Page 138 of Spellbound
He scoffed. “Vengeance and hatred have twisted you into something I don’t recognize.”
“Whose fault is that?” she snapped, her smile falling into a hard line. “If you and your sisters hadn’t come”—her nostrils flared—“I wouldn’t be this person.”
He laughed sardonically. “Give me a fucking break. You knew what you were doing. I never had control over those hounds, and you knew it. You used it as an excuse, so you wouldn’t feel as guilty for killing my sister!” he shouted. “After everything I did for you.”
Tears swam in her eyes, and a ghost of the girl she once was, before all of this, crossed her expression. “Everyone hurt me. I had no choice. I took my power back.”
“I didn’t hurt you. You never told me what happened to your son. I had no fucking idea. All I did was love you, and you broke me. You tore apart my family, and for that, I will never forgive you!” he shouted, his tone manic, speaking what I was sure he’d wanted to scream for the past century. “Your selfishness cost me all that’s dear to me, so yes, I’m fucking glad Elle is nothing like you because she actually has a heart and that’s why I love her and could never, ever love you.”
My lips parted. Had I heard him right?
He stepped toward her again, closing the distance between them. His lips pulled back, baring his teeth. “You always were afraid of death.”
Panic flitted in her eyes. “Raiden.”
“Now you can face it.” He grabbed her by her throat and lifted her off her feet. Lucius ran at him, but Raiden sped to the other side of the room with Freya and slammed her into the marble wall. I jolted as the entire wall crackled, trembling the fireplace and fracturing the mirror above it.
Lucius screamed at them as her eyes emptied, her head toppling from her shoulders and rolling on the floor. Raiden turned, dropping her body to the ground, and tilted his head at Lucius. Blood had swept over his features, and his eyes were wild with rage, his jaw tight as he sped at his father.
Their collision rocked the room, but rage guided Raiden as he wrapped his hands around his father’s throat and whispered in his ear through gritted teeth. “This is for Aziel and Leda, mother fucker.”
“You don’t have the guts,” Lucius taunted, cackling. “You’re the same now as you were when you were a child: a coward, always with your sisters. Perhaps they rubbed off on you.”
Raiden’s laugh echoed right through me. “It seems it served me well.”
I went to run to help him, but Thalia slipped out from a shadow behind them before I could move. She pulled a sword from her scabbard and moved it through the air with deadly precision, not even a slither of hesitation on her cold features. Raiden let go, moving back just as the sword sliced through Lucius’s neck and sent his head rolling. Blood pooled along the glossy floor, trickling like a stream toward where I stood.
Thalia closed her eyes as the spirit of the underworld flowed into her. A crown of diamonds and bone formed on her head, entwining with her silky hair. She opened her silvery eyes and faced her brother.
“Sister.”
“I wanted this,” she said before he could continue. “I was always lost among the dead when I was alive. I can rule this place fairer than our father ever did.”
His gaze searched hers. “I can stay.”
She peered around him, glancing at me. “I don’t think you want that. Besides, I’m perfectly content here. I have a million souls to keep me company, and many demons who are happy to satisfy any desires I may have.”
My breath hitched, and my eyes bulged. I averted my eyes, looking instead at Freya’s broken and crumpled body.
“Fuck, Thalia. Too much,” he said, voicing what I was thinking.
“Go be with your girl.”
I held my breath when he turned to face me. He was covered in blood, his hair disheveled, and a dark unsatisfied rage swam in his blue eyes. He took long strides, closing the distance between us. Thalia sped out of the room, a knowing smile on her face.
He pressed a bloodied finger against my chin and tilted my head upward to look at him. “I would never hurt you.” He must’ve mistaken my expression for fear.
“I’m not scared of you.”
“I enjoyed it,” he admitted as if it would push me away.
I splayed my fingers against his chest. “So did I when I killed Freya. It wasn’t like Alexander, when I was plagued with guilt. Freya deserved it. She was a monster.” I’d confessed something I hadn’t even admitted to myself, until now. I’d felt powerful when I pushed the dagger in her, delighting in the violence when her life was in my hands. She’d taken so much from everyone, from good people, so when I heard her last breath, I’d felt no guilt. “Maybe I’m not as good as you like to think.”
He shook his head, an incredulous stare in his eyes as he lowered his lips to mine. I tasted Freya’s blood on them, but I didn’t care. “You’re good, baby girl,” he whispered against my lips. “With a taste for the dark. There’s nothing wrong with that.” He walked me backward and pushed me against a wall. His arm was next to my face, his hand against the marble pressing cold against my back. “It comes with being a goddess. You’re stronger than anyone now. You can bring down entire buildings if you want. No one can make you do anything you don’t want to again.” His gaze burned into mine. “An immortality to match your fierce heart.”
I ran my fingers around his neck, kissing him with an animalistic ferocity. I bit his bottom lip until I heard him moan against me, rocking his hips against mine. “I love you,” I whispered when I pulled back an inch, feeling freedom in those three words. “Maybe too much.”
“I don’t believe in too much.” He kissed me harder, ripping my pants down. “My Elle,” he said, ripping my top off and baring my breast. “My love.”
