Page 80 of Winds of Destiny

Tiredness tugs at my limbs.

The wind feels like a living thing to which I feed my own energy, and I don’t have a lot of that left.Ophiucas, please, help me!I pray to my god, but I already know he’s not going to be able to do more, not trapped the way he is.

It doesn’t matter. What matters is keeping Shevara away from Turo, who’s still entrancedby my side, completely helpless. I have to keep him alive, I have to save him. We just need to last until the chimera is reborn, and then… Then his god will be in control.

I have no idea what the result of that will be, but I’m damned well going to be alive to see it, and so are Turo and Kai.

I’ll have to turn the wind on us and fly us away, which means that first I need to turn itawayfrom Shevara. It’ll be a race, and I don’t even know if Icanmake us fly, but I have to try.

Shevara is getting closer, fangs gleaming. Green pools in the back of his throat, ready to spray at us.

Hold him off just long enough to—

Suddenly, the snake god freezes. He could be a statue, he’s so still. I can see the venom still churning in his throat, but Shevara doesn’t release it, not even when I tentatively relax my hold on the wind. He’s locked in place, stuck for some reason. But why?

I look over to Embros for a clue just in time to see Dian jerking a paw-like hand, each finger tipped with a long, leonine claw, from where she’s dug it into his back. She’s limping, and her other arm looks broken, but no pain can diminish the pure satisfaction I see in her face as Embros topples over onto the floor.

Shevara slowly comes out of his shock.

There’s no time to think. I move on instinct, running over and grabbing Turo’s sword from its scabbard. Shevara has just enough time to twist his baleful head to stare straight at me before I swing as hard as I can and, with a shout, chop straight into the side of the snake god’s neck.

Blood gouts, and I pull back and cut again. This would never be possible anywhere else—Kamorans number in the tens of thousands, and they all worship Shevara. But this place has made immortals into something changeable, and Shevara’s only remaining connection to Inarime is dead. The snake god will survive, but he won’t behere.

With the last of his strength, he tries to lash out with his tail, perhaps get me in a coil and twist now that I’ve cut through over half of his neck. But I dodge it, hop right over the thick golden body, and strike one, three, five more times. I sever the spine on the fifth blow, and Shevara collapses in a writhing heap. Blood gets everywhere—on me, on Kai and Turo, even as far as Dian and Embros. Even as far as the altar itself.

And the altar reacts.

The lightning coalescing into a ball inside the blood-red curtain suddenly fizzles out. The barrier at the edge of the altar vanishes, and, a second later, our gods leap free of it, entirely themselves once more.

“What—”

Oh, wait.

I fulfilled the terms. I killed a god here.

This ritual began in death, and now it’s ended in death—even though Shevara wasn’t on the altar. The ritual must be over.

The thought disturbs me, and it takes a moment to understand why.Embros overcomplicated everything! He could have sacrificed Shevara and gotten the same damn result without involving any of the rest of us, that stupid—

“Cam!”

I stagger as Turo throws himself at me, wrapping me up tighter than Shevara would have for a moment before pulling back and staring at me like I’ve gone mad. “What did you do?”

“I…”I don’t know, I want to say, but the truth is that I just don’t want to say it out loud. Luckily for me, Kai is there a moment later, and now it’s my turn to grab and hold like I never want to let go again.

“I can’tbelieve you,” I say, half laughter and half tears. “I can’t believe you were going to let Embros cut you into—and you’re a prince! A fuckingprince!” I hit him on the shoulder—not hard, because he’s looking a bit fragile for a giant right now, but enough to let him know I’m not going to forget this part. “I’ve been married to my actual husband all along, and you didn’t think that was something I would want to know?”

“I…wanted to make sure you liked me first,” he mumbles against the crown of my head.

“Like you? I don’tlikeyou, you stupid, idiot, son of a— You think I like you? Iloveyou, you godsdamn ridiculous—and youliedto me, and I’mangryabout that, and I’m going to be angry for averylong time—”

“At least as long as it takes for us to get him into a bed,” Turo interjects, because he’s ajerk, and—

All of a sudden it hits me that this is real. Turo and Kai—Prince Eleas—whateverhis name is, they’re real. They love me, and I love them, and they even love each other. And they want togo tobed with me.

I might pass out from the sheer, glorious shock of it all.

“Breathe, Camrael.” Kai strokes my back gently. “Breathe. It’s all right, whatever’s going on in that wonderful head of yours. Just breathe, relax. We’ve got you now.”

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