There must have been something in my voice that triggered Louis’s protective instinct, because he stopped, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “What happened, Maddison? Is it Asher?”
Yes. And no.“Last night, while I was in the water world…”
I quickly explained about the darkness and the figure in the water, and I waited with bated breath for Louis to take a guess at what it meant. This sorcerer knew so much; it would make my life easier if he had any information for me.
“This is purely guesswork, but if I had to put magic on it, I’d say that was Sonaris,” he said finally. “He’s the only one who holds dominion over the ocean like that, even a magically created ocean.”
Trickles of unease, followed by fear, filled my chest until it became tight and hard to breathe. “Why? What was the point of last night? Was it just to scare me? Because he took off … like as soon as Asher appeared, I think.”
Louis’s head jerked up. “You didn’t say Asher was there.”
“He wasn’t.” I added quickly, “Not at first, but after the darkness and when everything happened, he was suddenly on the beach. Like he felt the disturbance. I didn’t stick around long enough to ask him.”
Louis’s eyes flashed dark purple and the hair stood up on my body at the power he was throwing off. “I think the gods might fear your power,” he told me. “And combined with Asher or Connor, there’s … well, it might be the one thing that saves us. Only…”
“Only we don’t know what side either of those guys are on,” I said drily, not sure if that was the next part of his sentence or not, but it was resting heavily on my mind. “At one point I trusted Asher more than anyone in the world, but that was before he ended up with Galindra. He’s changed.”
That was the bottom line.
Louis again was unconcerned. “Change is inevitable. We must learn to change with the ones we want in our life.”
I shot him a half smile. “Very good advice, oh wise one.”
Louis managed not to smile at me, but I could see the amusement in his face. All that vanished when we were out in the field, about to commence training. When he turned and faced me, I suddenly remembered that he was super powerful and feared by most other supes.
“I’m not going to go easy on you, Maddison,” he said, his voice low. It still sent chills down my spine.
“Good,” I said, straightening my back. I wanted this. To be the best. To have that happen, I had to learn from the best. “Don’t hold back. Do your worst.”
Louis finally smiled, and it was scary as fuck. “Oh, I intend to.”
31
“Everything hurts and I want to die,” I moaned.
Ilia was rolling her eyes at me; I knew that even though my face was mostly buried in the pillow.
“You’re the most dramatic god ever,” she said with a snort, nudging me.
“Don’t call me that,” I said, trying not to cry again as more pain ricocheted down my body.
Ilia paid closer attention. “Sorry, girl. I didn’t realize you really were in that much pain.”
Lifting my head, I grimaced. “I’ve had training with Louis and Tyson, and last night Striker beat me down with a fucking fork.”
“It’s a trident,” Ilia said drily.
Somehow I managed to get my legs over the side of the bed. “I thought I would have recovered with some sleep,” I said as I stood. “But I think I feel worse.”
Ilia finally looked sympathetic. “Your power is probably drained from being overused. Even though you’re part god, you’re being hit with spells from some of the strongest magic users … like, ever. Don’t be hard on yourself.”
Being hard on myself was the only thing I had to do these days, so I probably wasn’t going to give it up any time soon.
“Are you going to breakfast?” Ilia asked.
There was something in her voice, and I paused my old-lady shuffle to focus on her. “What’s wrong?”
Her eyes shuttered. “I’m leaving again. I’ve got a job, and normally I’d say no, but this is a serious case and there’s no one else who I’d trust to handle it. No one who’s available.”
