Page 123 of The Legacy of Ophelia
And Moirenna said, “Even gods can die.”
Chapter Forty-Five
Ophelia
Jezebel leanedher head on my shoulder in the doorway of her room in the guest house, the desert quiet in the night. The doors to the dunes were thrown wide, the moon speckling the ground, but despite the calm night, panic had gripped my chest all day since we fought Echnid.
“Why do you think he left?” Jezebel whispered as she dragged her fingertips through the sand gathered along the entrance.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Maybe it has to do with how the Angels can’t enter the capitol. Or perhaps Echnid used too much magic against Moirenna.”
Both ideas felt like the beginnings of a puzzle. The frayed threads that would contribute to a tapestry, but…we were missing something vital.
Jezebel sighed, watching the khrysaor and Sapphire frolic through the sky. “I’m so relieved you’re back.”
Kissing the top of her head, I asked, “How are things with Erista?”
“Good.” Jez smiled and bit her lip, blushing softly. “We talked earlier, and she promises she didn’t know anything aboutour Godsblood. She said she doesn’t care about it, and even if her father tried to use it to their political advantage, she’d stand against him.”
“You believe her, right?” I checked. She’d been so hurt when that revelation had come out in the Hall of Wandering Souls, and whileIthought Erista was telling the truth—especially after seeing how little she seemed to share her father’s love for splendor—it only mattered that Jezebel was confident in that, too.
“I would have stood against him on my own to defend my blood,” Jez began. “But it’s nice to know she would stand by me.”
My heart inflated at that, tears stinging my eyes. “You’re feeling okay after the gorgons?”
She scoffed, turning fiery tawny eyes up to me. “Everyone seemed to freak out about it.”
“Youwereshot with a poisoned arrow,” I reminded her.
“My myth magic took care of it.” She shrugged, faltering.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I just…wish I understood it better. I’m grateful for the power, don’t misunderstand, but I wish I knewwhywe had it.”
We had Godsblood, sure, but so did everyone in our mother’s line. Why had the myth chosen us? Why now? What did we contain that those before us lacked? Was it as simple as the Angelblood in the Alabath line mixing with the Godsblood as it had to wake my Curse, or was it a hand dealt by the Fates?
“I don’t know,” I agreed, shaking my head. “All I know is that I’m thrilled it took care of whatever poison the gorgon laced her arrow with.”
“All in a day’s work,” Jezebel said, flicking her hair over her shoulder.
“That’s a horrifying thought.”
“It’s sort of fitting for the horrifying reality we’re facing then, isn’t it?”
Something inside of me went cold at the words, the panic in my chest digging in sharpened claws. “Yes, the horrifying reality…” I mused, light flaring in my vision.
Jezebel sat up straighter. “Don’t do that.”
“What?” I blinked away the power budding beneath my skin.
“Act like it’s all on you.”
I sighed, biting back a rush of magic, my heart pounding over my words. “Jez, I?—”
“You what?” she challenged, and seraph power pushed at the surface of my skin. Grasped for a release. “You suffered for us all? You were tormented and drugged by a deranged god? You take all of this so that we don’t have to?”
With each question, my magic thrashed.
