“I hope you’re as good as everyone thinks you are, Aria.”
“Me too,” I whispered and then turned as her blast came through the barrier. “Now.” Basilius shoved me to the ground, but my hands were already up, blocking the blast from hitting him. With a softer, less lethal hit, I sent him crashing to the ground before Hecate’s magic could make contact.
Replacing my shield as Hecate’s horrid laughter danced in my ears, I counted to thirty, allowing her a moment to think she’d hit him. Rising, I rushed to him, shaking him and putting on an award-winning performance.
“The king is down!” I shouted, turning toward the beautiful sight of the village aflame. From where I sat, I could see the witches scattering with the arrows peppering their bodies. “The king is dead!” I shouted, slowly bringing in more mist, allowing Basilius to crawl on his stomach to the line behind us. Bringing up one of the large corpses from my army, I continued screaming for help. It only took me imagining Knox not coming out of the catatonic state to sob heartrending cries. Men rushed forward to pull the lifeless corpse from me, leaving me sitting in the center of the misty field, pretending to be crying. Only, I was.
“It was nice of you to show up here. It saved me the trouble of hunting you down.” The smugness in her tone had my smile returning. “Like I said, if I can’t have him, then neither can you. Such a waste, he was such an amazing lover.”
“That he was, grandmother,” I agreed, slowly rising. “I warned you not to touch that which belongs to me, didn’t I?” I questioned, my tone holding real rage, and I sent a pulse of my power slamming into her mind. Every emotion she’d fed me slammed back into her, tenfold.
“So you did. But, you see, he was mine long before he was yours, little slut.” Her tone was breathy, which I wondered if she used when she wanted to conceal emotion. She’d used it in the library too, only through Luna’s lips. I could see her gaze flicking to the village, needing them to survive long enough for her to siphon enough of their power to fight back.
“Something wrong, Hecate?” I asked, my tone bored but level.
“What’s the matter, darling? You should be out celebrating your victory.”
“I was just thinking how you’re going to die screaming. It’s how you should go down after what you’ve done to this world. You destroyed mystical creatures. All because you feared having to work for what you needed.”
“I’m a goddess! I’ve worked for everything I have ever had. You think it was easy forcing this world to mold to what I wanted it to be?” she snarled.
“I think you’re a petty, pathetic, washed-up goddess who no one will remember once I am finished.”
Power erupted around her, which forced me to collect and gather the remaining threads fueling her magic. “Little Girl Gone,” by Chinchilla, filled the entire air, echoing throughout the space around us. I sang along with the first song, ensuring it pissed her off. The more pissed off she got, the more access I gained to the waves of power drifting to her. I had come to take it from her. Her jaw clenched, which allowed me to see the mind-boggling veins of ink-colored wispy lines that connected to her grids drifting throughout the land.
“I was all dressed up and thought why not come bash in your fucking head after I’ve ripped your heart out. I mean, do you even have a heart inside that sadistic, empty chest?”
“I think you’re suicidal or stupid. I’m not sure which yet, honestly. It has to be one or the other. You can’t beat me, Aria. I am eternal. This world holds pieces of me within it that you’ll never entirely eradicate,” she hissed vehemently.
“Do you know what the problem is with an invasive species? Okay, let’s be honest, in your case, it’s more of a parasite issue.” Her nostrils flared at my reference to her not belonging here, or maybe it was me calling her a parasite. Either way, she allowed emotions to lead her, which was my intention. “If you don’t know the answer, it’s okay to admit it, Hecate. Seriously, no one knows everything. Since you’re too stupid to even make a guess, I’ll explain.”
“You little bitch.”
“Name-calling is the lowest form of argument on the Graham’s Hierarchy of Disagreement chart, I can explain that too if you need. No? Still, I expected better.” I tutted as I tilted my head. “The problem with parasites is that all one must do to rid the world of them is to give it a natural cleanse. In the sake of you needing small words, we’ll call it a purge. Once you begin this purge, one-by-one the parasites begin to vanish. They’re also easy enough to spot, since again, they don’t belong here. So, to get this show started? I’m going to send every single victim you’ve ever created after your sources of power. We’ll call it karma.”
“You don’t even know what my power is, Aria. I bet you think you’re so fucking clever, don’t you? But you’re not. Just as you lost Knox, you’ll lose this fight as well.”
“It’s in the witches you’ve created by infecting them with pieces of yourself. It’s something you’ve been doing since you first got banished to the Nine Realms.” Her composure slipped just enough to tell me I’d been right. “You never needed them. You merely wanted them to worship you to feed that over-inflated ego. But you realized that they held power you could use. If they held the power for you, then you never would weaken. That was something you’d already attempted with the humans, which was why they put you here, among creatures who weren’t as feeble. They assumed you’d merely slip-in without much of a fuss. But not you.”
“Oh, don’t stop now. I’m enjoying your little made-up fairy tale.”
Snorting, I forced my nails to push through my fingertips. “You see, you were a powerful goddess before they sent you here. You had worshipers who’d idolized you—and rightly so. After all, you didn’t start out so vicious or inhuman. You were a symbol of witchcraft, the night, the moon, and lastly, necromancy. Things that didn’t bring you the adoration you desired.” Slicing through my palms, I held my hands out with my palms down. Droplets rolled to the tips of my fingers before dropping to the ground, summoning the dead.
“I’m not the only one who can control the dead, darling.” Her eyes sparkled with pride, which made my stomach churn. “I take it you intend to raise King Karnavious as well, yes? If not, I’d enjoy his corpse. After all, I enjoyed him while he lived.”