Unbroken Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #6)(91)

There's no answer, but the Crux stands smoothly, Oli looking so small and fragile in his arms. The Corvus pounds at the edges of my mind, demanding to be let out, but I hold onto control desperately. I need to see her wake up first. I need to know this wasn’t a mistake.

Her eyes stay closed, but her chest is moving steadily, her breathing even, as though she’s just enjoying a good night’s rest.

My eyes drift back to the Pain god, the loathing and disgust dripping from its gaze as it stares back at me.

I don't really care about what this god-bond thinks.

The Soothsayer steps over to where the Crux is now cradling Oli against its chest, rocking her gently as their skin glows. He’s letting her feed from his power, seeping it into her through touch to fill her inner well and revive her.

I’m ready to take over the moment she needs it.

The Crux is clearly unhappy with what is going on, the skin on his hands turning black as he taps into his own well of power. He’s on the edge of losing control and taking down the entire Wasteland with his own Gifted rampage.

The Resistance have no idea what they’ve unleashed.

I stare at the Pain god, watching the madness writhe underneath its skin. “You should’ve known when she brought me back that it was all over for you.”

It snarls at me, too rabid to play these mind games, and yet it keeps on trying. “You say that like she hasn't brought you back before. Always the same, always simpering after the rest of you like some pathetic little bitch in heat. You could be so much more.”

I shrug, the picture of calm even as dread pools in my gut due to Oleander’s unconscious state. “Why would I want to be more if I don't have her?”

It spits on the ground between us. “Disgusting.”

“And yet, one of us is going to die today and the other is going to walk out of here, perfectly safe and with a complete Bonded Group. A long life ahead of us all. Tell me again how weak we are,” I say with a taunting tone, and Bassinger shoots a grin over his shoulder at me before it slides off of his face again, almost as though he's just realized who he's in on the joke with.

I don't particularly care about that. I care about the details and how I can use them here to really extend the suffering of this god-bond.

I want it screaming.

“How many times have you killed your Bonded?” I say, lifting up a knife from the table in front of us.

It looks a little too much like the table on which Oleander had been subjected to torture for my liking, the echoes of her memories are as clear in my mind now as they have ever been. Her screams and the blood and the terror are waiting there for me the moment I shut my eyes.

I could hate this god for killing me, for being the one to spark the soul-bond that I share with my Bonded, but there's a part of me that will always be grateful for my death.

I wouldn't have found Oleander in the darkness of my mind without it.

No, I hate this god-bond for what it built. I hate it for the movement that it began purely to kill the rest of us. The Resistance has harmed so many, but ultimately, I will revel in this god-bond’s death because of what it did to Oleander. For Silas Davies, the death of her parents, the nightmares she still has lurking in the back of her mind, and for her years of loneliness and suffering.

For that, I will see this god-bond destroyed so permanently that it can never come back.

There's a gasp behind me, and for the first time, I take my eyes fully off of the god-bond as my entire body turns towards Oleander. It always has, even when I fought it off so desperately.

She is awake, she is mine, and she is hungry.

She devours the god-bond’s soul before her eyes even flutter open, tearing it out as though it’s nothing more than a small, fragile being, ridding our world once more of this vengeful god. Only this time, it's for good.

The Pain god is no more.





CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT





Oli



Everything is burning.

The smoke and ash in my nose burns all the way down my throat, and my skin is hot and tight like it’s melting straight off of my bones. My chest feels as though I've swallowed hot coals, and everything is burning.

Everything is burning.

“Open your eyes, Bonded. You're really starting to freak us out here,” Gryphon murmurs, and there are hands against my throat.

I want to open my eyes, but they feel sealed shut, as though maybe my skin really is melting and it's melted right off of my face. What if it slipped away so that I couldn't open my eyes even if I tried?

“Don't be so dramatic. I can see your face right now, and it's as beautiful as ever. Just open your eyes, Bonded. I need to see them, just to be sure.”

“If you can hear her, then she’s clearly fine,” Nox drawls, and though North snaps back at him, the hands slowly stroking my hair stay gentle and soft.

“Will you ever take anything seriously? How are you not fucking terrified?”

I hear footsteps, and then more hands are on me, these ones on my wrist as though Nox is taking my pulse. They already know that I'm alive, clearly.

“Just because devotion looks like two different things doesn't mean they're any different. You covet her power and want to protect her so much that she never has to use it. I enjoy watching her eat god-bonds alive.”