Page 90 of The Endless One

But Jessamine? The spells never once stalled from her tongue. She spoke with passion, as though she had been born speaking the old language of the gods. And the magic that spewed out of her fed upon those emotions, those feelings, that perfect precision until it had woven around Ajax in a massive knot.

It was a web, Elric realized as he reached her side. A giant spider’s web that had caught his brother within it, strand by sticky strand.

“You cannot do this to me,” Ajax growled, slicing through it with his spear, but even that had started to get stuck. “You cannot do this to your king!”

“I see no king,” Elric said, placing his hand on Jessamine’s shoulder and feeling her pull at his shadows to add to the web. “I only see a frightened man.”

The shriek of disbelief that came from his brother was met with a blinding light as Jessamine poured the rest of herself into this spell. A spell that would destroy the last and greatest god who stood in their way. A god who had taken so much from her, and deserved this death.

When it was done, the God King fell straight back. The very ground itself shook as his massive body hit the ground.

They’d done it.

He couldn’t believe it, but they had. His brother was now there, waiting for Elric to take his soul to the prison where the rest of the gods would remain for all eternity.

Jessamine wavered underneath his grip and then fell to her knees as well.

“Nightmare?” he asked, going with her onto the ash-strewn ground.

His heart seemed to stop. He couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. All he could do was look at her and fear the worst.

She was unraveling now. Her arms looked like ribbons, her hair little more than wisps of frayed edges. She was like a doll that had been played with too hard, plucked and pulled in every direction. Even the shards of her magic that held her together were weak, some of the pieces sliding off of where they should be.

“What is happening to me?” she whispered, trying her best to speak even though the pieces of her body were starting to fracture, just like they had before.

He nudged a part of her jaw back in place. “You pushed yourself too hard.”

“What do I do?”

He held her jaw up for her, because every time he let go of it, it fell again. “You’re going to return to that realm I showed you. The glowing one with all the wheat, your beautiful field of flowers, your trees. I need you to go there, my love. Heal for me and wait for me.”

“But my body…” She gasped as another shard fell from her chest.

“I will take care of your body.” He scooped her up, ignoring all the shards that rained down from her like glass, like a broken pot, like she had shattered once again. He risked more pain, all so he could kiss her shaking mouth. “Trust me, nightmare. Trust me to finish this.”

He needed her to. Because he’d promised her a kingdom, and now, he couldn’t even give her that. He couldn’t give her the throne because she was a goddess, and he needed to give her something.

“Rest,” he murmured again, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “You killed them all, you wonderful feral beast. I will do the rest.”

He could feel her drifting away, leaving an empty body in his arms that slowly withered. Her beloved, wondrous, beautiful body that had done so much for her turned gray in his grip. And then, with none of that golden light to hold her together, it crumbled to ash in his arms.

Elric stayed there, frozen on his knees. The ash left dark smudges on his arms, his legs, across his chest where she had once been. Like the ghost of her still remained.

Then he turned his furious gaze upon his brother.

Elric had once dreamt of this. It was the last time Ajax had told him he was worthless and that he would never become a terrifying god like the rest of his family. He’d been on his knees in that damn pantheon, staring at the floor while the rest of his so-called family laughed at him. They’d all agreed with Ajax. Elric was a waste of space, a god who never should have been, and no matter how hard he worked or what he did, he would never be good enough.

Ajax had bent down in front of him, used his spear to tilt Elric’s face up, and told him a line that would forever be burned into Elric’s memory.

And now, he got the immense satisfaction of kneeling in front of his brother, using Ajax’s own spear to tilt his head up, and repeating the message.

“If you weren’t so pathetic, I would kill you quickly. But I think you need to learn your lesson in pain before I grant you death.”

Using the tip of the spear, he flicked the helmet off Ajax’s head. It went careening off into the distance, where a small group of humans waited. They all lunged for it, grabbing the gold and rushing off. Likely they would try to make money off it, or perhaps they should melt it down.

Regardless, they had gotten a piece of their golden god, and he could only hope that satisfied them.

“You will never be good enough,” Ajax hissed. “Do you hear me?”