Page 7 of Call of the Ride
I scowled as Nox’s words echoed in my head. He’d told me the reason the tale of Vasilisa the Beautiful was his favoriteskazkias a child was because I’d taken my fate into my own hands. Yet, I couldn’t help but notice there’d been a couple of instances when my Darkest Midnight had swooped in to take that choice away from me.
Along with his earthly presence.
Asa’s arms tightened around me from where he held the reins, enveloping me in his dark and sweet scent, calming my swirling emotions with his proximity. Traveling to the heart of humanity may not be ideal for me, but I was arriving with enough support to see me through. And if the trip resulted in us recovering Nox and finding the key to stop The Devouring, then I would endure whatever discomfort came along with the destination.
I was so caught up in my reverie that I didn’t notice we’d already arrived at the sacred grove until Asa was already dismounting. He then helped me down, and we joined the others by the towering oak behind the altar.
Marena was eyeing the tree with an unexpectedly anxious expression. “Are you having trouble accessing the door, Rena?” I gently asked, wondering if I could somehow use my powers to help her.
The goddess snapped her attention back to me. “Oh! No, I’m just realizing that usingthissort of access point—as opposed to one of Veles’ willows—may draw…unwanted attention our way.” Plastering on a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, she brightly laughed. “But, we all have work to do so, fuck it!”
It didn’t surprise me that the gods kept a close watch on who used which portal to go where, but Marena’s concern set me on edge. Remembering who the oaks symbolized, I ventured a guess. “Why would it matter ifPerunknew you were helping us reach London?”
She paused at the threshold within the massive trunk before turning to face me, her expression grim. “Trust me, Vasi, Perun does not care what I do. And I can’t imagine he’d take time away from hisbusyschedule of ruling from on high to follow anylessergods to a human city.” She entered the tree without further elaboration, the sharp resentment in her tone conveying this was a subject best left untouched.
Marena had already openly shared her questionable origins with me. Her mother, the earth goddess Mokosh, was consort of both Veles and the god of thunder, Perun. This left the parentage of Rena and her twin up for debate, but an epic battle had somehow resulted in Perun being identified as their sire. When her mother joined Veles in the Nav, Marena did as well, and it was clear she sawhimas her father, regardless of the official verdict.
Veles had proven himself more bark than bite. Mokosh was invested enough in stopping The Devouring to moonlight as a human and give birth to both Nox and Asa, for the greater good. Perun was apparently content with disinterestedly ruling from the Prav—the realm of the gods. I couldn’t think of any others in the Slavic pantheon powerful enough to evoke fear, especially in a fellow god.
Who exactly is Marena worried about?
Chapter 6
Asa
Marena wasn’t exaggerating when she said her shortcut to London would cut down on travel time. No sooner were we walking through the tunnels of the underworld than we were suddenly climbing out of a manhole near a massive courthouse.
No surprise that lawyers have easy access to hell…
Anthia huffed. “This is nowhere near Catty Lang’s! Couldn’t you have at least dropped us off in the correct neighborhood?”
“Not everything is about you,” Marena calmly replied, but before the swan could rage-shift, she smoothly elaborated. “I have an appointment at the Old Bailey with our family lawyer, so this was a convenient stop forme.I’m sure Tan can show some leg and get you a taxi to your hotel in no time.”
Not one to back down from a dare, Tan barked a laugh and strutted toward the curb. While he took care of that, I began gathering the luggage, most of which belonged to Anthia. I didn’t mind, simply because the swan shifter was important to Vasi. And I would do absolutely anything to make my witch happy—whether frying our enemies to a crisp or loading myself up like a bellhop desperate for tips.
And I can’t wait to get to that hotel room to collect.
Desire was racing through my veins again, and I stole a glance at Vasi, intending to send a blast her way. I frowned instead when I found her and Anthia involved in a heated discussion. I could only assume it was about Marena, as the swan was angrily gesturing toward where the goddess had disappeared into the courthouse.
It wasn’t surprising that the shifter was protective of Vasi, as she’d literally placed herself in Nox’s line of fire when we first met. However, I also suspected there was more going on here, although exactlywhatI couldn’t guess. Lord knows, women were an eternal mystery, not meant to be solved by the minds of men.
Especially by this formerly 1000% gay one.
I’d known from an early age I was attracted to men. However, with my father being a high-profile politician in southern society, I needed to suppress my desires for his public image. I kept up the charade when I joined the Facility, mostly for reasons of self-preservation amongst the homophobes. Of course, Tan quickly sniffed me out, despite my best efforts to play it straight.
Even with how close my mother and I were, we didn’t discuss my preferences until I started seriously dating Tan. Based on how she never pestered me about finding a nice southern girl, she probably already knew. This could have been because she was an actual goddess with all-knowing insight, but I rarely keep secrets from her, anyway.
Although there was plenty she hid from me.
Burying my resentment, I experimented with channeling my intuition outward, seeing if I could sense Nox in the surrounding air. I’d distinctly felt his presence in the grove, but as the experience with Vasi and Tan had been so mind-blowing, it was hard to pinpoint exactly how.
All I knew was I ached for Nox differently than I did for the others. He was my brother—in spirit, but also by blood—and the all-consuming need to find him was burning a hole in my gut. I recognized now that the anger I’d been sending his way over the past few months was more for Matthew than for him. And if I was really going to be honest, my issue with him and Vasi fucking was nothing more than petty jealousy.
He can fuck her all he wants if he’ll just come back to us.
I paused, irrationally hoping this thought would somehow coax Nox out of hiding, but of course, nothing happened. Swallowing my disappointment, I noticed Tan had successfully hailed a taxi and was ushering Anthia and Vasi into the backseat. He threw me a wink before hopping into the passenger seat, leaving me to squeeze in with my witch, not that I minded. I briefly wondered how my horns were going to fit before noticing Tan’s were passing through the roof, as if they were ghostly appendages not of this world.
After a dizzying ride through London traffic, we pulled in front of a brick building that looked more hipster storefront than a hotel. Anthia must have alerted the staff to our arrival as a small army was waiting for us outside with bottles of champagne and elaborate fruit baskets. Vasi spotted the receiving line and started shrinking into her seat, causing a possessive growl to escape my lips.
