Apollyon

to yourself.”

I wiggled and threw myself side to side, but we were back to the cluster of trees within seconds. “You can’t stop me! You can’t do this!”

“You don’t understand, Alex. You can’t be out here.”

I elbowed him.

He grunted but didn’t let go. “They’ll kill you. Do you understand?” He shook me. “They’ll come to kill you!”

“I don’t care!” I screamed myself hoarse. “I need to go. I need to be with him.”

Aiden sucked in a sharp breath and his grip loosened a fraction.

Using my core, I pulled my legs up and the combined effort toppled us over. Aiden hit the ground first and rolled before I could break free, shoving his hands into my back, forcing me down. I got a mouthful of mud and grass.

“Stop it!” he hissed in my ear. “This isn’t going to work, Alex. You may not care about dying, but I care enough for you.”

“I don’t care! All that matters is Seth. If I can’t be with him, then I’d rather be dead.”

“Do you even hear yourself?” His hands pressed into my shoulders. “You’d rather die than not be with him? Do you know how weak that is? The Alex I know would never feel something like that!”

What he said reached deep and broke something inside me. Enraged, I planted my hands in the rich soil and felt the earth tremble. A great roar started below, and the ground buckled under us, rolling like stormy seas. We were thrown apart. I smacked into a tree and hit the ground on my hands and knees.

Lightning pierced the sky, blinding me for an instant. Clouds rolled in, blocking the sun, and darkness fell. The skies opened and a torrential downpour pounded us.

I didn’t know if it was me or something else. I was beyond caring. A giant ball of messy emotion settled in my stomach, unraveling with dizzying speeds. Anger. Frustration. Fear. All of it rushed me.

Air whipped under me and I rose off the ground. Static charged. Sparks flew. The world was colored in amber tones. I wasn’t me. I wasn’t anything anymore.

Aiden stood a few feet away, his silvery eyes fixed on me. A look of horror and awe marked his striking features.

I was a god, like Seth had said. We were gods.

Do it. Seth’s whisper penetrated my blood. It’s time.

My feet touched the ground and I took a step forward—one, and then another. And Aiden didn’t move. He waited. It was in those eyes of his, the finality of this. He wouldn’t win, he couldn’t and he knew it. Aiden accepted it.

As I reached him, the rain stopped and the clouds parted. The sun followed my footsteps.

“Alex.” Aiden’s voice was broken.

Like a cobra striking, I took Aiden’s legs out from under him and he was on his back before another breath could be taken. Straddling him, I placed my hands on his shoulders. The marks of the Apollyon glowed a vibrant blue and raced over my skin.

I leaned in, placing my lips above his, and the words that came out of my mouth were mine… but weren’t. “All moments end, St. Delphi. And now yours has.” I pressed my lips to the corner of his and he flinched. “You are weak because you love.”

Aiden stared up at me, unblinking. “To love is not weak. Love is the strongest thing there is.”

My lips curved into a smile. Idiot.

Akasha raced to the surface. My skin was on fire, I was on fire. Bright blue light formed over my right arm, circling it as it climbed down to my fingers. Light flared, intense and beautiful as it was destructive.

Sunlight fell over us, and I reared back. Akasha covered my right hand. When I let it go, it would snuff out the life of everything in its path. There was death in that beauty. And Aiden made no move to defend his life.

His eyes fixed on mine and he reached up slowly. The tips of his fingers, calloused over from years of training and fighting, grazed my cheek tenderly. “I love you, Alex. I always will.”

I blinked. My heart stuttered. I couldn’t wrap my head around how he could say that, touch meso… so lovingly, seconds from death.

Do it, Alex, and then we can be together. We’ll free the halfs—your father. We’ll change the world. You and me, Angel, we’ll be together always.

My gaze fell between us. The rose necklace had slipped out, exposed by the torn collar of my shirt. A ray of light caught the deep-red crystal edges of the rose in bloom—such a delicate thing, crafted by the hands of a true warrior.

Air left my lungs and my arm started to shake.

We’re in this together, Alex, to the end. Those words weren’t Seth’s, but this was the end. My eyes burned like it was raining acid, but the skies were clear. I was seconds from freedom… but so much, so many memories started flipping through my head.

I couldn’t stop staring at the rose.

Images of the first time I’d seen Aiden while I’d been training with Caleb, then again when he’d come through the wall of fire and saved me—saved my life. Memories of his patience, his support, even his frustration with me.

Seth called to me, but I swatted him away. These memories were important. They meant something— everything—to me, right? There hadn’t been any feelings attached to them before, but now they were soaked in emotion. I focused on them, remembering how he’d cared for me after Gatlinburg, how he’d been there for me when I broke down after Mom… my mom. The first time he’d held me—kissed me. There was never any judgment in Aiden’s eyes, like I was his equal.

I’d always been Aiden’s equal.

My chest rose sharply. The day at the zoo washed over me, and then Valentine’s Day. The love we had shared. It had to mean something.

I couldn’t breathe.

I’d give it all up for you.

Seth called for me again, but I was breaking apart. Shattering. Everything was coming undone. Pieces of who I used to be were repelled by what I’d become. The past and the present couldn’t coexist with the future.

I was torn in two.

Seth yelled now, his voice roaring in my head, and there was no escaping him. He was everywhere, in every cell and thought, pulling at me. But I couldn’t breathe and under me, he was under me, and I couldn’t think straight. There were so many voices again. So many different ones, some were my own… and I couldn’t think.

I focused on the mental shields Seth had taught me. I needed a moment, just a second of silence to think this through, to understand why he wasn’t defending himself and how he could love me.

Seth was furious. Pain sliced through my skull as if someone had taken an ice pick and started slamming it into my head, and I knew he hated this, but I needed time. He screamed for me, but I pictured those walls. They were neon-pink, bedazzled walls, and they went up, stacked higher and higher. I made them thick and full of titanium, topped them off with barbed wire and threw a nice little electrical fence over them, and all of that was backed by the power of the gods. A film of shimmery blue light draped over the walls.

The cord snapped inside me, recoiling like whiplash, and then it was gone.

Except for a low hum, there was silence, and it was just me now, alone with everything I had done.

Tipping my head back, I screamed.

Unlocked from the depths of my soul, it kept coming and coming. I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t comprehend what I’d become—the things I had done. And when I stopped, it was only because my throat was raw.

I scrambled off of Aiden, unable to look at him, because I… the things… Body trembling, I crawled over the