Page 68 of Gods of Prey
Sebastian tilts his head, lips pursing out into a small frown. “Don’t push yourself, Stardust. We have plenty of time,” he warns in a low, protective tone that I’m sure he thinks we can’t hear.
I want to shake him. We don’t have time. The cosmos are literally coming apart at the seams, and he’s acting like they’re on vacation.
But Jovie smiles politely and nods. “I know.”
We fall into a comfortable silence with the sound of Revel moving around the kitchen filling the space. He’s taken to cooking his own meals ever since he realized he can’t stand the mortal palette. Sebastian and Jovie have tried to muscle their way in and help, but he always shoos them away.
Unsurprisingly, he has to control this aspect of his life as well.
It’s Jovie who breaks the silence when she asks, “What did you do for your punishment?” Her hands are wringing in her lap, eyes wide in curiosity. “You never told me, and I feel like it would be good information to have before trying to plead a case before this council.”
Bash’s eyes immediately flit to mine, the same guarded expression he always wears whenever the topic comes up. Only this time, it’s warring against his desire not to lie to his wife. There’s a question in his stare.Can he share the forbidden information with her?
I want to shake my head. Not because I don’t trust her or Revel, who has gone still against their kitchen island. It’s a kneejerk reaction from centuries of responding this way—evade, deflect, and distract. That’s what I’ve trained myself to do.
“We can’t tell anyone the truth of what happened here,” I mutter into my chest, my voice nearly a whisper. I feel too broken to speak. To think.
The things we witnessed today were straight out of a nightmare. The power of the Divine Council has stretches beyond what any of us ever realized. If they continue like this unchecked, there’s no telling what it could do to the balance of our realms. Of the entire universe.
Still, they’ll pay for their actions. For ripping away the one thing that mattered to me based on politics and power. I don’t care if it takes me thousands of years. I’ll get my revenge, even as the lowly Goddess of Death.
Sebastian tips his chin in a single nod of confirmation. “They’ll punish us for this.”
My arms fly into the air, gesturing to the destruction surrounding us. “What more can they do?”
His expression remains stoney. Where I’m filled with rage, ready to tear the realms apart, he’s devastated. Depleted.
I’ll do anything to avoid seeing this haunted look on my brother’s face ever again.
“I fell in love with a male from another realm,” I explain slowly, making a point not to look toward the kitchen and meet Revel’s intense stare at my admission.
“What’s so wrong about that?” Jovie asks, looking toward Bash.
“He was fae,” he supplies in a careful voice.
I can see Revel's eyebrows lift from my peripherals at the admission, and I frown. This is exactly why I didn’t want to tell him on the plane.
Gods and fae have been at odds since before any of us had been born. Thousands of years. The conflict has run so long, there’s hardly any beings around who can remember where it all began. Their realm, Velvareth, sits far away from ours and has been completely disconnected in every sense.
“Is that bad?”
Sebastian nods.
“So, you dated a guy from a different realm. That earned you fifty lifetimes?”
“He wasn’t just from adifferentrealm. He was from an enemy realm and he wouldn’t have been here if he were following the law,” Revel supplies from the kitchen with a pointed look. I only glare back at his self-righteousness.
“Ashric was in Nytheris for work,” I bite out a little too harshly. Thankfully, Jovie seems to understand that the harsh tone is not meant for her. “To regain access to Umbraeth for their souls to find eternal peace. He was cooperating with the Divine Council.”
Revel just shakes his head, that same familiar look of hatred that every god wears toward the fae plastered across his face.
“Ash grew very sick during his time in our realms,” Sebastian goes on to explain. “Sienna asked if I could use my Life energy to heal him and I obliged. I had no idea it was such a crime.”
“Itwasn’ta crime,” I rush to correct. “He was doing amazing work here. We were close to a deal. His passing would have nullified all the work he accomplished.”
“I’m surethat’swhat your motivation was,” Revel snarks back sarcastically. I offer him a look so lethal, it would kill him if I weren’t stuck in this gods-forsaken form.
“Don’t you dare try to speak on something you’ve never experienced,” I practically roar, throwing his words from before back in his face mercilessly.
