Between the Moon and Her Night (Between Life and Death #3)

Chapter 43

Von

“W akey-wakey, little god, you’ve slept long enough,” purred a feminine voice, so powerful that the cold, rocky ground trembled beneath me when she spoke. “I do not care to eat my food when it’s asleep. I prefer it fully conscious and screaming. Adds to the flavor.”

Groggy eyelids opening, I eyed the gigantic female who crouched over top of me. Her skin was a dark gray, her hair, which twirled around her, defying gravity, was a dark purple. Her haunting eyes were the blackest of blacks. Horns protruded from the top of her head, shooting straight up at the roof of the mountainous cave we were in.

Although I was originally a bit foggy about what happened and how I ended up there, seeing the giant female standing before me jogged my memory pretty damn fast—

Saphira had double-crossed me.

I tried to move, but the net wrapped around me would not allow it. The vast power surging through the ropes, woven from the Ancient One’s hair, tamped mine down, as well as my immortal strength.

“It has been quite some time since I last saw you. How many centuries would you say it has been?” she chuckled darkly. “Too many to count, perhaps.” She pursed her lips in thought, and then hovered her hand over top of me.

I waited to see what she would do, unsure if she was about to squash me like a mosquito or crack my head in two, but what she did was so much worse—

She ran a finger over my body, from head to toe, stroking me like I was some prized new lap dog of hers. And then she did it again.

She was fucking petting me. My ego reeled.

Saphira was going to pay for this.

“It is good to see your handsome face,” she said, her finger pushing me further into the ground with each blasted stroke.

“I wish I could say the same for you,” I grunted, my mouth filling with rock and sediment.

“Oh,” she pouted, sticking out her bottom lip as if I had hurt her tender feelings. Her finger stopped. “I had hoped that after all of this time, you might have grown to miss me.” The giant leaned in, her movement causing a blast of air to slam against me, followed by her sweet, floral scent. “I’ll let you in on a little secret . . . I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you,” she spoke in my ear, her voice so loud it felt like a nail had been hammered into my head, rupturing my eardrum.

“Fuck,” I swore through gritted teeth, pain overriding my senses .

She leaned back on her heels, her voice muffled in my one ear, but not in the other as she said, “I’ve thought about you every day since you imprisoned me down here. You see, I have traveled to many realms, devoured thousands of souls, and I have never met one such as you—an insignificant god who could best someone like me, and yet, you did.” She was quiet for a moment. “I’ve replayed our battle over and over in my head more times than I can count, and it’s still such a mystery to me. Sure, there were other gods who fought against me, but ultimately, you were the one to defeat me. And so here lies the question—how can someone like you have so much power?”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” I bit out, warring with my agony but refusing to show it. My voice sounded off—like it was stuck in my head, rattling around with nowhere to go.

She threaded her arms loosely over her chest, one dark brow shooting upwards. “Do you want to know what I think?”

“Not really,” I breathed, ear ringing like a Sunday bell.

“Arrogant god,” she said in a condescending tone. “I’ll tell you anyway. I think that there is more to you than meets the eye. God of Death, king of this pitiful realm . . . I think it’s all a charade.” A cruel smile curled her lips. “I think you are pretending to be someone you’re not. Tell me I’m wrong.”

“Fine. Fine. Twist my arm . . . You’re wrong.”

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not.”

“You are more than what you portray yourself to be. Either you truly have no idea what I’m talking about, or you are desperate to keep your true alias hidden.” She tipped her head to the side. “However, there is one way for me to find out.” She rotated her wrist, producing a dagger with a thin blade and a sharp, sharp tip.

I eyed it. “That seems a bit aggressive for the job, no?”

She didn’t reply as she leaned over top of me, her hair floating around her in rhythmic waves, rippling like water. She unwrapped the net, just enough to uncover my one leg.

I could feel a small trickle of power begin to seep into me, not enough to fight with, but enough to heal. It worked its way to my eardrum, beginning to repair the ruptured tissue and take away some of the pain.

But the feeling was short-lived, because she placed the tip of her dagger against my thigh and pressed it in. I roared in agony as the blade cut into my leather pants, past my skin, muscle, and sinew, stopping when it reached my iron bone.

“That feels promising,” she muttered to herself. She moved the dagger up and down, tapping my femur. “I’d like to get a better look at what you’re made of, though.”

“Fucking bitch,” I snarled, reaching for the blade. My fingers curled around the large tip, pitting my tamped-down strength against hers. The knife sawed into my fingers.

She stopped her tapping. “I’d let go if I were you, or else this will become a whole lot worse.”

I didn’t listen, trying to pull the blade out of me.

“Have it your way,” she said as she dragged the dagger forward, cutting off part of my fingers as she slit me all the way down to my ankle.

Pain exploded, my vision flashing white as the remnants of my fingers fell on my chest, a few bouncing off to the side. I moaned in agony.

The beast inside, which I kept under lock and key, rattled against his cage, desperate to take over. But once I let him out, I didn’t know if I would be able to put him back in. I couldn’t give up control—no, not yet.

Clang . The dagger clattered against the ground, a waft of air hitting me as the giant leaned forward, her breath like a tsunami against my skin. Her fingers pulled the bone-deep cut apart and I roared, slurring out a string of profanities.

“I knew there was more to you than what you were letting on.” She cackled in triumph as her fingers released their hold, the two slabs of meat slapping back together.

Before my sliver of freed divinity had a chance to heal my fingers or my leg, she tossed the net back over top of me.

She sat back, a smug grin twisting her lips. “Despite your bloodless veins, your iron bones tell the truth of what you really are, which makes me wonder why you are here and not back home, with the rest of our kin. Either you were banished from the homeland, or . . . you are in hiding. Regardless, when I devour you, your soul will be delivered back to the empress, and then it will be up to her to decide what to do with you.”

I struggled against the net, my body writhing in miserable torment.

“Hmm,” she said, teetering her head from side to side. “But before I send you on your way, perhaps I should have a bit of fun with you. I have been so very lonely over the decades.”

I didn’t need to ask for further clarification of what her idea of fun was—it was in the way she purred out the word that told me what she had in mind.

The thought curdled the contents of my stomach like rotten milk—regardless of if Sage and I were together or not, I could never touch another woman, not now. Not ever. Sage had ruined me. She was the only female that I wanted. Craved. Needed.

On top of that, I had no desire to deep dive in a giant’s gloryhole.

No fucking way.

“What do you say, God of Death? Should we have a bit of fun?” she asked, her finger stroking me.

“Over my dead body,” I growled through gritted teeth.

She paused her petting, a snarl weaving onto her lips. “I had hoped you would say otherwise, however, your request can be arranged.” She plucked the net, tugging me from the ground, lifting me higher, until I was dangling over top of her face. She licked her lips, asking, “Any last—”

A blast of orange and white flames smashed into her throat. She let out a horrible, continuous scream, her fingers releasing me as she clawed at her neck, trying to put out the fire.

I fell roughly forty feet until I hit the ground like a sack of bricks, my head smashing against the rocky ground. Pain erupted in my head, my legs, my back. Everywhere hurt. I wheezed for oxygen—certain my lungs had collapsed.

Damn this net!

“Hold her there, Zahra,” Dameon’s voice instructed.

“On it,” she said, somewhere in the distance.

Dameon appeared over top of me, his wings spread out behind him—they echoed the same vibrant colors of the flames he commanded.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” I grimaced, my finger nubs rubbing at my ribs.

“Wish I could say the same for you. You look terrible,” Dameon responded as he began to pull at the net, working on untangling it. “What in the Spirit Realm did she do to your leg?”

“Long story,” I grumbled. “Another time.”

“Understandable. Let’s get out of here first.”

I nodded.

“I don’t know how much longer I can hold her back,” Zahra shouted, her voice nearly swallowed up by the angry screams of the giant. The smell of cooking flesh and burnt hair began to permeate the air.

“I’ve almost got it,” Dameon called out. Grunting, he tossed the last remnants of the net to the side, freeing me from the fucking thing.

And just like that, the dam that had restricted my divinity gave way. Instantly, I was filled with immense, intoxicating power—I breathed it in, welcoming it back. My shadows settled around me, returning to their keeper.

“I’ll send you all to the empress for this!” the giant goddess roared so loud that the mountain trembled and the ground shook beneath me.

Dameon’s head jerked up, his eyes narrowing, panic slashing across his face. “Zahra!” he growled, his wings flaring out before he shot over top of me.

I jerked upright, my body healing quickly, but not quick enough. The giant’s hand was moments from striking Zahra, before Dameon swooped in and scooped up his pregnant mate. He shot upwards, trying to get out of the Ancient One’s reach. She leapt up into the air, her hand reaching for them—

I conjured a javelin made of shadow, as strong as the metal bones in my body, and I hurtled it at her with my immortal strength .

She screamed as it impaled her palm, stopping her from grabbing hold of them as they flew into a swirl of black, taking them out of here.

Swearing, she pulled the javelin from her hand, snapping it in two as if it were a toothpick. She tossed it onto the ground, her furious eyes locking on me, nostrils flaring like a bull locking on to a matador’s cape. “You!” she yelled, the word ricocheting around us like cannon fire going off. “I should have eaten your soul the moment your sister had you tossed down here.”

“You probably should have.” I nodded nonchalantly, eyeing my healed fingers. Good as new. Would you look at that.

I flicked my gaze to the giant pissed-off female who looked like she was two seconds away from charging. “But as much as I have not enjoyed this little reunion, I have someone I need to pay a visit to.”

I fell into the embrace of my umbra. It swept around me, taking me back to my throne room.

Shooting out like a bow from an arrow, I hurtled through the air, over top of my imprisoned gods, their wrists bound in shackles, straight for one very surprised looking Saphira.

My hand wrapped around her throat as I drove her straight through my throne, past the wall behind it—bits of molten glass spraying out all around us as we fell down the side of the steep mountain.

“Traitor,” I snarled in her face, my fury scorching my veins as we smashed through rocks and stones, hitting the mountain and then catapulting back up into the air and then back down .

“You were the one who betrayed us all,” she choked out as her fingernails slashed at my wrist, trying to free herself from my hold. Her hand flew towards my stomach, fire shooting out from her palm. I grabbed her wrist, twisting it to the side, before her flame could touch me. Fire scorched the trees in the distance, turning them to ash on the spot.

The wind picked up, hurtling into me, trying to shove me from her.

Mine answered back, shoving hers down.

My wings flared out behind me, catching on the air and lifting us both.

Hers unfurled as she tried to flap them, tried to get away.

“Do not fight me, Saphira,” I growled in her face, my voice etched in malice, in fury. “You have made your bed and now you will sleep in it.”

“Von, wait!” she cried out, trying everything within her power to break my hold, but her power was no match for mine. And she damn well knew it.

Her pleas fell on deaf ears.

“Submit to me,” I commanded of her godly powers, and submit they did, leaving her with little more than tooth and nail to fight me with.

I took her to my dungeon, where I locked her wrists in the diamond bonds I had made for the New Gods and then left her there, sobbing and pleading for me to come back. To have mercy.

But for this betrayal, I would show her none.

She could rot down there for the next century for all I cared.

Let the maggots keep her company.