“I am glad to have met you, Frankie Talbot.” Anunit faded into transparency. “Thank you for reuniting me with my daughter.”She butted her head against my hip. “I am proud of you, guardian.”
Sweat turned my palms slick as I whipped my head toward her. “Why does that sound like goodbye?”
With a feline grin, she stepped through me. No. She walkedintome. Her presence nestled in front of my soul like a shield, and the light within me grew brighter. Blinding. And then…I burst apart at the seams.
Ashrieking whine filled my ears, and I clamped my hands over them to block out the noise. I coughed up ash and smoke, my lungs screaming at me for oxygen. A soul-wrenching pain radiated through my chest, and I clutched my collar, tugging it down.
Strong arms rolled me onto my side, and a firm hand patted me between my shoulder blades.
“Breathe.” Kierce made it an order. “You’ve got to get it out of your system.”
Acid churned up the back of my throat, and I emptied my stomach without lifting my head. As soon as I was done, I felt better. Until I remembered the cause for my heartbreak. “Anunit.”
For a creature who had been dead centuries before we met, I felt her true death as if it were her first.
“She sacrificed herself to end Ithas for good.” He stroked sweaty hair off my forehead and sat beside me on the cold stone floor. “The combination of our energies decimated the statue. He’s gone. For good.”
Grateful for his help sitting up, I forced out, “How do we know he won’t respawn?”
“Nothing is ever certain with gods. The same may be true of Titans as well. But I don’t see how he could have survived that. Every ounce of essence was burnt out of the stone and his body.” He drew me against his chest. “We know where he lives now, and we’ll keep watch in case he returns.”
“He could go somewhere else, start over.”
“He could, yes, but all his research is here. Centuries of work he won’t leave behind.”
“We need to get Lucia to a hospital.” I stood on jelly legs. “How do we get out of here?”
With Anunit gone and Lucia unconscious, I wasn’t sure how to transport myself, let alone Lucia.
Searching for any hint of an exit I might have missed earlier, I noticed the door to the mirashii nest observatory stood open. Scrabbling noises came from outside, and fresh urgency surged through me.
With Ithas dead, the ward on the window would have failed. And if the mirashii had been forced to abandon their frontal assault, they would have begun searching for other ways in. We couldn’t be here when they found one, or I was toast.
“I’ll go to Vi.” He rubbed my shoulders. “Papa Legba is our safest choice.”
Favors from gods didn’t come for free, even from the friendly ones.
“Let me try.” I had to trust myself with this power one day, and this was a great time for me to have a little faith. That, and fear of getting eaten by giant piranha chickens was a powerful motivator. “I would prefer not to owe another god if I can help it.”
“I understand.”
Exhausted from a busy evening of committing patricide, I leaned into Kierce and let him brace me on my way to Lucia. I hit my knees beside her, cupped her hot cheeks, and tunneled down into what remained of my power.
Anunit had guided me through the process multiple times, but I hadn’t volunteered to try my hand at it. I had been afraid. I was still afraid. I had so much more power than I had ever imagined at my disposal. It had been easy to ignore it, to hide behind her, but I had lost my shield.
Damn it.
Anunit was supposed to be here. I had so much more to learn, so much more she was meant to teach me. But I couldn’t let my grief blind me to her sacrifice, or to the reward she deserved. To be at peace with her mate and daughter after all this time.
Which meant I had to get my butt in gear and give her a reason to be proud of the guardian she had chosen.
Closing my eyes, I pictured the paths I had walked with Anunit to various locations until I found the one I wanted. Energy coasted from my scalp down my arms and throughout my body. A sense of weightlessness engulfed me, lifting me. Buoyant, I bobbed on unseen currents of energy.
Then gravity slammed into me, and we hit gravel in the parking lot at The Body Shop.
Kierce stood beside me in a blink, forcing me to lay down when I attempted to rise.
“I’ll go for help.” He raked his gaze over me. “Don’t move.”
