He needs to know that we are not weak, and we do not bow. We are survivors.
“I’ve never second-guessed us, Brooks. From the moment I saw you on that beach, it was us. I will walk by your side wherever you want to take me, but I will not follow behind.”
Brooks nodded, the different shades of blue in his navy eyes highlighted by the white light pouring through the window. “I’ll learn how to be better for you, Sunshine.”
Xia leaned in to press her forehead against his as she held the man who owned her heart. “You’re perfect for me.” The rawness of her confession thickened the space between them. “The balance to my darkness.”
Brooks brushed his nose against hers, the ghost of a kiss whispering across her lips. She leaned in and pulled his mouth to hers, the stubble on his chin leaving tingles across her skin. His kisses were tentative and his hands stayed pinned behind his back.
“You can touch me,” she said as she nipped his lip.
“I don’t want to make you–”
Her Siren burst through the surface as she gripped his neck and forced him to the wall, the structure groaning under the pressure. Iridescent scales dotted her hands as a shimmer cast down her arm.“I did not ask,”she hissed. “You will touch me, God of Chaos, or I will bring you to your knees.”
Chaos rose to her Siren’s call, his ice coating the floor meeting her fire head on. “And if I prefer to be on my knees, Siren? What then?”
Xia gripped tighter and smiled as black veins bulged from his neck and forehead. His eyes closed, the muscle of his jaw flexing under clenched teeth. She leaned in, brushed her lips against his ear and whispered, “Then I will relish watching the almighty Chaos as he falls to worship his queen.”
Xia reached behind and grasped a hand to place around her waist. His palm covered the expanse of her lower back and radiated warmth against her skin. She shivered as she placed kiss after kiss along his jawline, pleased as his grip tightened around her gown.
Emboldened, Xia reached for his other hand and placed it on her breast as she arched into him. His breath stuttered as a fine tremor shook his hands.
“How do you do that to me with just a touch?”
His grip tightened around her waist as the other hand slipped from her chest to the curve of her face. His fingers laced into the hair behind her ear and he used the grip to hold her mouth to his.
“You taste like fucking sunshine,” he moaned against her, the desperate pull of his words stoking the fire in her belly. “It drives me crazy, Siren.”
Xia pressed her body into his and giggled when the door rattled under the impact. He smiled against her lips and she used the opening to slip her tongue in to lick against his. The action churned the desperation between them and he responded in force.
Nyx stepped into the inky night with quick steps. She didn't know where she was going, but she needed to get away from the noises in the room next to hers. If she’d done the people staying in her house any favors, it was finding them somewhere else to sleep while her newguestswere in residence. She already couldn’t fucking wait until they were gone.
The cold nipped at her heels as she chased the puff of steam clouding with each breath. Winter had come in full force and they’d never been less prepared. She knew she needed to check in on everyone before she left with Chaos and Xia, but a leaden ball of dread soured in her gut. She loved the people she protected and would never leave them behind. Sometimes though…
Sometimes the weight wassoheavy.
“Pull yourself together, Nyx. Weak people don’t leave theirmark, and they don’t die with honor.” She steeled her spine and turned to walk toward the quiet village nestled in the valley between two hills. Nyx had called Avyssos home for as long as she could remember, and assumed she would die just as she’d been born– alone. A pawn.
At least her mark would be left. There would be people to remember her and what she did for them when they couldn’t do it for themselves.
No candlelight burned in the windows and the plumes of smoke floating from the makeshift chimneys spoke of dying fires. She made a note to check their stores of firewood to make sure everyone stayed warm while she was gone. They were already starving. She wouldn't let them go cold, too.
The first rays of sunlight crested the horizon as she met the bottom of the town. One main road ran straight through the middle with housing on either side. There were no stores or markets, no shops for people to buy and sell. Everything was shared, because that’s what happens when you scrounge for every resource.
Some smaller paths branched off the main road with clusters of smaller homes. Back when the town was closer to thriving, children were born and raised and then settled in houses behind their parents. Some of them moved on to bigger cities or went on grand adventures, but the heavy religious practices in Avyssos taught that this was the only safe place, and most of its citizens took that to heart. The majority of the children born there would never leave, and now they paid for the sins of their parents.
Homes disintegrated over time and fell to ruin. Parents grew old and sick, and when they died the oldest of their children took over the main house. That was the natural order of events. As the Olympians grew greedier, however, there was less travel to and from trade posts. Money stopped flowing, and the land was too desolate to be farmed. Soon, women lost their fertilityto starvation. Children stopped filling those smaller houses, and the town didn’t have the resources to maintain something that would never be of use again.
Nyx swallowed past the lump in her throat. She’d failed the people of Avyssos in more ways than one when she refused to die. She took their hope, and as it died so did their will to thrive. All was lost. They were alive, but was this any kind of life to live? There was an insecurity inside that wondered if she’d done them a disservice by living. Would they have been happier with her death?
Just as she hit the bottom of desolation, a laugh as precious as chiming bells rang through her memories. Beautiful blonde curls born of honey and sunlight bounced around her mother’s legs as she played hide and seek. Nyx smiled through her tears as she relived the memories of chasing Evangeline down the river bank and jumping out from behind hanging linens to scare her.
Evangeline… The only child born to Avyssos since Nyx was old enough to retain memories. The pregnancy was a miracle. Everyone showered her with food and blankets woven from the softest furs.
The holy men claimed that the babe growing in her womb was a sign from Chaos himself. Evangeline was the morning star and would guide them into salvation. Nyx didn’t have the heart to tell them that it was just a one in a million chance.
Evangeline’s mom, Adriana, had been sent to a trade post in search of autumn seeds to sow in hopes they would be blessed with ripe fruits and grains. Since the loss of her daughter Persephone, Demeter no longer blessed the fields of Olympia. They were left sullen and empty just as her heart was. The goddess of harvest and fertile lands left the world to die, just as it had left her only daughter.
