Chapter Twenty-One

Aliana’s POV

I blinked at the empty space, my heart shuddering in my chest with unfamiliar longing…

What the hell just happened?!

“Oh well,” Erebus shrugged, grabbing more pancakes and, as if nothing had happened, happily dug in. “More for us.”

“I---erm, this…?” I stuttered a question, glancing between the two gods. “This happens a lot?”

“A god like Ani is never truly off duty, sweety,” Nyx said lightly, picking up more grapes and continuing to eat – as unfazed as her lover. “Don’t take it personally.”

“Still,” Erebus continued with a frown and his mouth full. “I’ve never seen him get physically ill before.”

“He’s been gone for a millennium,” the goddess of darkness snorted, pouring more syrup over her pancakes as if she and the apron cook were discussing the weather – and not the absence of their Master that lasted for a thousand years! “You know what they say. Talent rusts after three days of absence. He just needs to get back into his groove and he’ll be fine!”

“Why was he imprisoned?” I dared to ask, since they seemed completely unbothered by it. But the instant I mentioned “imprisonment,” the two deities looked at me as if I’d just sprouted an extra head.

“Imprisoned?!” Nyx blinked, gaping up at her lover, who looked equally as baffled. Hell, the food was slowly dropping off his fork, but he didn’t even seem to notice.

“Yes,” I said hesitantly, wondering if I’d said or done something wrong. “He said he’d been imprisoned.”

“That’s impossible,” Nyla interjected suddenly. I spun to face her--- realizing that she’d had her snout and one front leg covered in what looked like honey, licking it off with her forked tongue. “Ani is the most powerful god, even among the primordial beings. No one is powerful enough to hold him prisoner.”

“O-oh,” I stuttered, quite frankly, too scared to argue. Because let’s be frank: if the dragon or just one of the two primordials next to me decided to kill me, they wouldn’t need to do much other than snap their fingers!

“Maybe I misunderstood,” I quickly offered as a compromise. And I still couldn’t exclude the fact that Ani had lied. If all the stories I’d read had taught me anything, it was that gods lied, deceived, swindled, and entrapped mortals...

Was I foolish if I believed that Ani would be any different from them?

And why did thinking like that hurt like someone had physically punched my heart?

“Maybe,” Erebus chuckled, the sound warm but with an undertone I couldn’t place. “I just figured he’d gone into hiding after THAT incident!”

“What--- incident?” I asked, wanting to distract myself from the pain in my chest. But it only intensified when I truly began realizing how little I knew about the man I’d slept with. The man who made passionate love to me and made me feel more in just a couple of hours than I’d ever thought possible.

I knew nothing about him...

“But that would explain the imprisonment,” Nyx said, twirling her spoon thoughtfully. I asked again, but they seemingly ignored me.

The pain intensified...

“True,” Nyla admitted, licking her talons. “But who would be powerful enough to do that?”

Enough!

“WHAT INCIDENT?”

I snapped...

I couldn’t help it. My heart hammered, hurting for reasons I couldn’t explain. Not even heartache ever physically pained me the way this did. I didn’t even understand why!

Fuck!

What the hell was happening to me?!

Nyx and Erebus shared a look, the two of them having a conversation that didn’t need words. I hated the feeling of being excluded more than I already was, but a mix of fear and pain held me at bay. I wondered if fucking a god had some until-now unknown side effects, but my thoughts were interrupted.

“I don’t know if you mortals have noticed this, but,” Erebus asked, watching me as all humor evaporated from his expression. “The gods are all dead.”

That didn’t answer anything!

It only raised more questions...

“We have,” I replied, remembering that it had been one of the things Ani wanted to ask them about. But I didn’t get to say it when Nyla once more interjected.

“Maybe it would be best if she heard that from Master himself?” The dragon growled, a warning to the two gods. I just wasn’t having it!

“What?” I snapped, turning from Nyla to Nyx, hoping that maybe there was a shred of sympathy or human decency in their immortal body. “What are you keeping from me? What is HE keeping from me?”

Why did it feel like my body was being torn?

“He’s not keeping anything from you, you’re his Muse,” Nyla was quick to reassure me, her yellow eyes filled with the sympathy I needed. Her words felt like gentle strokes to the hurt in my soul. “But gods with mortal Muses sometimes forget that they’re humans and don’t explain everything properly. Maser is a good man, and he will explain everything to you. You just have to believe in him.”

“True, true!” Nyx jumped in and reached across the counter to squeeze my hand gently. The touch should have comforted me... but yet didn’t! There was a current beneath her words I couldn’t name. Not threat, not malice, just--- annoyance?

Maybe?

All I knew was that staring into her eyes felt like staring into a night sky and realizing how small you really were...

“And while we wait, I want to show you the rest of the castle,” she asked, and before waiting for an answer, she’d already risen gracefully, hauling me along with her. “And don’t worry. You’re completely safe here. Nothing can penetrate the Master’s barrier.”

“Have fun,” Erebus said and kissed her cheek, his eyes soft as he teased: “Try not to get lost.”

“Try not to burn the next batch,” she shot back, smiling as she tugged me out of the marvelous kitchen. As we left, I glanced back. Erebus stood in the halo of sunlight, humming again. Nyla once more was trying to eat her barrel of honey, ignoring the mess she made. The picture they made of domestic peace was beautiful, yet my mind struggled to believe that this was real.

A magical realm where the Master was a horned god…

How was any of this real?

The castle stretched endlessly in every direction, its halls built from onyx and veined silver that seemed to breathe under the light. The floors reflected faint stars that weren’t really there, and when I walked, my footsteps echoed like whispers that weren’t entirely my own. Everything shimmered between light and shadow, between dream and waking.

I had never seen anything so beautiful — or so intimidating!

Nyx glided beside me, her long black hair a living ribbon of night. She spoke softly, explaining which wings belonged to beings and people I hadn’t met yet, but I barely heard her. Every doorway looked like it might open into another world, my mouth mostly agape at the wonder of everything...

“Master built this place before mortal time began,” Nyx said, smiling as if she were recalling a fond memory. “Every inch of it bends to his will. Even I forget that sometimes.”

“It’s… incredible,” I whispered. My fingers brushed a wall, and for a heartbeat, it felt warm – pulsing faintly, like it was alive...

“It likes you,” she smiled brilliantly, as if she knew something I didn’t. Which didn’t say much at the moment, since I clearly didn’t know anything!

“It?” I echoed, which only had her laughing.

“The castle!” She explained, as if that was completely logical. When I still didn’t understand, she laughed softly, sneaking her arm under mine and led me on. “You’ll learn soon enough that divinity changes everything – even stone.”

She smiled up at me, and something about her had me relaxing without even realizing it. Her beauty was disarming, her laughter almost hypnotic. I followed her deeper into the castle, past rooms filled with glimmering tapestries, silver fountains, and windows that showed different scenery even as they stood side by side. For a fleeting moment, I felt like Belle exploring the Beast’s castle. Only I wasn’t sure if I was the guest...

Or the captive!

“This way,” Nyx suddenly said excitedly, turning down a corridor. “Ani’s workspace is just ahead.”

“His workspace?” I echoed, hesitant for some reason. As if something inside me roared in protest, my instinct screamed at me to run away. “You mean, down there is his--- office?”

“Something like that,” Nyx smiled faintly, already halfway down the hall. “Did you say you wanted to know what Ani does? I thought you wanted to know what Justice looks like in its truest form.”

I looked down where she pointed--- and instantly a shiver crawled down my spine! The walls here were darker, the silver veins giving way to streaks of crimson and deep violet. The air grew heavy, humming like a storm about to break...

The further down I looked, the colder it felt – the louder the voice inside my mind yelled at me to run!

But---

Didn’t I want to know? Wasn’t I burning up inside with questions that kept going unanswered? Everything up until this point had only confused me, thrown me into a rabbit hole that challenged everything I believed was true.

That I believed was real!

And that wasn’t even touching upon the subject of the emotional roller coaster I’d been on ever since that horned beast kissed me for the first time...

I took the first step, ignoring the way my body recoiled – wanting to escape...

“What in the gods’ names are you doing here?”