The Phantom, page 33
“And let Erebus ascend, so that he’s stronger than ever when we awaken? Nope. My plan gives us the victory. All you gotta do is kill me.”
His nostrils flared. “Kill you to save your life?”
“Exactly.” She rose to her tiptoes to press a kiss into his lips. “Aren’t I brilliant?”
The striations in his irises spun with dizzying speed. “Do you think because my heart is the same as Laban’s I can turn on you? I assure you, I cannot. He and I are not the same. Just as I am not the same as Mars.”
“Laban and Mars have nothing to do with anything. I’m trusting you with my life, Roux. Obviously. Do me the courtesy of trusting your she-beast, as promised? I have a plan, remember? I’d tell you, but I’m not gonna risk your task.”
“Yes. But—”
“No buts.” She pulled back, unsheathing his trinite dagger. Then she grabbed his arm and slapped the hilt into his grip. “Do you know how jealous everyone is going to be when they see my consort is fierce enough to slay me? Let me have this. Please, Roux. Please. I’ve never asked you for anything. And everything will be all right, I swear. I have a plan, remem—”
Roaring, he slammed the blade into her chest and carved out her heart, exactly as tasked. Sharp pain registered, and her knees collapsed. Roux caught her as she fell, cradling her against his chest as they sank into the sand together.
Tears streamed down his cheeks. “Heal, she-beast. Heal!” He cut his wrist and placed the wound over her lips.
Blood dripped into her mouth. From the dais, Erebus issued a roar of his own.
Didn’t see that coming, did you, Dark One? Weakness invaded, despite his medicinal efforts. Her hands and feet chilled.
As darkness and death came for her, Blythe smiled up at the male she loved and whispered, “You forgot to shout one, babe. Now let Taliyah...”
* * *
His gravita went quiet. Even the phantoms in the stands went quiet. The watching harpies gasped with shock. Whispers arose. “No, he didn’t!”
“Did an Astra just murder his freaking gravita?”
“So he’s single now?”
Dead. Blythe was dead. Her shredded heart rested in the sand only a few feet away. Roux had done that. He’d killed her. As denials exploded inside his head, he thundered another roar at the sky. Why had he done this terrible thing? Why, why, why?
Suddenly Taliyah materialized before him and tried to wrench Blythe from his arms. He resisted.
“Do you want her to come back or not?” the General shrieked. “Then let me work!”
Blythe’s final words drifted through his mind.
Now let Taliyah...
Though it went against his every instinct, he released the love of his life. It was only then that he saw the blade in Taliyah’s hand.
She spoke as she worked, ripping off Blythe’s top, revealing her mutilated chest. “Erebus exchanged Laban’s heart with a clone’s, right? Well, Blythe decided to use his trick against him.” The General opened a cooler to reveal a severed heart. “She borrowed her own ticker this morning. Had me cut it with a regular blade. Then she grew a new one. I saved the old one.” She placed the precious organ in the hole Roux’s fist had left behind. “This should work. A heart powers everything and this one is unaffected by trinite.”
He...she... “Should?” Roux snarled, slashing his wrist again, then pressed the wound to her mouth, ensuring his blood continually poured down Blythe’s throat.
Seconds passed. Nothing happened. He waited, unable to breathe.
Still nothing happened.
More seconds passed.
“Nothing is happening,” he roared. “Why is nothing happening? Make her live—”
“Dude. Chill,” Taliyah injected. “Look.”
He looked and shouted with relief. The organ sprouted arteries, and those arteries grew, attaching to the dead ones. Light burst through her cells and spread. It was working!
Color returned to her cheeks. The wound in her chest was closing.
Taliyah wiped her hands for a job well done. “By the way, Rue the Day. It goes without saying that I’ll make a new coin purse from your testicles if you harm my sister again.”
“There will be no need. If I harm her again, I’ll give you my testicles as a gift.”
Blythe sucked in a breath and opened her eyes. “Ow!” She blinked, attempting to focus. “Wait. My plan worked?”
He yanked her upright and clutched her against him, hugging her with every ounce of his considerable strength. “I love you. I love you so much, and if you ever ask me to kill you again, I will put you over my knees and spank you!”
She hugged him back with all her might. “Sorry I couldn’t tell you what I’d done. I was afraid the task might skew in Erebus’s favor if you knew the truth.”
“Tell me you are all right,” he demanded, cupping her cheeks and searching her gaze.
“Are you kidding? I’m better than all right. We’re legends now.” She shifted her attention to Taliyah, who lingered, unabashed. “Admit it. You’re jealous, sis.”
The General sniffed. “Only the tiniest bit. Hardly at all, really. Oh, and Papaw Chaos says the task is complete, with Roux the winner.”
The remaining Astra flashed to the field, gaping as they formed a circle around Roux and Blythe.
“I honestly didn’t think he would do it,” Silver said.
“Is Roux my new hero?” Ian asked, scratching his temple. “Did that just happen?”
Throwing back her head, Blythe laughed, and Roux had never felt so alive. But now he needed to be alone with his gravita. To inspect every square inch of her to make sure she was truly well and whole.
He flashed her to their bedroom, tossed her to the mattress, stripped her, and looked her over. She didn’t stay still for long. No, she jolted upright to wrap her arms around him. Then she fell back to the mattress, bringing him with her.
“Your turn to make a grand gesture to me,” she purred at him.
“I will, oh, I will,” he vowed.
And he did.
EPILOGUE
“All right,” Blythe said, taking Isla’s hand. “You ready, sweetheart?”
The little girl nodded. “Ready.”
Mother and child stood before Roux, who appeared a bit nervous.
“Do it,” he agreed with a nod.
“On the count of three. One. Two—” Blythe urged Isla forward and together, they ghosted inside Roux. This time, they weren’t trying to hide their presence, and he wasn’t resisting. Even better, there were no screams. He’d told her the prisoners had begun to weaken, as if he were draining them of strength, using them as fuel for the alevala. All but one.
They entered a dark void reminiscent of a midnight sky beyond Ation. Roux waited for them there.
Isla took his hand without prompting. “It’s time, Rouxbear. This way.”
Rouxbear? What an adorable nickname.
“If you become frightened,” he began, and Isla rolled her eyes.
“You’re forgetting how powerful I am or whatever.” As the darling urged them both forward, a soft glow seeped from her pores, turning her into a walking star.
Blythe gawked. First a door to another realm, now this? She’d never seen her daughter display such a power before.
They moved deeper into the Astra’s consciousness, until they came upon a maze of cells. The young boy she’d spotted in those visions of torture stood at the bars of the first. The one Roux hadn’t drained.
The boy smirked at them.
“Ignore anything he says,” Roux instructed. “That’s Rowan. My twin.”
As they moved on, coming upon other cells, Isla’s light chased away thick, cloying shadows, revealing other prisoners withering away. She detected species after species. Vampires. Shifters. Banshees. Amazons. Gorgons. Minotaurs and manticores. Centaurs. Sirens. Merfolk. Sorcerers. Gods and goddesses. Even ladies from Ation.
When they reached the center of the maze, where the thickest shadows congregated, Isla stopped. Her light pushed the gloom back bit by bit, revealing...hmm. Another clone of Mars? He sat before the wall, leaning back, his cell door wide open.
“I don’t understand,” Roux said with a frown. “Rowan is the only clone I remember absorbing.”
Isla piped up, “Roux, meet Roux. He’s you. Well, your conscience. That’s how he explained it, anyway.”
“Surprise.” The lookalike spread his arms. “I knew you’d be shocked to learn you even had a conscience. You certainly kept me locked away long enough, didn’t you? Thankfully, my cell opened soon after you met the harphantom.” He hiked his thumb in Blythe’s direction. “I explained to the little one that I’d make you more miserable than she ever could, and she agreed to let me give it my best.”
“Mission accomplished. You nearly destroyed me.” Roux scrubbed a hand over his face. “Rowan said Blythe’s consort was the one running rampant...” He narrowed his eyes. “Because I am her consort, and you are me.”
“The little prick does like to cause you trouble,” Roux Number Two said with a grin. That grin quickly fell, however. “I’m so tired of screaming, aren’t you? Time to let go of the misery of the past and look ahead to the future. For good.”
Poor Astra. He still looked shocked beyond measure. “I agree with him,” Blythe said. “You deserve joy, babe.” She squeezed Isla’s hand. “All right, sweetheart. Take us home.”
Only minutes later, they were standing in the bedroom Blythe and Roux shared.
“Can I go now, Momma?” Isla jumped up and down. “My friend Kaitlyn wants me to help her steal a dagger.”
She smiled. “Sure. Go on.”
Isla hugged her. To Blythe’s surprise, the little darling gave Roux a hug, too, before she raced out of the room. Once again, he appeared shell-shocked. Not too shell-shocked to yank her into his arms as soon as they were alone and kiss the breath from her lungs.
“I love you,” he rasped when he lifted his head. “I’m so glad you were my undoing.”
Her smile returned. “That’s good. Because it turns out, you were my undoing, too, and I’ve never been happier.” She was about to suggest they rip off each other’s clothes when a prickle started at the base of her neck. Air hissed between her teeth. “Erebus. He’s nearby. Probably walking the hallways of Destiny, planning his next move.”
Roux stiffened but didn’t release her. “Any idea who he’ll choose to complete the next task?”
“No. But I can find out. If you don’t mind me challenging him?”
“Go,” he said, then kissed the tip of her nose. “Make him suffer.”
She beamed at her consort. “I love you so much, I’m almost embarrassed.”
“Yes, but I love you so much more.”
“That’s true.” Blythe winked and flashed into the spirit realm. A narrow corridor inside the harpy palace that had been carved between past, present, and future. Only those with a key could venture here.
And there was Erebus, with his key—the Blade of Destiny—in hand. Unfortunately for him, Isla wasn’t the only excellent thief in the Skyhawk family; Blythe had stolen a piece of his dagger during one of his visits.
He stood before a wall of mist that peered into the throne room. There, six Astra congregated. Silver, Ian, Vasili, Azar, Sparrow, and Bleu. They, too, discussed who they thought would be the next to fight for ascension and what must be done.
Blythe approached her father’s side and offered him a cold smile. “You lost. Again. Overplayed your hand with Laban.”
“Yes,” he replied, with a shrug, not bothering to glance in her direction. “I can’t be terribly disappointed, though. I’ve been looking forward to this next task more than any other.”
He did appear particularly gleeful. Enough to make her stomach churn. “Do tell.”
“I won’t. But time will.”
* * *
Also available from
Gena Showalter
From HQN
Ruthless
The Immortal
Heartless
The Warlord
The Darkest King
Frost and Flame
Shadow and Ice
The Darkest Warrior
Can’t Let Go
Can’t Hardly Breathe
The Darkest Promise
The Darkest Torment
The Harder You Fall
The Hotter You Burn
The Closer You Come
All For You (anthology featuring
“The One You Want”)
The Darkest Touch
Burning Dawn
After Dark (duology featuring
“The Darkest Angel”)
The Darkest Craving
Beauty Awakened
After Moonrise (duology with P.C. Cast)
Wicked Nights
The Darkest Seduction
The Darkest Surrender
The Darkest Secret
The Darkest Lie
The Darkest Passion
Into the Dark
The Darkest Whisper
The Darkest Pleasure
The Darkest Kiss
The Darkest Night
The Vampire’s Bride
The Nymph King
Jewel of Atlantis
Heart of the Dragon
Twice as Hot
Playing with Fire
Catch a Mate
Animal Instincts
Prince of Forever
Prince of Stone
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Dating the Undead
(with Jill Monroe)
From Inkyard Press
The Glass Queen
The Evil Queen
Everlife
Lifeblood
Firstlife
A Mad Zombie Party
The Queen of Zombie Hearts
Through the Zombie Glass
Alice in Zombieland
Twisted
Unraveled
Intertwined
ISBN-13: 9780369717641
The Phantom
Copyright © 2023 by Gena Showalter
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