Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
For a moment Mia felt as though two huge storm fronts had clashed together right over her head—there was a tingling in the air and a scent like ozone and lightning. But then, just as suddenly, the dark, male presence departed, leaving only the warm, feminine comfort of the Goddess.
“Now what?” she asked, looking around. “Now what do I do, Goddess?”
“You will see,” the Goddess murmured. “Watch.”
Mia felt her eyes drawn downward to Chud Brumpkin. The hooded Elders had fled but the former Prophet had been cowering close to the ground as the two deities battled above them. Now he was scrabbling around the floor, picking up the pieces of The Charmer, which had shattered into about a thousand shards. Indeed, Mia had to be careful where she stepped since she was still barefoot.
He looked up at her, his squinty eyes filled with fury.
“You did this!” he accused Mia, rising to point a finger at her. “You ruined everything!”
“You killed my partner,” Mia whispered, her voice coming out in a hoarse whisper—it was the first time she had acknowledged what had happened to Sev and it was hard…so hard.
“And my husband,” came a voice from the door.
Looking up, Mia saw it was Zellah standing there, a look of righteous fury on her lovely face. She was standing in the doorway that led to the back apartments where she and the other Concubines had lived with The Prophet.
“And mine,” another woman said.
“And mine…”
“And mine!”
Suddenly a wave of angry women were crowding into the room, all of them surrounding the hapless Chud Brumpkin.
“You killed my Kal! And then you made me sleep with you that same night, you pig!” Zellah shouted. There were tears of fury in her eyes as she slapped the former Prophet as hard as she could across the face.
Another woman grabbed at his thinning hair.
“You took away our babies!” she snarled in his frightened face. “You took them just so you could fuck us anytime you wanted! My children are three and five and they hardly know me!”
Other screams of rage echoed in the small room and soon the former Prophet was surrounded by angry women—his former Concubines all punching and grabbing and clawing at him.
Mia shivered as she backed away from the angry mob. She knew she would probably have the same rage they did soon—when Sev’s death had really sunk in. But right now she just felt numb. She—
Her bare foot brushed something solid and she looked down only to see that she had almost stepped on her partner’s body.
“Oh Sev! Oh, no!” she whispered.
Falling to her knees beside him, she cradled his head in her arms, careless if his horns poked her. Dead, he was dead and it was all because of her!
You did this, you dirty girl! First he was beaten for your sake and then he died because of you! He was trying to protect you, but you don’t deserve to be protected, whispered an accusing little voice in her head. You—
“Daughter, stop.” It was the voice of the Goddess again, speaking in Mia’s ear. “Put your hand over the wound,” she said.
Mia looked down at Sev’s broad chest and saw the dark hole—about the size of a large coin—over his left pec.
“Right over his heart,” she whispered, feeling sick. But she did as the Goddess said. Leaning down, she covered the dark hole with the palm of her hand.
“Now be still for a moment—you will be a conduit for my power,” the Goddess informed her.
And then it was like someone was pouring pure electricity through Mia’s body—it was like her spine was a lightning rod and she’d been struck multiple times all at once.
She wanted to yank her hand away from Sev’s body but it felt as though she’d been frozen to the spot—as though the current flowing through her was a kind of cosmic super glue that kept her from moving.
And then—as suddenly as it had begun—it was over. Mia’s hand came unstuck from her partner’s chest and she fell backwards, panting and gasping.
“Oh my God,” she whispered to herself shakily. Though she supposed she ought to be saying, “Oh my Goddess instead.” Her whole body was tingling from the aftereffects of the divine power that had just poured through her and she—
“Hey, baby girl—what the fuck is going on?”
The low, hoarse voice was wonderfully familiar. Mia looked over and saw that Sev was sitting up and blinking. He was rubbing his temples like a man trying to make sense of a confusing dream and the hole in his chest was gone—just gone—as though it had never been there in the first place.
“Sev?” Mia whispered, barely daring to believe her own eyes.
“Mia? Baby?” He still looked confused. “Where am I?” he asked, shaking his head again. “I was in a long, dark tunnel and there was bright light at the end. But there was a voice that kept telling me to go back, because it wasn’t my time yet,” he added.