“What is this madness?” Ruin asked. “You’re truly protective of this old magic, aren’t you? Fine. I won’t take it.”
My performance had backfired. Cold panic seized me, a vise around my fading consciousness. I had to pivot, and fast—I needed him to scoop up and swallow the Seednow. There was no way I could stay conscious for days, lying open and bleeding on this table.
“Because I have a new plan, a brilliant one,” he drawled. “This tasting is merely the warm-up, the opening phrase.” He paused to savor another pull of my essence. “I’ve done a lot of thinking since you abandoned me. I’ve even been journaling, to understand where I went wrong.”
Fuck! Fuck!
“All I ever wanted was to be whole for you. To be a proper father. But in my pursuit of that goal, I hurt you. I caused you pain.” He actually looked regretful, an expression far moreterrifying than his cruelty. “So, I have found a better way for us to be together. You’ve come into your power so beautifully, perfect for this to work. I will take your essence first, to prepare the vessel. Then—” His smile radiated with vile madness. “I will leave this shell and take yours. We will become one being, my beloved daughter. Your power and mine, merged. We will conquer the universe together. Even the Heavens will be powerless to stop us. We will no longer have to fear.”
Ice clogged my exposed lungs. My open heart stuttered, skipping a beat or two before falteringly starting again. The dark material of the chains and the weight of Ruin’s spells actively prevented my body from healing, keeping me weak and pliable. He was ensuring that when the time came to possess me, I would have no strength left to fight back.
I had never known a terror so complete.
If he wore my skin, becoming me, I’d be trapped inside him for eternity. Worse, he’d use my face to approach everyone I loved. Sy would open her arms to her sister and embrace death instead. My mind recoiled, imagining what he would do to Killian, to Tyson—all while they believed it wasme.
“Such an…honor, Father,” I managed through chattering teeth, the words fighting their way past the agony in my cells and the bone-deep fear throbbing in my every thought. “Let’s do it. Why would I cling to one small realm when I can have the universe with you? We’ll be the God of gods. In fact, there will be no other gods. Just us. A singular God for all the universe to worship.”
“That’s my girl,” he said, his voice softening with approval. “Now you finally see.”
“Now that you’ve convinced me, Father, I need to tell you…there’s a technical issue with our merger,” I confessed, letting a note of concern seep into my voice.
“And what is that?”
I hesitated, carefully measuring my tone to avoid sounding too eager.
“Speak freely!” he ordered.
“But shouldn’t you…absorb the old magic in me first?” I lowered my voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “To smooth the transition?”
“No need.” He swallowed another mouthful of my blood, and I fought not to flinch or vomit. “We’ll keep it in you. Once we are one, it will be mine regardless.”
Icy panic clawed its way up my throat. “It won’t work, Father,” I insisted, straining to keep my tone calm and helpful. “You see, I have this mating bond with Hades’s grandson. Hades is…”
“I know who Hades is,” he snapped, impatience flashing in his cruel eyes. “I do not fear him. The death god is sequestered in another realm, and he is no match for me.”
“I believe you, Father,” I said, pouring on the sincerity. “But you have never encountered a mating bond before. It will act as a lock, preventing our merger. Unless you first possess the old magic and use it to counter the bond. The last drop of that magic is more ancient than the very mythos of the mating bond.”
“Do not lecture me, daughter,” he snapped. “My knowledge is vast.”
“Of course, Father. I apologize,” I murmured while I fought not to scream.
The agony was chewing through my resolve. I reached for the starstone’s strength within me, and its icy power cooled the inferno in my veins.
“Father, let’s merge,” I begged, allowing him to hear the raw agony saturate my voice. “I want to make you proud, but the pain is too much. Please make it stop. When we’re one, we won’t feel this unending hunger anymore. The whole universe will be our buffet, free for the taking, whenever and wherever we want.”
I was playing directly to his nature—to his endless appetite. He had devoured worlds and yet remained eternally, insatiably empty.
“If you’re lying to me?—”
“Never,” I breathed, the word a ragged exhalation. “You know I am at your mercy, Father. I am exactly where you need me to be.” For a heartbeat, a flicker of pure, smug satisfaction ignited in his eyes before his foul darkness swallowed it whole. Even a void god liked his ego stroked. “I want to serve you. To truly serve you, as a dutiful daughter should. I was wrong to leave. Now, I only wish to repent.”
He reached into my exposed marrow with his clawed fingers, the touch a burning cold. He scooped it out as if it were ice cream. The Seed came with it, perfectly wrapped in the layers of my illusion. He swallowed it in one eager gulp.
I fought to keep my breathing steady, a staggering effort against the primal urge to struggle, to fight, and to escape the unspeakable horror of my own body being consumed.
Strike! Now!my survival instinct screamed. My body echoed the command, unable to bear the sight of lying there, chest splayed open like an offering, my life force leaking onto the ancient stone.
Wait. You have to wait!The starstone’s voice was a blade of ice, cleaving through the panic.
