Something grasped my hand, yanking me forward, but I reacted quickly enough, digging the heels of my boots into the ground with so much force that I left indents in the hard earth.
The pressure stopped suddenly, nearly sending me to the ground, but something held me upright.
Seconds later, what looked like a translucent hand darted out from the vortex of magic, its fingers grasping for my tunic.
I squealed like a toddler having a nightmare as I attempted to dance out of its reach. My chest rose and fell rapidly as I swung this way and that until the hand retracted completely.
Sighing, I sagged forward, unfortunately letting my guard down for a mere second. That was enough time for a nearly translucent body to emerge fully. My eyes widened as I took in the woman’s thin kaftan and long, most likely white, hair. There was a wide slit across her throat, and her mouth opened enough for me to see jagged teeth and slashes through each cheek.
But none of those things caused the spark of recognition.
No, it was her eyes.
They were the same shape as Matamuri’s, but where Matamuri’s held vengeance and wrath, these swam with desperation and assurance.
“Please,”she whispered, reaching for me once more.
Realization dawned, and I nodded, allowing her to wrap her ghostly arms around my body and pull me forward into the swirling mass of Destruction Magic.
Chapter Seventy-Nine
Solace
Lightning flashed across my skin, twining with my hair that fell limply down my back, sodden with the rain I’d conjured in a desperate attempt to squash the tendrils of magic that ate at my very soul.
Magic that godlingbitchused to destroy my crystal—the tether that kept a piece of my soul safe on this plane. Without it, I was mortal.
Horribly and utterly mortal.
A coldness seeped through my wet dress where it clung to my form, revealing every inch of me to the open-mouthed ogling of Samyr’s elite as they hung around the manor entryway, hoping for whatever scraps of attention I or that wholly incompetent Lady d’Hida would bestow upon them.
I hissed, baring my teeth in a feral way that was sure to send them scurrying back to whatever dark corner they crawled from as the coldness crept into my bones, taking residence somewhere deep within my chest.
My body shook both from the foreign feeling taking root in my soul and the ordeal I just survived.
It was difficult for my immortal mind to wrap around the fact thatI—the Goddess of Lies—was duped by my own brother. Fooled and led astray just so a mortal he deemed more worthy than me, his beloved sister, could become the Goddess of Destruction. A fledgling goddess withnocontrol of her power, no understanding of what she commanded, who nearly killed me.
My heart thumped wildly in my chest in time with the erratic quickness of my steps as I rushed down hallway after hallway in an attempt to find somewhere I could rage without the prying eyes of this damnedcourt.
The fury and pure helplessness bubbled closer to the surface, making my magic crackle and jump without my direction. I hadn’t lost control like this since I’d taken my siblings’ powers so many eons ago.
I felt wild, out of control, and so damned fragile.
A scream built in my throat faster than I could hope to contain it. Wind and winter mixed together behind me as I practically flew down the hallway, my feet barely touching the stone floor. My vision tunneled, and I gasped for air as an unseen force constricted around my chest, forcing me to choose the closest room as refuge.
Not here, not here, I desperately chanted, but it seemed my time had run out.
I vaguely registered the sound of the door slamming behind me as the walls reverberated with my fury. With fuzzy vision and heart palpitations that sent me careening into the table I hadn’t seen, I grappled for purchase as my body shook, the tremors taking me to the floor.
If there was anyone else present for my meltdown, I was unaware, as an incessant ringing drowned any other outside sounds. Bonelessly, I sank to the floor and allowed the overwhelm to swallow me whole.
I am mortal. I can die.The thoughts ran constantly in my mind, growing progressively louder until they overlapped entirely.
A scream tore from my throat, the sharp sound cutting through the intrusive thoughts and hollow ringing until it enveloped me entirely. My skin itched and buzzed as I writhed on the ground, barely conscious and far from aware.
Pressure built on my back, pinning my chest to the ground and my arms to the sides. It was cloying and unwanted, sending me further into the spiral of my own mortality. I flung my body from side to side, trying to dislodge whatever had taken residence on my back, but the effort was completely futile.
I was mortal.
