Goddess Revenge: Goddess Series Book 4 (Young Adult / New Adult) (24 page)

It wasn’t fair. She knew it, but his little bit of hope for that dreadful prophecy gave her the strength she was searching for. “I never wanted to be with you, River.” The words stung her more than she’d anticipated.

He gaped at her, stunned.

“I was getting back at you for what you did. I just couldn’t do it anymore.” She looked away from him.

“What?” he barely whispered.

She looked at him, his green eyes alone, not matching hers, not matching anything on this brown and gray cliff. The look on his face would have meant victory for her a few weeks ago. Now, she was just as agonized as he.

She couldn’t help herself. She started crying. “I’m sorry,” she muttered as she covered her face.

River took her arms and pulled her hands down. “What are you talking about?” His question wasn’t one of shock or desperation. It was controlled. He was feeling her out. He knew she knew some things he didn’t want her to know, but rather than confess them, he was waiting to see what he needed to confess to.

That sparked her anger.

She jumped off the boulder and stared down at him. “I know about Venus!”

His eyes shut in defeat.

“Say something!”

“I’m sor—”

“Don’t! I don’t want you to apologize. Do you have
any
idea what you put me through? You betrayed me! My best friend! I was so angry, so hurt that I wanted to make you suffer. I wanted you to pay for what you did me. Not only have you acted like a monster, but you’ve turned me into one too!”

“I—”

“Shut up! I hated you for what you did me.” Her chin started quivering and her throat closed. “I—”

River stood up and stroked her shoulders. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.

“I don’t want to hear that!” She stepped away from him. “I want to hear why. Why did you do that to me?” she cried. “You saw the pain I went through. You had to know that would happen.”

River took a step toward her, but she stepped back.

“Legacy, when you were in the hospital …” He hesitated, shaking his head. “I never knew what pain truly was until you were hurt. I didn’t like Adin being there. Being the one to hold you and comfort you. I knew it wasn’t about me, of course, but I still didn’t like it. When he told me about himself, about his Greek god heritage, I mean, it was my window of opportunity. I knew if I found the likeness of the goddess Adonis was linked to, I might have a chance with you.”

“But you believed in the prophecy,” she cried. “You didn’t have to tear my heart out in the process of ripping out his.”

“I-I know, baby.” River took another step forward. She didn’t move this time. “I wasn’t even sure she existed. I never dreamed it’d be as easy as it was to find her. I didn’t have time to second guess the decision. After I found her and set this into motion, I felt horrible.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

He grimaced. “Because I…” he said softly looking away from her. Then he looked up with fierce eyes. “Because I love you!”

“So you lied to me,” she said incredulously. “You bringing Venus here is what altered my change. I
know
you know that!”

“I know,” he said, disarmed and defeated. “That’s why I was so determined to make sure you harnessed your abilities. I hoped if I could speed up your progress, your course would be corrected.”

“But you didn’t stop at just Venus, did you?” she snapped, and he stared at her again, measuring her up, trying to determine what she all she knew.

She wasn’t going to give in this time. “You need to come clean.
Now
.”

He stared at her while the indecision in his eyes faltered. “Fine!” he roared, stalking right up to her. “I was the one who put the snakes in Adin’s car. I was the one who put them on your porch. I was the one who let Spike loose when you stayed over at Calli’s. I think I was the one who put the snake in the forest when we were searching for him—I can’t be sure about that one because it would’ve been the first time I was able to do that. And there’s probably a lot more I just can’t think of right now. I’ve done a lot of bad shit!”

His sudden confession and proximity left her speechless. She’d already guessed most of what he’d said. After a moment of deliberation, she realized he left out one confession that she had assumed he was responsible for.

“Did you kill Casey?”

“What?” He’s eyes got really big.

“Casey’s dead. He was supposedly mauled by a bear when you were out of town. Did you do it?”

“No,” he said curtly. “But I would have.”

She looked away, shaking her head. She didn’t come here to argue with him. She came here to clean the air. “I don’t want to fight with you. I just wanted to tell you I knew what you did and to confess my scheme.” She looked up at him and sighed. “And to tell you I’m sorry for what I did and that I forgive you, too.”

River’s expression softened as he stared at her.

“I understand if you’re angry with me about what I did to you,” she said quickly. “You have every right to be. No matter how much I felt justified at the time, it still didn’t give me the right to play with your emotions like that.”

River smiled. “I knew you were up to something. I just thought you were giving me attention to keep Adin safe.”

“I told you that wasn’t true.”

“I know, but your energy told me otherwise. Well, not about keeping Adin safe, but you were very determined. It didn’t make sense to me then. It does now.” He was still smiling softly.

“But you’re not mad at me?” she asked, bewildered.

“No,” he breathed, stepping closer.

“But you knew I was playing you?”

“Yes.” Another step.

“Why?” She couldn’t even begin to comprehend this. “Why didn’t you stop me?”

“Because you weren’t really playing me, baby. You wanted to be with me.” He stepped closer. “You still do.”

She stepped back. “No, I don’t.”

He stepped closer. “Legacy, you can’t hide your energy from me. You may think you know what you want, but I can feel what you really believe. You love me. If you weren’t so scared of that fact, you’d have already told me by now. You kinda already did in my bedroom the other night.”

She stared at him as her heart raced. He wasn’t wrong exactly. “I’m back with Adin now.”

River shrugged, stepping closer. He was right in front of her now.

“I don’t want to be with you,” she mumbled, wondering why she couldn’t find the sound of her voice.

“Then tell me you don’t love me,” he said causally, as if they were discussing something trivial.

“I don’t love you,” she said, looking away.

He cupped her chin, pulling her gaze back to his. “Tell me to my face.” His hand was gentle but unyielding.

“I-I don’t love you…like that.”

“Like what?” he ask, his eyes penetrating hers. Gods, he could be so frustrating.

She shut her eyes to free herself from his stare. “What do you want me to say? Just that I love you?” She opened her eyes and took a deep breath. “I do. I love you. I have loved you for awhile now.” She knocked his hand off her face and walked away. She turned back around, and he looked triumphant, which fueled her former anger. “That’s why your betrayal hurt me so much! You’re my best friend, and I loved you like a best friend, River.”

His victorious look faded as sadness crept into his expression. “I really am sorry about that.”

She didn’t want to delve back into what he’d done and how she’d retaliated. She sighed and stepped toward him again. “I think we should start over. There’ve been too many lies between us. I want a fresh, clean—”

The roar of a Porsche 911 Turbo distracted her. Distracted her because she knew who was pulling into the parking lot, even though she could not see it. From where they were, the lot was hidden from view. She turned toward the sound, expecting to see Adin stalking over the hill toward them any minute.

She was wrong.

As soon as the engine cutoff, she saw Adin run at inhuman speed toward River. If there were any people around, it would have looked to them like Adin appeared out of thin air. He shoved River to the ground several feet away from Legacy, his hand on River’s throat, choking him.

“You sorry piece of shit. I should have killed you before!” Adin punched him in the face. “A mistake I intend to fix!” He punched him again.

“Adin!” Legacy screamed, running toward them.

River’s eyes flew from one direction to another and a powerful gust of wind knocked Adin off him. River jumped to his feet, rubbing his throat and coughing.

Adin jumped up and lunged for him, but River straightened up in time to punch Adin’s fist away. Then they both started taking swings at each other. Connecting and connecting. When one would land too far away, the other would be right there to take another hit.

“Stop!” she pleaded.

“Legacy?” she heard Lissa yell from behind her.

She turned around, and Lissa and Olive were running down the small hill to where they were.

“I’m sorry,” Lissa said when they got closer. “Adin came over to see you. Since you got back together and were coming clean with River, I figured you’d already brought Adin up to speed on everything. He wondered what was taking you so long, so I commented that you and River had a lot to discuss since he was the reason Venus was here.” She paused, looking over at the fight. “I-I didn’t know Adin wasn’t aware of what River had done!”

She didn’t have time to talk to Lissa. She turned back around and ran toward the fight.

“You tried to ruin my life!” Adin roared as he pummeled River’s face.

River struck Adin in the kidney, stunning him enough to get the upper hand again.

“How
is
Venus by the way?” River asked sarcastically as he punched Adin in the face.

Adin bellowed as he knocked River off him and started hitting River. “You’ll never stop until you have Legacy all to yourself!” he backhanded River, but that just seemed to make him mad.

River bucked Adin off him, and they were both standing. They kept fighting, hitting each other wherever they could make contact.

“Please!” she begged, running after them. She could see and keep up with them, but they were too crazed to hear her. “Stop!”

“She trusted you!” Adin shouted in River’s face.

“And she forgave me!” River yelled back, hitting Adin.

Legacy couldn’t take it anymore. She forced herself in between them and pushed them off each other. But the anger she felt radiated out into her hands. She felt the tingling feeling pulsate as she pressed against both of them. She had her eyes shut, and she screamed as she pushed them away.

She knew she shocked them both. She didn’t care. But when she opened her eyes, neither was in sight. She whirled around, searching. She couldn’t find either one. She only saw Lissa and Olive exchange frantic looks. Then she saw River fly up over the edge of the cliff, soaked with river water.

Legacy gasped in horror. They were on a cliff, and she’d just shocked Adin and River. She had apparently shocked River with enough force to push him over the edge, and Adin wasn’t in sight.

River stared at her, water sluicing off him as he wiped his face.

Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no.

“Adin!” she screamed as she searched, running toward the edge of the cliff.

River turned around and looked over the edge in a blindingly fast move, and then he looked back at her with the most horrific, terrified, agonized expression she’d ever seen. He looked so quickly that she was still running toward the edge when he looked back at her.

River ran toward Legacy, catching her before she could reach the edge. “Adin!” she screamed, but her voice choked off.

She fought against River’s locked embrace. He winced as she shocked him all over his body trying to free herself. If Adin was hurt…

“No!” she screamed hysterically, twisting and writhing, making them fall to the ground. But River held onto her, refusing to let go.

She stopped trying to shock him, and she started hitting him as she cried and screamed, but River just grabbed her wrists, so she couldn’t hit him anymore.

“L-let me go! Damn you!”

“No, baby,” River said, his voice strangled.

She screamed with a force so powerful that she shocked him off her and caused the ground to shake below them. The wind howled ferociously and dark clouds rolled in.

She saw River contorting in agony as she tried to get up. But she couldn’t. Her limbs wouldn’t work. She fell back to the ground, her legs too weak to hold her up. She crawled toward the edge while she screamed and cried. Lissa and Olive were already at the edge looking over, crying.

Before she could reach them, River was back on his feet, and he jumped in front of her. She thought he was going to restrain her again, but he didn’t. Once he was in front of her, he lunged himself off the cliff.

Shocked, she stopped crawling and sat up on her knees.

Within seconds, River was spinning up and over the edge of the cliff with something in his hands.

“No!”
Legacy pleaded to the gods above.

It was Adin.

His body.

“No. No. No!”

River laid Adin’s, mangled, bloody body on the ground several feet away from her. His lifeless eyes staring heavenward, frozen in death.

She cried out, covering her face with one hand, holding her stomach with the other. She felt like someone was ripping out all her insides through the sudden, gaping hole in her heart.

“This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening,”
she chanted over and over, and rocked herself back and forth. Then she crawled toward him, her face hanging down, watching her hands guide her to his location. No one stopped her. Now that she wasn’t trying to run toward the edge of the cliff, everyone was letting her near him.

When she reached his body, she threw her arms over him, crying uncontrollably. He wasn’t wet at first—he must have hit the rocks and not the river—but her tears soaked through his shirt as she clung helplessly to the love of her life. To the life that once belonged to her. To the life she had lost. To the life she had taken.

This was her fault. All her fault. She’d been warned if she stayed with Adin, she’d kill him. She tried breaking up with him to save his life, but she was too selfish to stay away. She wanted him all to herself.