"ERIK!" Bryn's scream cuts through the chaos.
She hurls herself off the cliff after him, silver hair whipping in the wind.
My heart stops. That stupid, brave Valkyrie just—fuck. She doesn't have her fucking wings.
They both vanish into the darkness below.
I lash out with my telekinesis, trying to grab them, but Loki's fist cracks against my jaw like a fucking sledgehammer. Pain explodes through my skull as he snarls in my face.
"Still alive, Commander of Dark Skies?" He mocks. "Maybe I should've tried a different method."
The world spins, ground and sky trading places until I taste blood and snow. My head rings like a fucking bell as Loki's hits keep coming, each one backed by godly rage.
Ice erupts from Loki's fingertips, a jagged wave of frost that crashes into Heimdall before the guardian can dodge. The impact sends him flying backward, his golden armor scraping against stone as he slams into the Nexus' wall. The ice doesn't stop—it spreads rapidly, crystallizing around Heimdall's limbs and torso, pinning him against the ancient structure like a frozen butterfly to a collector's board.
Loki's fist connects with my face again, and it feels like my skull's splitting open. "You're like a fucking cockroach," he snarls, icy spittle flecking my skin. "Refusing to die when you're supposed to."
Another punch drives into my gut, forcing the air from my lungs in a pained grunt. I try to suck in a breath, but Loki's relentless.
"The Godborn line should've ended eons ago." His knee slams into my ribs, and I swear I feel something crack. "But here you are, still clinging to life like the pathetic insect you are."
Loki's grip tightens in my hair, wrenching my head back until I'm forced to stare into his crazed eyes. A cruel smile twists his lips, but there's no humor in it—only a cold, merciless determination.
"You know what, godling?" His voice is a low, menacing purr. "I think I'm done playing these games with you. It was fun, but now you're just pissing me off."
He leans closer, his breath icy against my skin. "It's time to finally end your pathetic bloodline, once and for all. No more resurrections, no more second chances."
His fingers dig into my scalp, and I can feel the cold emanating from his touch, seeping into my bones. "I'm going to snuff out your life like a candle, and make sure there's nothing left to rekindle."
Loki's words are laced with a malevolent finality. There's a gleam of anticipation in his eyes, like a predator savoring the moment before the kill.
Through blurred vision, I see Dani—her eyes blazing with storm light, lost in the stone's power. Our bond pulses with raw energy, but she's too far gone to hear me.
Rage explodes through me like a supernova, my vision narrowing to nothing but this piece of shit in front of me. My fist connects with Loki's face, splitting his lips open in a spray of dark blood that freezes midair. His teeth shatter under the impact, jagged fragments mixing with the blood pouring from his ruined mouth.
I drive another punch into his throat, crushing his windpipe. He chokes, gasping for air that won't come as I grab his arm and wrench it backward until the shoulder joint explodes with a wet pop. The limb dangles uselessly as I slam my boot into his kneecap, shattering it into a dozen pieces.
He collapses, but I'm nowhere near done. I stomp on his chest, feeling ribs splinter beneath my heel. Each crack fuels my rage, each whimper feeds my need to destroy him completely.
I drop to my knees beside him, grabbing his hands—the hands that dared to touch my Dani. I squeeze until I feel the delicate bones of his fingers begin to crack.
"This is for touching what's mine," I snarl, methodically crushing each finger joint, one by one.
The sound is like stepping on dried twigs, but wetter. Loki's screams rise with each snap as I work my way through every bone in his hands—metacarpals splintering, carpals pulverizing under my grip. I twist his wrists until they dislocate, then keep twisting until the radius and ulna fracture through his skin.
His hands are nothing but bloody, pulped meat by the time I finish, completely unrecognizable as anything that once belonged to a god.
I grab his face, forcing him to look at me through his one good eye, his other swollen shut from my earlier blows. Blood bubbles from his broken lips as he tries to speak.
"No one puts their fucking hands on my girl," I growl, my face inches from his. "No one!"
Just as I'm about to deliver another crushing blow, Loki's form shimmers and dissolves beneath me—the bastard turning to frost-laced mist that slips through my fingers. He materializes yards away, staggering but out of my immediate reach, blood dripping from his mangled face.
Heimdall appears at my side in a flash of golden light, his ancient eyes fixed on the trickster god. "Godborn." His voice rumbles like distant thunder. "Together. While he's weakened."
My chest burns with rage and grief—Erik, Bryn, both gone in heartbeats. But I can't let that break me. Not now.
Fuck. The raw power pouring off Dani is unlike anything I've seen from the other stones. Her body trembles with the force of it, storm winds whipping her hair wild as her eyes blaze with the force of a storm as she channels the Zephyrite stone's energy.
