“Yes. What the hell do you think you’re doing, Goap? I assume this is the real you this time?” I got my good hand under me and levered myself to a sitting position. The world spun. I swore softly and hung on until the ride came to a full stop.
Goap ignored me. “You have mother’s ring.”
“It looks like I do,” Bathin said. “I’d always supected it could stop time.”
I took a quick assessment of the world around us.
Bathin was right, every person was freakishly still, frozen in place. Ryder tilted mid-run to my right, the panic in his eyes burning with fury. Bertie was more than just running—she was actually floating an inch above the ground, her skin gone gold, powerful, nearly invisible wings spread out behind her, wings so large they would block the sun if they were fully solid.
Vivian was in a shooting stance aiming for both the demon’s heads.
The crowd below and around were all in various stages of fear and confusion, but no one was fleeing yet, though the children’s eyes were being shielded by adult hands.
My stomach rolled for another reason: even the gods in the audience were frozen.
There would be no help there.
There would be no help from anyone.
“Of course it stops time,” Goap said. “Mother has always cheated in battle.”
“Lucky for me,” Bathin said, “and lucky for you.”
Goap scoffed. “You were about to be beheaded, brother. This is only a slight delay.”
“Let’s see, shall we? Kneel.”
Goap’s eyes narrowed with rage, and every muscle in his body locked up. His face went red from the effort to fight the command, and sweat rolled down his temples.
Bathin pointed downward, like he was telling a dog to sit. Goap dropped, knees hitting the board with a massive thud that revealed he was much, much heavier than he appeared.
“You’ve gone soft,” Goap said, his hands on his thighs, his face tipped up in a sneer.
“And yet you are the one kneeling,” Bathin replied. “Release the weapons.”
Goap dropped the sword.
“Both.”
He dropped the ax.
Bathin looked over at me. “Are you injured?”
“Shoulder,” I said, pushing up to my feet. “I’ll be okay.” I took an unsteady step toward him.
“Don’t,” Bathin said. “I’d rather not have him try to take you hostage.”
I was going to argue that I could take care of myself against demons just fine, but decided he was right. I was injured, Bathin only had the upper hand here because he had his mother’s ring, and I didn’t know the range of its powers.
So I stayed put.
“Come closer, Delaney Reed,” Goap sing-songed, “I promise not to eat you, my pretty.”
Bathin kicked Goap in the face. Goap grunted as his head snapped back. The kick would have knocked my teeth out, but it didn’t appear to do any more harm than a love tap to Goap.
He just glared harder at his brother.
“Manners,” Bathin chided.
