“You really are a twisted bitch, aren’t you?” I ask, continuing to push myself forward, one agonizing step at a time.
“Well…I never said I wasn’t.” Mouth twisted in a rictus grin, Athena lowers the knife.
And plunges it into Henry’s heart.
“No!” I scream.
“Henry!” That’s Rebecca’s voice, and I should’ve known the idiotic girl wouldn’t listen to me. But I can’t focus on that. I can’t focus on anything except for my brother falling to the ground, the handle of the knife protruding from his ribcage.
Anguish stops my heart as I drop to my knees directly beside him.
“No, no, no, no, no,” I whisper incoherently as Athena begins to laugh gleefully.
A sob tears past my lips, and my tears feel scorching hot on my icy skin.
“No!” I desperately grasp Henry’s cold, cold hand as his eyes flutter wildly, attempting to focus on my face. Rebecca drops to her knees on the other side of him as she strokes at his disheveled blond hair, now matted with Mandy’s blood.
“Please stay with me. Please,” she begs. “I can’t live without you. I love you.”
His face softens as he turns to stare at her, a tiny smile playing on his lips.
“I love you too. So fucking much.” He heaves a gaping breath and turns towards me, tears welling in his eyes. “I love you too, little sister.”
I sob madly, stroking his hair repeatedly.
“You’re going to be okay,” I promise. “You’re going to be okay.”
He releases a guttural cough, blood spurting from his dry lips. My heart plummets in my chest, leaving behind a gaping hole I don’t know how to fill. Needing something to do, I close my eyes and focus on his pain. It sits in his chest like an uncomfortable ball of tangled yarn. Slowly, with skilled precision that centuries as a goddess gave me, I untangle the nest and pull it into myself. I’ll be damned if I let my brother feel any pain.
“I don’t…” He gurgles as I grasp the last tendril of his agony and wrench it into myself. His face immediately slackens with relief as his eyes flutter shut.
“Just don’t talk,” Rebecca adds in a gravelly whisper. “You’ll be okay.”
And something inside of me…snaps. All I can see is my brother’s too pale face as the life bleeds from his body. All I can hear are Rebecca’s desperate screeches, her grieving cries fueling the fire of my own pain.
Athena’s face fills my vision as she advances on me, that damn stone cupped in her hand. With a mirthful laugh, she slams it against my forehead. Like before, I can no longer feel my power percolating inside of me. But that’s okay. I don’t need it for what I have planned.
“You. Killed. Him.” I don’t even recognize my voice. It’s animalistic and primitive. Unhinged. Crazed.
My hand tightens around the hilt of the simple kitchen knife I stole earlier.
Body shaking, I lift the blade and slam it into her chest. And then, I twist. I twist until the light drains from her eyes, until her body goes slack and her mouth pops open. I twist until I know for sure that the Goddess of Virtue is dead.
“Emily!” Rebecca screams. “What’s happening?”
But I can’t open my mouth to speak, to answer. All I can feel is a numbing sensation resonating from where the gemstone is still pressed to my forehead. I thought that when Athena died, it would collapse to the ground like it did the first time she attempted such a thing.
But it doesn’t. Instead, it remains melded to my skin, slowly sucking away the most fundamental piece of me.
My body jerks once before it collapses to the ground.
CHAPTER 29
I’m dimly aware of people screaming my name. Crying. Shouting.
No, not people.
Men.
My men.
Their voices float to me as if I’m miles underwater. From where I float, steadily sinking to the bottom of the ocean, I can see the radiant sun illuminating the surface of the water. Faces peer back at me, nearly indistinct and rippled with each passing wave.
“Emily, please!” That’s Sin’s voice, choked and anguished and physically ripped from his throat.
“Baby, please.” Helio. I’d recognize that smoky timbre anywhere, curling around me like a delicious, warm blanket. I feel safe. Safe and comforted. And I know that I can drift away now, give myself over to the sleep that threatens to consume me, because my men are with me.
“Do something!” That’s Desmond, but I’ve never heard him sound like this. Normally, he’s larger than life and jovial. He always speaks as if he’s telling some sort of stupid joke. But now, his voice is laced with pain and anger. Heartache. It causes my own heart to break into thousands of intricate pieces, impossible for me to tape back together again.
“You fucking asshole!” Tate. Of course. Fucking Tate. He always has to yell, doesn’t he? “Why isn’t she waking up? Do something, Avery! You fucker!” Suddenly, his voice is directly beside my face, his warm breath feathering across my cheek and ear. “You stupid, stupid girl. If you don’t wake up, I will fucking murder you. You hear me, Em? I fucking love you, you idiot, so you can’t leave me. If you leave me, I’ll be so fucking pissed.”
“It’s not working!” Now, that voice is easy to recognize. Avery. My best friend. It pains me to know that some of the memories we have together aren’t real, but it doesn’t change the fact that we grew closer during our time on Earth. He’s quickly become a staple in my life, and my love for him continues to grow and flourish into something even more ethereal and beautiful. “The stone…it’s taking away her pain. It’s taking away pieces of her fucking soul!”
Taking away my pain? That must be why it feels as if I’m floating. Waves are lapping at my skin, but it’s a peaceful sensation. I welcome it like one would embrace a long-lost friend. This ocean…it doesn’t scare
