Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“He has Gwen.” Kian rolled and unrolled his fingers into his palms as he worked his jaw. While anyone using an innocent to gain the upper hand would anger him, this was his mate. He closed his eyes and allowed emotions he never thought possible to run rampant. Fear and anger were at the top, but there was another buried deep, and when he gave it permission to throttle forward, he found himself shocked by it. While he and Gwen had only spent a short time together under Khedeus’s thumb, Kian knew––even though he’d found every way to deny it––that Gwen belonged to him. Their first night together, and the few they had since while in Hell, had only brought them closer together. Fate had bonded them to each other at their first joining.

“I sense your darkness trying to surface,” Hades spoke. “Now is not the time to leash it. Unchain it and let it take control.”

Kian closed his eyes and allowed his mate to fill his visions and, when he did, he experienced a burning sensation around his neck. He grabbed the link he held to Gwen and followed the path, and with the power of a demigod, he walked straight into the vision.

Gwen. What he saw stirred something dark and volatile deep inside him. His mate was chained. Her wrists shackled above her head and her ankles to the cold floor beneath her feet. Around her neck was a silver collar, and he now understood the burning sensation he experienced. Silver weakened his mate until she was a mere mortal. Her face was covered in bruises and blood dripped from her swollen lip.

Kian? She lifted her head as if looking for him.

I am coming. Apep did this to you?

Not him. Was Diara. She… She is his daughter. Her thoughts were scattered and her pain more severe than he could understand by her visible wounds.

What has she done to you? It was then he noticed her breathing was labored and he couldn’t believe he had not seen it before. Embedded in her chest was the dagger of Embara. It looked to be only inches from her heart, and he could only surmise that between the silver and the immortal killing blade, she didn’t have much time left. Panic rose and burned the back of his throat, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. It also tasted of death. The deaths of a god and goddess that was going to come by his bare hands, if that was all he had available to him.

Let me go. Her eyes looked straight into his. Death is my fate, and a life of torture is yours if you allow them to reach you.

No! I have only found you and I will not be letting you go. I will–– The connection was cut off. His fangs cut into his lip and when he opened his eyes, he stared at Hades through a red haze. His uncle smiled.

“There is my dark nephew. Now, go wreak havoc on the universe and get your mate back.”

“They have the god killer.”

Hades arched a brow. “Then get it back and stake him with it. You have the power of your grandfather, Thedos, the god of death and pain coursing through your veins. Your grandfather was an ancient come to life hours before Apep. Your grandmother, Cera, can ash a god while doing her nails and not think twice about it. Do not… Underestimate your powers.”

Kian worked his jaw and gave a nod. He would take Diara out of commission first. Calling up his power, he followed the remnants of the thread that led to Gwen and found himself standing on stone tiles outside an enormous structure. The front was painted with bright colors, and there were several depictions of gods warring with each other. He opened his senses and knew Gwen to be inside. He also detected several other life forms. One of which he knew well, and he was pleased Diara was within his grasp. Arming himself with his favorite dagger, he opted for going in the front door rather than flashing himself inside. Hoping he might at least detect a trap before he jumped straight into it.

As he strode forward, he didn’t even have to try the door as it opened on its own. Not sensing any life directly on the other side, he slowly entered, staying alert to both danger and his mate’s location. His first order of business was to get to her and get her free. Feeding her his blood would heal her wounds once he removed the dagger. He hoped.

Calling up his newfound power, he cloaked himself and continued down the sunlit corridor until he found a set of stairs that led to a lower level. Sensing Gwen was down there somewhere, he surmised he was heading into the god’s prison. Every temple he’d ever been in had one. It was the way of the gods and goddesses who resided there because every single one of them had enemies. When he reached the bottom step, his connection with Gwen intensified and he knew he would find her at the end of the torch-lit, stone corridor. He was also certain he would encounter Diara or Apep because they had to know he was here. Allowing the darkness in his soul to surface further, he moved at lightning speed toward his mate. When he entered the small cell, he found her just as she had been in his vision and as he expected Diara stood beside her, the smile of a snake curved her mouth.

“Well, lover. Glad to see you finally showed yourself.” She grabbed the dagger’s handle and slid it from Gwen’s chest with a sickening suction and held the blade for him to witness his mate’s blood coating the glistening steel.

He lunged for the goddess but ran into an invisible barrier. Diara laughed.

“Did you really think we wouldn’t be prepared for you?”

“Let her go. This fight is not with her but me.”

“Oh but that is where you are wrong. You were promised to me, and this bitch took you from me.” Diara moved her gaze back to Gwen, who lifted her head enough to stare straight at Kian.

“Diara, I was never yours. A higher power fated Gwen and me. You and I were never meant to be.”

The goddess of deception flashed angry eyes at him, and he knew he would do anything to save his mate.

“Let her go and I will stay with you. You and I will be together.”

Diara smiled. “You would do anything to save her, wouldn’t you?”

Panic rose in his chest as he felt the tingle of Diara’s power flare in the room. It was also mingled with a much darker magic. “What are you planning, Diara?” Once again, he tried to get closer, but with every fist beat against the invisible shield, he only sent blue sparks into the air.

Diara laughed. “You are a demigod and could never best me.” She sneered at him. “You are beneath me, Kian, but I loved you once. Gave you my heart and got nothing in return. Don’t worry, I no longer want to marry you, but neither do I want your happiness.”

Before he could react, Diara spun and plunged the blade into Gwen’s heart. His mate gasped, her gaze wide as she looked only at him.

I love you. Her words were a dying whisper in his mind as death glazed over her beautiful brown eyes.

The burning pain only lasted for a moment before Gwen was free of it and no longer in her body. She stood outside and watched an angry demigod change before her very eyes. Kian’s eyes darkened and his muscles bulged as he tore through Diara’s shield. The goddess looked surprised, and it stunned Gwen when Diara suddenly flashed into ash that floated to the ground like a gray snow. Had her mate done that?

“Gwen,” he screamed. The pain in his voice echoed off the stone walls and cut across the small room. He moved to her limp body and pulled the immortal killing blade from her chest, tossing it to the ground, where it skittered across the stone floor. With great care, he removed the silver collar from her neck then busted the shackles that held her until she was free and in his arms as he slid to the floor and pulled her into his lap. He kissed her lips and nuzzled his face into her neck.

“Don’t leave me,” he whispered, and it tugged at her heart. She wanted to stay, but no longer belonged on this plane. Diara had killed her, as had been Gwen’s fate. Her death meant Kian would call upon his darkest self and save the rest of them. She tried to leave, but something pushed her back. Right, she recalled Ra had given her a gift. One that would allow her to remain in-between worlds for a short time.

Suddenly, Apep appeared in the doorway and his anger was an entity of its own. “You murdered my daughter.”

Kian was ever so gentle as he laid Gwen on the cold floor and rose. “Your daughter.” He laughed, a sound that reminded Gwen of Hades when he was about to rain hell down on someone. “I should have suspected since she was an evil, lying bitch.” He called the dagger to him, and Gwen watched it slide across the floor, her blood trailing off it as it lifted into the air and straight to his palm. Once he held it, it was as clean as it might be if one had taken care to polish it. All traces of the death it had just caused vanished.

Apep’s gaze fell to the blade. “The god killer doesn’t belong in the hands of a child such as yourself.” He held out his hand as if to call the blade, but nothing happened. Anger drew lines on his already harsh face.

“You cannot call this blade. It does not do your bidding. Only those the Phoenix gives permission to can hold it. How you gained it to begin with, I don’t understand, but I’m sure your daughter was behind it.” Kian took a step closer.

Apep launched a ball of red power, but Kian waved his hand and deflected it where it crashed into the stone wall, leaving rubble in its wake. That only angered the god further. He also seemed confused. “Who are you, really? I saw a vision of you in your mortal mother’s womb and knew you were fated to try to destroy me. I would have laughed at the fact that a demigod could hold such power, but visions being what they are, I killed her just to be safe.” He snarled. “Someone saved you. No one can deflect my power.”

“I am the grandson of Cera and Thedos. A descendant of Ra. I am Prince Kian and I will make you pay for the death of my mate.” Kian shoved his palm outward and forced the god against the wall, pinning him. Apep fought to free himself but was unsuccessful. Death and pain filled the small room until it made even Gwen shudder. Kian was almost unrecognizable. He had allowed everything that was dark in his soul to unleash, and it held him in its grip. She tried to reach out to him, but he was flesh and blood, and she was no more.

“You took from me what I loved most. The woman I had so little time with that I didn’t even realize how I felt about her until she was gone.” His lip curled as he stood inches from Apep. “They wanted me to welcome my darkness. The death and pain of my grandfather. Well, here it is.”

He tipped his head back, looked at the ceiling, and spread his arms at his side. “The power that courses through me is exhilarating. There was no reason to fear my dark side, for it is what will end you.” Then he raised the blade and shoved it into Apep’s heart. The god let out a scream before he faded away into nothingness. Gwen hardly believed it had ended so quickly, but when Kian turned and faced her, she saw madness in his eyes. Again, she tried to touch him, but failed.

He dropped to his knees and crawled back to where her body lay, pulling her back into his lap. Unable to comfort him, she was torn about what to do when a bright light opened up beside her. When she faced it, the warmth and love that came from it tugged at her and she watched as Apep walked into it and vanished. She moved toward it, wanting to go to wherever it led, but it snapped shut as quickly as it had appeared.

“You do not belong on the other side,” a soft female voice whispered. “Your fate is tied to his. Go back to my grandson.”

Gwen blinked. Grandson? “Cera?” There was no reply, but somehow, she knew the sleeping goddess was the one who spoke. The one who blocked her and pushed her back to this reality. She turned toward Kian. “I don’t know how to go back.” She was stuck between two worlds and Ra’s gift would soon run out, leaving her in limbo forever.