He empties the rest of his bottle down his throat, then tosses it behind him. I flinch from the piercing sound of glass shattering. In seconds, he’s unscrewing the top to another.
“Rella stumbled back from me as I scrambled off the bed and tried to explain. I fell to my knees, begging, pleading for her to listen to me. I’ll never forget watching every ounce of emotion she had in her fade away. It was like a whole different goddess stood before me.
“She left the room wordlessly, and I broke. Right there on my knees. Behind me, that fu—Sabe laughed. She said, ‘Don’t worry about her. She’ll get over it and come around. If she doesn’t, it won’t matter. You have me, and I can be her anytime you need me to be.’
“When I stood up and turned around, one minute, she was the Goddess of Seduction, the next…my love. Then she changed back, wearing a smile of smug victory. She tossed her head back, laughing as I wiped a tear from my cheek. The high-pitched melody stabbed me through the heart like a dagger laced in death. I snapped. My power roared out of me, and we waged war on one another. I got the best of her, and I had no intention of stopping.”
“Why did you?” I ask low.
“I didn’t. Suma and Kira appeared and dragged me off her. They placed me in restraints as they worked on healing her. It took a month for her to regain consciousness. At that point, my side of the story didn’t matter. I crossed a line and almost killed one of our counterparts. They decreed my disownment. Even Suma.”
My jaw locks as shame washes over him.
“Let me get this straight. She used her power,trickedyou into having sex with her by imitating another Beginning God, the love of your life. You snapped, as anyone would, which led to two Beginning Gods battling it out, and in the end, the one who was wronged—you—were punished for that?”
“I was the one who took it too far. I know what would have happened to the realm if I had killed her. Maybe if I hadn’t taken it that far, then the outcome would’ve been different. Maybe the others would’ve heard me out, and they wouldn’t have sided with Seduction because of the condition I left her in. But because I did that, then showed no remorse for it, they stood firm in their decision.”
He believes he took it too far…
She raped him.
How much fucking further did she need to go for his actions to be justified?
“Anywhos, Rella and I have never been the same. I crawled on my knees and begged for forgiveness, understanding, something. She told me she needed time and space. So I left. But before that, I swore I was taking something Seduction cared about with me, and that was power.”
“That’s when you stole her Binding.”
“Righty-O. I strolled up to her house, a touch tipsy, and told her she was right, I wanted her. She let me in with a bat of her lashes. As she went tofreshen up, I located her Binding and left without another word. Spent me a good few hundred years in the nonmagical realm.”
My head jerks and my eyes widen.
“The nonmagical realm?”
“Yep. Drank and partied my sorrows away with those curious creatures. It was a blast.”
“And you what? Just left the Bindings there when you came back?”
“Left…no. Lost them in a card game with a strange magical fellow. There were pockets of communities in the nonmagical realm where all of us other-realmly beings got together. The mortals weren’t clueless about our existence but too afraid of the unknown to truly acknowledge the vast majority. I had every intention of eventually hunting down the Bindings and getting them back, but a little over two hundred and twenty-five years ago, Val showed up and dragged me back home.”
He laughs like it’s a fond memory before taking another drag of his drink. I sit here stunned, staring at him in disbelief.
“I’m sorry. Come again. The God of Boundaries came and got you?”
“Oh,” he says, wide-eyed, wiping the stream of liquid off his chin. “I was supposed to leave that part out.”
“Well, you didn’t, so clarify.”
He huffs, shrugging like he doesn’t really give a fuck.
“Yes, yes. Val dragged me back kicking and screaming. Told me to pull myself together. A prophecy that was going to change the realm had just been told.”
He points, wiggling his finger and giggling at me.
“Got any guesses who the prophecy was about, little troublling?”
“No fucking clue,” I scoff, tearing my attention from him.
“Let me tell you, it’s a fucking story.” A boisterous laugh belts out of him and tapers off as he smiles down at his bottle. “The tale of five gods that could bring the ultimate obliteration or the ultimate salvation.”
