Page 83 of Spellbound
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Howling erupted throughthe night, shattering the silence in the forest around the house.
Freya glanced from me to the door, her eyes widening. She could sense them, I was sure. The gods must have been close, as must Lucius.
I scratched the back of my hand with my nails, their polish chipping, and cursed under my breath. I stared at the oak dining table. I don’t know why I’d tried to send another magic quill. It was utterly pointless. I couldn’t leave the house, and my magic didn’t work—both because of Alexander, whom I’d tried and failed to talk into dropping the barrier.
There was only one other option, and the thought curdled my last meal of rabbit that Freya had put on the table. Alexander joined us, sweeping down and landing a kiss on Freya’s cheek. “My love,” he whispered against her skin as he pulled away. “They are near.”
“Yes.” Her red lips pulled into a small smile as the sky darkened, shadowing the trees through the window behind Freya. “Lucius will stop them before they reach us. They must have found her trail.” Her gaze danced to mine. “Once they pass through the barrier Lucius placed around the forest, they will be trapped.”
My eyes snapped toward hers. “You used me to lure them here. To trap them.”
“Yes,” she said nonchalantly. “Fear not. Once the night is over, you will be taken back to your coven. Alexander convinced me to let you go.”
My chest grew hollow as I looked up at him. It made what I needed to do even harder. “This is not right.”
“Do not pity them.” She looked me down. “They have had centuries to live.”
“Where do they go when they die? To Estia?”
She shook her head. “When a god is replaced, they go to the underworld.”
The thought sent a shudder through me. “Lucius’s domain.”
“They can’t inhabit another body again.”
“Leda’s soul is there.”
She nodded. “I am certain it is.”
My eyes widened. “Lucius is their father. How can he torture his own children? To wish them dead?”
“Bless your mortal heart.” She sighed, looking at me as if I were a ten-year-old. “The realms are not like this world, nor are those who inhabit them. Lucius and Estia created them but did not share the same bond a mortal would share with their child,” she explained, pausing for a few seconds. “They were born to help rule this world but instead destroyed it.”
I swallowed thickly. “I don’t believe that.”
She shrugged. “Believe what you wish, but it’s the truth. Demons exist because the gods did not help vanquish them. They allowed sin to flourish.”
“Nothing is that black and white.” I clenched my jaw, remembering back to everything Raiden had told me. “Besides, if they allowed sin to flourish, as you said, then what are you doing? Murder is the biggest sin of them all.”
She leaned back in her chair. “Lucius and Estia do not see it that way.”
“Have you asked him?”
She hesitated, glancing at Alexander, then back at me. “I haven’t spoken to him exactly, but—”
“Then how do you know?” I asked, interrupting. “He might come after you once he’s taken care of the others. What’s to stop your soul from being trapped in the underworld just like the others? You’re not mortal.” I gripped my nails into the wood table, feeling splinters press against my fingertips. “By morning, you might find yourself just as dead as them.”
“No. I spoke to demons through the portal to the underworld who told me Lucius wished to replace his children. After that, I left the portal open.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Did they say you would be spared?”
Alexander entwined his fingers with hers. “She’s right, my love. Are you certain Lucius will spare us? That he will use me to replace them?”
