I surged to my feet and rushed around the table, knife drawn to plunge in his throat.
Lula, faster than me, stronger than me, scooped up Abbi, who was no longer frozen, and set her safely on the ground.
Then Lula didn’t bother with dodging around the table.She threw herself over it, straight at the towering deity.
She was there, already there before me, her knives flashing.
I thought I saw movement at the corner of my eye.
Abbi drew up, a furious swirl of silver moonlight and blackness—a girl, a warrior in silver armor, a bunny, a girl again—magic lapping around her.
She disappeared, leaving us behind to fight this fight.But that didn’t matter.Nothing mattered except?—
—Lula, a blur of fury and anger?—
—Mithra, untouched.The inhuman cruelty of his smile as he lifted one hand?—
—Thunder splitting the sky in two, a roar so loud, I yelled and heard nothing?—
“Stop!”
That voice was in my head, my soul, in the very air I breathed.
Even though my knife was a fraction away from Mithra’s neck, even though Lula had plunged both her blades into his chest, we were frozen.
Luckily, so was Mithra.
“You have no authority here,” the voice—Cupid’s—said, his words dripping in rage that burned.“You have no power here.”
The memory of Raven telling us Cupid had come to Earth in his god form to fight Atë, to free us from her when she’d kidnapped Lula and tried to kill me, flashed through my mind.
Raven had said when a god fought a god on Earth, it wasn’t something that could be ignored.All gods would see it.And since most gods were secretive assholes, they avoided battles in this reality.
But we were on the brink of two massively powerful deities fighting to the death on this earthly plane.
Mithra stepped back.
Lula’s blades slid free, bloodless.I still couldn’t move, not even enough to reach for her hands.
Mithra took one, two steps away, while Cupid?—
—massive as the universe, pure white wings spread to the sky, golden armor, golden bow in hand, a quiver of gold and lead arrows over one shoulder?—
—stepped forward, beside us, then in front of us, protecting us from Mithra’s power.
His presence was soothing, a dense forest shade against a punishing sun.
I could breathe again.I could move again.
I wrapped my arms around Lula, just as she grabbed for me.
“You dare challenge me?”Mithra roared.“Here, upon this earth?”
“Stand between me and those within my protection, and I will challenge you throughout all realities and existences, Mithra.Leave now, and our quarrel ends without your destruction.”
“You may be old,” Mithra said, “but the scales of justice are not in your favor, Cupid.”
“Justice never misses its mark.”Cupid lifted his bow.“And neither do I.”
