Unbroken Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #6)(76)

The Draconis is taking care of the Ice. We will bring you the other one, Eternal.

I have no doubt that they will do just that, but I also don't particularly want to be buried alive here. It’s a death that I have unfortunately faced before, and it’s not one that I’m particularly inclined to re-live. I hear a screech overhead as the Draconis weighs in on the matter as well, the roaring of his flame breath blocking out all other sounds as he decimates our enemy.

The Cleaver pulls me onto his back as he finds footholds in the earth around us, climbing out of the pit with ease, as though ascending a ladder. As we reach the top, the Corvus is waiting for us, his arms ready to lift me out. The shadows are thick around us as he prepares for whatever’s next.

The ground begins to shake again.

I funnel my power into the Draconis and the Crux, carefully reserving some for myself, knowing that I will be consuming two gods’ souls. And though I came out stronger on the other side of the last feast—disgusting as it was—it might not be enough this time.

We might have to send one of them back into the cycle.

The Corvus turns to look at me, a scowl on his face. “That will not be happening. We can give you whatever you need to be taken care of. I refuse to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder for one of these things to come back and find us.”

I smile at him as though he has declared his love for me, and he has—in his own special way—and reach my hand out to clasp his hands.

The Draconis lets out another screeching sound and for a moment, I worry that he has been attacked or harmed, but then I see him circling again. A long stream of fire sprays out of his mouth, destroying everything around him until there’s nothing, dead or alive, left for him to target other than the god-bond he hunts.

I step over to the Corvus once more. “We should join him.”

He shakes his head. “He will join the others when he’s ready. He's having fun playing with his food at the moment.”

A smile stretches across my lips as the Cleaver and I each take his arm, the shadows engulfing us completely as he shifts through the air in an instant. It's completely different than how the Transporters do it. There's no sickening motion, no feeling that what we're doing is unnatural, and my stomach does not churn horrifically.

Instead, I'm enveloped by his shadows for a brief moment, safe and beloved there, only for them to part and be somewhere else entirely. I find myself standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Crux and the Soothsayer once more as they face down the Elemental. My Bonded has it captured and wrapped in shadows.

This one is young.

Young enough that I'm sure the vessel is still alive, not yet killed off, as the god still requires sleep to recover from the cycling. It might even be younger than the vessels of my Bonded, but its eyes are black all the same. There's a tugging in my chest as my vessel wants to speak to me.

I know her, the girl says. I know exactly who that is. She's been so close to us before.

It doesn't matter though. It's something for the girl to discuss with the vessels at a later point. What does it matter to us if it has appeared before? All that matters is that it's dead now.

It just doesn't know it yet.

“You don't deserve to be together,” it starts to say, but I have no interest in listening to these things anymore.

Why should I lower myself to listen to the tirade of madness that their broken minds have conjured? Instead of staying true to the one thing that matters, their Bonded, they threw it all away, because they’re weak and pathetic.

They are nothing to me.

I reach a hand out to anchor myself as my Gift flows out of me and into the god-bond’s being, wrapping firmly around their soul. The moment I have them trapped, I yank my power back into myself, taking the soul with it. It's easier than the last one, this god having only been awake for a short amount of time. Still, I'm thankful for the extra reserve of power I have as I wrestle with it, pulling and pulling and pulling until finally, it comes loose.

The vessel’s body drops as I take the soul into myself, dead and gone before it hits the ground.

I take a deep breath before I consume it, disgust rippling through my body at the thought of it being inside of me, but the power-kick it gives me rocks me on my feet. It’s like being struck by lightning, an almighty explosion trapped within my skin as volts of energy race up and down my limbs, burning everything it touches as I force the power to obey me, kneel for me, become a part of me.

Another one gone.

Another one finally set free, no longer cycling, but gone from this world forever. One more god that we never have to worry about killing us again.

The shadows ease away from the vessel. There is a quiet moment as we stare at the body of a teenage girl before a screech cuts through the air once more. The Draconis flies overhead, and we’re forced to scatter like ants as a body falls from the sky, landing with a thud at our feet. A pile of blood and bones pokes through skin, and a wheezing, rattling breath is somehow still coming out of the bloodied mess. It is the most gruesome gift.

My favorite kind.

The Draconis lands close by, blood dripping from its teeth as it snuffs and snorts happily, satisfied that it has brought me a god-bond to consume but utterly frustrated that it can't do more to right these wrongs. I reach out a hand to my Bonded, pressing against the scales of its neck for a moment as the sparks still play under the skin of my palm.