Vanquished Gods (Hallowed Games #2)

Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

S ion took a step closer. “See? I knew it would work out to have you working together. When I think about it, you have a lot in common, don’t you? You both hate your own power, can barely control your murderous cravings…”

Maelor’s shadows stained the air around us, cooling the air. “Oh, thank the Archon you’ve decided to bless us with your pearls of wisdom. Truly, we’d be lost without you.”

Sion nodded at the place where the deer had been. “Right, it looks like you’d been doing so well. Tell me, what have you successfully hit so far?”

“We just started.” I glared at him, beyond irritated. Straggling in late because he’d been shagging a servant all night, and doing so with his sarcastic attitude.

Sion turned, walking along the forest path. “Come with me. I have a better idea.”

Maelor ran his hand through his hair, nodding at me, indicating that I should move, and we followed behind Sion.

Sion led us toward a clearing where the oaks towered high above, their gnarled branches clawing at the sky. Leaves tumbled over the earth, sweeping over moss and rocks.

I stood at the edge of the clearing, folding my arms. “What are we doing?” I asked, irritation seeping into my voice. A cold breeze rushed over my skin.

Finally, Sion turned back to me, and his eyes shone like warm honey. “I think I know the perfect way to make you focus.”

Unease skittered up my spine, cold as ice. I gripped the yew wand more tightly, feeling its weight, its power. “How, exactly?”

In a blur of shadows, Sion swept across the clearing, reappearing on the opposite side, fast as a sparrow’s heartbeat. And then, as if swallowed by the darkness, he vanished again among the oaks.

An unsettling chill seeped into my bones.

From the shadows, Sion called out, “Get your wand ready.”

I exchanged a nervous glance with Maelor, my nerves set on edge.

“Any idea what he’s doing?” I asked.

“No, but if the centuries I’ve spent with Sion and his mind games are any indication, it’s better to just do what he says.”

As Sion stepped out from a tree, holding Leo’s hand, my heart lurched, the breath going still in my lungs.

What the fuck was he doing here?

Sion’s golden eyes locked onto me. “Are you ready?”

“I didn’t say you could bring Leo into this.” My glacial voice boomed across the clearing.

“Lift your wand,” Sion commanded. “Trust me.”

“I don’t trust you at all right now,” I shouted.

Leo’s eyes were wide.

Next to me, Maelor whispered, “You’d better do what he says.”

The hair on the nape of my neck rose, and dread took root in my thoughts. Reluctantly, I lifted my wand, feeling it throb in my grip, the yew wood alive and vibrating with magical energy.

From the forest floor, magic seeped into my feet and legs—a deep magic, ancient and rhythmic, like the forest itself was waking. The trees seemed to breathe, roots sinking into the earth, and all the life around us beat in sync with Leo’s frantic pulse.

In the recesses of my mind, he appeared again—the god of death, the insatiable Serpent King who fed his garden of lilies with blood and crushed bone. He spilled blood, and from the drops, the yew trees grew.

The wand thrummed more powerfully. The Serpent’s dark magic surged into me, churning like a wild river.

Sion turned, shouting across the clearing to someone hidden behind the oaks. “Release him!”

My gaze snapped toward the trees, and I saw it—a massive dark wolf, its muscles rippling, charging out from between the shadows. Just like the wolves that tore people to pieces in the Ruefield labyrinth. Fury snapped through my nerves.

Time seemed to slow, each heartbeat a heavy war drum in my ears. As if from a distance, I heard Leo scream, but my focus was on the wolf, its movements.

The Serpent’s magic filled me, and I felt phantom snakes slipping around me. My breath turned icy in my chest as my eyes locked on to my target.

Dark magic shot from my wand, a midnight tendril, swift and lethal like an arrow loosed from a bow. It slammed into the wolf's side with a force that rippled through the clearing. Only three feet from Leo and Sion, the beast toppled to the ground. Its eyes widened in shock, limbs flailing, and a broken howl escaped its throat. The wolf lay twitching in its final moments.

I let the magic back in.

I caught my breath, the echo of power still vibrating through me. Slowly, I lowered my wand, my eyes narrowing on Sion.

I wanted to kill him and feed the earth with his bones.

I charged at Sion, molten anger coursing through my veins. I wasn’t really thinking; my mind had simply become a maelstrom of rage. Maybe I was slipping into that place beyond words, where everything goes dark.

All that to say that there wasn’t a great deal of thought that went into my decision to raise my fist and slam it toward Sion’s face. But with his infuriating vampire reflexes, his hand shot up like a viper’s strike, and he gripped my fist in his palm with a crushing ferocity. Pain radiated up my arm.

He cocked an eyebrow, a hint of amusement flickering in his golden eyes. “This is the second time you’ve tried to punch me. At some point, you’re going to learn it won’t work.”

I ripped my fist out of his grasp. “You put Leo in danger.”

“He wasn’t in any actual danger.”

“If the wolf didn’t rip him to pieces, I could have killed him with my magic.” My voice broke as I said the words, and the weight of my own worst nightmare coming to life crashed down on me.

“I was right here,” he said softly, seeming to realize that this was absolutely not a game to me. “I wouldn’t have let the wolf get to him, and I would have blocked your magic if necessary.”

“And what if you were too slow?”

He shook his head. “Not possible.”

I jabbed his chest with my finger, and it felt like pressing against pure steel. I stared up into his cold, metallic eyes, and anger bloomed even hotter in my veins.

“You don’t remember what it feels like to feel fear, do you? You don’t see anything wrong with putting a ten-year-old boy in a terrifying situation because terror means nothing to you anymore. It’s nothing but a ghost of your past. You don’t remember what it’s like to feel things at all, do you? But if you put him at risk again, I promise I’ll make sure you remember what terror feels like.”

Without waiting for his response, I pivoted and beckoned to Leo to follow me out of the forest, away from Sion.