“And why should we even trust you?” Ysar turned to Khalasa, his lightning bolt sparking, his white wings spreading wide. “You are the reason he trapped us. You and your ill-advised affair.”
“We did tell you it was a bad idea.” Larissa studied her long blue nails while holding her trident with her other hand. Her blue hair flowed like water. “We told you not to fall for the mortal.”
Khalasa’s eyes flashed purple.
“So what are we waiting for?” Fire flared from Ragar’s hammer. “Let’s kill him and the bitch, then everyone else. Start anew.”
I assumed I was the bitch in this situation, and my anger flared.
“And let him get off so easy?” Khalasa glared at Ragar. “We must make him suffer.”
“You cursed his sons,” Uruth said. Small ice crystals covered the frost god’s skin and white hair. “You’re going to kill his daughter in front of him. Is that not punishment enough?”
The gods all began speaking at once while Kairoth coughed behind me. I inched backward toward Kairoth while the gods continued their heated discussion. My father took notice and stepped in front of us, partially blocking me as I summoned my star powers.
It was so odd using magic like this, but now that I knew I could, it felt effortless as I asked the starlight to do my bidding. The light wrapped around Kairoth’s chains, snapping them. His shadows sprang free, and he rose up, his bruises already fading to a mottled green on his skin. His shadows swirled around him.
The gods all stopped mid-argument, turning to stare as Kairoth rose higher in the air, his shadows gathering around him and ready to strike. His dagger was strapped to his side. It was the first time I’d seen it. He grasped it and pointed it forward.
Ragar raised his hammer. “I’m not waiting another fucking minute. They’re all dead, and it’ll be my hammer in their skulls.”
Kairoth’s shadows descended upon the gods, and magic exploded everywhere. Uruth raised his axe, ice shards shooting toward the shadows.
Ragar spun his hammer around and around, sparks of fire shooting from it into the air. Aethira’s hair grew into long vines that lashed out at the shadows, and Larissa pointed her trident at them, waiting.
Ysar rose into the air, his wings flapping behind him, creating a windstorm that pushed against the shadows as he called lightning down with his bolt. Lightning split through the air and right onto the balcony, burning a hole through it.
The swans began shuffling behind me, flapping their wings. I had to get the sweaters on the rest of them. Now.
I dove toward them as Kairoth moved forward, commanding his shadows to fight against the magic.
I threw another sweater across Marcello.
“I don’t think so,” a voice said, and I straightened, turning and coming face-to-face with Khalasa’s scythe, pointed right at my neck. “You think I cursed your brothers just so you could free them? Live happily ever after with your father?”
I was about to summon my star magic when a shadow barreled into Khalasa, knocking her off her feet. I looked over to see my father standing there, his shadow gone. He’d ripped it away and was using it to fight against Khalasa.
He stomped toward her and grasped her feet, nodding at me as he lifted and swung her up, then threw her.
I swallowed, grabbing the next sweater and throwing it over Phoenix’s back.
Fire shot over us, and I summoned starlight to shield my brothers from it, to keep them from flying away.
“You took my entire family from me,” my father yelled as his shadow fought Khalasa’s star magic. She summoned the starlight, but my father’s shadow was quick, darting from the light, dancing around it, around Khalasa. “And you will not go unpunished,” he said.
The east tower loomed over the terrace, and my father reached out to grab its shadow. He commanded the shadow to wrap around Khalasa’s feet, tripping her and toppling her.
I looked down in my arms. One sweater. One sweater left. My heart felt like it might beat out of my chest as I threw the final sweater over Soloman’s back.
“No,” Khalasa screamed from where she lay on the ground, reaching out as my brothers began to shift while my father’s shadow pinned her to the ground.
Their legs lengthened, feathers falling to reveal pale skin. Their beaks retracted, turning into noses, their eyes flashing with colors of green and blue. White and black feathers flew through the air while the gods fought around us.
Khalasa snarled, reaching out a hand, but before she could summon her magic, my father’s shadow pounced, landing on her arm.
The feathers continued to fall, revealing more of my seven brothers. I fell to my knees, staring at them in awe.
Jorah stood tall, brows furrowed. Ryder next to him. Then Klaus and Killian, both of them scratching their heads, blinking in confusion. Marcello was next, the last of his feathers falling from his brown hair. Then Phoenix. All of them wore simple brown trousers and beige tunics, feet bare, the exact same outfits they’d been wearing when Khalasa had cursed them so many years ago.
