“After that, we will try my new sterilizing potion. After all, we don’t need any more dragon shifters popping up. Not when they are nearly extinct. It has been a long-term effort.”
Even though she was not a dragon shifter, Nix felt her fire rising inside her, up her throat as she screamed and screamed for him to stop. She promised she would kill Lemmuns in the most horrific way he could imagine. But no fire left her.
Lemmuns hummed to himself as he continued guiding the drill into Ryker’s mouth, pointing it down his throat.
“Nix,” Persius groaned.
As wild tears ran down her cheeks, Nix turned from watching Ryker’s body shake and sweat to see her pegasus mate stirring from the poison-induced sleep.
“Ask for…their help,” Persius said softly, as if he hardly had the strength to speak.
Bael’s body twitched, as if he would awaken soon as well, his system fighting off the additional dose of Evernell.
Confused by Persius’s words, Nix asked, “They?”Their help?
Persius strained his voice to add, “Call upon them.”
Who was “them?”
Bael’s eyelids shot open, and his red eyes connected with hers instantly. “The Gods,” he told her weakly, clarifying for Persius. “You…are favored by the Gods.”
Nix frowned at that; she didn’t feel favored. Time had provided her worst nightmare—the capture and torture of herselfandher mates. The helpless knowledge that her choices led them to this.
Ryker’s chest rumbled with a low, guttural whimper of pain.
Nix’s rage boiled from inside her as she screamed, “GODDESS.” She called to the woman who had appeared to her in the “in between.” She pictured her as she screamed, “GODDESS.”
Lemmuns turned on the metal drill, and it whirled awake. The sound of Ryker’s scream was muted by his gargling on blood as Lemmuns explored with his torturous tool.
“GODDESS. HELP ME. GODDESS, PLEASE,” Nix yelled. “GODDESS. GODDESS. GODDESS.”
The air warmed and warmed. The back of Nix’s neck began to sweat.
Suddenly, the scene around her froze and turned orange, coral-tinted as if someone had just slipped glasses with reddish-colored lenses over Nix’s eyes.
Lemmuns, Ryker, everyone was perfectly still. Unnaturally still. Like a photograph.
The red-haired Goddess appeared in front of Nix, as transparent as a half-here, half-elsewhere ghost. The hem of her orange-red dress swayed around her ankles as the Goddess floated closer to Nix.
And the Goddess looked pissed.
“You, insolent phoenix,” the Goddess snapped at her, glaring. “Youdarecall upon me? I am not to be summoned like an animal.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Nix cried hoarsely. “But please help me.”
“I warned you against your choice; yet, still, you chose this,” the Goddess reminded her.
“Yeah. I messed up. Clearly,” Nix replied nervously. What were the rules when it came to asking a Goddess for help anyway? “Did you, uh, pause time just now?”
The Goddess scowled at the stupidly obvious question.
“Right,” Nix murmured. “Um, I…I need help.”
“You wanted your mates to feel your pain.” The Goddess shrugged. “Now, they do.”
“I would never wish f-for this!” Nix glanced at where Thierry stood, lifeless stone. Surely, the elixir was reversible. The collar still sat around his statue neck. Upon removal, would he heal?
“Why did you call upon me, phoenix? I have little time.”
