Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

HALWEN

I 'd seen enough Scooby Doo episodes while on Earth to know splitting up was never a good idea, but Lili wouldn't accept anything else. And honestly, we were so outnumbered and outmanned that I'd take any advantage no matter how slim. If Lili said she had a magic halo that helped her see the future, I was all for it.

I was less enthusiastic about the two of us taking on Cronus by ourselves while everyone else plunged into the heart of the shadow army and Asta burned a clear path for us right to the titan.

I swallowed, a tremor moving my whole body.

"He's still weak," Lili reminded me in her Scary Queen Voice. "You can kill him. Remember your prophecy."

The prophecy was the bane of my damn existence. All I'd wanted was a simple life, but no. I had to be the fucking chosen one.

"I am not dying here," I said to myself, to the universe, to anyone listening.

Lili glanced at me as we walked through the eerily empty path Asta cleared, the silver-haired woman grinning with bared teeth as she burned the shadow soldiers to nothing, sucking the magic out of them as easily as she'd drained the life from the fake Cronus and Gauvan Locke.

"Can you imbue any blade with that magic?" Lili's eyes flicked down to my pink-hilted dagger, now flickering with coral and midnight and blood-red power.

"Not a clue," I replied, my attention drifting across the field to where my mates and our remaining allies fought their way through Cronus's shadow ranks. They certainly didn't fight like scraps of darkness; they were as real and tangible as any of Wane's shadows. I searched until I found every one of my mates, making sure they weren't the ones who roared in pain and anger, whose blood had already begun to spill.

"Find out," Lili said in what could only be described as an order. It was impossible to forget that she was my reigning queen right now, that she had the power to command me no matter whose legendary blood ran in my veins. I was a demon first, and I obeyed my queen. Even if she was acting strange enough to make me shudder. "Blind him."

A ripple of cold went down my spine like a premonition. I had the out-of-body sense that I was in one of the old myths, one of the stories Dad used to tell me about clever mortals and wicked gods. Blind him.

An animal yelp came from the swarm of shadow soldiers, and I whipped my head around, searching, searching.

"Concentrate," Lili snapped, and then visibly composed herself. "Sorry. I've lost—we need to concentrate on Cronus. If we don't, all of this has been for nothing. He might die for nothing."

Fuck being scared of her otherness. I reached for a non-fiery part of her arm and squeezed. "We'll make it count. We'll make him pay."

I wasn't the only woman whose loved ones had suffered, who suffered right with them. Take the halo and the inferno magic away, and Lili was just a woman in pain. Cronus had caused enough of that—pain. Enough for countless lifetimes. Anger caught fire in the pit of my magic, and I let it burn as I released Lili, tilting my head back when the cold brush of a shadow fell over us. Not Wane's shadow or even Cronus's soldiers—his true, actual shadow cast over the grassy field where he stood, looming, waiting. Like he had in Olympus, because he was arrogant and didn't even contemplate that he might lose.

Blind him, I reminded myself, and drew a throwing star from the numerous straps and belts on my body, each bearing a weapon sharp enough to kill an ordinary man. Cronus wasn't ordinary, but he was living, and all living things could die.

I threw a rapid glance at the bulk of the army, searching for Persephone, for Hades. Gods with dominion over the dead. We could do it, all of us together. Losing was unthinkable.

We'll make it count. We'll make him pay.

I signalled to Lili with three fingers, then two, and I shot up off the ground on one, ploughing my wings through the air. My breath caught when colours rippled along my feathers, magic propelling me faster than I'd ever flown, giving me strength I'd never known. I strangled the hope that wanted to form, but I couldn't forget Erebus's words. Use your power, Halwen. All of it, every kind that lives inside you.

Every flicker of colour was a different power, my own and my mates' magic somehow working in harmony. None of it made sense, but name one thing that had made sense since I came back from the dead. 1

Another boom of my wings and I was within range, close enough to see the flash of delight in Cronus's eyes. He was having fun, enjoying us fighting, giving everything, and losing.

Yeah, well, now it's your turn to lose, asshole.

I pinched the metal star between my thumb and finger, letting rage pour through me and push that core of fire higher. My blood pounded as sparks of orange, purple, and silver leapt from my wings onto the star, encircling every spike and wicked edge. I didn't have time to glance down at Lili, to see if she was ready to spring whatever trap she had planned. I flicked my wrist and sent the star flying, praying, my breath held, that it—

The star drove into Cronus's right eyeball, and blood and goop spilled down his furious face. Alright fucker, say bye-bye to your other eye. It was faster to light the second star, my magic eager and hungry. Quicker still to send it flying into his left eye. Lili's victory cry was so loud I heard it in the air.

I glanced down and my breath shattered when I saw Cronus's massive shadow hand rising. Time to get out of here. I pumped my wings and angled hard, escaping the reach of his hands by a hairsbreadth. A ripple moved over my body, making hairs stand on end. Magic.

I braced for pain, for his cruel blue threads to wrap around me, bite into skin and bone, and trick me into another timeline. Instead, violent fire roared up from the ground in a five-foot wall that wrapped all the way around the titan. Like he was a demon trapped in an old-school summoning circle. My heart skipped.

I wasn't sure what putting him in a burning circle did, but Lili was the one with the all-seeing halo and I wasn't about to question her. I said the last few lines of the prophecy under my breath, desperate for instructions.

King's final stand, titan's last breath, a hellborn angel will deliver death. Gods and mortals and titans all, will bring the end at shadow fall.

How? How did I deliver death, and make his next breath his last?

Runes covered my body, the same symbols that made up the prophecy shining as crimson as blood, but what use were they when I didn't know how to kill Cronus? We were so fucking stupid, trying to fight him, kill him, when nothing had changed.

No, that wasn't true. Something had changed. Now we had so much more to lose.

Don't think about it.

The loss was too raw to let those thoughts devour my focus. One false slip and Cronus would kill me for good this time.

I beat my wings, flying out of Cronus's reach and not quite able to stop staring at the sparks of colour that flew from each of my feathers, like even my wings were magic. I drew another knife, a small weighted one suitable for throwing, and the moment it erupted with flickering magic I buried it in the titan's throat.

How did I make him draw his last breath? Crush his lungs?

I thrust my arm out in front of myself, hovering in place, and crooked an inner finger at the pit of magic inside me. Shit! Magic blast from my palm so powerfully that I was knocked back through the air, only instinct angling my wings to keep me adrift. I could have sworn I heard a roar in the distance, could have sworn it was Emlyn's voice, and for a split second I was back in Olympus, my own dagger buried in my gut.

Cronus's low, whispering laugh drew me back to the present, and I watched his shadow face split, laughter pouring from his empty maw as he lifted his hand and caught the pulse of magic in his enormous grip.

Motherfucker.

Pain hit me like a dagger when he crushed my magic out of existence, and a grunt forced through my clenched teeth. My empty hand shot to my chest where shards of pain carved through my flesh, my bones, my blood. Fuck, it hurt. I panted, baring my sharp teeth at his shadowy face as I reached for my power again. My nostrils flared at the splinters of damage in my magic, but that wouldn't stop me.

His mouth still split in that horrible grin, Cronus took a step like he meant to pluck me from the air. Maybe pluck my wings like a bird he'd caught and planned on roasting on a spit. But his huge, black foot landed in the ring of flame Lili had formed around him and a harrowing cry pierced the air. It stabbed my ear drums, sending me careening back through the air until I shook off the vertigo. 2

On the ground, Lili laughed. Right. All going according to her master plan. Time to put my own plan into action. 3 I needed all the magic inside me, needed every last drop. He was weak, I reminded myself. Everything we'd done up to this point had weakened him. I could still see the hairline fracture across his stomach where I'd hewn him open. I just had to press the advantage, bring him down to our level, and achieve the impossible. Kill him.

"Now!" Lili screamed from below, surging into the air with a blast of air from her black wings.

"Now, what?" I yelled, but I sank into that pit of ashes and jewelled flame, and—screamed as power blast from me like the mushroom cloud of an atom bomb. It blew my hair back from my face, sent me whirling through the air, and shuddered through every cell of my body like the bone pin's magic—but this magic overflowed with euphoria and strength, not nerve-searing pain. A smile pulled at my lips. This magic felt good. Limitless. Ready.

I could have sworn the darkness that wound through the pink and primrose and smoke hues of my magic pulsed in encouragement. Yes, it said, this, finally.

Lili's dark, rumbling laugh was the only warning I was given before the ring of fire snapped shut around Cronus and rose to his knees, locking him in place. Another ear-splitting shriek left his slash of a mouth, and he whirled his hands through the air in a clumsy attempt to knock us both out of the air.

I sank back into the pit of gleaming fire and thrust both my palm and dagger in front of me, jerking my knife in a sharp line. I could barely breathe when the stream of rainbow power opened a vicious wound from his shoulder to his opposite hip. Not deep enough to flay him open, but enough to give me hope.

I cut him. I fucking did it.

Red light blazed from the sigils all over my body as I blasted Cronus with stream after fireball after whip of magic, all my mates' powers and mine tangled up with others I didn't recognise, and the real kick in the titan's teeth—his own magic.

I sank threads of blue time magic through the cuts I opened in his body until his movements turned sluggish.

Enjoy the bitter taste of your own medicine, cocksucker. 4

Screams came from across the field, and my soul went wild at the frantic volume of their urgency, but I couldn't look away from Cronus. We were on a knife's edge, so close to ending this. At his back, Lili hit him with so much fire that I feared for my eyebrows, and at his front I kept up a relentless pace, plunging into the pit of bright magic over and over.

His knee buckled, and my heart faltered with it.

Please. Gods, please.

When his mouth opened next, his shadow face splitting from edge to edge, it wasn't a shriek that poured out but his voice, awful and deafening and as deep as the ocean.

Don't you want to know what I learned from Gauvan? He asked, his voice invading my skull with violent pressure. Blood tickled my ears as it dripped down my neck.

I shook my head hard, trying to push him out. Rage gave my magic an extra kick; I caught my breath when magic roared out of me in a dozen different shades of colour. It hit Cronus hard enough to knock him onto both knees, but his low laugh never stopped.

He told me all about the things he did to those boys, the way they used to cry and plead with him to stop.

"Shut your fucking mouth," I snarled, Lili's inferno exploding in my vision, blocking out everything except vivid orange flame and fierce power for a moment.

He loved it when they cried, when they stopped begging and accepted what he did to them. The silent tears were his favourite.

"Shut up!" I screamed, horror like a sickness in my soul. I shut it down, slammed down a solid wall so it didn't reach my mates, and slashed more magic at Cronus, so livid I couldn't breathe.

The flare of my power was so bright it blinded me for a second. That moment was all it took for Cronus to fling his hand towards me. I expected him to bat me out of the air, to grab me and crush my bones to ash, but it was a net of electric blue power that snapped around me. The threads of magic criss-crossed over and over, the ends reaching towards each other, enclosing me.

No, no, no.

I slashed with my dagger, a sharp breath catching in my throat. My blade went through the time magic but did nothing to stop it. Outside, all movement ceased. The violent roar of the battle fell to silence. Even Lili's shouts faded to whispers as she flew higher and higher, calling up the ring of power she had around Cronus.

Please not again, I pleaded with the universe as the net bit into my skin. I couldn't handle another fake timeline, wouldn't survive another dream come true if it was going to break my heart when I realised none of it was real.

The few wisps of shadow wrapped around my dagger pulsed, ebbing and flowing amid the bright jewel tones of the other magics. My bottom lip wobbled.

"Busty…?" I asked, my lips numb and slow. The shadows danced higher, slashing the air like the furious limbs of an octopus. A smile curled my lips in slow motion. I heard his lecture even if he couldn't speak to me like this. No doubt it would be droning, insightful, and annoying.

Don't give up. That's what he'd tell me, only with extra fancy words and passive aggressive allegories. You're so close to winning, don't give up.

I exhaled a hard breath and let myself fall into the pit inside me, deeper than before, deeper than I thought possible. Oh holy shi—

My mouth tore open on a scream as a cataclysm of power blew from my body. This was—impossible. This couldn't be mine. I didn't have this level of power. This was god level. It shuddered down my wings, bled colours from my eyes, and the net shuddered around me.

It rippled and twisted but did not break. One of the threads snagged my wrist, and I hissed as my arm was snapped close to my side, my dagger pointed down.

"Bastard," I spat, grabbing my knife in my left hand instead, driving it up—where a thread snagged my arm, pinning it against the net, my knife useless.

A scream formed, a roar of frustration and sheer, defiant refusal to lose, to die at this bastard's hands again.

Never fucking again.

I threw myself deeper into the pit of magic and gasped at the volatile wave of power that surged through me. Cronus laughed. I gritted my teeth.

Those poor boys, he taunted, unable to escape for so long. Locked in the dark, screaming themselves hoarse, crying for help that would never come. He sneered, Pathetic. They should have died decades ago.

I thrashed, struggling against the net, so furious that magic blasted from me without my conscious decision. It wasn't enough. All the magic I had, every last bit, even now it wasn't enough.

"I'm going to fucking end you," I snarled.

Are you? He laughed. All this effort and look where you are. You failed, Halwen. So much magic and—you!

I jolted, squinting through the bright flare of the net at Cronus's shadow form, trying to see who'd earned that surprised tone.

"Yeah, me, asshole," a horrifyingly familiar voice snarked. "Here. Catch."

"Verena?" I yelled, struggling for air. Please, no. Don't let her be here. Don't let her—

Green light overwhelmed the blue cast of the net, the bright flare of my multi-hued magic, and even cut through the shadowy form of the titan. I blinked tears from my eyes, my heartbeat frantic, that verdant power all I could see.

The net tore away from me so suddenly it took me a moment to realise I was falling. More tears ripped from my eyes, blurring my vision but not enough to hide the truth. The shadow army was gone. Our allies were gone. Lili, my mates, Cerberus, the gods, Verena, the Damned Realm—all gone.

I crashed onto a sage-green Afghan rug, but it absorbed my impact like a trampoline, and propelled me back to my feet, the floor suddenly, impossibly solid.

What … the fuck…?

I stood in a massive, opulent sitting room made of a hundred different shades of green, with a diopside chandelier hanging above me, and a grand mirror spackled with age spanning the whole length of the wall above beautiful, pistachio-coloured sofas. The whole place had a stillness that raised hairs on the back of my neck. It carried no scent at all.

Wary, I took a step across the jade rug, flexing my fingers around the dagger I still had in my hand. I stopped dead after that single step, every muscle in my body going rigid. Collapsed in front of a roaring emerald fireplace—his mammoth body a mass of ink and jet and shadow against the verdigris of the floor—was Cronus.