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Arden side-eyes me. “Not unless you stay back.”
“Fine.” I push away, letting Arden slide fully center between the panels. “Just do it, all right? Burn it down. And then let me at him.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
KARA
From where we stand, there’s a direct line of sight to Rerek’s front door—or what’s going to be left of it once Arden finishes fizzling its hinges off. I can’t believe he’s doing it. He’s standing there more like a handyman than a superhero, giving the hinges some simple brushes of his fingers. But metallic sparks are flying. His power is working.
“Oh my,” Circe mutters, stepping up at my side. “I guess incubidohave magic hands.”
An observation that, in this moment, I should be especially grateful for.
Instead, insecurity just slams me in two dozen new ways. Arden’s showing up for the mission with his gear intact and his abilities activated. But canI?
I flick all ten fingers like they’ve been dunked in ice water. The day never really warmed up, meaning the twilight gusts off the ocean only intensify my shivers. Maximus isn’t here with his size and strength and warmth either. But are any of them the real reason why I can’t stop shaking from head to toe?
No.
I have to take accountability for that.
I already know what this feeling is.
I’ve bitten off more than I can chew.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
“Kara.” The hail comes at me like the wind has brought mud along with it. It’s no better when I watch Hecate repeat it, bracing me by the shoulders. “Listen to me. You are adiamond. Shattering is not an option.”
Things start to refocus. But my senses are far from fully dethawed—not even from the serenity she guided me to in the sala yesterday.
Yesterday…
“Repeat it to me, Kara. Now.”
“Shattering…is not an option.” I finish it with a nod, hoping that helps my mojo. Not in the least.
“Good,” Hecate still says. “Now again.”
“Shattering is not an option.” Better this time. But still feeling like a hummingbird staring up at Everest.
“Good.Good. And now—”
“But what if flying isn’t, either?” I blurt. “What if”—I snap my stare to Circe—“you’reright? How can one day of enlightenment prepare me for…for…”
Hecate jostles me, almost rag doll style. “For who you are meant to be?” Her fingers are firm clamps into my upper arms. “For the purpose for which the cosmos has been preparing you your whole life?”
I have words for an answer, but they never form on my tongue. I can feel them in my stare, though. The truths I’ve got to make her see as clearly as the ones she’s just intoned.Purpose? Until three weeks ago, that consisted of preparing for a lifetime as an incubus’s property. The only diamond in my existence would’ve been the hell rock on my finger.
None of what she’s saying is hard to hear.
I just need some time to get used to it.
Please. Can’t I have more time?
Real life answers that one for her. Too loud and too clear.
More crashes from inside the villa. Bigger things are getting toppled now, hopefully under Maximus and Arden’s force. There’s no more sign of them at the front door or even in the foyer beyond, so my heart squeezes in a silent plea that they’re on their way to finding Rerek. Arden, at least, has to know that permanently ending one of Hades’s stooges is not a luxury they can indulge right now.
