I will not fail.
I will not falter.
She had too much to lose.
Artemis leaned forward and kissed her forehead. A surge of power went through Kody as she felt her uncle’s powers embracing and invading her body. It, too, was like a warm hug.
Acheron …
He had been with her since the moment of her birth. Always there, always laughing and helping her parents. Him and her aunt, Tory and their kids …
So many wonderful memories.
So many nightmares.
With a gasp, she threw her head back and cried out. Birth, even rebirth, was always painful. It felt as if her entire body was being ripped to shreds. Scrubbed raw with a scouring pad.
Fire ran through her veins, pounding with such ferocity, she was sure she’d die again.
Then, suddenly, it stopped. Still shaking, she lay curled in a ball at Artemis’s feet. Honestly, she was too scared to move for fear it might bring the pain back to her.
The Greek goddess knelt down to brush her hair from her forehead. “Are you all right?”
Kody nodded even though she wasn’t completely sure. The way she felt, she wasn’t sure she’d ever be okay again.
But the longer she lay there, unmoving, the more everything faded.
All the pain. It left her feeling as if she were inside a warm cocoon.
Artemis held a long, graceful hand out to her.
Kody took it without hesitation and allowed the goddess to pull her to her feet.
She wasn’t sure what to expect. It’d taken her forever to get used to the first body she’d been brought back in. While some of it was familiar, most of it had been like wearing a Halloween costume from someone else.
Heck, she’d even flinched a few times when she caught sight of her reflection.
But this time … She looked down at her hands and saw the same rosy beige skin tone she’d been born with.
Smiling, Artemis manifested a mirror to show her what she looked like. “Is this what you wanted?”
Stunned and grateful, Kody stared at the visage of someone she knew intimately. Not the reflection of a stranger.
Her familiar heart-shaped face framed a pair of greenish-gold eyes that were identical to her mother’s. Though she’d never reached the height of her parents or brothers, she was still taller than most.
Most of all, she loved seeing her mother’s genes reflected back.
Artemis lowered the mirror. “You look just like her.”
“Pardon?”
“Bethany. She’s the only one who ever set my brother back on his shins. You’ve no idea how much I loved your mother, and you look just like her.”
Screwed-up idiom aside, Kody took that as the world’s greatest compliment.
Artemis dissolved the mirror, then held her hand out to manifest a bow.
No, not any bow.
