I reached out and linked all the magics which had stood separate for millennia.
As one, we stepped through the second portal. Killian’s hand gripped mine, as if he was terrified of losing me again. Rowan and Sy held hands beside us. Silas, Louis, and Cade followed, dragging Ruin’s frozen form behind them to his judgment. Rock and Cassius brought up the rear, their weapons still drawn.
I looked over my shoulder and caught General Baal’s eye. The archdemon straightened as I nodded to him, a flash of gratitude crossing his demonic features before he joined our group. Demons were part of Mist of Cinder now. The sixth house was here to stay, whether anyone liked it or not.
They’d chosen to fight my war, and that made them mine.
We stepped into the vast chamber of nothingness and mist.
The space defied all senses.Infinitedidn’t cover it. This place was both of this world and not of it, all at once. Time didn’t move here. A mortal mind would shatter trying to process the truth of the Red Room.
Two godly presences pulsed in this pocket space, their magic broken yet still potent.
My mate and my friends stood close, watching each other’s backs even though direction had no meaning here.
Isis and Nephthys emerged from the mist, shattered remnants of their former glory. The edges of their forms constantly crumbled and reformed, like sand sculptures in a windstorm.
I stepped toward them, Killian matching my pace.
“We got Ra,” I said.
Rowan hauled the chained void god forward and dumped him at their feet. Ruin hit the non-ground with a thud.
The reaction was immediate. Both deities sucked in a breath they didn’t need, and power burst from them in a wave that made everyone stagger. For one glorious second, they flickered into their true forms—Isis with blue eyes shining like twin moons and hair that flowed like water, and Nephthys bathed inlightning with wings of pure light. The chamber blazed with their radiance.
Everyone gasped in awe.
Then the deities unleashed every curse word invented since language began. They spoke in tongues that predated human speech, but the intent came through clearly. Ruin’s eyes darted between them, filled with rage, disdain, and fear. The best part? He couldn’t curse back.
The five elements binding him had sealed everything but his eye movement. All he could do was lie there and take it while his ancient enemies got extremely creative with their vocabulary.
The verbal assault went on long enough that Cade pulled out a pocket watch to check the time.
“All right,” Killian said, snapping his fingers. “You got that off your chests. Now let’s send this fucker back to the void.”
The deities collapsed back into their broken states, exhausted.
“Does the void lie beyond the fog, Goddess Isis and God Nephthys?” Rowan asked politely. Even facing broken gods, he maintained his court manners.
“It’s at the end, fae,” Nephthys rasped. “We’ve kept it open for eons, waiting for this day.”
“Let’s get it done then,” Silas said, all business.
“But how exactly do we proceed?” Louis asked.
“Sy and I will handle it,” I said, biting my lip. “But first, I need to get my familiar back.”
I strode toward Ruin’s frozen form. “When I first met Pucker, he was a two-bit conman running supernatural scams in the House of Chaos. Killian didn’t even care what happened to his House before he met me. Today, Pucker stood between my father and me, knowing the void god would devour him. He was terrified of Ruin, but he charged anyway to save me…”
“This isn’t the time for a funeral eulogy, Barbie!” Sy interrupted. You could always count on her being rude.
I plunged my hand into Ruin’s chest. His eyes went wide with terror, his insides churning frantically as I rooted around in his essence. There—a tiny spark, drowning in the void. In another day or two, Pucker would have dissolved completely, becoming fuel for an endless hunger.
My fingers carefully wrapped around the fading orb, ensuring I had every last fragment of his essence before I yanked it free.
“Sy,” I called.
She needed no further instruction. Creation magic poured from her in a brilliant stream, flooding the rescued spark until it blazed with light. The orb exploded in a flash that left afterimages dancing behind our eyes.
