here, but it didn’t matter. He had to get to Geoxus.
“You side with Anathrasa and you bring death to the world, brother.” Ignitus’s voice rose above the screams. “Did you think I’d let you pick Kula apart until nothing remained? That I would stand by while the two of you finished what she started all those years ago? You’re a fool if you thought I wouldn’t fight back.”
Fire whipped in a ring around the room, a snake eating all those in its path. Madoc dived just as it singed a tapestry on the wall above. Still aflame, it ripped free with a crackle and landed on several centurions.
“The time of gladiators is over,” Ignitus said. “Now we fight our own battles.”
Geoxus laughed, the sound sending terror down Madoc’s spine.
“Finally, we agree,” the god of earth roared.
A rumble thrust through Madoc’s chest, shaking his organs. He fell backward as the far wall of the throne room exploded outward, revealing the blinding white light outside. The courtyard beyond was coated in dust, plants and trees crushed and knocked down by the blow. Half of the mortals in the room dived for cover. The others clashed, guided by a fevered, desperate need to survive.
A hundred stones rose into the air around the newly carved exit and hurled toward the god of fire in the center of the room. With a hiss, Ignitus thrust his hands out, creating a wall of fire to block the attack.
The ceiling groaned as a section gave way to Madoc’s left. He threw himself clear as giant hunks of stone fell, crushing centurions and Kulans alike, but bounced harmlessly off Geoxus’s shoulders as he charged toward Ignitus. The gods collided with a deafening boom that shook the entire palace from the roots to the tallest tower.
Outside, Madoc could hear faraway screams as giant sections of the building began to topple.
There was no time left. The palace would be destroyed, and when it was, Madoc would die, and no one would be able to stop Geoxus.
Wiping the film of dust from his eyes, he rushed forward, shoving two fighters out of his way. He lifted his arms, calling on the pain inside him, demanding it feed on the figure in black standing in the center of the room.
It began like a whisper. A soft breath against his neck.
Then it took hold like a hurricane.
His body jerked, a puppet on strings. He pulled and pulled on Geoxus’s soul, unable to stop each huge gulp that filled him. His bones pressed outward. His skin stretched to the point of tearing. In his head, he could hear his pulse like the galloping of a monstrous horse. He could feel the cold chafe of sand against his heart.
It was going to kill him. Taking the soul of a god would tear him apart.
Still, he thirsted.
“No!” Geoxus’s scream filled the room. Filled Madoc’s head. Burst in his ears.
He squeezed his eyes closed in concentration. He wound his fingers around the invisible threads of the god’s soul and pulled harder.
But something inside him twisted, shuddered. Heated. This was wrong. There were no more rough edges. No heavy weight on his bones. The soul energy had changed. It was lighter now, harder to hold on to.
It burned.
He couldn’t let go. He sucked air through his clenched jaw, trying to control it, to release the reins, but the god’s soul had wrapped its tendrils around his limbs, his chest, his throat. He couldn’t peel free.
He gasped, his heart pumping harder, at the point of overflowing.
“Madoc, stop!”
He heard Ash’s voice to his left. But his gaze locked on Ignitus, standing before him. The god’s head was thrown back, his mouth gaping. His arms hung loosely at his sides.
Behind him, holding his brother’s body as a shield, was Geoxus.
It took Madoc a moment to make sense of the image.
Ignitus and Geoxus had switched places.
Madoc had drained Ignitus’s power, not Geoxus’s.
The god of earth tore his gaze from Madoc’s shocked face and reached toward his onyx throne. A crack resounded off the walls as one of the spikes on the back broke free and hurtled through the air toward his waiting hand.
He twisted and rammed the pointed end into Ignitus’s chest.
Beside Madoc, Ash screamed.
Twenty-Four
Ash
EVEN IN ASH’S most twisted imaginings of Ignitus’s death, she had never dreamed she would feel pain.
The missing outer wall of the room threw late-afternoon light over the scene before her. The onyx spike from Geoxus’s throne sparkled in the glow, the polished black edges glinting with blood.
Ignitus’s