Seduction (Curse of the Gods #3)(32)

He let out a weird snorting noise, which I was choosing to believe was him clearing his throat. You have learned almost nothing, he told me. Surely there is more you want to know.

Uh, not really. Gods-dammit. Time to pretend I was smart. “So, my Chaos … I should be able to control it better now, thanks to the water?”

The pantera made another snorting sound.

I pointed to a tree just behind us. “Chaos!”

That’s not how it works.

“Yeah, so I’ve heard,” I muttered.

An explosion rocked through the picturesque valley, shooting me back a few feet to land on my ass. Pushing back long tangles of my hair, I blinked a few times to make sure I was seeing things correctly.

The tree was completely engulfed in flames. Nothing else around it was touched. The pantera appeared to be doing a similar wide-eyed stare with me. I climbed to my feet and stood at his side.

“Not how it works, hey?” My voice had a touch of smug to it, which died off when he turned narrowed eyes on me.

The word does not create Chaos. It is the mental intention. Clearly your words and brain have no barrier.

It was like he had known me my entire life. “Yeah, I tend to react rather than think. Thought and words happen at the same time.”

If you intend to control Chaos, that has to change.

Well, in that case … we’re all screwed. “I did at least hit the target I intended.” My voice was meek as I searched for the silver lining.

Controlled subtly will get you what you want much faster than brute force.

“Don’t tell Rome that, he can’t even open a door without taking out half the building. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he always gets the job done, it’s just never very pretty.”

The pantera didn’t reply, which forced my mind back to the task at hand. I was starting to understand what he meant. All of my bursts of Cyrus-Chaos had been … messy, and hadn’t really achieved much outside of a distraction. If I wanted to instil real change, then I needed to figure out how to make the randomness of my gift work in a more refined way.

For the next few rotations, I practiced attempting to control Chaos. It required a mental strength that was frankly beyond me, and I could sense the frustration of the few panteras who were working to help me.

“Maybe I need more water.” I stared hopefully at the stream, which was a few hundred yards away.

You need to focus. The water has already done all it can.

I almost stomped my foot. “It’s faulty. The water is broken, we should all go and check the water right now and make sure it’s still working.”

The water is fine.

I had long ago given up trying to figure out which of them was talking in my head, there were too many. They surrounded me on the ground, not to mention the many flying through the air, frolicking across the meadow, drinking from the stupid water.

“I’m never going to get this.” My words were a warning and a statement. “I have never been able to control my gift-that-feels-a-lot-like-a-curse.”

Chaos is not a curse. If the person wielding the Chaos only uses it for evil, it becomes a curse—but that is only by the fault of the person and not the gift. Chaos can be a beautiful thing, if you know where to look for it. If you learn to see it properly and wield it properly.

I thought about the panteras’ words, scanning their ethereal eyes while I mulled over the shifting of everything I thought I had known. Maybe they were right. Maybe the only reason my Chaos had been manifesting as fire was because I kept associating it with Rau.

“Okay,” I finally sighed out. “Will you show me?”





Nine





My name is Leden, the pantera told me. Her voice was softer than the others, almost a whisper, and her coat was a glistening, snowy white. She was beautiful.

I climbed onto her cautiously, hesitant to put dirt all over her lovely white fur, but she only made a small, snorting sound and reared up a little, forcing me to fall forward and cling.

Hold on, her soft voice cautioned me, sounding amused.

She launched up from the ground, and four other pantera followed, two spanning out either side of her as she took to the sky.

“Where are we going?” I shouted, pressing my face into her soft neck.

She was fast. Faster than any other pantera I had ridden—and she knew it, too, because there was a small hum of appreciation that vibrated through her body as soon as the thought flitted through my head.

We are taking you to the mortal glass. The eyes of the world.

“The what?” I shouted back. “Did you say eyes? You’re taking me to see some eyes?”

Leden didn’t answer, which wasn’t a good sign. I groaned, shaking my head and cursing internally. That was the gamble you made with magical objects: sometimes they were pretty and they tasted good, like the stream; and sometimes they were … eyes.

They didn’t fly far before they began to dip toward the mountains, swooping into a cave and landing in a spray of pebbles and dust. Leden wobbled a little before she managed to straighten herself, and I quickly jumped off her back and took a few steps away before I turned and grinned at her.

“The speed is excellent, but you need to work on the landing.”

She made a grunting sound in the back of her throat that was more animalistic than the graceful noises I had become used to from the pantera, and then she flicked her hoof into the gravel and kicked it up, sending a cloud of dirt and rocks right at me. I quickly covered my face with my arms and laughed. I liked her.