Nyx is the only monster all other monsters fear, and I’d love nothing more than to be the one to put her down.
Her power and mind games are a poison that once fully set in slowly eats you alive. I’m not even sure what to say or do at this point.
“What the fuck?” I’m nothing if not simple with my words.
We both stand and stare into oblivion as the clock near the stove tick, tick, ticks annoyingly above our heads. Grabbing two empty wine glasses off the counter, I push them toward her. “Do the witch thing where you fill these up with only the best wine. The strongest there is.”
She waves a hand above them, making a glowing white liquid appear in the glasses, and I know it’s Holy Chardonnay before it even touches my lips. I savor the numbing sensation that ensues shortly after. Better than the Saintly Rosé most celestials enjoy. That wine will have me dancing, singing, and staying awake for days. I’m not much in the mood for dancing today.
“In Vino Veritas,” she mutters, clinking her glass against mine.
“What truths, Hekate? I’m not so sure I can handle anymore confessions today.” I bring the wine to my lips, gulping it all down quickly. I need to numb the pain, to calm the raging storm rising within me. She just stares at me unblinking, and I sigh heavily. “Fine. Start talking.”
She refills my glass then turns on her heels and heads for the living room. I follow behind her and slump into the recliner, clutching the armrest with my free hand as she gracefully takes a seat on the oversized couch. She crosses her legs. “Ask anything you’d like Kairos. I’m an open book. You deserve to know the truth.”
I take a small sip of my wine knowing if I drink this one too quickly, I’ll be passed out near the waves with seagulls pecking at my wings within the hour. I wave a hand in her direction. “A fucking queen in the flesh. I still can’t believe it.” I flash her a crooked smile and shake my head. “All it took for you to remember was someone simply speaking your name,” I breathe. “Do you think it’s the same for the gods? We speak their names and suddenly they just exist again in our minds? They got a message to you, and called themselves gods to Nora’s parents, which means they haven’t forgotten who they are. I can’t understand why they don’t want us to remember. What the hell are they hiding from?”
She smiles, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she glances up, pondering my words, and then her smile fades. “What are they hiding from, or what are they hiding from us, is what I wonder. I also wonder why I was forgotten. What else we might be forgetting. I remember a whole life where I was known as the Queen of Witchcraft, and yet, I cannot remember any god or goddess from before. Not one. Kings and queens were always known for having close ties with them, and yet, nothing.” She taps her temple and then shakes her head. “There are glitches in my memory, in all our memories, and once I remembered who I was it’s all I can seem to think about.” Her shoulders lift slightly and then she brings her glass to her lips, her gaze far away and lost in a distant time. “Who or what is powerful enough to make us all forget? But why is the question that has been driving me mad for a couple of decades. Allas, I cannot find any gods or goddesses who exist in any of the realms, so maybe it’ll be another couple of decades before we know the truth. Or centuries, who knows?” She throws herself back against the couch and sighs heavily.
Nyx’s hellhounds in the alley told me things I assumed were lies because I don’t remember them, but what if Hekate is right and there are many things I’ve forgotten? Things other than the lost gods who we’ve all forgotten somehow. No, that monster and I were never friends or anything like it. It was likely just more of her mind games, fucking with me to see if she could get a rise out of me. I can’t lie and say Hekate isn’t right, though. There are definite glitches in my memory. Not during my time with Mera, but of whatever came before. It’s almost like nothing existed until a few years before she was created, but maybe that’s just what love does. It makes everything before feel meaningless and unimportant, like nothing was real until love took hold of your life.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her, leaning forward and clasping my hands around my glass. “I guess I’ve always just told myself the truth will reveal itself one day. That when they’re ready they’ll show themselves again.” I gaze into my glass, spinning the liquid within in a small circle. “I always assumed it was because of us. Because of my people. We disgraced them and they needed time away.” I clench my jaw and look up at her. “We were never meant to be this way,” I whisper, raising my wings up for emphasis.
Hekate’s eyes soften and she straightens, setting her glass on the floor near her feet. “No, Kairos. You believe in fate. In destiny. Things happen as they’re meant to. You are not less of a celestial than the others because your wings have turned. It’s not your fault.” She smiles over at me, a kind and compassionate curve of her lips, one that says she takes pity on me.
“No, it’s not my fault or my soldiers or Mera’s fault. Nyx ruined the peace of the realms. She pitted us against each other. Mera and I led our army into a battle against darkness, and in doing so, this is what we became. We let the darkness seep in. We went against my father’s wishes thinking we were protecting the Realm of Light, and the gods, I believe, could not forgive us. There is no one to blame for this other than your Queen of Darkness,” I spit, anger coursing through me. “Speaking of that vile creature, how the hell could you ever love her?”
This time she’s the one to tip her glass all the way back, sucking down every drop of the glowing substance. It might as well be Novocain. “We did love each other once.” She sits her cup down, inhaling deep as she rolls her shoulders. “It was before she was banished from the Realm of Light. Long before your people were cast out.” Her eyes soften as they move up to my black wings, the constant reminder of being shunned by the Gods. “She wasn’t always bad, Kairos. I let her down. She needed me and I failed her. Sometimes, I don’t blame her for being so hellbent on getting vengeance. I would be pissed, too.”
I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “You trained Nyx to use her power, if I remember correctly? Then you betrayed her by going to the king and queen and informing them she had fallen a bit too deep into darkness.” I swallow, clenching my jaw and averting my gaze. “The punishment which led to the mutilation of her wings and her vengeance against the realms. I couldn’t remember before what happened, but ever since you showed your true self to me, I remember everything. You chose trying to save innocent people over your love for her. I can’t even begin to imagine how hard that must have been.”
She nods, wiping her cheeks with trembling fingers and leaning back against the plushness of the couch. “I didn’t know they would hurt her. I just…” she shakes her head, shrugging her shoulders weakly. “I only wanted to save her from herself. She had no idea what harm she put herself in by diving headfirst into darkness. I never should have trained her to wield that kind of power, knowing the kind of darkness she held within her.”
Nyx got what she deserved. She turned evil and corrupt as soon as she began playing with dark magic. I feel no pity for her, not after everything she has taken from me and my people. Though, a part of me understands her hatred or desire for revenge. Our wings are sacred.
At least when the celestials fell from grace the gods allowed us to keep our wings.
“You still love her. Despite everything she has done and everything she has taken from us… you’re still in love with her.” It’s not a question. I can see it in her eyes. There’s no denying her love for Nyx.
She sniffles, pulling her legs up and wrapping her arms around them. “I do.”
“You think you can help her.” I stand, pacing in front of the sliding glass doors, the sheer curtains blowing as a breeze whips in through the crack Hekate left open earlier to banish the negative energy.
It felt stuffy in here then and even more so now. The air is stale and hot and suffocating.
She doesn’t look at me. She stares past me as if lost in her own thoughts, disconnected from reality. “I do.” Her whispered words are hoarse and faint, the feel of her aura as weak as she now looks.
“Hekate, I need you to know that I will rip her heart straight out of her chest the moment I get the chance to.” My words are harsh and true, and I’m still pacing, not even looking at her.
I won’t sugar coat shit for her just because she loves the bitch. My hatred runs thick and deep. It’s much deeper than the abyss that lies below the flaming Pit in the Underworld, the one Nyx and her little monsters crawl out of each morning. My words set her soul on fire.
She jumps up, glaring at me with glowing eyes and her blue power glimmering to life around her. “You will do no such thing,” she spits, her hands clenched into small fists at her sides. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. No idea what she has been through.”
I come to a stand still, lightning dancing at my fingertips and sparking along the outline of thick veins on my forearms as I step toward her. “Whose side are you on, Hekate? There is no grey area when it comes to darkness vs. light. There is no in between. You either stand with the witches and celestials… or fall victim to Nyx and the demons.” Lightning flashes across my vision, the anger raging deep within me.
I trusted the witch before, the way she cares for Nora and protects her is admirable, but if my fated mate’s life is at risk because of her being here, then it’s time for her to leave.
“I am on Nora’s side. She comes first no matter what.” Her words are stiff and forced, but her eyes soften as her power fades. “Sit down, Kairos. There’s more we must discuss. It’s important you understand the entire situation.” She tips her head toward the chair, her golden crown appearing and reminding me she is not just a witch, but a queen commanding me to take a seat.
