Marked by Death (The Godhunter, Book 4) by Amy Sumida Read Free Book Online

apologize, Trevor. I know we’re both worried about her and I fear it’s shortened our tempers a bit.”
    “ Yeah,” Trevor ground out. I gave him a hard look until he added, “I’m sorry as well.”
    “ Thank you,” I sat back down and looked around the room at all the worried faces. It was so strange to not have Thor there. “I’m lucky to have such good friends that care so much about me but I honestly don’t think there’s anything to be done.” People started to speak but I held my hands up. “I’ll stay here until the threat is over but Odin’s right, there’s no way to find Anubis and we have no idea what to do about him, even if we could.”
    “ Horus,” Tsohanoai, who I called Mr. T, was seated beside his wife Estsanatlehi (Mrs. E). “Is there perhaps an Egyptian spell to help relieve the cold for Vervain?”
    “ No,” Horus looked even grimmer than usual. “Nothing. He claimed her with a blade made of pure magic. Atlantean soul magic.” A low gasp circled the room. “Yes, exactly.”
    “ What?” I looked around at all the even more worried faces. “What exactly ?”
    “ Soul magic,” Horus grimaced. “It's like your Froekn's Binding but against the will of the victim. The cold you feel, that numbness, is your soul leaving your body.”
    “ So I'm going to die,” I said hollowly.
    “ No,” Horus looked at me like he was about to offer his condolences. “You'll live by his whim. He will have your soul and even if he chooses to give it back to you, he will have strings in you, like a puppet master. Once that cold is complete, you will no longer own your life. It will be his.”
    The silence was thick, weighty, but for me, full of screaming. In my head, this constant scream of denial was ringing out, blocking out all thought, blocking out almost everything. I almost didn't hear Persephone when she spoke.
    “Demeter might know how to reach him,” Persephone’s sweet face had lost some of the innocence she’d had when I'd first met her but it had been replaced with something strong and beautiful.
    I was proud of how far she’d come. Standing up to Demeter and moving in with Hades, her husband, was a huge step for her but I was worried that this latest battle, in which she’d finally seen the depth of her mother's cruelty, had done a number on her. She’d surprised us all by attacking Demeter, surprised us even further by winning the fight, but I think a part of Persephone died that day. The little girl was gone forever.
    I mourned the loss of her innocence but I was relieved that she finally knew the truth about Demeter. Persephone's mother had raped and tortured Kirill, caused numerous difficulties in my life, including the loss of my friendship with Blue, had almost succeeded in killing Trevor, did succeed in killing one of my lions, and then she went after Hades. Everything else, Persephone could have forgiven but trying to kill your daughter's husband can be detrimental to the mother-daughter bond. Persephone had named Demeter her enemy.
    Was it wrong of me that I was relieved?
    “Do you think she’d tell you if she did?” I knew how much Demeter hated me, blaming me completely for her daughter’s defection, and somehow I didn’t think she’d be inclined to help us.
    “ I don’t know,” Persephone shrugged. “She’s been trying to talk to me and I keep ignoring her, so she may give me the info just to try to get on my good side.”
    “ I guess it wouldn’t hurt to ask,” I nodded. “Thanks, Sephy.”
    “ No problem,” she smiled and for a second the old Sephy was back.
    “ There’s nothing else we can do about my issue,” I looked back at Teharon, the Mohawk God who always patched me up when things went wrong. “Right, Teharon?”
    “ I can’t heal you any further,” He shook his head, making his mass of stick-straight black hair shimmer over his shoulders. “You’re not wounded, you ensorcelled and it’s deeper than any possession I’ve ever seen.