Page 118 of Bloodgrove

But the god got no further. Will heard Elodie’s desperate cry and saw tears in Eric’s eyes—and then his body was torn apart.

Again, he thought of the vampire filled with pig’s blood—perhaps none of them were so different after all. It took no more than a thought from the King, and his body came undone. His fingernails lifted and tore free, skin peeled from his fingers, muscles and tendons ruptured. Blood rose like mist, and his bones shattered. Time seemed to slow down until it almost stopped, the pain seeping into his mind only gradually as his arms and legs dissolved, his chest split open, and his entrails unraveled.

Will watched the shell that made him human break into its individual parts. Blinding pain swelled inside his skull until there was nothing else. Death came slowly, ripped him from his mortal remains. But through the glaring pain, one angry thought echoed: If he were to die like this, his bones would never touch the soil; he would never be able to build a castle from them. The King stole from him his final wish.

“You will not have what belongs to me!” The Albatross’s voice thundered through the cavern, making the king recoil and sink back into the wall.

And in the next instant, Will’s body reassembled—not as a man, but as a god. He was neither quite the emaciated creature that visited his dreams nor the sorrowful beauty he had found on the shore as a child.

Will gasped, but it emerged from his maw as a growl. His silver hair danced over the feathers covering his head, and his scaly tail lashed wildly through the air. He was immense; his claws struck the floor, his legs bent like the ones of a predator.

The moment he settled into this body, he hurled himself at the king.

Teeth and claws tore into the defenseless flesh of the King. Bones broke beneath his blows, tendons and muscles ripped apart. The god screamed like every other being, unable to shield himself from the rage overtaking Will.

When he heard his friends screaming, he stopped.

Eric and Elodie lay on the ground. Eric choked up the small bite he had swallowed and managed to push himself upright, his face twisted in pain. Elodie lay unconscious, her chest grotesquely caved in, blood soaking her white dress.

Every blow he had struck against the King had also struck his friends. Eric had merely been clever enough to sever his connection to the king in time.

“Will?” Eric gasped, looking up at him.

“Albatross.” The King’s voice gurgled as blood filled his lungs. “You are here.”

“I came to free you, and this is how you repay me? You take what belongs to me?” the Albatross spoke through him.

“I did not recognize you.”

“They say love is blind. And I was the fool who believed you would recognize me even blind.”

“Please. Set me free,” the king begged.

“You know I cannot. Only she can do that.”

The King shuddered and turned his face away. “She will never release us. However you managed it, she will capture you again. Subjugate you again.”

“Release my friends,” Will demanded, wresting control back from the Albatross. “I freed one god. We will do it again.”

Eric stepped beside the monster Will had become and placed a trembling hand upon the wing growing from his back.

“You intend to free me?” the King asked. “To break this curse?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.” Will’s voice emerged clearly through the monster’s lips.

“Yes.” Eric straightened as far as he could.

Had Elodie been conscious, she would have agreed as well. Everything she had fought for led to this.

“You have one year. One year to free me from a curse that has imprisoned me for centuries. And if you fail, I will claim my sacrifice. You cannot flee far enough to escape my power.”

“He is not your sacrifice. He is mine!”

“Then in one year, you will belong to me. It makes no difference. At least I will no longer be alone in my captivity.”

Starry sky to my storm, I’m sorry, I can’t do more. With a weary sigh, the Albatross released his hold upon Will’s soul, and his monstrous body began to shrink. Will exhaled as his muscles and bones relaxed, and he crashed to the ground in human form.