Shooting towards the demigoddess.
Chapter 15
Thanatos’s eyes had never been so blue. Heat blazed in them as he gazed at something, and when he looked back at her, she shivered, swore that look in his eyes was born of desire. Was she finally breaking through the wall around his heart?
“Stay put,” he growled.
And then he kicked off, beating his wings hard, causing black dust to swirl into the air as he swept low across the valley floor away from her.
Calindria stared in the direction he was heading, peering into the gloom, and clenched her jaw so hard it ached as she spotted a female there—a beautiful female with long silver hair and alabaster skin, and a very feminine and curvy body encased in tight black leather trousers and a corset.
A growl pealed from her lips, her small fangs descending as she glared at the female, as she watched Thanatos closing in on her, and recalled how he had looked—how desire had shone in his eyes.
The bastard had ditched her for this female.
Shrieks sounded in the distance, closer now.
He had ditched her and left her to fend for herself, with no weapon to aid her and only powers she still had little control over to use against whatever was hunting them.
Fire blazed in her blood, anger that rolled to a rapid boil inside her as Thanatos flew into the gloom, chasing that female.
Calindria knew what he was going to do when he caught her. She wasn’t as innocent as he thought her. She wasn’t blind. Plenty of males had looked at her with desire in their eyes, and she knew of the hungers of the flesh. Thanatos had been thinking about such things and it was the reason he was moody.
He needed a female to ease his hunger.
And he had gone flying off after one.
Gods, that stung.
She wasn’t sure she had ever been rejected before, or if she had, perhaps she hadn’t cared at the time, because she was sure she would remember this pain that scoured her insides, hollowed out her chest and made her want to cry and scream in rage at the same time.
“Damn him,” she bit out and pivoted on her heel. “I will not wait here, exposed to all, while he sates himself with another.”
She clutched her waterskin and stormed in the direction they had been heading. If he returned and found her gone, it was his own damned fault. She wasn’t waiting for him. She didn’t need him. Her pace picked up, becoming a jog and then a run that made her legs ache and the soles of her feet hurt, but she wouldn’t slow. She couldn’t. The need to run built to a powerful crescendo inside her, drove her to keep going and not look back.
She kept her gaze fixed on the mountain, determined to make it there, to find a place that was safe and rest, and then she would move on.
Thanatos be damned.
As she ran, the terrain changed around her, great black brambles bursting from the ground to her left and her right, forming a twisting sharp corridor. She shrieked as a thick vine exploded from the ground beneath her, stumbled a little and fell onto her hands and knees on it as it carried her forwards faster than she could have run.
She didn’t need wings to fly after all.
She felt sick as she looked at the ground whizzing by below her, clung to the root and prayed she wouldn’t fall because the brambles were still chasing her. If she fell, she would fall into their mass of sharp thorns.
Calindria focused on trying to command the root and smiled as she managed it, convincing it to glide lower, so it was racing only a few feet above the ground. She was controlling her power. Thanatos would be so impressed when she—no, Thanatos could go to a very dark place in the Underworld and rot there, for all she cared. Her smile faded and the root burrowed into the ground, leaving her resting on her hands and knees on the dirt.
She sat up and pushed onto her feet. She didn’t need him. She squared her shoulders and carried on walking, her pace picking up again as she spotted an opening in the mountain, just a few feet from the ground. It was slender, little more than a vertical crack, but it might lead somewhere.
She hurried to it and scrambled up the side of the mountain, hauling herself over the rocks and picking her way up to the opening. It was just big enough for her to walk through without having to turn sideways. She peered into the darkness, her eyes rapidly adjusting, and breathed a sigh of relief. It opened out into a tunnel.
Calindria squeezed inside and followed that tunnel as it led downwards. The air instantly cooled, the heat of the volcano falling away as she travelled deep into the bowels of the mountain. Ahead of her, the tunnel lightened. Strange. If anything, it should be growing darker.
She quickened her pace again, curiosity driving her.
And gasped as she stepped out into a cavern.
All around her, black crystals protruded from the walls of the dome-shaped cavern, and within their hearts, spots of blue and violet light glowed brightly. Like stars.
Like the veil.
Is this what Thanatos saw at the edge of that place, where souls departed for judgement?
It was beautiful.
She walked forwards, eyes darting around, taking everything in. As she moved, the stars held within the crystals seemed to shift position, as if they were dancing. She raised her hands and marvelled at the light that bathed her skin, turning it milky.
“Incredible,” she breathed and stopped when she reached the centre of the cavern, stood there and lost herself in how beautiful it was as she slowly turned, causing the stars to move with her.
A shiver rolled down her arms and thighs.
It was like looking into the heavens.
The light from the stars locked within the dark crystals reflected off their sharp faces, glinting off the pointed ends that jutted towards her.
Calindria walked to one and ran her hand over it, feeling the coolness of the crystal. If she had a blade, she would chip off a piece for herself. Would the stars that seemed smaller now she was closer to one of the shards come with the crystal if she were to take a part of one? She looked over her shoulder at the cavern. She didn’t want only a part. She wanted every crystal in this cavern, wanted to build a room like this for them where she could visit whenever she wanted, but at the same time, she didn’t want to destroy this place of immense beauty.
She settled for finding a spot where they appeared at their most beautiful and touched the ground. It was damp. She huffed and then smiled as she thought of a solution.
Calindria drew down a deep breath and focused on the dirt, on what she wanted to happen, and gasped as tiny vines erupted from the black grit. They spiralled around each other and thickened as they grew, curving over in places and rising up in others, twisting with other ribbons of vines to form the frame of a chair that had a back that was tilted at a low angle so she would be almost laying down when she sat in it.
A web of finer vines criss-crossed the spaces between the sides of the frame, forming a seat and back.
She smiled as she pulled her hand away from the dirt and admired what she had made. Maybe she could use her powers for good after all.
She pulled herself up onto the seat, twisted around as she brought her legs up and laid back. Groaned. Gods, it was comfortable. The vines had enough give to softly cushion her, soothing her tired limbs.
Calindria stared up at the ceiling of the cavern, at the black crystals that glittered with stars and sighed. A goddess could get used to this.
A frown knitted her eyebrows.
A goddess.