Chapter 40

40

The burning in her lungs surpassed any of the lingering pain she felt from her sister's other tactics. Vega's wheezes echoed off her cell walls, her cough shooting pain through her chest.

After hours of trying to get comfortable, Vega resorted to standing in the corner of her cell. Her feet burned from the hours of standing, and she shifted her weight between both to ease the pins and needles radiating up to her hips.

She still hadn't eaten. Vega couldn't keep her days straight anymore and decided to stop trying. She was ready to give up, to call it quits, but even if she did die, the curse wouldn't let her rest. Her memories were back, but Vega didn't feel full of hope she could beat Marlena. Evil will win.

Her mind weighed on the secret she'd kept from her friends. She never thought about it in some lives, unable to wrap her head around what it meant; in this life it hit her harder than most.

Had she told her friends, would they have been able to continue looking into it while she was gone? Had she damned them all with her selfishness?

The weakness of hunger finally set in, and her legs gave out. The muscles she'd built by training with Khort were gone too quickly. Gods, what I would do to see his face—to hug Arlet one more time and know who she is. To say goodbye to my best friends… Footsteps down the hall did nothing to stir her from her new position on the ground—Vega was sure she would stay here until they got sick of her and killed her, starting the cycle all over again.

"Have you had a lapse in memory? I'm growing tired of waiting." Marlena came into view through the cell door.

Vega's voice sounded nothing like her own after the hours of near-drowning Marlena had carried out. "I told you I don't know. Don't you think I'd have told you by now?"

She didn't know how to break her curse. She didn't know how Remus cursed Romulus and the original gods, but Vega'd had an epiphany during her last round of torture. A detail she'd missed in every other life…

"No, I don't. That's why you're still alive." The cell door creaked open, and Vega flinched away from Marlena. "It's a pity because I'm ready to be rid of you for good."

Marlena lifted Vega with one arm by what was left of the suit she wore. Holes lined the gear, her chest barely covered from the newest rips in the seams. She studied Vega's face with a hint of a smile. "Your healer friend, what was his name?"

Was. Vega's stomach toppled to the floor. "Felix." She could hardly hear her voice.

The smirk on Marlena's face grew. "When I saw that your wounds were healed after hearing about what your first guard did to you, I decided to look into both of them. Grimes is from a family in Imber, a family your rebellion got killed. Felix, well, he knew our parents. I couldn't let a rebel sympathizer live, Vega. And I surely couldn't let him back down here to fix any more of the scars I plan to give you. Bridger won't be happy, but he'll understand. Sometimes we have to do things we don't like. I'm sure he's reeling over the decision he had to make to delimb Grimes. All because he didn't follow the rules. While I don't agree with his decision, I get it. He's come a long way since he let you go. So strong. He's everything his parents wanted him to be and more." With a gentleness Vega didn't know Marlena could possess, her sister ran two fingers over the wound on Vega's left eye. "If only you could see the mess I've made of your pretty little face."

"Fuck you."

How many people had to die simply because they were kind to Vega? Marlena's palm slapped against Vega's cheek. The hit was meant to sting.

"Watch how you talk to me, dear sister." The pet name held no affection.

"You can scar every inch of my body, beat me until I'm black and blue, kill everyone I love, but that'll never save you from the hatred you have for yourself." The twitch in Marlena's eye gave Vega the energy to go forward. "Our parents might have mistreated you, hell, they probably did abuse you as you claim, but what better are you? Taking it out on those below you who can't fight back is cowardly. You're not as strong as you think. I see right through you. You look just like the sad sister I remember who couldn't believe people liked her baby sister more than her, couldn't believe that people chose me over someone so vile."

Marlena gripped her tighter, green flames burning behind her eyes.

"You think you're so much better than everyone, but look at you! You still need me!" Vega boasted, her laugh booming through her chest as she ignored the ache. "You can't figure out how to end this, end me. Summoning Remus messed up your curse. You hadn't planned for me to become like you. You made a curse for a demi god who can die, a curse for what we used to be. Want to know something I've come to realize, dear sister? " Vega sneered at the nickname Marlena used, the final piece clicking into place.

The blonde slammed Vega up against the wall of her cell, the stone thwacking the back of her head. She saw stars but was able to get the words out before Marlena did worse. "My curse can't run out. That's another lie you've created to buy yourself time. A curse can't kill what can't die, and I'm no longer the demi you originally cursed. That's why you need to figure out how Remus cursed his brother and the rest of the gods… You're trying to curse a curse or this will never be over. I'll just keep resetting forever." Vega laughed, sounding manic, but she never broke eye contact with her sister. "You let your lust for power get in the way. You planted the idea of summoning gods in my head, and what? Didn't think that I'd do it to get my revenge on you for killing the people I love?"

Another clash against the wall. Marlena let out a feral cry of desperate frustration. Vega's eyes rolled into the back of her head, but she held on to what little piece of consciousness she had left.

"Remus gave me the time he never got."

Remus didn't get multiple lives to break a curse put on him by a hateful sibling, but Vega did.

The world faded to black around her, and for the first time in days, Vega had a real smile on her lips as she repeated the words Marlena said to her fifty-five years ago.

"We're gods, sister."