Page 3 of Of Vows and War: Special Edition
The arrogant prick walked at my side, standing as tall and foreboding as ever. His violet trousers and jacket hugged every ripple of muscle, forming nearly a second skin. Pale fingers flattened his lapels, straightening out the open jacket that showed the black button-up below. Striking was truly the only word that could describe Padon.
I sure would’ve liked to strike him, that was.
Asta would have. She was the only one who never feared him, other than Stella. What I wouldn’t give to will her and Sol back to me. To bring my best friends home and reunite my family. Instead, Padon and I walked into the meeting room, and I listened as he slid the door closed. For some reason, it felt like my fate was being sealed, too.
Iniko stood first, a glowing smile upon his face. The holder of Chaos and Order, with ribbons of sapphire hair and skin the color of midnight, was easily one of the most handsome males I had ever seen. Somehow, he was also even more insufferable than Padon.
“Stassi, you’re looking exceptionally lovely this morning.” His words caressed the air between us, which he quickly closed by walking to us and offering me his arm. My hand flew out, smacking him so hard that he hissed in pain. Padon, for all of his uptightness, smirked down at me, placing a kiss to my hair. Before I could swat him too, he hastily made his way to his seat at the head of the table. Groaning, I looked back to Iniko. “I thought you would be more agreeable after your vacation. Were the mortals not skilled enough to settle you?”
With a scoff, I glared into his vibrant blue eyes. “What makes you think I would ever be agreeable towards you of all creatures?”
Shoving him, I tried to make my way to my own seat, but the idiot grabbed my arm. A growl crawled up my throat, slowly vibrating throughout my body. One day I would tear himapart limb from limb. “I think that you, like your mother, are perpetually unsatisfied.”
“My mother had taste,” I hissed, looking him up and down. He knew what I was insinuating—that I marked him as unworthy for being rejected by her so long ago. The others shuffled nervously within their seats, all of them watching Iniko and I. Each of them was used to how things had been before I left. Before I knew what I could be with a little more magic within my veins.
“Yes, that father of yours was something, wasn’t he? At least he, unlike you, knew his place. He was comfortable in his limitations, content with the little magic he had. Why can’t you be the same?” A smile stretched his lips and lifted his cheeks, the look of satisfaction and victory making my blood heat. I simmered until, finally, Iniko made his bed. “Though, I would hate to drag your husk of a body to the sacred grounds like his.”
With a guttural scream, I boiled over, grabbing his neck with one hand and bringing my fist into his nose with the other. Chairs scraped against wood at the same time I used Iniko’s surprise—his arrogance—against him, digging my fingers into his neck and squeezing with all my strength. His large body teetered back as I shoved my weight into him, sending us both to the gray marble floors. Not sparing a moment, I dug my knee into his chest and tightened my hold on his throat. With the knowledge that someone would soon stop me, I hastily brought my lips to his ear, whispering ever so softly, “You’re right, Iniko. I’m not my father. When you look at me, know that I’m every bit my mother’s daughter. Like her, I see you for what you are. The scum beneath my foot.”
Padon’s arms wrapped around my waist then, his hands familiar and unwanted. But I didn’t fight back when he pulled me off Iniko, who was blinking up at me in shock. And Eternityspare me, it feltgoodto watch him stutter upon his words. “She—she attacked me! What are—what did—do something, Padon!”
I lunged, trying to dig my claws into the bumbling fool and rip out his blue eyes.
“Enough!” Padon shouted, practically tossing me into my pink chair, my elbow smacking into the armrest and pulling a reluctant gasp of pain from me. “We have a war to win!”
“Actually, it’s more of a conquering,” Jonah added nonchalantly from his seat. Iniko quickly stood, scrambling to his chair as Padon sighed in annoyance. Our oh so fearless emperor pinched the bridge of his nose, tilting his head back as if to seek patience from above. He would find none.
“Call it what you want, but we need to decide what our next steps will look like. The low demons are restless, just as we are. Not only have the gems nearly lost all of their light, but we now face the repercussions of too many years of complacency. The loss of magic will bleed our stability from the air if we’re not quick.” Padon gripped the back of his chair, the deep purple of it nearly black. I watched with more annoyance than I thought I had within me as he stroked one of the skulls absentmindedly with his long pointer finger.
Stella and Achari’s seats were absent, but their gems still floated above us, a chilling reminder of what pride could do to someone. The once-empress’s gem was dark, the black and white swirled rock absent of the magic that once pulsed within it—of Stella’s magic. Her husband’s wasn’t as bad, his brother’s magic vast enough that we didn’t suffer too much from the loss of Time and Void. But without Char’s seed of magic, that ancient golden light that had existed longer than life itself, then we would soon see the repercussions of his absence too.
Sun and Moon, that we would surely lose everything without. We didn’t have Stella or Solana, no relatives strong enough to hold together the gem. If it broke, so would we. Fury filled me atthe knowledge that we wouldn’t be in this mess if Stella were still here.
“Well maybe we shouldn’t be wasting our time looking for an annoying little mortal girl, and instead should be begging Stella for forgiveness.” Silence barreled into the room at my comment, beating down our breaths and shoving into our hearts—stilling them. I dragged my gaze up to Padon’s, his aubergine eyes and my rose ones locking. The two of us glared at each other, allowing the hatred in our chests to rise, filling us like an empty cup and threatening to overflow.
His grip tightened on the back of his chair, my own squeezing the arms of mine tight enough to hurt. No one else moved, their eyes flicking up to the gems before settling on whichever of us they sided with. I meant what I said, and they all knew I was right, even if they wouldn’t admit it. Still, the proud asshole pushed on with his ridiculous agenda.
“We don’t need Stella. Asher possesses something far grander. I can and will make her more, and she will save us all. We must first take her pathetic excuse for a world, though, so let’s get back to—”
I stood, my chair wobbling slightly from the speed with which I moved. My fists came down onto the table, the booming sound of my wrath echoing in the still silent room. I pointed a finger at the high demon of Death and Creation—the moron who let Asher think him a god for the sake of that very ego that was dooming us today.
“You have cursed us all with your selfishness. If Stella sat upon that seat, we wouldn’t suffer in this way. But you banished her because she refused to force her daughter back to you. Because she refused to submit to your heartless will. Because she didn’t wish to put her daughter through more agony! And now you stand there, acting as if this isn’t all your fault, still being asreckless as ever! Your little princess won’t replace what was lost! Get it through that thick skull of yours!”
Padon’s fury won out then. He lifted his chair, throwing it across the room before appearing before me in a cloud of sparkling, violet smoke. I had no time to dodge his strike, forced to take the slap that sent my head whipping to the left. A burning sensation lit my face, the sting traveling from my cheek and down into my soul, where this great crime would fester beside all his others.
“How dare you! What would you have me do, Anastasia? Take pity on the creatures who practically stole my wife? Who our aloof empress had wasted her time on? The very beings who have lived in the safety of my absence for the last fifteen thousand years? I took an abandoned throne that was meant to be mine since the moment Asta was born! I brought our world back from the brink of destruction!”
“You doomed us all!” My screams cut off his rant, Karys gasping as her orange magic flared. Her hold on Love and Hatred was likely slipping, or perhaps she was making this all worse. One could always count on a demon to choose the way of anger. It was one of the few things we felt strongly enough to act on with such passion. “Asta wasn’t yours, Padon! She didn’t want you anymore! And because of you I never got to say goodbye to her or Stella. You took them from me whether you want to admit that or not!”
“Fine, you want Stella so badly? Then go find her! Do what you wish, Stassi. But know this: if you leave Shamay, you will not be allowed back. I will gladly watch you suffer the same fate as your wonderful empress,” he seethed the words, his jaw clenched tightly as he spoke. I could do nothing but rear back in surprise, my thoughts swarming, my creature at the center of the storm.
“What about Asher? Who will get her for you?” The question was littered with anxiety. So obvious was my desire to go back—though none of them would know why—that Padon had thought of the perfect punishment. Force me to remain on Shamay and I would suffer deeply.
“That isn’t your business anymore.” The words were no less than a damnation, made all the more clear by the way Padon portaled away from me, retrieving his chair and not looking at me again. For some reason, despite my constant desire to be anywhere else, the thought of banishment awakened poignant feelings of utter terror within me. “Leave. Now.”
The others stared on, Venturae’s green eyes betraying the unsettling way she was scrutinizing how this would affect Fate and Chance, the two locking even us within their confines. That was the thing about living and breathing, it made you a slave—a prisoner—to the ethers and their reckoning. There was no escape from the future—no fighting destiny. Even Venturae, with all of her immense magic, could only do so much in the way of fighting what Eternity had written within the cosmos. This moment felt like an inevitability that would only spiral from here.
With a growl of frustration, I kicked my chair and portaled away, breaking into a run the moment my bare feet met the icy bite of the snow upon the mountaintop. My flimsy blush dress whipped in the fierce wind, my sleek locks blowing back in a wave of vibrant pink.
