She knew he would come to see her doom. That her father would not miss the opportunity to once more try to coerce her to join him in his quest for destruction.
“The final blood moon has come, daughter. I give you one last chance to put your foolishness aside and ascend once again to your place beside me.”
“Why are you so desperate for me to come back? Centuries have gone by and I have continued to refuse, yet you still think I might change my mind. Why?”
“I see a greatness in you that rivals those on the High Council.”
She laughed. “And what? You wish for me to join you on the High Council? They have ruled for millions of years. If there was any chance of them adding a member to their court, they would have done so by now.”
Anthes took a step closer to his daughter. “We can overthrow them, together. We can rule the cosmos. Control the realms.”
“You are insane. What makes you think that I want that? That I want any of it. I don’t wish to live among the Gods. I do not wish to be on the High Council. I wish to be here. To live forever in this world.”
His hand shot out to wrap around her throat, but it was intercepted by a pale, long-fingered hand.
Orrick. Oriana was awestruck by her brother’s interference. Not once in their long existence had he gone between her and their father. She narrowed her eyes at him, wary of what game he was playing.
“Father, I believe Oriana made her point very clearly. There is no use in forcing the issue. You know that not everything can be solved with brute force.” Orrick’s voice was laced with venom. Oriana’s eyes widened. Orrick had never used such a biting tone with their father, especially not to defend her.
Anthes growled. “Orrick, you conniving serpent! Who let you out of Morial?”
“Let me out? Well, no one let me out, father. I let myself out.” The corner of Orrick’s mouth quirked in a prideful, mischievous way.
“You are the foulest of our kind. I am ashamed to call you son. This”–Anthes motioned toward Oriana and her surroundings–“is all your doing. I will take you back to the dark pits of Morial when I am finished here.”
Oriana snorted.
This time, Orrick didn’t stop the hand that wrapped itself around Oriana’s neck. “Something funny, daughter?”
She grabbed her father’s wrist with both hands, but it was as if she were trying to reach around a barrel. Her voice came out in shallow rasps. “I think it funny that both of your children have disappointed you so much. How very unfortunate for you.”
Anthes snarled, tightening his grip around her throat. She sputtered, but only laughed more as she looked down at Anthes’s feet.
A snake as thick as Anthes’s own torso began to coil its way up his legs. His eyes shot down in surprise, something Oriana didn’t often see on her father’s face. He shook his leg angrily, trying to dislodge the serpent, but it only strengthened its hold, moving further up to his waist. He grabbed the scaly creature with his free hand and yanked. Still, the serpent coiled tighter.
Oriana’s laughter continued even as she gasped the last of the air from her lungs. Orrick simply watched with a devilish smirk. “My, my sister. I never thought I would see such outright defiance. I mean, you’ve stayed in this place against father’s wishes, endured his curse all these years, but to use your magic against him? I never thought I would see the day. Dare I say it, but I’m proud of you, sister.”
Anthes’s eyes were spitting flames as he cast his gaze back upon her. “Stop this!” he commanded, but she did not comply. Her breath wheezed as she sputtered another laugh. The snake twisted its long body around Anthes’s arms and chest, stopping its ascent and resting its head on his shoulder. It squeezed even tighter and finally, Anthes’s grip released from Oriana’s throat. She fell to her knees, coughing as she breathed in heaping lungfuls of air.
Suddenly Anthes's red eyes widened. The snake locked around him, forcing his arms against his sides. Anthes clenched his fists, muscles and veins bulging through the gaps between the curled snake’s black scaled body. Oriana looked around him to see Garren lift her father’s battle-axe from the sheath across his back. The wind stilled, and the ocean ceased to move. Time stood still as the power of the weapon enveloped him; a brightness surrounded him, and for the first time he looked like a true god. Her eyes widened in awe and disbelief at how she had not seen it before. Garren twirled the weapon in his hand as if it were built for him before narrowing his eyes on Anthes.
Anthes squirmed in place, but Oriana willed the snake to coil higher around his throat. “Release Balthar at once, mortal!”
“How weak do you think mortals to be now, father?” Orrick taunted from his nonchalant stance, leaning up against a tree.
“Reverse the curse,” Garren’s voice rang out as if amplified. The force of it pushing against her. It was at this very moment that Oriana wondered if he was more than just a half-god and if he was, then what powers of his own did he possess?
Each born god or goddess was given two gifts–one from their mother and one from their father. If Zanos was Garren’s true father, then Garren likely possessed a power far greater than hers or Orrick’s, for Zanos was King of the Gods, more powerful than any on the High Council. Was Garren’s mother truly the woman who raised him? Or had she been some other higher being? The way the axe seemed to sing in his grip as if it was finally in its rightful place, proved him to be something more. Much more.
Oriana took a quick glance at Orrick, but her brother's devilish smile was trained on Garren.
Anthes’s laugh was spiteful. “You cannot command a god, mortal.”
Garren took three long steps toward Anthes, angling the blade of the axe at his throat.
Oriana could have sworn sweat beaded on her father’s brow.
“Reverse the curse.” Garren’s voice was lethal. It caused even Oriana to quake where she stood.
