She held my gaze and she pleaded with me to let her go.
I had a hard time accepting what she was asking. I physically couldn’t make myself give up on her.
“No,” I cried.
Nix misunderstood me, just like he’d misunderstood her. “No?” He bellowed. “You dare say no to me after all of this? You tried to run, but I still found you! You tried to be free, but you are still mine! Your friend is about to die unless you start singing this goddamn second!”
Exie struggled to shake her head. “Please,” she mouthed. “Let me be free.”
It was that command that I couldn’t say no to. I knew what she was asking me. I might not have been able to imagine all of the horrors of her last year, but I knew what it was like to be free and I could not deny my friend that simple request.
She couldn’t be free on this earth or in this life. Even if I somehow managed to defeat Nix after I sung, she would never be liberated from his memory or the terrors that he’d forced her to face.
I closed my eyes briefly and imagined the Elysian Fields. Their sweetness and splendor. My friend wouldn’t be forced to endure the Underworld. She had lived through hell on earth.
She would be a hero for saving me from singing.
She would be blessed.
Her eternal life would be bliss and absolute freedom.
When I opened my eyes I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t do anything but mourn the loss of someone I had held as close as a sister.
“I love you,” I mouthed to her.
She saw my goodbye and the loveliest smile appeared on her face. Even while her eyes rolled to the back of her head, even while her body started shaking uncontrollably, even while Nix’s hold became impossible to endure, she became beautiful again.
“Thank you,” she rasped.
She closed her eyes and gave up.
“Sing,” Nix snarled.
“No,” I said with more confidence. I wiped the backs of my hands over my eyes and felt more confident than ever. I met his glare with one of my own and decided that before this day was over, I would have his blood on my hands. “I will never sing for you. You’ll have to kill me first.”
He screamed a sound that was less than god, less than even human. His muscles bulged as he finished squeezing the life out of Exie and finally broke her neck.
When he dropped her on the ground, her body crumpled lifelessly. I had willingly given her up, but I hated myself as soon as it happened. I should have fought harder for her. I should have made her live and showed her how to get over Nix. There were a million different things I could have done.
I stared at her with horror as my mind tried to accept that she was dead… that she was gone.
But then the strangest thing happened.
As her body lay on the ground, bent at awkward angles and no longer breathing, a warm, tropical breeze rushed through the room. There were no windows here, no drafts that I had felt since I’d walked in, but as soon as Exie’s life drained from her body, a lovely, comforting gush of wind wrapped around my skin before rattling the bars on the cell door and soaring down the hallway.
My friend was finally free.
“You did that!” Nix’s voice had gone hoarse with anger.
I tilted my chin and accepted the truth. “Yes, I did.” Only I didn’t feel bad about it anymore.
I felt relieved and grateful to have known her. I felt a little jealous and more than sorrow. But most of all I felt peace.
Peace for her and peace for me.
“You’ve run out of time, Ivy,” Nix continued. “You will sing for me or I will make you suffer in ways you didn’t know were possible. I will make you hurt until you beg me to let you sing, until you never stop singing!”
I absorbed his words and I knew without a doubt that he was serious. I had almost sung just seconds ago. If Exie hadn’t…
I didn’t think. I just ran.
In his fit of rage, he’d left the door open, so I used it to my advantage.
Without looking back or at Sloane or thinking where I was going, I just took off.
His screams of fury followed me down the hall as I moved faster than I ever had in my life. My feet slapped the tile as I rushed by all of the cells that still held women in them. I took stairs up and down, trying to make my way out of the maze of his house.
I could feel him right behind me. I only just barely managed to keep the lead. His fingertips brushed my back a few times, but I started to realize he was just slower in the full height of his godhood.
His body was too big to move agilely and so I had the smallest advantage.
My lungs burned and my breath wheezed by the time I reached the main level of the house that would take me outside.
I nearly crashed into a wall when the large picture windows revealed the tropical panoramic view and the bloodshed happening on the beach.
I thought we were still alone, but the truth was the war from Olympus had been brought to this door. Hermes flashed into view and then out again as he delivered more of Zeus’ army. Gigantes covered the beach and Nix’s property. I wasn’t sure how they’d gotten here or if they were already here, but they wielded guns and swords alike. The two Furies dropped from the sky with swords ablaze and bloodlust in their eyes.
It was mayhem outside and I finally realized exactly what I would have done if I would have sang.
All of these people would have been enslaved to me. I would have kick-started Nix’s plans to take over the world.
I pushed a sliding glass door open and ended up on a balcony. I caught a glimpse of Ryder on the beach. The god-killer swung in his skilled hands with deadly precision, but the man he fought had been born and bred for war.
Ares held a fiery sword in one hand and a shield almost as big as him in the other. He handled both with the precision that only a god, who had spent his immortal life at war, could.
My stomach flipped and nausea surged through me. Ryder couldn’t win against someone so skilled and malicious.
There was no way.
Nix came crashing through the sliding door and I took off again, determined to get to Ryder before it was too late for both of us.
I leapt to the balcony railing and then threw myself to the sandy beach below. I barely made it over another railing that separated the sand from the patio and pool area. My body hit with a harsh thud and I felt my muscles and bones scream in protest.
When I jumped to my feet, I knew I sprained my ankle, but my adrenaline was pumping hard enough that I managed to fight through the pain and keep running- although I was significantly slower.
I ducked between gigantes and demi-gods. I avoided the furies and I barely made it past something that could only be described as a sea serpent.
Ares lunged forward just as Ryder took off running at him. My feet stumbled as I watched Ryder’s quick legs dodge to the right, out of reach of his enemy’s stabbing sword. As soon as Ryder had taken one step beyond Ares, Ryder lifted his arms and swung the sword in a deadly arc that should have cut off Ares’ head.
Instead, Ares spun around and slammed Ryder with his shield. Ryder’s body flew up into the air and landed in a folded heap on the sand ten feet away. The sword flew out of his hands and sailed out of reach.
The blade buried into the sand and the silver hilt glinted in the warm sun.
Ryder shook his head and tried to wake up from the stupor of the hard hit, but when he finally pulled himself to his feet, he wobbled unsteadily.
Ares grinned at him. Taking slow steps forward I watched the god of war start to enjoy this kill. He would take Ryder’s life and he would relish every second of it.
Ares flashed a look of lust at me and his smile stretched across his face. “I’m going to kill you now,” he told Ryder. “Then I’m going to take your girlfriend home with me and show her what’s it’s like to be with a real man. With a god. After that, I’ll let her sing for a while and see how world domination suits me. I’m sure it will fit j
ust fine. Just like death will look so nice on you.”
I pushed forward, diving for the sword that lay equidistant between Ryder and me.
In hindsight I could have kept the sword. I could have turned around and used it on Nix. If I killed Nix, this entire coup would have fizzled out quickly.
But I didn’t think about Nix or Ares or anything other than saving Ryder’s life.
I grabbed the sword and threw it toward Ryder, aiming it blade down in the ground.
For the few seconds I felt it in my hands, the power inside of it pulsed through my palm, straight to my blood. I felt the enormity of the weapon, the sure confidence it held. I sensed that it could kill a god… that it could kill a god for breakfast, lunch and dinner without ever blinking an eye.
So, yeah… I should have kept it.
But I didn’t.
I gave it over to save the man that I loved. It landed five feet from Ryder and only half like I intended it to. But, I had been worried I would be the one to accidentally behead Ryder… so I was satisfied.
Ares let out a war cry of intention, leaping on Ryder to finish the job. Ryder rolled out of the way at the last second and grabbed the sword with two hands.
In a move I had no idea he was capable of, Ryder jumped to two feet before Ares had even registered that he didn’t hit his mark.
Just as Ares turned around to attack again, Ryder dropped his arms and carved off the head of the god of war.
I heard the slick slice of metal against flesh over every other sound. Lightning flashed in the air, wild and worked up.
The entire beach stopped fighting to watch one of the last of the great gods disappear into the netherworld.
My sincerest hope was that he joined his friend Crete in the Underworld.
Persephone could have them both.
Ryder dropped to his knees and let out a breath. His face was wet and red; his hair had been soaked with blood and sweat and his body was equally drenched. I could see that he had been fighting a constant battle. He was exhausted. He was weary.
But this was far from over.
I stumbled toward him, intent on giving him some words of encouragement.
His eyes lifted to meet mine and something passed between us that was as profound as it was moving. His gray eyes found mine and promised a thousand things in that silent moment.
I saw that he loved me.
I saw that he was monumentally relieved to see me alive.
I saw that he would do anything to protect me.
I saw that he would stay with me until the very end.
When his eyes grew big and his entire body twitched with new tension, I knew that no matter what tied my soul to Ryder’s, there was something I had to do first.
Nix’s hands clamped around my body in the next second. I didn’t fight him this time. There was no more reason to struggle.
Either this ended now or he would have to kill me.
I couldn’t put up with this for another second.
I was officially and eternally over it.
Ryder jumped to his feet, but a sharp point at my throat kept him from moving closer to me.
“I’ll kill her if you take a step,” Nix promised.
Ryder gripped the god-killer with two hands and pointed it at Nix. “If you so much as pull her hair, you won’t live through the next minute.”
Nix’s chest pressed against my spine and rumbled with laughter. “Because you’ll kill me?” Nix laughed harder. “Try again when you can grow a beard. For now, don’t waste my time.”
“Keep making jokes,” Ryder drawled. “The god of war is dead. It’s okay to feel fear now.”
My heart hammered in my chest and threatened to lodge itself in my throat. I couldn’t let them fight. I wouldn’t give another god a chance to take Ryder from me.
I closed my eyes and imagined Tortola.
Something happened. My feet were standing on sand again… but it was different.
When I opened my eyes we were still in Greece though. Ryder’s eyes had gone large and I could tell that we started to disappear… or maybe only my feet had.
Nix’s grip tightened on me and the blade dug into my throat. I felt the rough nick against my skin and the fast drop of blood as it landed on my chest. I hissed through my teeth and started to try to transport us again.
“I cannot wait to kill you, Orpheus.” Nix’s dark chuckle vibrated through my bones. I felt his hatred for Ryder singe the air around us. “You started all of this. And you will finish it with your blood.”
Ryder ignored Nix and I wanted to kiss him just for making Nix feel insignificant even in this climactic moment.
Ryder held my gaze steadily and mouthed, “Stay with me.”
He had seen me start to disappear. It was possible. It would happen.
With as much confidence as I could gather, I told him, “I have to do this first. Then I’m yours. Forever.”
The faintest smile made his lips twitch. I felt power surge through my body. It was time. I could finally make this happen.
“You’ll need this.” Just as I finally figured out what my body needed to do, Ryder tossed the sword at me.
The blade flipped over and over, threating to decapitate me in the process. But just as it started to fall, the handle flicked the right direction and it landed in the sand, blade down, at my feet.
Nix cursed in my ear just as I grabbed the sword and concentrated all of my power on Tortola.
Nix cursed again, but it was too late.
We’d made it to my island.
Chapter Thirty
Nix was surprised enough to let me go. I lunged forward and spun around, sword in hand.
He stared at me, his black eyes glittering in the early morning sunlight, trident in hand. We’d traveled halfway across the world, crossed time-zones and continents and oceans in a moment. My head spun with the adjustment, but thankfully my legs stood strong.
After a long minute of weighted silence, he finally spoke, “I applaud you, Ivy. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
“What? Transporting? Easy.” It was not actually easy and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get back. I might have to book a flight to Olympus.
I’d landed on the beach in front of my little bungalow. My house looked like it hadn’t been touched since I left it and there was nobody on the beach now.
It was just Nix and me. We were completely alone.
Which was probably a good thing since I planned on taking off his head.
“Standing up to me,” he countered. “I didn’t think you could actually do it.”
“I’ve stood up to you my entire life.”
His lips twisted with a cruel sneer. “Have you?” His blasé tone cut deeper than it should.
My arms started to ache from holding the sword. It was heavier than it looked and I had no idea how to use it. I tried to hide my anxiety behind a mask of anger, but he looked at me as if he could see right through me.
“I’m going to kill you.”
His gaze dropped to the sword for a second before coming back to my face. “Are you really?”
“You’re on my island. I’m in control now.”
His low chuckle mingled with the doubt already festering in my head. “You don’t know how to be in control,” he taunted. “You’ve never known. You’ve always needed me to guide you, to take care of you. You could take me to any island in the world and that wouldn’t change. You’re nothing without me, Ivy. You’ll never be anything without me. Just give up and let’s go home.”
“I am home.”
Impatience flickered over his perfectly structured face. “Your home is with me. I’m tired of this game, child. Give me the weapon and let’s go.”
“You don’t understand, Nix. This is over. I will not tolerate this for a second longer.”
His mouth split open in a surprised smile. “Really? And what are you going to do about it?”
“I already told you. I’m going to kill you.”
/> Enough talking.
I lunged forward, swinging the sword wildly. My first attempt was crazed and off balance. He swung out his arm and hit my forearm, sending me flailing through the air.
“I hope for your sake, that wasn’t the best you got,” he laughed.
I shifted and swung again. He ducked out of the way and pushed my back. I stumbled and fell to my knees in the sand.
I jumped up before he could reach me, but he used his power to knock me backwards through the air. I landed on my back, losing my breath as the sword slid from my hand.
I released the power through my blood and let it energize me. I still felt my bumps and bruises, but I was stronger now.
I reached for the god-killer, but it wasn’t there. I jumped to my feet, searching for it.
Nix stood five feet away with it dangling in his hands. The early morning sunlight glinted off the silver blade, making it shine with a supernatural gleam.
“Give it to me,” I ordered him in a singsong voice, hoping my power would compel him to listen. I didn’t want to give into it completely, but I needed to encourage him to listen.
“You’re going to have to try harder than that, Ivy.” He walked closer to me. When he lifted the sword over his head, I thought for a second my suggestion had worked, but he turned toward the ocean and chucked the sword as hard as he could. With his superhuman strength, the sword sailed through the air and dropped far into the ocean. My heart sunk with it and all chances for winning this confrontation. “Do you see what I mean? You’ve tried to get away from me all of your life, but nothing you can do will ever be enough. I will follow you wherever you go. I will make sure you are never far from me. You will never escape. You will never be free of me. I will be with you until your very last breath. Until I’ve decided to let you leave this world and not a moment before.”
“No.” The word was a whisper on my lips, a pathetic plea I wanted him to give into.
“Yes,” he said confidently.
“No.” This time it was a wretched sob from my chest.
“Yes.” His hand brushed my shoulder. “It will always be yes.”