Page 122 of Ruin of Revenants

Vithenna clapped her hands and lightning flashed. It struck a nearby home, the sharp scent of smoke filling the air as flames burst to life, snapping and devouring. I threw myself between Archer and the home instinctively, turning toward Vithenna and trying to draw on my own magic. Solea, please.

As if the goddess had heard my plea, I felt a spark of my flame swelling in my chest, growing and growing until it was a roaring fire in its own right. I shifted effortlessly, summoning my own phoenix fire as I leapt into the air, letting the air seize my wings.

Storm clouds roiled overhead, consuming the bejeweled night sky. Rain started as a trickle and then fell in a torrent, weighing down my feathers. I focused on the fire burning within me, conjuring more that flared along my wings, growing until my entire body was consumed in the warmth of red-gold flames. I dove for the goddess, determined to stop her destruction and havoc before she harmed more of the people I loved.

You won’t have him, I thought viciously, slashing at her small figure below me with my claws.

I tried to catch her in my grip, but at the last moment, she vanished and reappeared several feet away, laughing. She lifted a sparking fist full of white-hot electricity, and a lightning bolt from the sky answered her, flashing from the clouds. I dodged and swept low again, letting my trail of fire leap toward the ground to consume her.

Vithenna laughed, easily moving like she had before by disappearing as the flames were about to kiss her skin. Meanwhile, the rain continued to battle my phoenix fire. Smoke singed the air and clouded the sky as I circled the goddess, determined to end her and protect Emberglade once and for all. I conjured more fire, letting it burst to life along my feathers, drying and warming them, making the rain steam and hiss as it struck. More lightning slammed around us, striking soldiers and leaving charred remains in the streets alongside the motionless revenants.

If I’d been in fae form, I would have vomited, horrified and disgusted by each gruesome, terrible end. But in phoenix form, I only knew my indignation and fierce desire to protect, to heal, to save. So I dove again for Vithenna, lashing out with beak and claws.

She shot up a wall of electricity that clashed with my flames. There was a horrendous popping sound, like all the oxygen was sucked out of the air as our two powers collided. The force of the collision shoved me backward, sending me flying, fluttering my wings wildly in an attempt to regain control.

This time, I circled her without trying to attack, merely watching. She responded in the same manner, letting her storm rage around us while she studied me, as if wanting me to make the next move. Taunting me. Silently reminding me that I was nothing compared to a goddess.

The usurper king is dead, I thought, knowing in my bones that Vithenna could hear me as clearly as any other phoenix could when I used my ability to speak into their minds. For her power flowed through me, after all, like Mortius had said. As much as I hated it, hated her, I was connected to the goddess of life. The land has chosen Archer. Now that your revenants are moving on to the afterlife, it’s time to let go. Release Emberglade from your curses. The innocents deserve life.

Vithenna merely laughed. “Emberglade has never respected my power. Never feared me. The other deities agreed that our work here was done and we should exist only on that dull immortal plane to rest for eternity, but I was meant for more. I knew there would come a time when I would be needed. I never did ascend. My power here is at its full height.”

You lied to the other gods?

“It’s not as if they noticed or cared, not until I began to defy them, to punish Emberglade. Mortius was quick to complain that I wasn’t letting souls fill the afterlife as they had been before. And Emberglade? No one in this kingdom ever thought to fear me. Even when the gods walked more freely among you, the phoenixes revered Solea. The other fae looked to Umbryon to feed their power through the nighttime. Sanvo was called upon when anyone was wounded or ill. But I was the goddess looked upon as the giver of children, the one who made flowers blossom and food grow. Tame. Uninteresting. If someone was dying, no one begged me for life. They begged Mortius for more time.”

You’re insane, I thought, hoping she saw the fire and disgust in my eyes. You want to be respected? Feared? All you have done is make yourself hated.

But Vithenna sneered. “The other gods will respect me now. They’re weak on earth because of their choice to ascend, but I am not. After I finish purging this kingdom, I will choose the next fae to rule and live here, and they will know to revere me.”

You’re not going to take a single more soul that I love.

The goddess grinned, her colorful hair whipping around her too-beautiful face in the storm, her eyes ablaze with manic delight.

Lightning sparked from the sky, a blinding blaze that I couldn’t dodge quickly enough. It jolted through me, sparking through flesh and bone. I heard my scream as my phoenix form shifted back to fae, as the scents of scorched flesh and smoke and ash collided, mingling with agony. The world turned bright white, and I was falling.

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Archer

Isoria had left me to try to fend off Vithenna, and I, trapped on the ground, couldn’t join her. Terror and rage filled me at the sight of the goddess of life crumbling Rainsong’s buildings, shattering its streets, and sending lightning after my people. After Isoria.

When I tried to charge the goddess herself, she sent the earth shattering again, splitting ruptures through the street and sending cobblestones flying. My boots skidded on the rain-slick cobblestones, but I was too late. Vithenna had split the earth so wide, I couldn’t leap across the distance to reach her. Isoria circled her in her phoenix form, magnificent and powerful, but even a phoenix was no match for a goddess.

My stomach lurched into my throat. Each time I reached for the magic I’d accessed earlier, splitting the earth and commanding the roots growing underground, I found nothing but emptiness. I was too weak, too exhausted. After nearly bleeding out and the energy my body had used to recover with the help of Isoria’s magic, it could take hours before I would be able to wield that power again.

And my mind magic was just as depleted—not that I expected it would work on a deity.

Nearby, Princess pawed at the earth, growling and antsy. She eyed Vithenna with murderous intent, but a jaguar couldn’t defeat the goddess either.

Swallowing back my desperation, my awful sense of helplessness, I turned away. If I couldn’t protect Isoria, I’d do the next best thing and try to help my people to safety.

Turning, I ran, Princess at my side. Leaping the cracks in the street along with the gruesome revenant corpses and dodging crumbling buildings, I sought out my citizens as they charged screaming through the streets. “Get to the castle!” I shouted. “Follow me! Take cover in the tunnels!”

As I ran, watching males, females, and children fall in line behind me, I scanned for a familiar fae. If I could find Cliff, Grey, or any other guard I knew, I could order them to lead my people to the tunnels. That would allow me to come back and gather more, to search for anyone trapped in buildings, to rally every last available healer we had.

Then I could return to Isoria.

What if my connection to Mortius would let me call on him? Could he defy the goddess of life?