He was expecting my usual assault of mixed powers, a buffet for him to feast on. Instead, he got poison.
We clashed, and for the first time since I had battled him, the void god staggered back several feet.
My starlight blade, infused with death shadow, sang as it sailed toward Ruin’s head. My enemy countered with his shadow-forged steel, his movements still fluid but lacking the terrible grace of our last encounter. The Seed my brave and clever mate had implanted in him was doing its work, slowing him, weakening him.
Every time my blade found flesh, death magic ate into him like acid. Not feeding him but corroding him. Death belonged solely to my bloodline. It was my birthright, and I had not claimed it fully until now. When Ruin tried to consume it, black blood dripped from his nostrils—Death’s claws at work as it negated his void.
My men formed a protective circle around my queen, but she no longer needed their guard. Power blazed through her as she absorbed my offering. I’d give everything to her. She rose from that altar of horror, an avenger goddess fully embracing her true nature.
There was no inhibition left in her. No chains, only fury and power.
“It was always my plan to come back, Father,” she said, ascending to hover in the air, wreathed in dark flame, a glorious and wrathful sight. “To repay you for what you did to me and to all the others. Did you really think I would run forever?”
She slammed her hand against the black arrow tattoo on her chest. The mark shimmered and materialized into Heaven’s Arrow, blazing with ebony light in her grasp. Her dark flame coated it like a second element.
Ruin’s eyes widened, true fear burning in them. He tried to shift into his shadow form, to become incorporeal and flee. Nothing happened. His features contorted with effort as he tried again, shadow writhing beneath his skin but unable to break free.
Seed of Heaven and my death shadow pinned him in place.
“You can’t escape, Ra,” Barbie said, her voice ringing with the vengeance of galaxies. She was magnificent, radiating glory even while soaked in blood. My dragon roared with pride for our mate. “The Seed prohibits your transformation. Locks you in this flesh. And the starstone that was Lilith’s essence strengthens the binding. Didn’t you know she was from Heaven? That she’s hunted you for eons? She can finally rest, because I’m carrying her torch.” She gestured to me and the warriors in the room. “We all work together against you—my beloved mates, our team, my sister. I am never alone because of them, and I am loved. But you—you are alone, despised, hated, discarded, and now chained for eternity. The worlds will be better without you. You’re finally reduced to nothing, just as you always were.”
A commotion broke out at the entrance to the feeding chamber. The heirs burst through, armor splattered with Shrieker blood, Sy at their center. They had all come for my mate. Sy’s eyes found her sister, but she restrained herself from rushing forward. My mate held death in her hands and fierce vengeance in her glowing two-toned eyes. Even Sy knew better than to interrupt a goddess at work.
“Shoot him! Shoot that filthy fucker!” Sy’s patience lasted all of three seconds. “What are you waiting for, B?”
“What do you think?” Barbie yelled back. “I haven’t finished my speech!”
“You can finish your speechandshoot our father at the same time!”
Trust the sisters to bicker during the apocalypse.
“He’s going nowhere. But fine! Just keep your unwanted comments to yourself. You always like to steal my thunder.”
“Tits up while you shoot,” Sy reminded her. “There’s no thunder.”
My mate drew the arrow back without a bow. She didn’t need one. Her will was weapon enough. Heaven’s Arrow flew true, embedding itself in Ruin’s eye with a wet twanging sound.
My dragon roared in primal satisfaction.
The void god thrashed violently and pathetically.
“It took five elements to freeze you, void being,” Barbie recited, each word an ice spike driven into the god’s black heart. “The Seed of Heaven from my marrow. The Arrow in my chest. Death power from my beloved. My dark flame. And the starstone—the sacrifice of a fallen star, my mother’s final gift.” She smiled in great satisfaction. “You’re done, sucker.”
She touched down and turned to me, her two-toned eyes—one sapphire, one emerald—shining with love. My need for her burned in every atom, but my dragon shoved me aside with a growl, peeking out at her with a fierce love that matched hers.
“Hello, hello, Father.” Sy sauntered over to loom above the frozen god. “I’m the last drop of old magic you’ve hunted for eons. And here I am, standing right in front of you.” She spat on him.
Ruin’s remaining eye burned with such unspeakable, eerie hunger that Rowan immediately stepped between them, delivering a series of vicious kicks to the god’s head.
“DO NOT FUCKING LOOK AT MY MATE!”
That started a trend. All the heirs rushed forward to deliver their own kicks to the fallen god. They were always juvenile—but if they had to vent, then let them fucking vent.
My gaze locked on the eternal love of my life. I reached her in a flash, wrapping her in my arms. I couldn’t stand one more second without touching her. I’d never let her out of my sightagain. She pressed her torso against me, a romantic gesture she’d probably picked up from those smutty books.
“This is the last time you ever lay your evil hands on my sister,” Sy said, her gaze catching on the blood pooling beneath the table—Barbie’s blood, too much of it.
The same rage that had nearly consumed me saturated her fae features. She waved a hand, and chains of dark spellwork rose from the altar, flew to the void god, and wrapped around him, binding him tighter than his own cruelty ever had.
