41. Alina

"What areyou doing to my sister?" Sera demands. "You're hurting her."

"I'm saving her," the Viscount hisses. "You have no idea what I've been through to protect you and the others. No idea at all. So just sit there and let me work."

"Protect us?" Sera huffs a laugh. "You pull our names from a Chalice once a year at the Day of the Choosing and send us off to Monsters Night. How is that protecting us?"

The Viscount huffs. "There's so much you don't understand, Persephone. So much I would teach you if you weren't going to just die in a handful of decades. Or years, thanks to your sister here."

"My name isn't Persephone," my sister tells her, the dreamy-eyed girl in the garden nowhere to be seen.

"We've been over this, dear. You're?—"

"No longer under whatever spell you cast over me," my sister interjects. "Who the hell are you really?"

"Your mother," the Viscount growls.

My sister snorts. "My mother died over a decade ago."

I wince at her words because they remind me of what I learned today about the breeding compounds.

"Your mortal mother died two days after you were born," the Viscount informs her flatly. "And your father was a sperm donor." He sits back on his haunches to stare up at my sister. "And while we're on the topic, your sister isn't your real sister. She's just another Omega. An ungrateful one at that."

His eyes return to mine, and I can almost see the Goddess swimming in the depths of his dark irises, her power simmering just beneath the surface.

Is that the intensity I noticed during the Day of the Choosing?I wonder, viewing the Viscount through a new lens. And again when talking to the Duke?

"You just had to give in to the Alpha knot, didn't you?" the Viscount says to me, shaking his head. Then he sighs and cups my cheek. "It's okay, little one. I forgive you. I know how feeble and weak-minded your kind can be."

Feeble and weak-minded?I repeat to myself. I am not feeble or weak-minded.

Granted, I can't move at the moment because of whatever invisible rope the Viscount just used to bind me to this chair.

But that doesn't make me feel weak so much as trapped.

Something that causes my soul to growl with fury inside.

The Viscount did something to me the moment he touched me. Something that turned me into his personal puppet.

He told me to follow him and I did.

He told me to sit and I obeyed.

He told me to stay still and I didn't even think about moving.

But now that he's called me weak, I'm not so sure I want to stay still. Or obey. Or put up with this.

I'm not even sure why I did to begin with.

It's like I had a lapse in judgment, my body and mind trusting the being before me on instinct. Similar to how I felt around Orcus that night we first met when he held me and purred.

Only, the Viscount didn't purr.

The Viscount just… coaxed me with words. And touches.

But he disturbed my link to my mates again, making my mind go quiet. However, unlike when I was in the garden, I can still feel them.

They're close, I realize, the hint of their mingling colognes taunting my nostrils. A beautiful summer's day.

I close my eyes and inhale deeply, allowing their scents to claim me once more. Mine, I think. My fae.

The spark of life inside me gives a little pulse in response, pleased by their presence.

They've come to take me home.

I can feel their intentions, as well as their anger.

The Viscount took something that doesn't belong to him. Or rather, the Goddess inside him did.

And they've come to make that Goddess pay.

I can almost taste the plan in their minds, but a shriek from my sister draws me out of my connection and forces me to refocus on the room.

"Let my sister go!" Serapina demands.

I've missed something in their conversation because the Viscount now has my sister pinned against a wall.

"Stop it," he demands. "I need to focus, and I can't have you throwing a tantrum while I'm in the middle of ensnaring an Alpha."

"You're hurting her!" Serapina insists, making me frown.

Because I feel fine.

Except… except as I glance down… I realize the invisible binds have turned into something else. Electric currents zap across my skin as energy writhes around me, the tendrils a startling white color.

My stomach clenches in response, the life inside me flickering with panic.

The baby, I think, realization smacking me across the face. She's… it's… whatever this is, it's trying to hurt the baby!

Serapina screams as she falls to the ground. The Viscount is standing over her, growling out words I can't quite hear.

My world is swimming.

My vision going in and out.

There's an urgent sound in my head. Male voices. More growls. I… I can't…

I swallow.

My stomach aches.

My heart… it hurts.

And my soul… my soul is snarling.

Or maybe that's the men in my head?

It's hard to say where it's coming from, but I feel the rumbles vibrating up and down my limbs. Sense the fury deep inside. Smell the aggression.

The source radiates all around me. Within me. Outside of me. In the air. In my heart. Reverberating in my very spirit.

An instinct born of possession and protection tumbles through my being, making my limbs strain against the bindings. Pushing forward. Demanding freedom.

My child. My creation. My future.

The threat isn't acceptable. The power is foreign and obtrusive. The energy needs to leave me the fuck alone.

I shove the presence away from me. Fight the ropes surrounding me. And demand that the entity release me.

Someone bellows. It's a loud, masculine bark of sound that soon morphs into a feminine shriek.

I don't know what's happening. I can't see. Everything is white. Everything burns. Everything feels constricting. Like I can't breathe.

But I force my lungs to work, the hint of refreshing air helping to draw me from the dizzying fog.

Push forward,I tell myself. Fight this!

The life inside me is quivering, begging me to protect it.

I can't give up.

I can't allow this intense magic to win.

My purpose is to create life. To protect life. To thrive in a world of renewed existence.

My feet land on the ground with an unexpected thud, my spine straightening as the world blinks into view around me.

The Viscount—or what's left of him—is a bloody mess on the floor in front of me.

Serapina is gaping at his remains with wide eyes.

Then those eyes grow even wider as she looks up. I follow her gaze, my stomach twisting as the Goddess from the garden strides forward with a murderous expression.

Her focus is on me.

Her intent very clear.

I turn and run, my instinct to flee overriding everything else.

But just as I reach the door of the room, it bursts open to reveal my fae. Orcus leads the charge, his wings widespread. He looks at me, his expression melting into relief, only to realize I'm being pursued.

A roar rips from his mouth as he flies at Demeter, tackling her to the ground. Reaper is right behind him, a scythe in his hand.

But Flame comes for me.

He doesn't say anything, just scoops me up into his arms and starts carrying me away.

"No!" I shout. "I have to see. I have to… Flame!"

He's not listening to me.

But a shout of agony has him pausing, the sound having come from Orcus.

Flame looks down at me and I stare up at him. He's trying to make a decision. One I can hear in his mind. "Go," I demand. "Go to Orcus."

He growls.

I growl back.

Then he sets me on my feet and runs back into the room.

I follow him, my mind racing as I search for Orcus. But it's my sister that catches my eye. She's on the outskirts of the room, watching the battle rage through narrowed eyes.

Orcus is missing a wing, the appendage lying on the ground near my sister's feet.

He's bleeding.

But all I really see is a blur of blood, black feathers, and blinding light as he and Demeter try to take each other down.

Reaper is nowhere to be seen.

And Flame is in his jaguar form, snarling as he tries to figure out how to join the fight.

Fae, this isn't good, I think, uncertain of how to help. I freed myself from the binds, did something to the Viscount's form, but I… I don't know how I did that. Or even if I did that.

"This needs to end, Mother," my sister says coldly as a blade appears in her hand.

I blink at it, not understanding where or how the item materialized in her palm, but it's there nonetheless.

And she's lifting it toward her own neck.

"If I die, my soul will remain in this dimension," she continues, her voice eerily even. "And you know what that means."

The brawl ends as Demeter breaks free from Orcus, her bright eyes going to my sister. "Persephone…"

"He'll know I'm here, Mother. He'll come for me. He always does. He always will."

"Persephone," Demeter says again, her tone placating as she stretches out her arms and holds up her hands. "Don't."

"Why not?" my sister asks, the knife drawing blood against her delicate throat. "Maybe I'm ready to finally go home."

"You don't mean that," Demeter says, her face stricken. "You… you know what he'll do…"

"Do I?" Serapina arches a brow, her confidence in full force now. I've seen this side of my little sister a few times before. She's not the damsel many mistake her for. She might be tiny, but she's fierce underneath.

Just like me,I think.

"Maybe I want him to do those things," my sister goes on.

"Persephone, no," Demeter says as Orcus silently positions himself behind her. "He'll hurt you. That's what Alphas do. They take, take, and take. You can't want that. You don't want that."

"From what I can tell, Mother, you're the one who continues to take. You kidnapped me. Brought me here. Force me to live and die on repeat, and for what? To stay with you for eternity? To hide from him? My soul's mate?"

I blink, not sure what she's talking about. But I can see the anger in my sister's expression, the inferno practically glowing in her liquid blue eyes.

All while Orcus works behind Demeter, his hand moving as he quietly creates one of his portal doors.

Demeter doesn't see it at all.

Her focus is entirely on my sister, her expression stricken.

"I've given up everything for you," she whispers. "Everything. Don't you see that?"

My sister tilts her head. "What I see is a selfish Goddess who doesn't trust her daughter to make her own decisions."

Demeter's lips part. "Persephone."

"Serapina," my sister corrects, taking a step forward, that blade still poised at her own throat. "Your Persephone died long ago. Just because her soul might be inside me does not make me her. I'm my own person. I make my own decisions. And right now? I choose this."

I nearly start to run, worried my sister might actually slice her own throat.

But instead the knife whispers through the air.

And she stabs the Goddess in the chest.

Demeter gasps, her steps stumbling backward as a scythe appears out of thin air and lodges itself in her abdomen.

Then Flame pounces forward with his claws to shove the woman through Orcus's portal door.

My Alpha follows her, the mirror shattering in his wake.

I lift my hand to my mouth, my eyes blinking.

Reaper appears just as my sister's knees give out, his strong arm catching her before she hits the ground. And suddenly they're beside me, his shadowing ability having brought them to my side.

Sera collapses into me on a sob, her terror and confusion instantly washing over me. She was so strong, so fierce. But now… now her emotions are catching up to her.

"What did I just do?" she whispers to me. "What the hell did I just do?"

"Returned an insane Goddess to her box," Reaper replies.

"My… my mother?" she asks, shaking.

"That's what she thinks," Reaper tells her. "And you helped us play on that belief."

I blink, understanding suddenly piercing my mind. You told her what to say, I whisper to Reaper.

Yeah. Demeter believes your sister is her reincarnated daughter. It was Orcus's idea to use that against Demeter, to weaken her defenses long enough for him to get her back to the Mythos Fae Realm.

I swallow, my hand on my sister's head. I-is she Demeter's daughter? This… Persephone?

It's hard to say. Orcus says it's possible. But he also said your soul isn't one he's met before. So it's also entirely possible that the Omega soul isn't identifiable, just… reincarnated into someone different each time. He glances over at Flame as he approaches in his human form. He's shirtless but appears to have found jeans somewhere.

"You had one job," Reaper says to him. "To protect our girl."

"My job will always be to do whatever Alina tells me to do, and she told me to go back to Orcus. To help him." He shrugs. "I think I did my job well."

You did,I murmur into his mind, thankful that I can hear and feel all my mates again without any intrusion. And that's not all I can feel.

The little life inside me is pulsing contentedly once more, protected in my womb.

Because we survived.

And my sister is here, too,I think, holding her close.

She's no longer crying, just shaking, like she can't believe everything that's happened.

"You're safe now," I promise her. "And I'm never losing you again."

Her arms tighten around me, but she says nothing. Just holds me. So I hold her in kind.

Everything's going to be okay,I think at her and the baby inside me. And I realize that deep down I don't just believe it's true; I know it's true.

Because my fae are my life now.

And they'll always do whatever it takes to protect me, our child, and our family.

Which also includes my sister.

I don't care what that Goddess said about our parents, or the fact that we might not even be truly related. What matters is our sisterly bond.

No one can take that away from us.

Not now. Not ever. We're in this together. Until the end of time.