Chapter Twenty-Four

Once the informal ceremony is over—or whatever you want to call it—I have to excuse myself. The city is coming back to life, its people thrilled to be able to walk freely with no fears of the woes, but there's something I need to do before I help anyone out.

I make my way to the slums, to Frederick's makeshift hut. I didn't exactly ask him if it was okay, but that's because I didn't know how. As I figure, he won't mind too much if I take some of his clothes. Doubt they'll fit that well, but until everything is out in the open, it's about the only thing I can do.

Searching through Frederick's drawers, I find a gray shirt and some dark pants. I find an old pair of leather boots as well, though I really don't think they'll fit. I have to search through it fast so I'm out of here before Frederick or his dad come around.

I… I know I'll have to come clean, but not yet. I need time to figure some things out.

Once I have everything I need, I hurry out of the hut and power walk through the streets. I slip out of the main gate and follow the dirt road out of Laconia that zigzags on the hillside on its southern edge. The farmhouses and farmland on the hills will be tilled and put to use again soon enough; it's why I chose a house a bit further down the road. I'll have to let everyone know that I'd like that house to be mine.

Not because I need a place to stay—well, not only that. It's more due to the fact that I have something to hide.

Or someone.

I make it to the front door of the house and heave a sigh before I walk inside. What sight greets me the second I walk in?

A very tall, very muscular, very attractive man who also happens to be, you guessed it, very naked.

Invictis wears the same face he wore when he sat on that throne in Acadia, what Morimento's son would've looked like if he hadn't died on that throne while possessed by him. He leans his wide back on the wall opposite the door, so he's literally the first thing I see when I walk in.

And his dick is the second thing, but I try not to stare at it too much.

Hey, it's been a long time, okay? And Invictis's stolen body is probably the nicest-looking body I've ever seen, made even nicer by what's dangling between his legs.

The only thing that's different about Invictis is the tattoo on his right arm. It matches mine perfectly, the design a metallic gold on his tanned skin, a result of our bonding—and not just a piece this time. Now, every part of him is bound to me, and the jerk can't do anything without my approval.

Such as killing every living being in Laconia, for example. Invictis is going to have to find another hobby.

I avert my eyes away from his naked form—seriously, it's sculpture-worthy—and throw the pilfered clothes at him, which he catches with a hard frown. God, I hate how even his frown is attractive.

I need to remember he's not a man. He might look like one now, but he is still Invictis.

Course, even when he's eight-foot-tall and made of glowing gold, things were complicated. It'd be stupid of me to believe things will get less complicated now that he's trapped in human form.

"High Empress Rey," Invictis mocks me as he sets the boots down and goes to put on the pants first. Thank fuck. He needs to cover that dick before I get another eyeful—accidentally or on purpose. "I do wonder if they would still look up to you with such reverence if they knew you didn't defeat me." He has the same accent he did when he was nothing but a glowing tattoo on my wrist, a mixture between British and Scottish, if I have to put a label on it.

I fold my arms over my chest and look away from him as he shoves one leg into the pants, then the other. "Just because I didn't kill you doesn't mean I lied. You're neutered, so you won't be a problem anymore. That's all that matters."

"Neutered," he mutters, like he doesn't quite understand the word.

I thought he'd have more to say about it, so even though he might not be fully clothed yet, I turn to face him, and I find that the pants are on, but the strings around the crotch area remain loose and untied. It lets me get a peek at that delicious V-shape that points to his dick—which is now safely tucked behind the pants, thank fuck. The pants are tight and a bit too short, but they'll do.

Invictis narrows his blue eyes at me as he tosses the shirt aside. His long legs only need two strides before he's directly in front of me, towering over me like he's still trying to intimidate me even though he lost.

"I will drive you mad eventually," he whispers as his sneer morphs into a devilish smirk. He takes another step forward, and in the process he pushes me back. I only let him because I don't want to touch him. If I touch him…

Well, if I touch him all bets are off.

Invictis backs me up all the way to the wooden wall, where he then sets his hands just beside my head, boxing me in with his arms. My neck is turned up, my stare locked with his. "I will make you lose your mind. You will come to rue the day you bound us together again, Rey, that I promise you. Someday, be it tomorrow or a year from now, you will be nothing but a shadow of yourself."

"Give it your best shot," I tell him. "I'm not scared of you."

"You should be."

"No, I think it's you who should be scared of me. After all, I'm still new to this, and somehow I kicked your golden ass. Seems to me I'm just better than you." I grin up at him, knowing everything I'm saying is pissing him off.

The breath Invictis lets out tells me just how badly he wants to fight me. The tension in him is practically palpable.

"What's the matter? Can't hurt me now? Poor Invictis. Whatever will you do?" Now it's my turn to mock him.

His hands slide down on the wall beside my head, inches away from me as his tall frame bends. His face nears mine, the depths of his eyes so full of fury and indignation… and maybe a hint of something else, something that runs hotter than hate itself. "You will fall."

"If I fall, we fall together."

Invictis says nothing to that, but he doesn't move away from me, either. He remains right where he is, boxing me in against the wall, his top half leaning down, his wide chest bare and heaving with labored breaths.

I hate him. I hate him for everything he's done. Even before the first high empress casted a spell and separated him, he still was a monster.

Some people think humans can change, but I'm not so sure about that—and if a human can't change, what hope is there for Invictis? Will he ever change, or is he right in saying that, someday, I'll lose my mind and set him loose?

"Perhaps," he whispers, his gaze no longer holding my own. It's fallen to somewhere lower on my face. "Our downfall has already begun." The way he says it, how he utters it, makes me close my eyes.

Maybe he's right. Maybe our downfall has begun. Maybe it began when I first saw that flash of light in the alley across the street. Maybe, after eons, Invictis's time is finally up now that he's bound to me.

Invictis likes to repeat himself—sometimes I wonder if he just likes to hear himself talk—so when I don't hear him say a word more, I open my eyes, but when I do, I find I'm not in that hut anymore, trapped between the wall and his body.

I stand in a world of twilight, my feet hovering just above glimmering water. The sky above is a brownish hue, twinged with golden flecks. Everywhere I look, all I can see is the same unobstructed sky, no sun, and the water beneath my feet seems to go on for eternity.

Where am I? What is this?

I do a full spin, and in the distance, I spot something. It's too far away for me to see what it is. Curiosity gets the better of me, so I head towards it. It's farther away than it looks, but I make it, and once I do I see it's a statue.

A statue made of gold.

Invictis in his ascended form, with his six wings outstretched behind him, his arms open, his palms upward, as if he's here to deliver us all. His golden body glows with an internal, infernal light that's strong enough to blind those who aren't careful.

I don't know how long I stand there, staring up at the statue, but it must be a minute or two. I can't take my eyes off it. He is… he's beautiful, even in this form. Destruction brought to life. More than a havoc-wreaking angel.

He's a god.

The very second that thought crosses my mind, something changes. The light inside him dies, like a candle that's unceremoniously blown out. His golden body changes, the shining metallic color replaced by the opposite.

What's the absence of light? It's not darkness. It's worse than that, more intense, more pure. It's that same blackness that takes over Invictis's body until I stand there, staring up not at a golden figure, but a black one, wings and all.

Something invisible steals the breath out of my lungs and makes me weak at the knees. I feel like falling over, like laying down and surrendering, and the more I look at the being of oblivion, I come to a startling realization.

The vision around me cracks and vanishes, and when I come to, I find I collapsed against Invictis. He caught me, his bare chest all I can see when I return to reality, his hands on me all I can feel. He's warm. So warm. Warm enough that I now realize how cold that vision made me.

"You," Invictis pauses, "fainted. Do you have a habit of losing consciousness? If so, I am deeply ashamed of myself for losing to you."

I open my mouth and try to speak, but no words come out. It's like the words were stolen out of my throat. The only thing I can do is look up at him, hold onto him while I try to steady myself after seeing that.

Invictis isn't the only one. Somewhere, another ancient being capable of mass destruction has woken up, and I have the feeling he's not going to be happy that I bound his brother to me.

I stupidly thought it was over, but it's not. It's just beginning.