Goddess Bared: Goddess Series Book 5 (Young Adult / New Adult) (16 page)

“Shhh. It’s okay,” Seth murmured as he started walking her toward Kate.

She glanced to the side and saw her mother’s image still standing in the field. She frowned, momentarily forgetting about Casey. Why had her mother not left? Was Casey going to wake up?

“Watch out for
he
lies. Evil lies inside Seth Goode,” she said softly.

Legacy stifled a gasp as she looked away, but her mind was racing! What did Seth have to do with this? Then she felt the possibilities slam into her. Had it been Seth all along? Seth had saved her from Casey the first time. To set her up? Gain his trust? If so, Casey probably wasn’t even evil. That was why River couldn’t get a good read on his aura. If Casey really was evil, River should have been able to tell. But then he should have been able to read Seth too. What the hell was going on here and what was she supposed to do now? She couldn’t freak out right now. Seth was holding her. The fact that he hadn’t seen her mother was her only saving grace. She needed to get away so she could think. But Casey’s final words sank in, “Hades is coming for you.” Then Seth had come running up. Could Seth be…? No way. No freaking way!

She stiffened in Seth’s arms and glanced to the side from the corner of her eye. If she made a run for it, he’d know she’d made the connection. She needed to act like nothing was wrong until she got away from him. She saw her mother’s panicked face once more and turned to face Kate as they approached, her skin itching to get away from him.

Seth suddenly stopped and turned her around to face him.

“What were you looking at?” he asked, concerned.

Crap! She frowned as she scrambled for words. “Er, nothing. I’m just freaking out about Casey.”

He seemed slightly pleased by this response and started to take another step.

But he hesitated and sighed dramatically. Looking back at her, he said, “Don’t lie to me, Persephone.” His eyes were cold, no life in his expression. “It’s bad enough you’ve cheated on me with that gallant jackass.” Curling his nose, he said, “I can smell him on you.”

Oh no. “
Help
!” She screamed, shocking him as she tried to get away.

“Legacy?” Kate asked, puzzled, taking a step toward them.

Seth shot her a look, and Kate slumped to the ground. Legacy couldn’t understand what just happened to her. Kate just lay there, as if she’d just passed out, unmoving. Had he killed her with just a look?

Adin and River both ran at godly speed to Legacy, and she felt hope surge inside her. They’d get her away from him and deal with him. They were both in her life to protect her. Adin and River both tried to grab Seth, but as soon as they reached him, Seth slumped to the ground as Kate just had.

As Legacy apparently did as well.

But they were still standing here. How could that be? Then she realized it was just their bodies lying on the ground. Their souls, ripped from their fleshy selves, still stood beside the bodies on the ground.

Kate looked at Legacy with pure terror. She was scared to death.

Legacy was sure she looked quite the same.

“Oh, gods! Legacy!” Adin yelled frantically as he clung to her body. Then his head shot up, looking around. “I’ll kill you for this, Hades!” he roared.

Legacy felt paralyzed as Seth grabbed her arm. She couldn’t command her body to run, even if she knew where to go. Seth turned and took Kate’s arm too.

As they faded away into nothingness, the last thing Legacy heard was Adin screaming her name.

The End

Author’s Note

Thanks for reading this book! If you enjoyed it, I would be very grateful for a review on Amazon. As an independent author without the backing of a large publishing house, attracting new readers is difficult and marketing is expensive. Customer reviews are extremely important on Amazon to help better position a book within search results and to help other readers select what they’re going to read next.

Thanks again for reading this book, and I hope you enjoy reading about Legacy’s journey as much as I did writing about it.

About the Author

M.W. Muse is an award-winning, bestselling author…under a different name. Her alter-ego writes in adult genres for multiple publishers, but her love of young adult stories geared for the upper end of that spectrum made her seek a new outlet for those young adult characters swimming around in her head. She still spends most of her time living in her other reality, but is looking forward to spending more time focusing on the younger side of love.

www.mwmuse.com