Shehad caused that pain.
“Sol,” Trivia whispered, desperate for him to hear her. But she was only a spectator in this vision. She wasn’t really here at all.
No matter how much she yearned to be.
“Ah, you miss him, don’t you?” Pandora’s tone was mocking. “Let’s reach out to him, shall we?”
She flexed her finger, and tendrils of shadow crept along the ground toward Sol’s foot.
“Don’t!” Trivia shrieked, grabbing Pandora’s wrist.
But the goddess only smirked as the shadows receded. “I’m not stupid enough to snatch him right in front of Gaia. But… how about just a taste?” With her other hand, she curled two fingers inward. The shadows reached for Sol, brushing the back of his calf.
Sol stiffened, then glanced behind him. But Pandora’s shadows had vanished. Sol’s brow furrowed, and he frowned slightly before facing Gaia again.
Do something,Trivia ordered herself.Do not let this happen!
But gods above, it was so damn hard to pull herself away from Sol. She could watch him for hours, drinking in his form, his eyes, his voice… She missed everything about him.
Focus!she screamed at herself.You are stronger than this. You can overcome this.
Trivia pictured her construct again. The gleaming waves. The white sand. The blazing sun.
The vision of her beach appeared, drowning out Sol and Gaia. But the image flickered, then vanished.
Trivia’s construct wasn’t strong enough.
She let out a stifled shriek of rage and frustration, while Pandora merely laughed.
“Don’t you wish you were as strong as me, child?” Pandora teased. “I’ll admit, I did think you would last longer than this.”
Trivia’s hands curled into fists as she watched Gaia stride toward the portal.No, no, no…
How could Trivia overcome this if Pandora’s magic was so much more powerful?
With a gasp, she suddenly recalled what Midas had told her:Your personas may have split when her box absorbed you. But your souls are still connected. I can sense the tether between you two.
Did that mean that Trivia had access toPandora’smagic, too? If Trivia could reach the arsenal of power flooding from the goddess, she could use it against her.
Trivia took a deep breath and closed her eyes again. Instead of picturing her own construct, Trivia summoned Pandora’s. The veranda appeared, the white curtains drifting in the wind, the turquoise waters rippling beneath the sun.
Then, just as Midas had coached her, Trivia projected the vision forward. She focused on her pain, her anguish, her longing for Sol. She channeled those torturous thoughts she often shied away from. Her instinct was to cringe, to hide, to bury herself from the emotions that were so potent and so cutting. But she didn’t. She pulled on them, drawing them to the surface.
Pandora appeared on the veranda beside her, her eyes wide with alarm. “What are you doing?”
Trivia didn’t answer. She kept digging, summoning more grief, more misery, more heartache. Her chest twisted, and she hunched over from the force of the emotions barreling through her. Gods, it was so much. She couldn’t breathe…
Beside her, Pandora groaned in pain, clearly weighed down by the same thing.
Their soulswereconnected. Trivia’s pain was Pandora’s pain.
“Bitch,” Pandora seethed. “You can’t win this. I am… stronger.”
Trivia gasped for breath, her lungs struggling to draw in enough air. But a bolt of satisfaction flashed through her. Shecouldwin.
But she would have to give up everything. There would be no escaping this.
If their souls were still connected, then the only way for Pandora to truly die… was for Trivia to die, too.
