Page 76 of The Endless One

She knew she wanted something to push for a while so that she could get her mind off all the things that were plaguing her.

But those weren’t appropriate thoughts. Maybe he was trying to teach her, or show her how to use the new magic that she had acquired. She hadn’t toyed with it all that much. The mere idea of it was terrifying, if she was being honest.

So she tried her best to pay attention to what he was saying, while also ignoring the way his hand was slowly moving underneath her shirt. “And just how should I push?”

“The gods have our own realms, somewhere to keep our magic safe,” he said, his voice a deep rumble against her ear. “But there is also a place where we meet. A pantheon that only the gods have access to.”

“Where is that?”

She felt him shrug against her back. “I don’t know if it’s a physical place or not, but I think it will be important for you to go there. Life goddess that you are, perhaps it would do you well to see how the pantheon has changed for you.”

Changed for her? That made little sense, but… she found herself nodding. Because if seeing that place would make her feel better, then she would absolutely go there. At the very least, to understand what she was now, although she hoped he would still provide some… distraction.

Elric lifted his hand in front of her eyes and snapped his fingers. She was so startled by the movement that she blinked, and suddenly, they were no longer standing in front of a cliff. They were in a massive hall with tall columns covered by dust.

Between each column was a throne. But each one was covered by two hundred years of neglect. Dust and spiderwebs coated their once-beautiful material. One was made out of gold, the next silver, and another was made out of wood that looked like swords. Each one was different and perfectly in tune with the god who had once sat there.

Elric sauntered down the hall, his hands in his pockets and looking all the more handsome as he strode down with confidence. The billowing of his shirt revealed the hard planes of his chest, even as his posture curved in on itself. For a moment, he looked almost like a boy embarrassed to show his crush his bedchambers.

“Would you like to see my throne?” he asked, the words almost sheepish.

“Of course I want to see your throne.” And she really did. Not only because he wanted her to see it so badly, but because she was curious what his magic would conjure up for him.

There were quite a few thrones to walk past, although not nearly enough that they were close to the head of all of them. Jessamine tried not to stare at the massive behemoth at the end. The one that was so big, she thought she would need to climb on top of Elric’s shoulders to even get on top of it. Clearly that was the God King’s throne, but it wasn’t cleaned off yet. Almost as though even his magic didn’t want him to be back.

Finally, they reached Elric’s throne, and he let out a little sound of disapproval.

“Oh, well, it changed,” he grumbled. “That’s a shame. I liked the way it used to be.”

But all she could see was the massive, impressive throne. It was made out of shiny obsidian, sharp edges looking extremely deadly. Although the seating portion had a few black cushions and swaths of dark fabric that pooled down where his legs would be and spilled out onto the floor like oil.

“What did it use to have?” she asked, looking up at it in awe. “I think any mortal who stood before this would quake in fear.”

“It used to have bones.” Clearly, he was upset by the change. “Skulls and bones that were far more intimidating. This is so minimal.”

“Can you ask it to change?”

He snorted. “Magic is finicky. No, it won’t change even if I begged. Unfortunately, I’ll have to be satisfied with whatever it gave me and thank it for doing something that’s at least comfortable and won’t cut my ass when I sit on it.”

She bit her lips, trying very hard not to laugh at the image that he had just conjured.

Elric glared at her, but she could see the expression was playful. “Don’t you dare laugh, Jessamine Harmsworth.”

“I’m not laughing.”

“There’s nothing funny about me hopping up on that throne, only to shriek in pain.”

“Elric, I swear to the gods…”

She let out a little shriek of laughter as he lunged for her, wrapping her up in his arms and spinning her around once before setting her back down. “You swear to the gods?” he repeated with a chuckle. “You are a god now, Jessamine. Swearing to yourself doesn’t work as well as you might think.”

She rolled her eyes at the implication, mostly because it was too strange to even consider. Praying to herself seemed… No. She couldn’t think about that.

But then he leaned down and murmured in her ear, “Can I show you your throne?”

That did something deep inside of her. Like a puzzle piece had clicked into place. Maybe she wasn’t going to be queen, but she would still have her own throne, and maybe that was good enough.

At her slight nod, Elric turned them to look directly across from his.