Rhia's body tingled where Ezra kissed, licked, and nibbled her skin. A smile curled over her lips as she traced the curve of his pectoral as she lay cuddled up in his arms.
Her life being turned upside down was something she should almost expect, but being a goddess was the last thing she could've imagined and while her memories weren't completely merging with her past life, she couldn't help the joy she felt waking up next to the being she'd been yearning for in her dreams.
Sae was here. He was real, and he was hers. As selfish and absurd as it was, considering the immense danger she was in, she wished he'd do more than tease and edge her to mind blowing orgasms. She wanted the powerful and breathtaking love he made with Ruhina.
Rhia held up her hand, feeling the tingling of magic coursing through her veins, and sighed. She barely understood herself now or how she was going to master her power to take on Godiran. Sex should be the last thing on her mind.
"Good morning," Ezra murmured, wrapping his hand around hers and bringing it to his lips. "How are you feeling?"
She looked up into his black eyes and her hand tingled where he placed a soft kiss on her palm. "I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" he said, turning on his side as he slid his clawed hand to her cheek. "You were sighing as if you had something heavy on your mind."
Rhia raised an eyebrow. "I just found out I'm a goddess being hunted by a god and the being from my dreams is real. Of course, I have some heavy shit on my mind."
"Yeah, that's true," he said, caressing her cheek. "But that wasn't the reason for that dejected sigh, was it?"
Rhia bit her lip. "Can you read my mind?"
"No, but I can read your body," he said, curling his fingers under her chin. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." She sighed. "It's silly and we should get up. You need to teach me how to do magic," she said, pushing away from him, but he tightened his arm around her waist, keeping her still.
"That can wait," he said, caressing her bottom lip. "Tell me what's wrong, sweetness."
"You said you'd give me what I desire when we met," she said, trailing her fingers over his chest. "And I know it's stupid, given everything that's happened, but last night wasn't it."
Ezra chuckled softly. "It's not stupid to feel that way and I'm sorry I disappointed you," he said, kissing her forehead. "But I didn't want to overwhelm you, especially with your emotions guiding your magic at the moment."
"Yeah. I don't want to banish you by accident again."
"No, and you need to get used to who you are," he said, kissing her softly. "Do you still think you're a monster?"
She shook her head. "No, but this power I have is kind of terrifying," she said, sitting up and staring at her hands. "Now that I've relived Ruhina's memories, I can feel the duality of her. She was life and death, good and evil, and she –"
"Rhia," Ezra said, placing his hand over hers. "Take a breath, sweetness. You're building a forest."
"I'm, what?" She looked up from her hands and her eyes grew wide at the thick vines covering the walls and the lush green grass blanketing the floor. "Oh shit! How do I make it stop?" she said as the window shattered beside them and a thick tree branch burst into the room sprouting vibrant green leaves above their heads. "Ezra! What do I do?!"
"It's alright," he said, sitting up behind her and pressing her hands together. "Close your eyes and take a deep breath."
"How is that going to help?" she said, tensing up as the vines wrapped around the bed frame and wild flowers burst to life in the grass.
"Your magic is tied to your emotions and you were focused on giving life," he murmured. "Close your eyes and breathe."
She did as he said and took a shaky breath, jumping as the vines curled around her feet. "It's not working."
"It will. You have complete control over what's happening. In your mind's eye, imagine what the room used to be and speak the words that come to you."
Rhia nodded, taking a few more deep breaths and fixating on Ezra's calming heartbeat as she imagined the room as it was before and how she wanted it to be. "I have control. I'm in control," she said as the vines slithered away from her feet.
"That's it," Ezra whispered, and his soft breath on her skin mixed with the tingling warmth that swept from her head down her arms to her fingertips.
She raised her hands, spreading her fingers wide as if in a trance. "Tu id quod video. Tu quod sentio."
Be what I see. Be what I feel.
A whooshing silence spread over the room, stealing the sweet and musky fragrance of the growing wildlife and replacing it with a warm, earthy scent of cinnamon and a lingering fire.
Rhia's hands fell to her lap as she slowly opened her eyes. "Did I do it?"
"Uh." Ezra chuckled. "It's close enough."
A blushed scorched Rhia's cheeks as she looked around the cozy candlelit cove from her sultry dreams with Sae. "It's not close at all." She slid her hands over her face and cringed. "I...I was focused on you and your damn heartbeat."
"Mm-hm and our private dreamscape," he said, kissing her head and pulling her hands from her face. "But you did well to control your magic."
"Yeah, I guess." She sighed. "There's no way I'm going to be ready to face a god like your brother. He's going to take me out with a flick of his wrist."
"That's what he wants you to think and it's what he's hoping for," Ezra said, turning her around in his lap. "It took me a long time to understand why you let him kill you. I thought it was because of me, but it was much bigger than that," he said, sliding his hand to her cheek. "Every time Godiran bleeds, he thinks it'll never stop. He lives in constant fear because of you. That one day you'll destroy him the same way he uses me to instill fear in humans to destroy them."
He caressed her cheek, and the abundance of admiration in his eyes made her heart flutter. "What I'm trying to say is, you're already strong enough to face him. He's dying simply because you're alive and you have nothing to fear."
Rhia curled her fingers around his wrist. "But I don't feel that way."
Ezra kissed her forehead. "You will. I promise," he said, taking her hand. "You just need a good breakfast and a little practice."
"I need a lifetime of practice," she said as they slid out of the bed.
Ezra brought her hand to his lips, and his eyes filled with mischief. "That's why you have me and the library of spell books your coven left for you."
Two days. Two long, exhausting and grueling days, Rhia spent getting a crash course in spell casting, combat and harnessing the endless flow of power coursing through her veins.
Her mother and her aunt spent the mornings teaching her how to cast spells for protection, misdirection and how to channel her emotions through magic to prepare for her afternoon combat sessions with Ezra–who didn't spare any mercy for her or go easy on her.
The first day she was covered in bruises and could barely walk after Ezra gave her a taste of his brother's attacks by using her own magic against her. That session ended with Ezra teaching her how to heal herself while she soaked in a hot bath and passed out after he massaged her aching muscles.
The second day, she learned to use more spells from her mother and aunt to ward off Ezra's attacks. She managed to knock him down a few times before he blindsided her and conjured the hunters. The faceless swirling black masses with spiked tendrils tortured her mind with nagging whispers that she wasn't good enough and promises to kill her while they pummeled her mind with visions of her murdered parents.
That session ended in a panic attack, which had Rhia smoking a dubious amount of weed in Ezra's arms while he and her mother consoled her until she fell asleep.
But today, Rhia wasn't having any of that.
She twisted her braids down her back as she eyed Ezra, creating a dome of protection around the perimeter of the cabin.
"Are you mentally prepared?" her aunt Callie said as she and her mother swirled around her.
Rhia nodded, rolling her shoulders and shaking out her legs. "I'm ready. The hunters won't throw me off this time. You two helped me meditate through it."
"Good," her mother said, pressing her hands to her shoulders. "And what's the one thing you need to remember when you face Godiran?"
A smile curled over her lips. "He has no power here unless I allow him to. I am the daughter of Gia and through her, I am the one true goddess of the Earth."
"Exactly." Her mother grinned. "Now beat Sae's ass, baby girl. You got this."
"Yes, I do," she said as Ezra walked over to them in his towering, godly form.
"You're looking mighty confident this afternoon," he said, circling her with a smug grin on his face. "I like it."
"You won't like it when I fuck you up," she said, pushing him away from her. "I'm not going to fail today."
He caught her hand and pulled her against him. "I don't doubt it, sweetness," he said, pressing a kiss to her palm. "But I'm going to push you hard today."
"Do your worst, Satan. I'm ready."
"As you wish," he said, growling as he gripped her hand and flung her across the air.
She gasped and cried out as her back slammed against the invisible force field at the edge of the forest. She snarled, pushing off from the border and called wind and rain to her as she darted across the sky to pummel Ezra with her fists.
He grinned, snapping his fingers, and her mind was clouded with raspy, sinister voices calling for her death and choking the air from her lungs. The elements swirling in her fists dispersed as spiked tendrils wrapped around her limbs, piercing her skin, pulling her to the ground in a sea of faceless black, bulbous forms. She screamed as their voices grew louder.
You are nothing.
They whispered as their tendrils wrapped around her body, ripping through her clothes and tearing at her skin.
You will die, and we will dance in your blood.
Rhia's heart was pounding and panic washed over her as she struggled and thrashed against the suffocating darkness.
"Get up, Rhia!" Ezra roared, cutting through the degrading whispers urging her to give up and let them devour her. "You said you were ready!"
You're not ready.
You're weak.
You're a worthless goddess.
Gritting her teeth, Rhia dug her nails into the soil, feeling the low humming beat of the Earth between her fingers and let out a slow, steady breath. "I am not worthless," she said as the ground shook beneath her and thunder rolled in the sky above her. "And you will not defeat me!" she roared, and the hunters squealed in agony as plumes of fire and lava shot up from the ground while streams of lightning barreled down from the sky.
Rhia stood as their inky black blood rained down around her. Her magic beat and hummed through her veins as wind and fire swirled around her in a protective field. The cuts and gashes on her skin healed and her ripped shirt and lycra pants mended themselves as she stalked across the ground toward Ezra, lightning striking the soil with every step she took. He backed away from her with his eyes growing wide as he leapt into the air and rained down another wave of hunters mixed with deadly black spears.
"I'm not afraid anymore," Rhia said, snapping her fingers as the hunters and spears burst into a cloud of black mist. "This is my world." Her voice boomed and echoed in the wind as she grit her teeth and held up her hand.
"Tua potentia mea est potentia."
Your power is my power.
Ezra gasped as his body went taut.
"Vita tua et anima tua mea est ad regendum."
Your life and your soul is mine to control.
Rhia clenched her hand tight as his godly essence left his body and the glittering black energy wrapped around her fist.
She grinned, brandishing her fist in the air as Ezra slammed into the barriers and cried out as she dragged him across the ground to her. She raised his battered body and rose from the ground to face him.
"You've awakened the goddess, Sae'tänezyrian," she said as her third eye opened wide and a black cloud formed above them. "I'm ready to end the god who ended me."
A hand made of blazing light and pure energy reached down from the cloud and wrapped its fingers around Ezra's neck, choking the air from his lungs.
"R-Rhia," he gasped as his body shook and sizzled. "I-I yield," he whispered as his struggling limbs grew weak and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. "Let me go."
Rhia's third eye snapped shut at his whispered plea. The hand wrapped around Ezra's neck curled back into the cloud and the blazing wind and fire around her winked out. Ezra fell from the air and hit the ground with a loud thud while a roaring cheer erupted from the cabin.
Rhia sucked in a breath to calm the surging power thumping in her veins before she looked down at Ezra lying on the ground with his eyes milky white and glazed over as if he were dead.
"Ezra!" she screamed in panic as she fell from the sky and her hand shook as she touched his icy cold cheek.
"It's alright, Rhia," her mother cooed, floating beside her.
"I-I killed him!"
"Well, kind of," her Aunt Callie said, laughing. "You've still got his life in your hands."
Rhia looked down at the pulsing, black essence shimmering and swirling in her hand. "Oh."
"Yeah, he'll be fine. Just give it back, baby girl," her mother said, guiding her hand over Ezra's chest. "You remember the spell?"
Rhia nodded, pressing her hand over his heart. "Quod accipio, reddo, exsurgo et esto amem."
What I take, I give back, rise and be alive.
The shimmering black swirl slithered from her hand and seeped into Ezra's chest. His milky white eyes turned black and his golden irises blazed to life.
He gasped, sucking in a hefty breath of air before a smile curled over his lips. "Sweetness," he said, sliding a hand to her cheek. "That was amazing."
A tear rolled down her cheek as she wrapped her hand around his. "I didn't mean to kill you."
"No," he said, sitting up and catching her tear on his thumb. "But do you see why Godiran fears you? You are a terrifying goddess."
"I am." A smile tugged at her lips. "And it felt good to fuck you up."
He laughed. "I'm not sure how I should feel about that. Are you still angry with me for hiding who I was?"
She shrugged. "Maybe a little."
"Mm, I need to fix that."
"You do," her mother said as she and Callie swirled around them. "Why don't you two get away from here?"
"Yes, that's a lovely idea, sister," Callie said, smiling. "Now that everything's out in the open, you two should go on a proper date."
Rhia laughed. "What? I just killed and brought Ezra back to life and you two want us to go on a date?"
"Yes." her mother nodded. "You should get cleaned up, put on your glamor and go out somewhere away from the cabin and away from the reminders of what's coming. You need to enjoy this time together."
"Mm-hm," Callie said, clapping her hands together. "Come on, get up. There's no time for you two to have doubts about your feelings for each other. That shitty golden god would love nothing more than to use your doubts against you."
Ezra thread his fingers through hers, bringing her hand to his lips. "They're right. We should have a moment to ourselves to remember who we are together," he said, leaning into her ear. "And what we desire of each other," he whispered and the warmth of his breath on her skin stirred the yearning ache she felt to be closer to him.
"Yes," she whispered, pulling away from him to stare into his heady black depths. "I loved you before, but I want to love you now, and I still don't feel like I truly know you."
Ezra smiled, kissing her cheek. "Then let's get to know each other for real this time."
A/N: I think it's safe to safe Rhia has gained control of her powers. Her memories may not be fully intact, but she certainly proved she can kill a god 😅 And bring them back to life...
Also, I'm not sure, but I think Rhia taking Ezra out turned him on...😏 and I appreciate that Rhia is honest about the fact that she's not sure if she loves him as is she is now, but she wants to 🥰