“Viper, stop,” I made one last, weak protest.
“Make me stop. I can't do it on my own. Make me stop, Vervain.”
“Viper,” I moaned and clawed him closer.
My whole body clenched with rapture as I screamed his name and bucked within his full-body embrace. Viper trembled with me and then went rigid moments later, his body tightening around mine like an anaconda.
“Vervain!” Viper shouted as he lifted his head.
His mouth gaped open and his fangs flicked down as he emptied himself, hot and thick, over my belly. Then, quick as his namesake, he latched onto my throat, slim fangs sinking deep. Poison pumped into my body, and I gasped through the burn. Seconds later, Viper pulled back with a look of horror on his face.
“Vervain?” Viper stroked my throat as I gasped. “Vervain! No! Fuck! Please, no! I didn't mean to.” He scrambled off me and pulled me into his arms. “My goddess, my dark star, you can't die. You can't!”
I couldn't speak to Viper, couldn't reassure him that no poison could kill me. That my body just needed to work through the toxin and get to the healing. Whatever poison Star had given Viper, it was deadly. It took a good, solid minute for my magic to isolate it and burn it away. And through that entire minute, Viper panicked.
“You saved me from myself, Vervain. I would have spent eternity in the Void, turning my back on every new life offered me, if you hadn't called to me. I left that realm for you.” Viper stroked my cheek. “I saw you reaching out to me, this gleaming soul surrounded by dark light, and I knew you were who I'd been waiting for. So, you can't die. We've just found each other. You can't die and leave me here; alone again but this time with the knowledge of you haunting me. Don't you dare do that to me!”
My spasms subsided, and I drew in a sharp breath as the poison finally dissipated. My hands went instantly to Viper's face, and he sobbed in relief.
“Shh.” I kissed him tenderly. “I won't leave you; I promise. Your poison can't hurt me, Viper. No poison can. I just needed some time to process it.” I smiled at him teasingly. “You've got some deadly stuff inside you.”
Viper made a sound of relieved amusement; a sort of huffing laugh. “You scared me.”
“No fear,” I said firmly. “Not ever again. We don't feel fear, we inspire it.”
He smiled and flashed me his fangs. “So, I can take another bite?”
I laughed brightly. “Hell, no, Snake-Eyes. That stung like a bitch. No more biting today.”
Viper blinked at me, his gaze coasting over my face as if he were only just seeing me, and then grinned wider. “I like this you. You're more... real somehow.”
I sobered as dark light brightened inside me and pushed back that realness. “That's the old me,” I murmured. “I need to get past her.”
“Why?” Viper stroked the hair away from my face. “Can't you be both? Goddess and woman?”
“No.” I sat up, dislodging him. “The woman can't win the coming war. I need to be the Goddess.”
“Then be the Goddess.” Viper took my hand. “But be her out there. Just as you told us; to the world, you will be the Dark Star, but to us, you will be Vervain. Be Vervain with me. Let me see that part of you.”
“Vervain holds her back!” Star snapped as she appeared beside the bed. “You need to support your goddess and help her be strong, Viper.”
Viper scowled at Star and then shifted that look to me. “Is that what you want?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Incoming,” Star said suddenly and disappeared.
“Vervain, I—” Sin stepped out of the elevator directly in front of my bed and stopped cold. “Oh, I see,” he said stiffly. “I'll be in the war room when you're ready.” He stepped back into the elevator with a furious look. “Sorry to interrupt.”
“Sin, wait.” I started to climb out of bed, but Viper pulled me back.
The elevator doors shut on Sin's clenching jaws and tense shoulders.
“Let him go. He'll need to come to terms with your choice,” Viper said.
I looked back at Viper and a cool voice poured past my lips, “I haven't made a choice. Nor do I ever have to make one.”
Viper gaped at me as I slid off the mattress. Sin was already gone, but I went to the elevator anyway. My dressing room was one floor down.
“Vervain?” Viper asked hollowly.
A shivering took over my heart, and I gasped as if cold water had been thrown in my face.
“Vervain!” Viper reached me in two seconds, his hands latching onto my arms to support me.
“I'm sorry,” I whispered as I looked up at him. “I don't know what came over me.”
“It's okay.” His hands went to my face. “I understand, Dark Star. It's time for you to be the Goddess, and I will be your commander. But when we return here, I want Vervain back, and I will Viper. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” I said softly and relaxed into his embrace.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Viper and I got dressed then joined Sin and the other star gods in the war room. Sin had recovered from his shock and nodded to me respectfully, if a little coolly, as I entered the room. I sighed deeply.
You'd better handle that. We can't have a bruised male ego
