AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mace stops his pacing and spins around. "Viola." His words are clipped as his eyes find mine. I'm already on my feet. "He wants to believe that."
"So the Influence will sink in. The Yearning will increase his affection for me, calming him down and making it easy to convince him to be alone with me," I tack on.
Tulip chuckles softly, "And the Illusion will blind him to your intentions, and you can hide your blades with it. You can make him see you as demure, with your head hung in shame for letting Zeph steal you away."
I scan the room, locking eyes with every person that I invited in. "What do we think? If I do this, are you all comfortable with me going on my own?"
"You'll go in, get him alone and close, take his magic, kill him, and leave?" Mace asks, needing to hear confirmation that I will not be putting myself in unnecessary danger. I nod in the affirmative, and his shoulders slump in relief.
I cross the short distance to Cirrha and squat in front of her, one hand on her thigh and the other on Taegan's. Locking eyes with the Tempest, I speak softly. "I will get rid of him. I will not let the damage he is doing to your city, your people, go unchecked." She nods, her coiled hair bouncing a bit with the movement. Turning my head to the Helios, I squeeze his knee and make sure I have his attention wholly. "I will avenge your love. You have seen what I did to the fool who tried to take Mace from me. I will not let this stand."
The man bites his lip to hold back tears and nods, emotions clogging his voice. "Thank you, Shadowweaver. Loris believed in you wholly, and he would have loved what happened here today."
Plume hears him and laughs, the first joyful sound I've heard from her since she lost her magic. "When you killed Amio, Loris was enamored. He loved your brutality. Taegan is right. He would've been cheering you on today."
Rising to my feet, it feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. We have a plan. The end of this nightmare is in sight.
"Let's clean up, get some rest, and get something to eat," I say, heading to the door. "We will honor Zeph at sunset, and when night falls, so will the last God."
Chapter 47
Viola
The ceremony for Zeph was beautiful, moving, and filled with words from those who were touched by him during his life. His brief stint of insanity when I first reached Ytopie was only a blip in his life and barely impacted his effect on the realm.
A part of me still feels like it is missing without my high priest, but I have to push forward.
I do not have the luxury of grief at this juncture.
Mace, Tulip, and Morrow left the city with me, standing out in the training yard beside me in silent support. I changed into a pair of leather shorts, my thighs wrapped with blades, and a leather vest tied to my chest with straps and buckles on my torso. Mace holds my whip loosely in his hands after a light-hearted argument about how I never use it now that I have shadows and there is no need to bring it around.
I braided my hair back in four braids down the side of my head, my pointed ears incredibly noticeable without hair to hide behind. I've gotten used to my Godly appearance despite my initial hesitation. My white hair once caused me to mourn the part of me that looked the most like my father, but now it reminds me of the power that was thrust upon me and how Irose to the occasion with it.
The brand on my chest is not a twin to one on a selfish God, but a place my familiar likes to lay his head to rest for comfort.
The Decay that runs on my hands is no longer disgusting but instead a visual reminder of the power that runs through my veins. The same power that lives in the man I love was borne of the magic that gave me these markings.
My pointed ears used to look out of place on my mortal head, but now they give me an ethereal appearance that sets me apart from both humans and fae. Regardless of what I call myself or what I want, I am not a human, and I am not a fae.
They called me human.
They called me vessel.
They called me Seasonale.
And maybe at one point, I was all of those things.
But today, I am Viola Mistflow.
I am the Shadowweaver.
And I am the God of all Seasons.
Shadow, still an oversized seps, slithers out of the tree line. "Where have you been?" I ask the shadow snake. He disappeared before Zeph's memorial, and now he flicks his tongue out at me with his eyes narrowed. "Don't look at me like that. You're the one who turned into a massive beast and can't answer to it," I huff. If seps can roll their eyes, he does. "Are you coming with me?"
The familiar nods, and I watch as shadows peel off of him, his body shrinking with every tendril that creeps from his body tothe woods. "Fuck, this snake is so creepy," Mace says under his breath.
"Don't I know it," Tulip replies, shaking her head. "She couldn't have a cute little familiar like a rabbit?"
