Page 152 of The Never List
I walk up to the phantom Jax, focusing on his power humming inside me. I stroke it into submission—his power is so much more combative than the others’. I hush it until it’s purring, begging me to keep playing with it. Then I send a burst of love soaring over the hate pulsing off of Jax.
His muscles relax, the deep grooves in his brow melting as his eyes soften. A sigh slides past his lips, and he uncrosses his arms, looking at Kal and me the way he does now—in the real world, not this test, this trial.
I step away from him, closing my eyes as I distinguish each of their powers inside me. Axl’s is crisp and churning like the sea. Pierce’s is intricate and delicate like a spiderweb. Kal’s is warm and humming like the sun. And Jax’s is smoky and stubborn like the shadows.
It’s too much and not enough, just like my mates. I want them to consume me, use me, love and protect me, just likeI want to do to them.
“Rylee Gray,” a feminine voice calls, and I whirl around.
The darkness has vanished, replaced by a light so bright it burns my eyes.
I blink repeatedly, adjusting to the difference.
I’m no longer alone in a blank canvas of a room.
I’m standing among the goddesses themselves.
I drop to a knee, dipping my head in a bow deeper than any I’ve ever done for the kings.
Light laughter fills the space, the sound almost musical. “Your mistrust of our mates isn’t unnoticed,” the same feminine voice says, and I dare to look up from where I kneel.
“Goddess Evaluna.” I whisper her name, recognizing her from the dress of night wrapped around her. My eyes trail over the others, their beauty severe, almost brutal where they stand before me. Goddesses Tareena, Eirdis, and Neph are giving me prideful, surveying looks as Evaluna dips her head in acknowledgment.
Goddess Neph steps forward, her feet bare, a gown of glistening gold and red covering her. Long blond hair flows over her shoulders. She looks like the sun and radiates a warmth I recognize in her son. “You have more than a drop of my blessing in your blood,” she says, her voice smooth and comforting.
I nod, my voice tangling in my throat.
“Is this real?” I ask. “Or is this an elixir test? Why did it let me feel their powers?”
“What do you think?” Eirdis asks—Pierce’s mother—dressed in a gown of purest purple that radiates against her brown skin. Spiders of black and gold shift with movementover the fabric, and she has the same intellectual eyes as Pierce, the same challenge silently boring from them.
Think. Feel. Process.
“It feels real,” I finally answer.
Their power, their presence threatens to swallow me whole, not unlike their sons, but in a way that is more potent. If I ever felt small in my Legends’ presence, then here among the goddesses, I am as insignificant as an ant.
“You don’t give yourself enough credit, Rylee Gray,” Eirdis says. “Rise.”
I immediately obey, instantly wishing I was wearing anything but the scrap of silver the Athanry demanded. Goddess meetings should be more formal, right? Not this mess.
Tareena sighs. “It’s a shame. I like this one. She was different.”
“Agreed,” Eirdis says. “She’s so bonded to them that even in her condition, she created a space where she and their powers were one.”
Obviously, they can all read my mind, but for some reason unknown to me, I’m not afraid.
I should be…
Why am I not?
“Probably because there is no fear here,” Neph says, sadness in her eyes replacing the levity from moments ago.
I furrow my brow, some certainty that I can’t quite place banging on the back of my mind.
“Haven’t you realized?” Evaluna tilts her head.
“The pain you felt. We did not concoct the Athanry elixir to cause the potential harm.” Eirdis moves toward me, eyes scanning my body. “Don’t you feel it?”
