AURORA
“Run!” I shouted through the forest and to the hounds. “Kill her!”
I hurried to keep up, my legs trembling and weak, but my mind strong. It took everything inside me to make all those hounds believe in me and believe that there was a better life out there for them. But I had done it.
They were no longer bound by Hella or by Nyx. Now, they were free.
“Kill her!” I shouted with tears in my eyes, slowing down slightly. “Kill Nyx!”
It seemed to be the only thing that I could say. I didn’t have it inside me to think about anything other than turning Nyx’s wolves against her and letting them shred her to pieces. I didn’t know if they’d be able to do it alone, but I wanted them to try.
They had been captured and enslaved to her for centuries. They deserved to finally taste freedom. They deserved to finally see what it felt like to kill their maker. They deserved to get back at her after all these long and tortuous years.
From afar, I spotted Mars being attacked by a wolf and Nyx. And while my legs wanted to give out, I pushed further and faster, tears streaming down my cheeks from the pain shooting through my body.
I needed him. I needed him more than anything.
She wouldn’t take him away from me.
“Mars!” I shouted.
Mars glanced over his shoulder at me and mouthed, You came for me.
“Of course I came for you,” I whispered through the mind link. “I’ll always come for you.”
With a sudden urgency in his eyes, Mars ripped Nyx off him and hurled her halfway across the forest. She landed against a tree, the tree cracking and breaking on impact. Then, she stood up and dusted herself off, finally glancing around her.
For the first time, I saw fear in her eyes. She held her hands up to try to stop the wolves from attacking her, to try to control them. But I had already freed their minds, and I refused to let them be slaves again.
They might’ve not been human by any means or true wolves. But they were beings who cared and loved and wanted more for themselves and their families than to be bound to the underworld forever.
“Forward!” I shouted to them. “Kill her.”
As they continued, my legs gave out underneath me. I tumbled to the ground and desperately tried to stand back up, but I had completely depleted my energy. I struggled on my hands and knees, watching as Mars faced a monster that was nothing but bones.
While I wanted to give her mind back too, I knew that I didn’t have the energy. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to make her believe in something that she couldn’t anymore. Most skin-and-bone monsters’ and hounds’ minds had faded centuries ago down here, their bodies quickly following.
“I don’t think I can help her, Mars,” I whispered through the mind link. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I can. My energy is exhausted, and I—”
“I know, Kitten,” he whispered back to me, taking the woman in his hand by the throat and staring at her through teary eyes himself. “I would do anything for you, Aurora—anything. Don’t lift another finger.”
And with that, he snapped her neck and ended her life. Then, he fell to his knees and picked up her bones in his hands, mouthing the word, Mom, over and over again.
More hounds flooded into the forest, blocking my view of him. They ran at Nyx and piled on top of her, thousands of hounds hopefully suffocating that goddess for good. I didn’t want to see her face ever again.
Though I could still feel her power raging through the underworld. She was still alive.
So, I gathered up the tiny bit of strength that I had left. “KILL HER!” I screamed, the words echoing through the forest and vibrating the trees, as my hands collided with the ground to send another wave of energy to the hounds surrounding her.
And then everything went silent. Everything turned dark.
I couldn’t feel her power drifting through the air anymore. Now, I could feel it in me.