Chapter 21 Stolen Moments
The Divine Realm was suffocatingly beautiful.
We materialized in an alcove Naia had indicated, hidden behind a waterfall that flowed upward instead of down. Everything here gleamed with perfection, from the crystal pathways to the gardens where flowers bloomed in impossible colors. It felt sterile, like a museum instead of a place where beings actually lived.
"Stay close," Jeron whispered, his shadows wrapping around us to hide our presence. "The wards are weakened, but guards still patrol."
We moved through the palace like ghosts, following the mental map Naia had provided. Through the bond, I felt Theron and Lysander's anxiety back in Babylon, their awareness of us even across realms. The connection was a comfort and a liability. If something went wrong, they'd feel it instantly.
"Left here," Kael murmured, his combat instincts on high alert. "Selara's wing is three corridors down."
We turned the corner and nearly ran straight into two guards. Jeron's shadows struck before they could raise an alarm, wrapping around their throats and cutting off their air. They collapsed silently, unconscious but alive.
"Two minutes gone," I said, checking the timepiece Naia had given us. "Eight left."
"Plenty of time," Kael said, but tension rolled off him in waves.
Selara's chambers were guarded by wards that made my teeth ache, but Naia had been true to her word. There were gaps in the magic, vulnerabilities we could exploit. I reached out with my power carefully, threading silver light through the weak points and unraveling the protections from the inside.
The door swung open, and we slipped inside.
The chambers were exactly what I'd expected. Opulent, cold, everything arranged with calculated precision. No personal touches, no warmth. Just displays of wealth and power designed to intimidate.
"Where would she keep a weapon meant for me?" I asked, scanning the room.
"Somewhere she could look at it," Kael said darkly. "Trophy hunters keep their prizes visible."
He was right. We found the collar on a pedestal in her bedroom, displayed like a piece of art. It was deceptively simple, just a band of silver metal inscribed with runes that pulsed with sickly green light. Looking at it made my power recoil instinctively.
"That's it," I said, moving toward it.
"Wait," Jeron caught my arm. "It could be trapped."
"Everything in here is probably trapped," I pointed out. "We don't have time to be cautious."
I reached for the collar, and the moment my fingers touched the metal, pain exploded through me. The runes flared, and I felt my power being drawn into the collar, feeding it, making it stronger. I tried to let go, but my hand was stuck fast.
"Athena!" Kael grabbed me, trying to pull me away, but the collar's magic held firm.
Through the bond, I felt the others' panic. Theron's storm surged. Lysander's sharp terror cut like glass. And Jeron's shadows exploded outward, trying to sever the connection between me and the collar.
"It's draining her," Jeron snarled. "We need to destroy it. Now."
"How?" Kael demanded. "Every weapon I summon just bounces off."
I could feel my consciousness fading, my power being siphoned away. The collar was designed to feed on divine energy, and I was giving it exactly what it wanted. In another minute, I'd be too weak to fight it.
Then I remembered what the Oracle had said. Your power isn't just destruction. It's about survival.
If the collar fed on divine energy, I just needed to give it too much. Enough to overload it.
I stopped fighting the drain and instead pushed more power into it. All my silver light, all my strength, everything I had. Through the bond, I reached for my mates and pulled their power too, channeling death and war and storms and lies directly into the collar.
"Athena, what are you doing?" Jeron shouted.
"Killing it," I gasped. "With kindness."
The collar's runes blazed brighter, then began to crack. The metal heated, burning my palm, but I held on. More power. More. Until the collar couldn't contain it anymore.
It shattered in a burst of light and sound that threw all three of us backward. I hit the wall hard enough to see stars, my hand seared and bleeding. But the collar was destroyed, reduced to smoking fragments on the floor.
"That was insane," Kael said, pulling me to my feet.
"Worked though," I said weakly.
"Time?" Jeron asked.
I checked the timepiece with my unburned hand. "Thirty seconds. We need to go."
We ran for the door, but it slammed shut before we reached it. The lights in the room shifted from soft gold to harsh red, and an alarm began to wail.
"Trap," Jeron said grimly. "The collar's destruction triggered the wards."
"Can you shadow-travel us out?" I asked.
"Not through these wards," he said, testing them with his power. "We're locked in."
Through the bond, I felt Theron and Lysander's terror, felt them trying to reach us. But the distance and the wards made the connection fuzzy, unreliable.
"Well," Kael said, summoning weapons. "Plan B then."
"What's Plan B?" I asked.
"Fight our way out," he said with a grin that didn't quite hide his fear.
The door exploded inward, and guards poured through. Not just regular guards, but elite warriors, each one radiating power. And behind them, striding in like she owned the world, was Selara.
"Well, well," she said, her voice dripping with satisfaction. "The little goddess walked right into my trap. How delightfully predictable."
"The collar was bait," I realized. "You wanted us to come here."
"Of course," Selara said. "Did you really think I wouldn't anticipate your every move? I've been hunting beings like you for thousands of years, child. You're clever, but you're not experienced."
Jeron's shadows lashed out, but Selara raised a hand and they simply dissipated. "None of that now. These wards are specifically designed to counter each of your abilities. You're trapped, powerless, and about to become the Council's greatest prize."
"Never going to happen," Kael snarled, launching himself at her.
She caught him mid-leap with a gesture, suspending him in the air. "Brave but foolish. The God of War, reduced to a puppet." She made a twisting motion, and Kael cried out in pain.
Rage burned through me, hotter than the collar's fire. "Let him go."
"Or what?" Selara asked mockingly. "You'll unmake me? Your power barely works here, little goddess. You're in my domain now, subject to my rules."
She was right. I could feel the wards suppressing my abilities, making my silver light sluggish and weak. But she'd made one mistake. The wards were designed to counter our individual powers.
They didn't account for all five of us working together.
I opened the bond completely, not just to Kael and Jeron, but to Theron and Lysander across realms. "I need everything," I called through the connection. "All of you. Now."
I felt their immediate response. Power flooded through the mate bonds, amplified by desperation and love. The wards tried to contain it, but there was too much, too many different types of energy coming from too many directions.
My silver light blazed, shot through with crimson and obsidian and lightning-white and shifting colors. The combined power of five gods, focused through one connection.
Selara's eyes widened. "Impossible."
"You keep saying that," I said, and unleashed everything.
The blast didn't just destroy the wards. It unmade them, erasing the magic like it had never existed. Selara's control over Kael shattered, and he dropped to the floor. The guards were thrown backward, their weapons clattering uselessly.
And Selara herself was blown through the wall and into the garden beyond.
"Go," Jeron said, grabbing my arm. "While she's down."
We ran through the hole I'd created, Kael right beside us. Behind us, I heard Selara screaming orders, heard more guards mobilizing. The entire palace was aware of us now.
"Echo!" I shouted, hoping they could hear me. "We need an exit!"
A portal ripped open in front of us, and Echo's face appeared in it. "Jump!"
We didn't hesitate. We dove through together as weapons and magic flew at our backs. The portal snapped closed behind us, and we tumbled into the ruins of Babylon, gasping and bleeding but alive.
Theron was there instantly, his hands frantically checking me for injuries. "Are you okay? We felt everything through the bond, felt you in danger and couldn't reach you."
"I'm okay," I said, though my burned hand throbbed viciously. "The collar's destroyed."
"At what cost?" Lysander asked, his usual playfulness completely absent. "Athena, they know we're coming now. Selara will tell the Council everything. The element of surprise is gone."
"Maybe," I said, struggling to my feet. "But we accomplished the mission. The collar's gone. They can't use it against us."
"And we proved something else," Kael added, his amber eyes fierce. "We proved we can get into their palace. We can strike at the heart of their power."
"Which is exactly what we're going to do," I said, looking at the assembled forgotten gods who'd gathered to watch our return. "Tomorrow. We don't wait. We attack at dawn, hit them while they're still reeling from tonight."
"They'll be ready for us," Moros warned.
"Good," I said. "Because we're ready for them too."
Through the bond, I felt my mates' agreement, their determination matching mine. We'd crossed the point of no return tonight. There was no more hiding, no more planning.
Tomorrow, we went to war.