“King Killian and his team are underground,” Archer informed us, his gaze sharp. “No fuckers will get past me and our friendly beasts.”
The shadow beasts licked my face, their tails thrashing in excitement.
“Yeah, yeah, good to see you too,” I said, hugging two of them at once to save time. “I need to go save Barbie.”
A group of Shriekers surged toward us. The shadow beasts dashed past our group and charged into the ranks of the abominations, tearing them apart. Archer bellowed a war cry and joined the fray.
“Let’s go!” I shouted, my voice raw. “Barbie is out of time.”
Her pain lanced through me—fresh, searing agony layered over the old trauma of this place that haunted our nightmares.
A hole yawned open before us, a passage leading down into the abyss. I didn’t hesitate. I leapt.
“Sy!” Rowan shouted and followed without a second thought. His arm wrapped around me as wind rushed up to meet our fall.
Behind us, the other heirs jumped too, a united front diving into the depths to save my sister and slay the evil that festered there.
Chapter
Thirty-Five
Killian
“How romantic,” the void god sneered, his face marred by frost spreading from within like white veins. Barbie had hurt him even while being consumed.
That was my little scorpion. A true warrior. She’d suffered in this fucker’s hands since she was a child. It would have broken anyone’s mind. It’d probably break even me, but my mate refused to be a victim. She believed if she carried the victim mentality, her tormentor had already won. When you heard her laughter as she enjoyed ice creams and cakes, when she relished the orgasms I gave her, no one would believe she’d had such a hellish childhood.
Fierce pride and fiercer love rippled through me from my dragon.
Even now, laid open like that, she was still fighting. Her eyes were furious and unforgiving, and she’d dealt the god a blow, laying the foundation for us to drag him down.
I wouldn’t waste this precious opportunity my mate had paid for with her blood and agony—suffering no other being could endure.
“Hang in there, little scorpion,” I said. “It’ll be over soon.”
I charged toward the void god, a roar of pure fury and hatred tearing from my throat.
The god laughed. “I cannot die, little dragon. I existed before your planet drew its first breath. What exactly do you think you can do to me?”
“Shut the fuck up, motherfucker! You’re already a walking corpse.”
“Let’s battle, Hades’s heir,” he taunted, “and see who will be the walking corpse. I will be glad to show my beloved daughter how I unmake a demigod and devour him.”
“Use only death power!” Barbie screamed. “Don’t feed him anything else, or he’ll consume it and break the Seed’s hold! He’s weakened, but it won’t last. I need you to break my chains now!”
“You never need to ask, love,” I said.
Power erupted from me. Starlight fled back to my core. Dragon fire banked to embers. I gave it all to Barbie through our bond, keeping only Death.
The chains that bound her fell away, clanging against the stone. My starlight wrapped around her protectively, feeding her and filling her depleted reserves.
Barbie took in my starlight and gasped. To my relief, her chest began to knit closed, flesh and bones reweaving themselves. As she regenerated, I transformed.
Not into my dragon but into Death itself. This was a power the void god could not take.
I became Hades’s heir in truth—Death incarnate.
When I struck Ruin, it was Death meeting Void.
