Page 78 of The Endless One

She did. But her tongue wasn’t working. Finally, she managed to shrug and reply, “I don’t think I’m entirely capable of reasonable conversation.”

“It sounds like you’re doing just fine to me.” He patted her bare thigh before getting to work dressing her once again.

She was no help. Her legs could barely hold her up, and he was far too pleased with himself when he realized she might need to lean on him to get her pants back on. His little chuckles made her blood boil, but it was in the best way possible.

He’d helped clear her head. He’d shown her all the things that a new goddess might want to know, and next, they would learn how to control her magic as they planned the attack on Ajax.

“Well,” she muttered as she hopped down from the throne, “that was entertaining. But the real world does await.”

“I was thinking…” Elric was still leaning against the side of her throne, a small scowl on his face. “What if we first confronted him here?”

“Here?” She gestured around them. “Wouldn’t that be a bad idea? I still don’t know how to be a… goddess. If he attacked us, I’d be useless to help.”

Elric shrugged. “It’s really a trial-by-fire sort of situation, if you think about it. Your magic and ability as a goddess aren’t the same as when you were a gravesinger. There is no training now; there’s just doing. Besides, catching him off guard might be our best bet at actually beating him.”

It made sense, but…

“We do it my way,” she said. “That’s the only way I’ll agree.”

The grin on his face was entirely diabolical. “We can do that.”

The halls of the gods had been silent for so long, it was easy for Elric to walk through them as though he was the only one who owned them. He’d often wondered in his years trapped in his own realm whether he would want to come back here. Without a single person or drop of magic to keep them safe, the halls would fall into disrepair.

Of course, the moment he’d been resurrected, he hadn’t really cared what had happened to this place. He’d just wanted to experience life again. He’d wanted to throw himself into existing and learning and touching.

But now, it was good to be home. This was the place where his family had been together most, after all. He had been summoned here so many times it was hard to count how often he’d darkened these halls. And sure, usually it wasn’t for good reason. His siblings had loved to berate him about all the things they perceived him to be doing wrong.

And yet… now it was different. Now he was summoning his brother for altogether different reasons, and Ajax would have to be the one listening to Elric. His brother was going to hate it.

He couldn’t wait.

Elric approached the throne at the very end of all the others. The God King had always put himself in the position of highest esteem. He wanted people to look up at him when they talked, even other gods. He wanted them to be equally terrified and in love with him. No matter what it cost the person, their life, their freedom. Ajax would barter with them until he got what he wanted.

The Deathless One had never begged for an audience with anyone, though. And he wouldn’t start now.

Elric leaned forward and knocked on the dusty throne. “Brother? You are needed.”

He stepped back, certain that Ajax would answer him rather quickly. And he wasn’t wrong. The dust on the throne exploded outward and hovered in the air, like something had popped underwater and then all the dust scattered throughout the room. The throne gleamed with a light that seemed to shine directly on it as Elric took a few more steps back, and then…

There was his brother. Larger than life. In the hall of the gods, Ajax always wanted to look like a giant. Even though he wore a different face, the reaction within Elric was still the same. He hated how his first instinct was to be afraid.

His brother had always inspired fear, though. Always. Perhaps it was a fear of the pain that Ajax would feed off, and that didn’t matter if it was mortal or god. Ajax could and would take anything that he could.

But still, there was something reassuring in knowing that there was a plan in place. Elric wasn’t alone, and now it was time for Ajax to realize that as well.

“Hello, brother,” Elric said, looking up at Ajax with an amused expression on his face. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“You’re supposed to be dead.”

Ah. His confusion was enough to reveal that Ajax had not, in fact, felt that there were other gods alive. Perfect. This would be so much more entertaining now.

“Oh, yes. That.” Elric shrugged. “I’ve never been good at staying dead. You should know that by now. Death doesn’t want to keep me. I’m stuck here, unlike you. Care to share what death was like for you, brother?”

There was a flicker of rage already in Ajax’s eyes. Which was perfect. That was the plan. Elric was supposed to make him angry so that they could then show his brother just what was coming for him.

“Elric,” Ajax snarled. “You are wasting my time. How did you escape death when you no longer have a gravesinger at your beck and call?”

“That’s my little secret.” Elric pressed a finger to his lips. “But maybe someday I’ll tell you. Now, let’s get down to business. A little birdie told me that you were trying to build a pantheon of your own.”