Page 171 of The Blade in the Ashes
A wave of ice rushed over me, sending a chill racing down my spine.
No.
No, that couldn’t be true.
This had to be what would bring my powers back. It had to work because I couldn’t accept that they were gone forever. I couldn’t—
“They did not leave you, dear girl,” Athene sighed, brows lifting as if she were speaking with a child. “Did you not feel them when you recognized the power in your friend, Camilla? Did you not feel them when you read the pain in your friend Kent? Even now, did you not feel them when you looked at me andknewwho I was?”
Frowning, I shook my head at her, taking two steps back. That sounded far more like her domain than mine. “That’s not my power. I can’t do that.”
Athene crossed her arms over her chest. “You are a Goddess, yet you expect your magic to behave like that of a Descendant.”
“My powers aregone,” I insisted stubbornly, frowning at her. “I’ve tried to use them.”
Her eyes sparkled. “Have you?”
The brightness around us flickered for a moment, tiny tendrils of darkness beginning to seep into the empty space we inhabited. In the distance, I could almost hear my name being called.
“We do not have long,” Athene mentioned, drawing my focus once more. “You must decide if you wish to proceed with the Forging. Not every God does.”
“And if I don’t?”
Athene considered. “You need only trust yourself. You need to trust that your powers are not the enemy that released Hyrax against your will. They are a part of you. Your will. Your decisions.”
The light flickered again. That was Clay’s voice. Clay was calling my name in the distance.
He was screaming my name.
“What happens if I do it?” I asked her, eyes wide with desperation. In this strange place, in between realms, I felt the passage of time like a weight bearing down on me.
Athene’s dark eyes bore into mine. “You will change.”
Without breaking my stare, she uncrossed her arms and extended one hand, palm up, towards me in silent invitation.
I could return to the Mortal Realm, embrace my magic, and fight Hyrax as I was.
Or I could stare my own divinity in the eye and face the truth of what it meant to be a Goddess.
Fear was alive inside me, present in my pounding heart and trembling fingers. It wasn't a foreign sensation, though. Fear had been my constant companion since the second I had first opened my eyes.
I had feared the Dragon. I had feared the life the Council would force upon me. I had feared Hyrax. I had feared George and his men.
I had feared so much.
I didn’t want to be afraid anymore.
Especially not of myself. I didn’t want to fear the powers that coursed through me.
If change was the price for the bravery I craved, then it would be worth it.
I placed my hand in hers.
Chapter Fifty-One
Thea
“Where are we?” I asked Athene, my voice unnaturally airy.
