P.C. Cast - Awakened

Rephaim closed his eyes for a moment, and she felt a quiver of unease. He was good—Stevie Rae believed that, but to choose her over his father would change the course of his life forever. He was part immortal, and forever could be a literal thing for him. Maybe he couldn’t—maybe he wouldn’t—maybe he—

“Father—” Stevie Rae opened her eyes the second she heard Rephaim’s voice. He was speaking to Kalona, but he was still looking at her. “I choose Stevie Rae, and the path of the Goddess.”

Her gaze darted to Kalona in time to see the grimace of pain pass over his face. “Then so be it. From this day forth you are no longer my son.” He paused and Rephaim turned his gaze from her to the winged immortal. “I would offer you Nyx’s blessing, but she no longer hears me. So instead I offer you a piece of advice: if you love her with everything within you, when you realize she does not love you in the same way—and she will not, cannot—it will kill everything within you.” Kalona unfurled his great wings, lifted both arms, and proclaimed, “Rephaim is free of me! So I have spoken. So let it be!”

Afterward, Stevie Rae would think about that moment and the way the air quivered around Rephaim with his immortal father’s release. Then all she could do was to stare wide-eyed at Rephaim as the red tint that had been present in his eyes for as long as she had been looking into them faded, leaving only the wide, dark eyes of a human boy staring at her from the head of an enormous raven.

Wings still extended, body still magnified by power and, Stevie Rae liked to believe, by the grief he had to feel somewhere inside him at the loss of his son, Kalona moved his amber gaze to Neferet. He didn’t say one word. He only laughed and then launched himself into the night sky, leaving a trail of mocking laughter behind him and one other thing. From the air a single white feather dropped to the ground at Stevie Rae’s feet. It shocked her so much that the barrier she’d erected around Rephaim dissipated, but she was staring at the feather so intently that Stevie Rae didn’t even realize her concentration had utterly shattered. She was bending to pick up the feather when Neferet commanded Dragon.

“Now that the immortal has fled, kill his son. I am not fooled by this charade.”

Stevie Rae felt the terribly familiar sting of Darkness breaking her connection to the earth, weakening her. She was unable to even cry out as she watched Dragon descend on Rephaim.

Rephaim hadn’t even had time to take in what had happened when Neferet ordered his death. He was watching Stevie Rae in wonder as she stared down at something white in the grass. Then chaos ensued. The green glow that had been surrounding him faded. Stevie Rae turned ghostly pale and swayed dizzily. The Raven Mocker was so focused on Stevie Rae that he didn’t even know Dragon was attacking, and then her friend Zoey was suddenly there before him, placing herself between him and the avenging Sons of Erebus.

“No. We don’t attack people who choose the path of the Goddess.” She spoke in an amplified voice, and the Warriors halted uncertainly in front of her. Rephaim noted that Stark had moved to stand on one side of her, and Darius on the other. Both Warriors had their swords raised, but their expressions spoke volumes; it was obvious neither of them wanted to strike their brothers.

My fault. It is my fault they stand against each other. Rephaim’s thoughts were jumbled with self-loathing and uncertainty as he hurried to Stevie Rae.

“Will you have Warrior turn against Warrior?” Neferet asked Zoey incredulously.

“Will you have our Warriors kill someone in the service of their Goddess?” countered Zoey.

“So now you are able to judge what is in another’s heart?” Neferet said, sounding smug and wise. “Not even real High Priestesses claim such a divine ability.”

Rephaim felt the change in the air before she materialized. It was as if a thunderstorm had been contained and its lightning had charged the air around them. In the middle of the surge of power and light and sound, the Great Goddess of Night, Nyx, appeared.

“No, Neferet, Zoey cannot claim such a divine ability, but I can.”

Every tentacle of Darkness that had been searching and draining and lurking slithered away at the sound of her divine voice. Beside him, Stevie Rae gasped, like she’d let loose the breath she’d been holding, and dropped to her knees.

From all around him Rephaim heard awestruck whispers of “It’s Nyx!” “It’s the Goddess!” “Oh, blessed be!”

And then his attention was consumed by Nyx.

She was, indeed, night personified. Her hair was like the full hunters’ moon, shining with a silver luminescence. Her eyes were the new moon sky—black and limitless. The rest of her body was almost completely transparent. Rephaim thought he caught a glimpse of dark silk lifting in a breeze of its own, and a woman’s curves—and perhaps even a crescent moon tattooed on her smooth forehead, but the more he tried to focus on the Goddess’s image, the more transparent and incandescent she became. It was then that he noticed he was the only one still standing. Everyone else had knelt to the Goddess, and he, too, knelt.

He quickly realized that he didn’t need to worry about his late response. Nyx’s attention was elsewhere. She was floating over to Damien, who, ironically, had no idea she approached because he was kneeling with his head bowed and his eyes closed.

“Damien, my son, look at me.”

Damien’s head lifted, and his eyes opened wide in surprise. “Oh, Nyx! It’s really you! I thought I’d imagined you here.”

“Perhaps in a way, you did. I want you to know that your Jack is with me, and he is one of the purest, most joy-filled spirits my realm has ever known.”

Tears filled and overflowed Damien’s eyes. “Thank you. Thank you for telling me that. It will help me try to get over him.”

“My son, there is no need to get over Jack. Remember him, and rejoice in the brief, beautiful love you shared. Choosing to do so does not mean forgetting or getting over, it means healing.”

Damien smiled through his tears. “I’ll remember. I’ll always remember and choose your path, Nyx. I give you my word.”

The Goddess’s hovering form turned so that her dark gaze took in the rest of them. Rephaim saw Nyx look fondly at Zoey, who grinned.

“Merry meet, my Goddess,” Zoey said, shocking Rephaim with the familiar tone of her voice.

Shouldn’t she be more respectful—more fearful—when addressing the Goddess?

“Merry meet, Zoey Redbird!” The Goddess returned the fledgling High Priestess’s grin, and he thought, for a moment, she looked like an exquisitely lovely little girl—a little girl who was suddenly familiar to him. With a jolt Rephaim recognized her. The ghost! The ghost had been the Goddess!

Then Nyx began speaking, addressing the entire gathering, and her visage shifted to an ethereal being so brilliant and beautiful it was difficult to gaze upon her and impossible to think about anything except the words that she spoke like a symphony over them all. “Much has happened here this night. Spirit-altering choices were made, which means, for some of you, new life paths have opened. For others, your paths have been sealed, your choices made long ago. And yet others of you are at a life precipice.” The Goddess’s gaze lingered on Neferet, who instantly bowed her head. “You have changed, daughter. You are not as you once were. Truly, can I still call you daughter?”

“Nyx! Great Goddess! How could I not be your daughter?”