“You will always be my brother regardless of our feuds,” Moirenna said, almost laughing at Echnid’s refusal.
As if in demonstration, she lifted her hands, smoky silver mist shimmering off her. It was similar to Echnid’s, but where the Warrior God’s was a dense white fog, Moirenna’s was stardust ripped from the depths of the heavens, glimmering and twinkling. It was what you’d find lurking among the cosmos, and I almost felt as if it would purify anything that touched it.
Valyrie’s Angellight within me stretched out to the goddess, but I tugged against its leash to tame the star-flecked magic.
“We are derived of the same sources,” Moirenna continued, power peeling off her ivory skin. “We are born of the mist’s willfully gifted hands.”
“Willfully gifted,” Echnid scoffed, the sound so mortal. If he existed on this world for long enough, would his power amplify to match Moirenna’s? Would it surpass it as it once had, so close to the heart of all magic?
I grimaced, Tolek’s arm tightening around my waist. His touch steadied me, helping me assess the situation closer. We could not allow Echnid to get as powerful as the known gods. Could not allow Thorn to roam free after today.
Sliding off Sapphire onto silent feet, I pulled a dagger from my thigh and gathered what remained of my Angellight in my other hand. I was drained from Echnid’s intrusive magic. It still swirled through my blood, but I forced it down. Ihadto.
My body is my own.
My mind is my own.
And my fucking power is my own.
Jezebel and Vale came to stand on either side of me, Cypherion, Tolek, and the mythical creatures behind us.
“Do you deny who created you?” Moirenna asked. Her head tilted, porcelain expression remaining calm and pristine. “You seek to destroy the very Balance of all realms.”
“I do not seek to ruin. I seek to right,” Echnid answered, and cruelty warped every word, tight enough to kill. “And I have found the way.”
I have found the way.
Echnid knew. He knew how to sever ties of the gods to the warriors. To Ambrisk.
Moirenna nodded, and it was clear she was already aware. She’d come here because she’d seen in the celestial movements that Echnid had this piece of information.
And he was prepared to wield it.
“You think this is the wisest choice?” Moirenna asked. She was frustratingly calm. Was that something she’d learned over the centuries? Had she seen the possible outcomes and was navigating them silently before us?
I searched the row of Angels above, curved around their master. Always with him—imperative to whatever he planned.
My hand tightened on my knife. Valyrie was at the end of the row, wings tilting toward the Goddess of Fate and Celestial Movements, like the tide was pulled by the moon.
All seven of them were preoccupied, swarming toward their god, and I pulled up all seven facets of their powers. Let it gather beneath my skin as Echnid said to Moirenna, “I fear that is where we disagree. See, you believe I am making a choice when we both know I am fulfilling a destiny.”
And for a moment that sent my heart plunging to my stomach, Moirenna’s eyes widened. The Warrior God had caught her in her own game of Fates.
Echnid started speaking, uttering words in a language I had never heard. One I didn’t think even Tolek had studied. A glance over my shoulder confirmed it when he shook his head.
This was it—this was how Echnid had discovered to banish the gods. And that meant it was our one shot.
I summoned all of the power within me, and without another thought, I tore my arm back, and sent my dagger launching toward the Angels and their cruel master.
I chased the blade with every bit of magic I could drag up—the might of myths and seraphs and Angels—of every drop of Godsblood and Angelblood that had been steeping in my veins for years.
“Ophelia, no!” And that voice shocked me.Damien.
His stare seized mine, and that was fear widening his purple eyes. Terror cracking the facade he worked so hard to maintain.
But I only sent more and more magic after the blade, pushing it forward—hoping for any impact against a god.
Every Angel whirled toward us, including Thorn, a wild glee fueling the Mindshaper’s beating wings.
