Goddess of War

  K.N. Lee

  Copyright © 2015 by K.N. Lee

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  www.knlee.com

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Goddess of War/ K.N. Lee. – 1st Ed.

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank everyone that has supported me on my writing journey. Thank you, as always, to my fairy god-mother, Colleen M. Albert, my mother, brother, and father. Thanks to my amazing husband, and to my little angel, Jensen.

  Dedicated to my younger brother, Desmond Allen James Williams. Thank you for always listening to my stories when we were children.

  THE SCREAMS OF the dying would have been better than the silence of that morning. Kellian was used to battle.

  War was his profession. As a general in the Aden army, Kellian thought he had seen it all.

  Fighting demons and shadows from other worlds had hardened him.

  Seeing his home in ruins was something he was not prepared for.

  Vultures feasted on the dead.

  In heavy boots, he walked along the blood-covered pathway. Eyes wide with panic, he ignored the dead soldiers and kept his gaze fixed on the entrance to the manor.

  As he ran through the golden doors, nothing mattered at that moment but making sure his beloved family had not passed on to the world of the dead.

  When he reached the living chambers, the door was already broken down, and the stench of death filled his nostrils despite the frost that seeped in from broken windows.

  Frost? In this weather?

  Preeti. His daughter. She must have used her power on whoever did this.

  Kellian froze at the archway when he saw his wife’s body nailed to the wall. Snow covered everything in the room.

  His eyes lowered to his blood-covered boots. The image of her bruised corpse would never leave his memory. The body of her personal bodyguard lay beside the door to the secret exit with a gaping hole in his chest.

  Who dared to harm his family?

  Did they know what kind of revenge he would exact upon them?

  The manor was surrounded by a wall with sentries and archers equipped with the best weapons made by the Dreamweavers. No one could enter his home without proper authority.

  Whoever did this must have been known by his guards.

  Litha.

  Kellian balled up his fists. Heartbroken and filled with rage, Kellian crossed the room to pull his wife from the wall. He yanked the thick nails out one by one and clutch her to his chest.

  Was this his punishment for defying the Council of Order?

  He now realized how deep the betrayal went. Litha called him away to meet with the Council so that she could do this.

  Kellian searched the room for any signs of his children.

  “Preeti?” His voice carried along a chilling wind that swept into the room and out the broken window. “Vineet?”

  There was no reply. His heart raced as he searched the entire manor, checking every room and calling their names.

  Neither were anywhere to be found.

  Unable to look upon his wife’s body, he covered her with the evergreen bedsheet.

  He opened the door that led to the secret passageway. Once he stepped through, he paused.

  He heard something. A faint shout.

  Kellian stepped forward and strained to hear. The howling of the wind seemed to follow him, and he knew that Litha was still there somewhere.

  A muffled cry of what sounded to be a young girl came to him.

  His eyes widened. He dared to hope.

  “Desi?

  “Master!”

  She’s still in the chest.

  Kellian ran down the dark hallway. Once he reached the end of the hall where it forked in two directions, he pushed another secret hatch in the stone wall right before him. This is where he kept his valuables. No one, not even his staff knew about it.

  Another door was revealed.

  Pulling the door open, he looked down into a hole in the ground that was four feet deep and three feet wide. Inside the hole was a beautiful golden chest adorned with intricate black symbols engraved by the holy clerics of Latari.

  Kellian pulled the chest from the ground and set it on the stone floor.

  “Master?”

  He stared at the chest, relief flooding his body. There was still hope.

  He knelt to the chest and inserted the key. One turn of the lock and a sharp clicking sound resonated in his ears. The lid opened on its own.

  “Master Kellian,” Desi called as she stretched her small arms, and flew out of the chest. She rubbed her gold-colored eyes with a yawn.

  Her face looked up at him with and joy.

  “You’re late, Master,” she said as she hovered before his face, the size of his hand, with white wings.

  He watched as gold tendrils of light raced up and down her skin and through her green hair, making her body light up the entire hallway.

  “Tell me what happened.”

  Desi’s smiling face turned sour.

  “Everyone was killed. They didn’t have a chance. The Goddess of Law had the Red Beast with her.”

  Litha left nothing to chance.

  “Where are the twins?”

  “The Goddess of Law took them.”

  Rage started to rise within Kellian. He wanted to smash a hole in the wall, but restrained himself. He needed to get his children back, before Litha discovered what they could do.

  He should have known that he would never truly find peace. Even as a god, there were always those that sought to ruin him.

  Not with Litha still living and breathing. The woman would not be stopped until she got what she wanted. The only problem was that she wanted something he couldn’t give.

  Kellian listened to the howling of the wind, his rage building with each mention of Litha. “Where did she take them?”

  “Oh, Kellian,” a familiar voice said from behind him.

  Kellian clenched his jaw as he turned to face the woman with the long lavender hair, brown skin, and white tattoos.

  Litha, the Goddess of Law.

  Desi pointed to Litha, her thin black eyes narrowed. “Can I kill her, Master?”

  Kellian shook his head. “No, Desi. I will.”

  Litha lowered her eyes as she circled him, her hands folded behind her back. “Did you think I would let you use your children to ruin me?”

  “You killed her.”

  Litha nodded. Her face was without emotion. “I did. I told you I would.”

  “I loved her.”

  “Yes. I know,” she whispered. “I’ve only just begun to destroy everything you love.”

  “Why did you have to kill everyone? They were innocent.”

  A small laugh made him glance up at her. It was easy to remember why he once loved her. She was beautiful beyond words. Long lavender hair flowed down to her naked ankles. He swallowed as his eyes went up the length of her shimmering gown.

  “They were in my way,” Litha said. The bitterness in her voice made every word more and more powerful.

  Kellian shook his head. “You’ve really lost all of the qualities I once loved in you.”

  “Perha
ps,” Litha said, her eyes darkening.

  “My children were chosen to rule. I had no part in the decision.”

  “I no longer care,” Litha said. “I will not be ruled by children. Not in this life or the next.”

  “Please, Master,” Desi whispered. “Let me kill her. I can do it!”

  “Shh,” he said, waving her away.

  “You deserve a slow death.”

  The glow of her blue eyes hurt his, but he didn’t back down.

  “No, Kellian.” Litha said, pulling an orb from behind her back.

  A smirk came to Litha’s face, and Desi started buzzing around Kellian’s head, blocking his view.

  “Run, Master,” Desi shrieked.

  Litha released the glowing orb, letting it hover before Kellian’s face. Within it he saw nothing but black.

  “You do.”

  FROM INSIDE A cage, the world seemed bleak.

  Especially for the children of a god that had been sent to his eternal slumber. Even if their father was one of the lesser gods, the twins were meant to rule them all.

  Now the Vault was their home, with all of its dark and dismal glory.

  They couldn’t even grieve the loss of their parent’s in peace.

  Preeti could barely lift her head from resting on her brother, Vineet’s lap when Pavvi entered the dungeons.

  Dressed in leather armor made in Pollos by the Dreamweavers, he was too skinny to even be considered for any occupation in the army other than prison guard.

  With wild red hair and freckles scattered all over his cheekbones, Pavvi reminded Preeti of a ragdoll she used to have as a child.

  Vineet smoothed Preeti’s hair. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “It’s time.”

  Pavvi pressed his smug face to the bars as he looked down at them.

  “Supper time!”

  Preeti winced as he poured their soup onto the already damp stone floor. As she watched the thin liquid splash and trail though the floor’s creases, her stomach grumbled. Neither of the twins had eaten in days. Pavvi only fed them their meals once a week, and that cycle had gone on for months.

  “Just leave us alone, Pavvi,” Preeti said, her bright gray eyes glaring at him.

  “Why? You’re so fun to watch suffer. Come now. Just lick it off the floor. I won’t tell anyone the infamous Latari twins eat just like dogs.”

  Preeti’s face heated. If only she could get her hands on her swords. She imagined grabbing his lips with her fist and slicing them off with her sharpened blade.

  Closing her eyes, she imagined his cries of agony.

  One day…maybe today.

  She’d never killed anyone, and had never wanted to until she and Vineet were charged with treason and imprisoned by the Goddess of Law.

  Preeti coughed, the back of her throat dry. She and Vineet would have to conserve their energy if they wanted to escape.

  “Bastard,” Preeti said under her breath.

  Pavvi kicked the bars with his thick boot. “What was that?”

  Preeti sighed. It took everything in her to stand, even more to hobble over to the bars of her cell. She wrapped her hands around the bars, standing right before him.

  Pavvi jumped back, fear in his eyes.

  “Get back!”

  “Why do you have to be so hateful? What have we ever done to you?”

  He grabbed a long, silver pole and stabbed her through the bars with it.

  Hope filled her body even faster than the agonizing heat that entered her belly.

  Despite the pain from harnessed lightning, Preeti grabbed the sharp end of it, and ripped it away from Pavvi’s grasp.

  A triumphant grin came to her face as she flipped the pole to point its end at Pavvi.

  It worked.

  His face turned ashen as he looked down at the sharp end, sparks of lightning racing up and down the steel.

  “Good job, Pavvi,” Preeti said. “You can be so predictable.”

  Vineet came to his feet. He stood as tall as Preeti, which was about a half foot taller than most humans. They shared the same straight black hair, large gray eyes, and identical intricate black tattoos on their light bronze-colored flesh.

  Vineet was built much more muscular, but Preeti had a slim, athletic build that made her a formidable opponent even to men. Nonetheless, Pavvi looked ready to soil his pants at the sight of them not looking half as downtrodden as he’d been led to believe.

  They were gods after all.

  Vineet stood beside Preeti, his eyes piercing into Pavvi as he reached a hand out to Preeti. “Go on. Hurry.”

  Preeti glared at Pavvi once more. For weeks he had wasted their daily rations of food, pestered them, and poked them with the lightning stick any chance he got.

  Revenge was not something father condoned, but it was so hard to not retaliate now that they had the chance.

  Preeti’s lips curled into a snarl.

  “Stay still, or I will send you shooting to the moon, you pathetic piece of filth.”

  Pavvi nodded, his eyes wide, body tense.

  Preeti placed her hand in her brother’s, and together they took to lightning into their bodies. The shock nearly blew Preeti to the floor, but Vineet grabbed her, holding her steady.

  “Good girl,” he said. “Now get us out of her!”

  Preeti could barely hear his voice over the shouts inside her own head. Pavvi took her hesitation as a chance to escape. One step toward the door, and Vineet opened his left hand, sending black lightning into their tormentor’s body.

  Like a hand, the black lightning wrapped around Pavvi’s neck, and yanked him back.

  Eyes black, Vineet grinned as he closed his fist.

  Pavvi let out a raspy gasp as his body flew into the ceiling, and back to the ground in a crunch of bones.

  “Hurry, Preeti. Don’t second guess yourself now.”

  Preeti clenched her teeth, the vibrations of her bones shaking her to her core. She fought with the lightning and the pain, Vineet’s hands keeping her from breaking down completely.

  A female voice shouted at them from the other side of the wall.

  Go!

  Go!

  Go!

  Preeti opened her eyes with a screech, and with a release of all of that power, the prison walls crumbled to dust that lingered in the air like soot from the volcanoes back home in Latari.

  They had seconds to Leap. Preeti didn’t waste any of them.

  “Ready,” she shouted over the calls from the guards as they ran to capture them.

  Vineet nodded. Face set with purpose, he wrapped his arms around Preeti, and together their bodies were catapulted into the sky.

  Every sense was heightened as Preeti held onto her brother, praying that they would survive this night.

  A glowing orb caught them mid-air, holding them in its warmth.

  Desi, their pet fairy, smiled at them with her green hair floating in the air.

  “Good job,” Desi cheered, her power lifting them higher and higher into the sky. “You did it!” She pointed to the stars. “Hold on now.”

  Hope was theirs once more as they soared like a shooting star from Aden, the land of the gods, to the one place where they could hide from their captor.

  The Abyss; also known as the human world.

  THE ABYSS WAS not how Preeti or Vineet imagined it to be. It wasn’t the bleak wasteland they’d been taught about in their studies. Aden made it seem as though the human world was a place where evil was born, full of weak beings that needed to be under strict rule.

  Despite what they’d been taught, there was a beauty to it that astounded them both.

  The landing had been brutal, knocking Preeti and Vineet unconscious. A hole the size of a mountain now stood as proof that two young gods had invaded the land of the humans.

  It was only a matter of time before Litha located the evidence and sought them out.

  Did she care that they were innocent…that neither of them wanted to rule?

  Of cou
rse not. All she wanted was to rule in their stead.

  “I found water,” Preeti shouted from a rushing river that cut through the lush forest that they had slept the night in.

  She wasn’t sure exactly how long they’d slept, but she was glad for it. Her body was taxed beyond imagination. She’d only practiced harnessing the elements. Never had she actually used them.

  The cold, crisp, water was better than anything she’d drank in all of her sixteen years. Such freshness was not common in Aden, where the gods mostly drank wine and other crafted brews.

  But human water…that was divine. Preeti slurped it from her cupped hands, languishing in the feel of it soothing its way down her throat, rejuvenating her from the inside out.

  “I swear it’s like pure magic,” she said.

  Vineet joined her on his knees, getting his fill. “Amazing,” he said in between gulps.

  Preeti dipped her entire head in the water, scrubbing her scalp. “I just want to be clean again. My skin feels awful.” She ran her hands through her long black hair, fighting through tangles. “I wish we had a bottle to take some with us.”

  Once Vineet was satisfied, he stood and took account of their surroundings.

  “We actually did it,” Preeti said.

  Months in the Vault had nearly broken their spirits. It would have been much worse if they’d been separated. It was as if the Goddess of Law wanted them to watch each other suffer.

  How wrong she was. Her plan did the opposite. The twins gave each other strength.

  Preeti rung her hair out of cold water and braided it down to her waist.

  A grin spread across Preeti’s face. “Father would be proud.”

  Nodding, Vineet returned the grin. It was a bitter sweet triumph.

  Now they were exiled to a land that gods should never walk upon.

  “Good job,” she said. “You saved us.”

  He gave her a pat on the back. “It was all you. I couldn’t have Leapt worlds if you weren’t there to harness the lightning.”

  “Well then. We did it together, as a team.”

  “Yes.” He folded his arms across his broad chest. “I suppose Desi had a part of it as well.”

  A bright light zipped past them and landed on the grass.

  “Desi!” Preeti knelt down to hug the fairy. “Thank you for helping us get out of that awful place.