. But you threw it all away for them.” She pointed at Sol and Gaia with a disgusted sneer.

Trivia shook her head, her eyes hot with tears. “Please. Please don’t…”

Pandora tilted her head and tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Perhaps I’ll drag them down slowly, so they don’t notice until it’s too late.” Her eyes lit up. “Or maybe I’ll go after your sisters! That would be a fun challenge.”

Tears spilled down Trivia’s face. “Please. What do you want from me?”

“I want my life back,” Pandora said. “I want what you promised me: freedom.”

“How am I supposed to give you any of those things when you have me trapped here?” Trivia shouted, her voice echoing in the vast space around them.

“I haven’t trapped you. You did this yourself.

My power only exists inside the darkness.

I have no way out, just like you.” She pointed a long-nailed finger at Trivia.

“You find me a way out of this box, and I’ll spare your little lover and your mother.

I’ll spare everyone you love. But only if you give me what I ask. ”

“How?” Trivia shrieked. She wanted to scream with frustration. “If you can’t get out, how am I supposed to?”

“You are an earth goddess. You possess power I never could access.” She smirked. “You’ll figure it out. Or else everyone you love will suffer.”

“You can’t—”

“I’ve had enough of your blathering.” Pandora waved a hand, and in an instant, Trivia was back in that void of nothingness. Her body disappeared. Her voice vanished.

And she knew nothing but the agony swirling around her.