Her brow pinched, face still pale from what Echnid had done to her, but Angellight flared in her palms.
“Let’s go,” she said, and we charged after Dynaxtar, something beating relentlessly within me.
Tolek and Sapphire were both covered in some glimmering gold substance. The same thing leaked from a slice to Thorn’s back as he carved circles through the air, giggling and rioting, storms rumbling around him.
“By the fucking Spirits,” I breathed as that beating drum kept up in my head. How had they managed to do that?
In a flash, a sword of Angellight burst to life in Ophelia’s hand, and she was running for Tolek. He and Sapphire were trying and failing to find a way through the mist Echnid hounded them with. It was so much thicker, like the god wanted to makea damn point to Ophelia that he could touch anyone she cared about.
But he couldn’t.
Because as she ran, Ophelia sliced through the haze with that glowing sword. Beams shot from her other hand, light obliterating the god’s power. Tolek and Sapphire both saw her, the pegasus landing and galloping for her rider. I kept one eye on the Angel soaring above, my scythe in hand.
Right as Ophelia swung up onto Sapphire’s back in front of Tolek, Dynaxtar landed, sand flying up around her. That agitated, relentless pounding went quiet within me when I saw Vale, and I realized it had been the new Fatesworn bond. Spirits, it was going to take a while to get used to this thing.
I took one single step toward Vale, but her eyes widened. She inhaled sharply, sliding off Dynaxtar and stumbling toward me.
“What’s wrong, Stargirl?” I asked as I caught her.
Her face tipped toward the heavens as Echnid’s mists parted. And in the distance, a blurry figure illuminated the desert with a burst of white light and silver smoke.
And one word fell from Vale’s lips?—
“Moirenna.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Ophelia
The Goddessof Fate and Celestial Movements was starlight incarnate in the midst of Echnid’s fogged magic.
She emerged from the depths of the mists, a pulsing white glow and silver smoke puncturing the wicked, tainted power of the Warrior God. His tendrils fell to the sand, and Jezebel and Zanox came soaring toward the rest of us, landing with an earth-rocking thud. I looked over my sister to ensure she was okay, but we didn’t have time for more than that.
A layer of Echnid’s fog hovered across the sand, wrapping carelessly around our ankles as if tasting us, coaxing us closer. Sapphire and the khrysaor pranced in place. But the god only had eyes for Moirenna.
The goddess stood before him, sister versus brother, immortal enemies facing down ancient blood feuds.
Battles I was exhausted of being held accountable for.
Rage curled through me at seeing the two gods together, their power so effortless and mighty, yet they’d strung their squabbles upon those weaker than them simply because they could.
Seraph magic gathered around me, everything taking on a gold sheen.
“Easy,” Tolek whispered in my ear, soothing me before I shot it rashly. “Wait for your chance.”
He was right. I’d get one opportunity to hit Echnid. I couldn’t waste it.
As gold light purred around us, the air shifted. The threads of emblem power originating in me coiled tighter, and my attention snapped toward the skies. The Angels emerged out of nowhere. All six who hadn’t bothered to fight moments ago.
My eyes locked with Damien’s as he swooped nearest us, below Thorn, still prowling overhead with focus homed on Echnid. The Prime Mystique shook his head, expression stony, but I swore there was something in those purple eyes. Be it warning or anger, I couldn’t peel them apart in the wake of my own fury.
He’d betrayed me. He’d fed me to Echnid’s poison when he’d promised to protect me, and then he contributed to trapping me there. So, despite what was in that beseeching stare, I turned away.
Ether dripped from each Angel’s wings. All seven of them directed their attention to the showdown of the gods.
“Brother,” Moirenna called out, and I rocked back on my heels at the sound of her voice. So much power ebbed through those two syllables. Like with only one word she could command fortunes, create worlds, and rearrange heavens. The khrysaor, Jezebel, and Sapphire all shivered at it. Vale pressed forward on her toes, like pure will was the only thing keeping her from floating to the goddess who reigned over fates.
Echnid sneered at Moirenna. “You sacrificed your right to call me such when you locked me in that realm.”
