Supernatural Academy: Year One (Supernatural Academy #1)(94)

“Who the fuck are you? Why are you wearing his mother’s body?”

She threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, I love your assertiveness. I guess there’s no point in lying any longer. You are correct, I’m not the original owner of this body. I chose this form because I believed it would entice Asher to join my cause. I didn’t anticipate that he would spend his life figuring out how to stay under the radar, or that he would team up with powerful friends who have helped him evade me. I eventually contacted him, sent my note, and he ignored me. His own damn mother.” She laughed again, running a hand along her lacy blue dress. It barely concealed anything, and I could clearly see her nipples through it.

“Why didn’t you just take him?” They’d already proven they didn’t have an issue with kidnapping.

She shrugged. “His mother only agreed to me utilizing her DNA if I promised to not force Asher’s hand. It was her one stipulation before I killed her. She probably hoped she was buying him time. I agreed, and therefore had to wait for him to choose to come of his own free will. And there was nothing that could make him … until you, my dear.”

“Who are you, then?” I pushed.

She smiled even brighter. “I’m Shera, goddess of the seas, bonded soul to Sonaris.”

I gasped, which was covered when Jesse let out a rumbling, humorless laugh. “Now it all makes sense. Gods have to honor their promises. One of your many rules. You’ve broken a lot of other rules though, Shera. You’re lucky the hell lands are not calling for your soul.”

She tsked. “I bend the rules, not break them. It’s the reason I had to ask permission for Asher’s mother’s DNA, and yes, you are right … when I promised to not take Asher against his will, I had to stick with it.”

Gods had rules? Why the hell did I not know this? It suddenly seemed very important to find out what all of those rules were now that we were playing in their world.

“Shera?” Axl said suddenly, like he’d finally figured out a puzzle. “I remember your name now. It took me a while because you were such a minor deity that to call yourself a goddess of the sea is pretty insulting to all the real gods out there.”

Her eyes flashed, and the smile faded from her face as she bitch-stared him. “Watch your mouth. You contain such a small trace of power from Atlantis that you’re almost useless to me.”

Jesse rumbled, the lion inside making itself known as he defended his brother.

Shera shocked me then as she stepped aside, gesturing for the others to do so as well. “Let them go to Asher. They have a chance to save his life, but the only way they can do that is if they fill the life stone in his center.”

“A life stone,” Axl said, his eyes darting between her and Asher. “What did you tie his life to?”

She stepped closer, her gait smooth and sensual. “You tell me, genius know-it-all.”

“The gate of Atlantis,” he said immediately, not even having to think about it.

She nodded. “Yes. I even had another descendant from the royal line here to add her power and blood to Asher’s, but it didn’t budge the spell holding the gate.”

Axl crossed his arms, his face showing the least amount of animation that I’d ever seen. “That spell was cast by a god. There’s none with the power to counter that.”

“That’s not true,” Connor said. “I’ve been telling you all since the start. Maddison is born of Sonaris.”

Shera’s laugh sounded desperate and maniacal. “There is no way Sonaris fathered a child with a mortal. I refuse to believe it. I was willing to indulge you because I agree that she’s a powerful Atlantean descendent, but she’s not his.” Her expression hardened. “Never mention that lie to me again.”

Connor didn’t flinch under her unwavering stare, but he also didn’t push the agenda any further. Shera focused on us again. “Go to him. It’s your last chance. If you want to save Asher, you’ll have to risk opening the gate.”

I didn’t care. I was done waiting.

Running as fast as my rubbery legs would carry me, I slipped past Shera and her minions and beelined straight for Asher. My brain and body were screaming, panic flooding me. He wasn’t moving. I couldn’t see his chest rising and falling.

Water smashed against me as I got closer, the force of the waterfall devastating even at a distance, which had to mean it was almost crushing Asher. He was right under it.

I whispered the word to activate a basic shield, something we’d recently learned, which gave me a little protection against the water. When I was a few feet from Asher, I drank in every hard line of him. How could he still look so perfect? His skin a healthy-looking bronze, his muscles strong. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was hanging lifelessly, and I could barely feel his energy, I wouldn’t have known anything was wrong with him. My hands trembled as I pressed them against his chest. He was suspended off the ground and already so tall—this was the highest I could reach.

His body was cold to the touch, directly contrasting to the hot tears streaking my face. “Asher, can you hear me?” I asked, trying to figure out how they kept him contained.

“They’re magical manacles,” Jesse said at my side; all of the guys had arrived by now. “We can’t break them without breaking Asher.”