A Vigil in the Mourning (Soulbound #4) - Hailey Turner Page 0,76

the frustration out of his voice even as he kept a neutral expression on his face. They still had an audience on the other side of the glass window.

“What kind of god does Ethan want to be?” Frigg unfolded her hands and turned them over one at a time, palms to the ceiling. “He has Macaria’s godhead, a child of one hell. He seeks the Morrígan’s staff, a war goddess’ weapon that raises the dead. An empty hell is a useless kingdom without followers. How many wars has Midgard seen? How many bones are buried in her dirt? How many restless souls do you think are out there? He who claims the dead can wage war on the living. You cannot become a god without first building your own myth, and to do that, you need the proper tools.”

Patrick thought nothing could be colder than the blizzard beginning to rage through Chicago, but Frigg’s words froze him down to his soul. They echoed Persephone’s, the warning she’d given him by the River Styx filtering up through his memories.

“The Dominion Sect has tried for centuries to break the veil between worlds and allow hell to reign on earth,” Patrick said slowly. “But that’s not what they really want, is it? Another pantheon’s hell is just a distraction. They never planned to give Earth up to any god of any hell out there. They never planned to share it. They want to make a brand-new one.”

Ethan wanted to.

Frigg smiled with a bitterness that stung like salt in a wound. “Are you ready for your world to become what Asgard is now? What all the gods’ homes are, whether in heaven or in hell? A story you hope someone will remember across the veil, in some other Earth that isn’t yours?”

Patrick opened his mouth to speak, words a mess on his tongue, when the world upended itself.

Pain ripped through his soul, an echo of the pulse that rippled through the ley lines passing deep beneath Chicago. For a second, everything whited out. Magic that wasn’t his burned the frayed edges of that long-forgotten tie to Hannah buried beneath the metaphysical scars he carried on his soul.

It was like the cemetery all over again, only worse.

Then the soulbond that tied him to Jono saturated his soul, blocking the old, worn-out connection like a wall that would never break. Patrick sucked in a shaky breath, blinking black spots from his vision as he stared up at the ceiling around Frigg’s head.

Patrick unstuck his tongue from the roof of his mouth. “What…the fuck was that?”

“Someone drew too much power through a ley line,” Frigg said, her eyes flickering with white fire. “The nexus will need to be guarded.”

Patrick got an elbow underneath him and rolled to his side, feeling like his brain was about to leak out of his ears. “Fuck. That was backlash hitting the ley lines? Why did I feel it?”

He shouldn’t have been able to, and if Frigg had an answer, she kept it to herself. She helped Patrick to his feet with firm hands, and he felt the room spin in his stomach. Then a cool finger touched the center of his forehead, and a rush of energy flowed through him. This time it didn’t hurt, more like a balm that soothed the rubbed-raw edges of his soul.

Steadiness came back to him, just in time to be upright and not looking like death warmed over when Benjamin slammed open the door to the interview room. He took one look at Patrick before yelling over his shoulder, “Collins is conscious. What about the others?”

“Others?” Patrick asked.

Benjamin gestured at Patrick to follow him. “Every mage in the building just went down. We’re checking on everyone and those who haven’t made it in today. You should get checked out.”

“I’m fine.”

“You seem to be the only one.”

Patrick grimaced, thinking about why. “Yeah. How’s the SAIC?”

“Don’t know.”

“Let’s go find out.”

Benjamin left, already distracted by what was going on beyond the interview room. Patrick looked over at Frigg, who was pulling on the brown fur coat that had been draped over the back of her seat.

“I’ll find your husband,” Patrick promised.

Frigg nodded, looking for all the world like a queen, despite the drab surroundings. “See that you do.”

The goddess left the interview room, perfectly capable of seeing herself out of the building. Patrick swore and pressed the heels of both hands against his eyes, rubbing them until colored spots were all he could see against the back of