Unbroken Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #6)(87)

Again, I can’t help but wonder if it’s ever worked before.

“You know that it's true. Your god-bond exists to take the life force from those around it. You cannot deny the truth in my words when that is how it derives its power. I will get it out of you, whether you submit to me or not. One way or another, I will get it out.”

I nod and lean away from her as if I'm afraid of her touch, as though I'm afraid that the pain will come dripping from her fingers the moment it touches my skin. I can feel the way that she's pushing at me with her Gift, the way she's poking and prodding and trying to find a hole in my barriers to wield that dark power against me. I came here prepared for all of that. I came here not only with my own mental securities, but those of my Bonded as well.

I didn't come here alone, even if the Pain god thinks I did.

“Your devotion to them is disgusting, you know. A thousand lifetimes and not once have they ever protected you. A thousand lives, and you always ended up dead. You’re more powerful than all of them put together. If you sacrificed them, you could become as I am.”

I look over at it as I digest its arrogance. “It must have been so frustrating for you to be born into that body. I'm sure you’ve had more than your fair share of obstacles, thanks to it.”

It shrugs at me and nonchalantly tilts its head. “A Gifted born to a lower Tier family. It was easy to kill my vessel and the family it was born into, to hide myself amongst the humans. It's far easier to do such things when you remember exactly who you are from the moment you are born into the vessel. I've had a lot of years to plan what this would look like, lifetimes to prepare for your cycle. I don't want to kill your Bonded Group. I want something else entirely.”

I make a big show of swallowing as though terrified, my eyes darting back to the river rushing underneath the bridge to convince the Pain god I'm telling the truth, and it steps up alongside me once more.

“There is no power without taking it from someone. A thousand lifetimes, and I have killed a thousand gods, but I have finally unlocked it. I have finally unlocked how to take that power into myself. Taking from your Bonded Group will give me everything I need to build the world that I want.”

A shiver runs down my spine, because I already know that the world it wants to see is one of pain and blood and madness. The same world that the Resistance has been fighting for because they were fighting on her behalf.

“I don't want to fight the god within you. I want to take its power and become it. I want to consume it.”





I know that things are not going to stay so civil between the Pain god and I for very long. The more I try to keep the god-bond talking, the more that it snares me in its trap. And the more that it pushes me closer and closer to the edge of the bridge, the more that it draws my eyes down to the water rushing beneath us.

The more that it gets me where it wants me.

I don't know how it intends on doing what it claims it can do, and the Pain god reads my disbelief with ease, a cruel smile curving over its lips as it bares its teeth at me like a true predator playing with its prey.

“Silas Davies figured it out, you know,” it continues on, and I shudder unconsciously at the mention of his name.

“He figured it out thanks to you, of course, because consuming people is your gift, after all. I know that you all seem to think it was a misstep of mine to let him play with you for so long, to let him play his little games, only to have you disappear out of his grasp as if you were smoke. It was never about killing you or the thing that lives inside of you. It was about harnessing you. Of course, he thought that I wanted mass destruction, for you to kill as many Gifted and humans as possible. He was a crazed being, one after my own heart, but we can't ever really befriend the Gifted. The wolf cannot befriend the sheep, but I suppose we can use the most creative of them to our benefit.”

Creative.

I suppose that's a word you could use for Silas Davies. I also have to acknowledge that spending time with him trained me pretty well to have this conversation. There's nothing but madness spewing out of the Pain god’s mouth right now, nothing but the sort of maniacal insanity of a nihilistic dictator.

There's no doubt in my mind that this is exactly where the Resistance started, from a group of Gifted worshiping the wrong god. One who had promised them power and convinced them all that they deserved certain liberties, when really all it wanted was cannon fodder for a war of its own design.

“We can't spend all night talking about such things, little girl. You’re not going to find a flaw in my plans, and I’m not going to convince you to join my side, am I?”

The wind rustles in the trees on the far side of the bridge again, this time louder, and it’s an ominous sound that echoes through the night.

I shake my head. “I think we both know that I'm not going to give you my bond. I also think you know that you couldn't get it out of me even if you tried. You haven't been able to push your way inside of my head in the ten minutes we've been talking, so I doubt you're ever going to be able to. All of your convincing has been for nothing. I'll stick with real power. The Eternal will win this.”

I watch as the senator’s face contorts, twisting and turning as the disgust and madness bleeds into the woman's features. I almost feel glad that the god killed the vessel a long time ago, that there hasn't been some poor Gifted trapped inside there with it all this time. It’s a fate worse than death, I’m sure.