Daughter Trilogy Bundle (123 page)

The screaming sounds of Devin and the others crawl through the barriers of the ferocious cyclone, but they sound more distant with each passing second.

A whirling force throws me forward, and I’m sucked into the sky I once controlled before I lose the battle of consciousness.

Chapter 13

A Brewing Thunder

The heat on my face is almost painful, and it shouldn
’t be.  My weakened body has drained me of my tolerance for everything - mortal and immortal alike.  I shouldn’t be feeling heat to this magnitude though.

My eyes are still too heavy to open, and I
’m almost afraid to try for fear of what I’ll see.  I taste ash on my tongue, and I smell fabric burning as the clothes on my body threaten to melt against me. 

It really is hot down here. 

The smell of suffocating heat is layered with death and anticipation.  I stir slightly, and small rocks crackle under my hands.  The hard ground I’m lying on offers little remorse for my discomfort, and very cautiously I finally open my eyes.

I gasp slightly when I see the woven cage of vines I
’m in.

Is this from the daughters of Athena?  I thought I killed the remaining huntresses.

Molten rocks ooze down a glowing red stream, and I realize there are several of these fiery trails all around me.  The solid rocks tower over me, and the cave-like atmosphere offers little light to view into the dark crevices with shadowy eyes I can feel rather than see.

A low growling draws my attention, and I stay on my knees as I look through the winding weave of vines.

Fiery spit drips from the snarling mouth of a rabid hellhound.  The flaming body of the vicious mutt cools and parts for an aged hand to caress its back, and I gasp a little more.

The vines block the face while I hunch in my crouched position behind the vines, and I very slowly rise to peer through a larger opening.

A woman with silver layers of frizzy hair stands beside the beast and strokes its back as though it’s her pet.

Her dry, crackled lips draw up in a wry smile as her dark brown eyes catch mine.  The pronounced wrinkles on her face and neck add to the aged skin of her arms and hands.  Everything else is covered, and I recognize her gypsy style.

It’s Pyrrha.

“
Good evening, Aphrodite child.  I was starting to worry you’d sleep for the remainder of your pregnancy.  You’ve been out cold for three long days,” she murmurs with her eerie, raspy tone.

“
Where am I?” I bark shakily, fighting the urge to sigh in relief.

She still doesn
’t know Aster is already part of the world.

The beast snaps his dagger-like teeth violently into the air when it feels I
’ve shown its master disrespect.

“
Easy, Abaddon,” she coos to the bloodthirsty howler.  “That’s not showing hospitality.”

The growling resumes and she smirks when she sees me desperately trying to summon my power that has forsaken me.

“It’s no use,” she snarls.  “I’m sure you’ve learned by now what I did to you.

There
’s a nasty little secret about the drug you consumed.  Between that and the naga poison, you’re as powerful as an ordinary mortal,” she gloats.

Snakes slither out as if cued by her mentioning, and their cobra wings flare to exert their dominating intimidation.  I can still feel the pricks on my arms where they apparently inserted their poison.

I start to try and rip free of the confines, and she holds her hand up to halt my attempt.

“
Careful, Aphrodite.  Those are vines from Athena’s garden.  They’re laced with her poison, and we both know how deadly that is to you.  Wouldn’t want to harm that precious child in your womb just yet,” she taunts, and I shiver slightly as I remember both of my near deaths because of these vines.

“
You can’t have my baby,” I threaten, and her eyes smile their dark, ominous grin.

“
She’s my baby,” she asserts with her eerie, chilling tone.  “I gave you the drug, and I forced your womb to open.  That child belongs to me, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.  I need my power back, and that child is all that will restore it.  I’ve waited centuries for this day, and I didn’t have time to wait any longer.  The day of bleeding rain isn’t far from being upon us, and then it’ll be too late.”

“
What’s the bleeding rain?” I ask, but it’s only to give me time to think of an escape plan.

Each tunnel is too dark to see down, and I can only assume we
’re in the deep belly of a volcano, though I can’t imagine where at.

The hellhounds begin pouring in more and more, and they circle my thorny prison.

“It’s
her
.  Just as the life that flows through this once docile volcano is her.  Deep below the level any mortal can travel, she lives.  Everyone thought burying her alive would end her reign, but it only fueled her rage and her desire for vengeance.”

“
Who is
her
?” I pry, and then my eyes are drawn to a small lizard scurrying in the corner.

I
’m curious as to whether or not it’s a party to this death-dealing brigade, but then I see its eyes staring into mine.  The glowing pale blue greets me, and there’s promise that I’m not far from being found.

Camara.

I break my eye contact so as not to give away Camara’s spy.  I have to keep stalling in order to stay alive.  I stare expectantly at the old woman who hasn’t answered my question yet.

“
She’s the bringer of a new era.  Once she held the lives of all in her hand, and she offered me the fountain as a token of appreciation for my servitude.  My power grew immensely, and I became ageless.  The other sniveling immortals looked down on my sisters and me, but she didn’t.  She offered us a chance to rule by her side, for she too loathed the ones like her.

“
Her bleeding rain will come, and that will seal the fountain if it isn’t activated before then.  I need that water, and I need your baby.  That small child hiding in your womb will offer an eternal flow of the luscious water I once took for granted,” she says dreamily while staring into the swirling flames of Abaddon’s eyes.

Rhea.  She
’s talking about Rhea.  Fuck.

“
Rhea can’t return.  Safina is dead, and she can no longer wake her from her grave,” I murmur as I lead her.

This is no longer a stalling conversation, this is a fishing expedition.

“No!” she blares.  “Safina was a bratty bitch in love with her own chance of ruling.  She didn’t dedicate her time to her mother as she should have, and now she has paid the price.  A fitting end to a spoiled titan if you ask me.  Rhea deserves devotion, loyalty, and love.  Safina never gave her any of that the way I do,” she snaps, and the dogs begin barking and growling their fierce roars.

“
I’m sorry,” I lie.  “I didn’t realize you cared so much for her.  It would be nice if she showed you the same concern.  She could have held back her bleeding rain,” I murmur.

Whatever in the hell that is.

“She gave me an answer instead.  She gave me a way to have the child I need before her return.  The ambrosia here,” she giggles out, and then light sheds on a shriveling tree covered in a golden fruit.  “Your kind mocked me, and your grandfather poisoned my life when he gave my mother that nasty, despicable box.  I had to watch her be filleted, burned, and then tossed aside like waste.  The morbid humor they found in my absolute misery was tormenting.  Rhea was the only one strong enough to stand up to the tyrants,” she berates.

“
I think Rhea is taking advantage of you,” I say soothingly, so as not to agitate her further.  “I think she knew she’d need you one day to wake her from her tomb, and she’ll force you into servitude with the rest of us if she has her way.  What has she done to help you?  She’s merely using you.”

I brace myself for another maddened tirade, but she starts laughing instead.  She spreads her arms wide before gleaming at me.

“Look around, goddess.  She helped me acquire you to restore my youth and give me back unlimited strength for my power.  She loaned me her creatures, and she sent me her spiraling winds to pull you to me.

“
You think she’s powerless just because she has been entombed?  You’re a fool.  All that dispersed energy that came from your fights with her daughter and her creatures was gathered into the depths of the earth where she slowly claws back to the surface.”

Shit.  The harpies, hellhounds, sirens, and all the other mindless drones are hers.  Fuck.

“Why break Devin and me up?  You drugged us into a pregnancy, why rip us apart?” I say to shift the conversation and pull her attention back to me when her eyes almost catch Camara’s prying ones.

The lizard slips into a tiny crack, and Camara
’s controlling eyes glow from within the dark crevice.

Again I
’m forced to hold back a sigh of relief when the distraction works, and the witch huffs in distaste.

“
I wanted you to have a child, but I didn’t want you to strengthen your bond to each other.  I needed you weak.  I would have never dreamt you’d take him back given your long history with such infidelity issues.

“
I could feel the doubt oozing from your touch the moment I gave you a few seeded words.  He would have never left you no matter what you had done.  I saw that right away,” she gripes.  “Then you did reconcile, and I had to make a priestess unattainable.  Deidra’s death served two purposes in that way.  With the Emperian dead, the priestesses were under guarded protection.  No one in and no one out,” she giggles, and I can see the proud, boasting gaze she’s casting very clearly.

She thinks she knows our steps so well, but the more she talks, the more I realize she doesn
’t have a clue.  Her smug candor is almost humorous at this point.

“
That’s why you killed Deidra?  To keep our bond out of depth?” I inquire.

“
No.  I said her death served two purposes.  When Rhea awakes, there will be no one to stop her.  Deidra was the only power to be able to close her into the belly of the earth, and then it was sealed with the powers of all her foes.

“
Now, no one stands a chance.  You were the only one who could have posed the threat of death, but with your powers blocked, your weakened state, and your thorn prison holding you at bay, killing you will be almost far too easy.

“
I’m not sure why Rhea has shown such concern and caution.  Safina must have been much weaker than I realized because I’ve yet to see anything remarkable about you,” she gloats, and it forces a stirring inside me.

I smile a little as I feel the old touch rising, and then I decide to use Pyrrha to provoke it more.

“So you knew Kaos?” I murmur.  “And Aphrodite?”

She grins menacingly. 
“I did.  I told the fools hunting them to no avail where to find them for centuries.  Most aren’t as good at tracking as I am.  It was a gift bestowed upon me by Rhea before the mutiny.

“
For centuries I pointed hunting parties in the direction they needed.  I blocked the visions from your boy’s mind when Safina needed to be completely hidden - yet another gift from Rhea.  She has blessed me well, and if Safina had heeded my advice, she would have lived.

“
I told her not to take you on while fully capable of using three.  It’s a rare and very powerful thing.  She wouldn’t listen though.  Now Rhea will only have me to rule by her side,” she says with insincere remorse for the loss of Safina.

The stirring burns against me as it creeps through my veins with more of an awakening force.  I
’m suddenly bored with the explanations.  I’m tired of the taunting, and I’m sick of her thinking I’m weaker than I am.

The drunken state reminds me of the powerful entities inside of me, and I feel the reuniting force sweeping across me.

“So, you were too scared to face Kaos and Aphrodite yourself?” I antagonize intentionally.

“
Never,” she growls, and her mutts mimic her anger.  “They weren’t worth my time,” she continues with a disgusted and offended tone.

“
Not worth your time?  So you think you could have beaten them?” I dare.

“
I know I could have, very easily.  Aphrodite was all hype with no real power over anything other than men,” she scoffs.

“
I used her to open the skies,” I smugly remind.

“
You used her strength.  The skies never belonged to her, they belonged to Prometheus.  Had he not been in your blood, you wouldn’t have had any such.  Soon, the skies will only belong to Rhea,” she counters.

“
What about Kaos?  You only said you could have handled Aphrodite.  Would Kaos have posed a larger problem?”

“
You insolent little speck.  You don’t understand, do you?  Kaos was a mischievous toddler in a morbid immortal’s body.  He couldn’t think about anything but mischief and mayhem.  I could have stomped him further into the earth’s surface than where Rhea was left to rot,” she blares.

The stirring is now a deadly boil against the inside of my skin.  I feel Aphrodite sharing her space very willingly.  Just as soon as the power starts to rise, it
’s sucked free from me.