The sharp end of her gloved thumbnail scraped across his cheek. His pulse fired and he cut his eyes back onto her, noting the dramatic transition in her speed.
She reared her other arm up and landed a punch. A collision of her knuckles against his jaw. The skin inside of his mouth ripped between his teeth.
Mid-hit, Acacius pushed back on his feet, diluting her blow before her strength snapped his neck. Copper filled his mouth, and he huffed out a laugh.
As a High Goddess, her abilities were more honed than most. She relied on her empyrean speed, but as an older god, he was much faster, and it was a pleasure to use it against her.
She swung again, and Acacius took the opportunity to catch her by the wrist. He stifled the deranged impulse to crush her bone to powder.
She reacted immediately to his touch, the way an animal caught in a trap panicked to fight free. He felt the resistance lock in her muscles as she cocked her head back and threw it forward, prepared to shatter both of their skulls.
Acacius slung her with full force before she could land the hit. Her back crashed against the wall of the arena. The strands dangling in her face stuck to her lips. A slight crinkle formed in her brow, and the venomous glint in her eyes dug needles into him.
A dark fervor coiled in his deepest parts, reawakening a ferocity that had been snuffed out the day of Ruelle’s death.
Marina went to propel herself off the wall, but Acacius rushed forward and caught her by the throat, pinning her in place.
Her arms came up, and he caught both of her wrists in between his fingers and slammed her hands above her head.
She thrashed in his hold. Her foot came up off the ground and Acacius crushed his hips against her stomach, blocking any space for her to rear her leg up and kick him.
He leaned forward until her breasts were snug against his torso, satisfied by the feel of her heartbeat ricocheting in his ribcage.
Oh, the fun he intended to have with her.
His mouth brushed the line of her jaw, up the side of her cheek, lingering near the shell of her ear. “Found you,Rina.”
3
RECKONING
Marina
Unhinged bastard.
Marina’s pulse surged against Acacius’s hold around her throat.
It’s him.
Gooseflesh rippled up her nape. She could feel him everywhere—his Chaos infesting the air like a chemical burning her flesh; in the crowd above the pit in their barbaric cheers; the flutter of brown mottled insects in the flickering frames of light overhead.
She’d known Acacius would eventually come for her. In fact, she’d counted on it.
The dominion Ruelle had over him was what ultimately drove him to ask Marina, ofallgoddesses, for help. Acacius did not reach out to others, something Marina had observed over the centuries. The High God was much like her in that regard—independent, with isolating tendencies, always keeping to his own realm.
It took Marina no time at all to notice the desperation in his plea when he’d sought her out to request assistance in locating the small dose of Ash’s blood that Finnian stole. A task that she obliged with delight, intending to take advantage of the High God blinded by his own stupid love.
Truth was, his request was her seed of hope, one that quickly sprouted and ripened into an opportunity to avenge Mother and make Finnian pay for what he’d done.
Obviously, her plan had not worked out.
Father was dead. Finnian lived happily ever after. And now here Acacius was, pinning her to a wall, his face—all broad, soft angles and defined features—inches from her own with a malevolent glint in his eyes, all too eager to make her suffer. His ivory-blond hair was damp and pulled back. Strands curled behind his ears and at the sides of his neck.
Marina twitched her index finger, flaring her divine power and forming a blade between them, its ends dripping with her darkness.
She flicked her finger, and the motion directed her weapon forward in an instant, its sharp edge slicing cleanly through Acacius’s wrist.
If a god puts their hands on you without permission, then simply cut them off.
