I pulled on the magic, holding my arms out as if I were embracing it. Power rushed into my chest. Into my star. Trees began to shake, water bubbled, and the palace groaned eerily. My men drew in closer around me.
“Now!” Luke said to Marduk. “Replace her magic with your own.”
I felt Marduk's magic nudging mine, the greasy gloating of his power slipping into my land. I grit my teeth and yanked harder. It was all coming with me; the pool with its waterfall, the lake behind me, the hidden cave where I liked to go with Kirill, Trevor's cabin one valley over, and the palace itself. I took the dining room and the kitchen. The library and the butterfly garden. I took the nurseries, my dressing room, and the bathroom with its enormous tub. Memories flashed through my mind as I emptied Pride Palace of every room and everything that had made it a home. Love and laughter and tears. Ecstasy and pain. Life.
I took the immortal butterflies and tucked them into my heart, ready to be reborn anew later. The creatures of the grasslands came too and the animals on our farm. I took all of them into me. I took the books and beds and blades. I took everything that meant anything to me and my family. Everything that we couldn't carry with us, I gathered into my heart. I'd carry them for us and when the day came that we built a new home, they'd be waiting; ready to burst forth again.
“What the fuck?” Marduk snarled.
“Focus!” Luke shouted at him. “She's removing her magic. Vervain's magic made this place. You will have to build your territory with your magic.”
Marduk grimaced but there was nothing he could do.
I noticed that Luke failed to mention that Marduk should ward his territory and guard it with a tracing chant; basically a lock for his front door. The Devil was up to his old tricks; giving Marduk the bare minimum of what he needed to know and leaving out the important details. Without a tracing chant, Marduk's new home would be vulnerable; any god could waltz right in. I wanted to smile at Marduk—to gloat—but it was hard to do while I watched my home disintegrate around me. The palace crumbled to dust, the lake dried up into a cracked wasteland, the waterfall toppled, and the trees disappeared. When all of my magic had been removed, all that was left was an expanse of gray dirt. Oh, and a Viking longboat.
“Dang it, I forgot about the boat,” I muttered.
Odin had built me the boat himself; it wasn't made with my magic.
“I'll build you another,” Odin said gently. “He can have the damn boat.”
I let out a sigh and looked at Marduk. “It's done. You have your territory, and I have fulfilled my vow.”
I felt the cold magic inside, my blood oath to him, melt with its fulfillment. Marduk nodded, no doubt feeling the magic settle on his end as well; confirmation that I had done exactly as promised. My end of the vow was complete so the magic left me, but Marduk's oath would stay with him forever, ensuring that he would never attack me or anyone I loved.
I looked around me at the people who had stayed to help me through one of the hardest times of my life. “Thank you all for being here but it's time to go. I'll meet you in Aaru.”
My friends and family started to disappear. Without a ward in place, there was no need for a tracing room, they could trace from where they stood. The first to go was Luke. He winked at me and traced with a speed that betrayed his cunning. I knew exactly why the Devil had skedaddled so quickly.
“Wait,” Marduk growled and grabbed my arm. “You haven't told me how to use the territory magic.”
“Unhand her now!” Trevor growled.
“Not until she tells me what I need to know!”
I jerked my arm out of Marduk's grasp easily. The recent influx of magic had given me even more strength. “I inherited this territory along with the lion magic. It was already built when I got here. I don't know how to change it.” Yes, it was a lie, but I felt good about telling it. “The god who may have been able to help you just left. Why do you think I asked him to assist us? Lucifer knows all about territory magic, but you didn't think to ask him. Now, you'll have to figure it out yourself.”
I stepped into the Aether, taking one last thing with me; the furious look on Marduk's face. Now, that was something I'd treasure for a long time.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
I stepped out of Re's tracing room and into chaos. Several arguments littered the air with strident sound, servants hurried down the corridors looking harried, and Intare roamed the palace like anxious settlers needing to stake their claim. In the middle of it all was Re, trying his best to corral my lions. But anyone who has ever lived with a cat knows that making felines do what you want is a tricky business that usually involves bribery. You have to trick a cat into thinking it wants to do what you want it to. Unless, of course, you're the source of their magic.
“You will stop these shenanigans this very instant!” I shouted and it turned into a roar. Oh, how I'd missed roaring.
The Intare stopped arguing and came out into the corridor to stare obediently at me and await my next order.
“Thank the Sun,” Re muttered as he came over to give me a hug. “They're like children in adult bodies.”
“I'll handle it,” I promised.
“Tima, Lucius took the room that I had called dibs on,” Aidan whined. “He just tossed my
