Sweat was running in my eyes now, but it was easy to ignore when one was busy trying not to die. I mean, this was our first decent shot at stopping the gods. And to find out they were all still in the prison, no havoc or loss of life above…
A fucking gift.
You’re so close. Don’t stop. Find us…
How do I find you?I shot back.
I was mere feet from the surface of the lava. If I wasn’t supernatural, I would be dead from the hot air simmering around me.
How?
My descent slowed until I was hovering inches above the bright red field.
You know how…
They legitimately couldn’t be serious.
It will kill me.
No reply. No flicker of that voice in my mind. It had withdrawn and was now waiting for me to make my decision.
With nothing more than a thought, I lowered my body to the point where if I breathed too deeply my chest would touch the fire. Since I didn’t actually need oxygen to survive, I just stopped. Safer that way.
My fingers brushed across the surface, grazing the red lines, and I flinched at the immediate and deep burn. I wasn’t immune to this lava, and it didn’t appear to be like the fire fields in that test by Heptashia. This was actually going to burn me. My fingers were already covered in angry red welts.
Maddison … baby. No!
That was Asher. He sounded labored, but he was paying enough attention that he knew what I was thinking.
It’s the only way.
No!he said again, more command in his voice.Don’t blindly trust the Hellbringers. We have no idea what their agenda—
He was cut off by their power as they spoke to me again.
We are without agenda. We are not beings with sentient thoughts. These words you hear are a reflection of your power and the bond you hold to us. We are nothing more than a wisp, but nothing comes without sacrifice.
Fucking fuck.
I floated for seconds, trying to figure out if I had the strength to do this. Not physical strength—it was of no use here. But the mental strength.
A long time ago, when I was still in the human world, I’d read a news article about a man who cut his own arm off to save his life. At the time, I couldn’t imagine how he must have felt, knowing those were the only two choices he had, and that both of them might mean his death anyway.
But at least one of those choices held a sliver of hope. Sometimes a sliver was all a person could rely on. It was all they had.
Agony burst through my mind and it wasn’t my own. I screamed for Asher, rising up, my energy ready to shoot me straight toward him.
Don’t come to me,he choked out through our bond.Get out of here. Get the others to help you.
He was hurt. Badly. The gods had him pinned, and even though he’d taken out a lot of them, and hurt Draconis, Lotus had managed to slip through his guard. Like the slimy bitch she was. Swear she had a guardian angel and nine fucking lives like a cat.
Asher’s power burst free in a shimmer of gold, raining across the land, and I knew this was his last-ditch attempt to power me with his own energy. I couldn’t leave him like that though. I couldn’t leave him to be tortured by them and possibly killed. Maybe they thought the ten of them could handle his energy. I wasn’t close enough to know if they’d bonded themselves in the same way I had to the Atlanteans.
More gold filled the air, and this time it wasn’t from Asher. It was from his mother.
Galindra, bound with magical ropes, was dragged forward by Draconis.
“If you don’t want to die, G,” Draconis choked out—Asher had hurt him good. “You will kill the child. He’s an abomination.”
