Gods of Myth and Midnight (Seeds of Chaos Volume 3)[EBOOK]

Betrayal is the only truth that sticks. 

— Arthur Miller

A tingling wave spread through my body, each thud of my heart sending blood rushing through my ears with a drum-like thunder, till it drowned out all other sound. Queen Mardinest had just declared war. On Earth. I drug my eyes away from the screen, where ships were still flying through the array, and looked at her. 

She was already staring at me, as if she’d anticipated my response. When our eyes met, she gave me a slow, predatory smile, and dipped her head in a shallow bow. 

I drew in a shuddering gasp of rage, and the tips of my fingers quivered. But my claws did not extend. That tingling wave rocked through me again, and, completely against my will, I relaxed. My body moved without my consent, like a puppet on strings. 

The sudden lack of control was disorienting. I grew dizzy. I pushed against the relaxation, a reflex as quick as catching yourself when you start to trip. Instead, my body stayed calm, and my face settled into a mask of sober dignity. 

Wraith lashed out of me, sending my awareness exploding through the room as I searched for the source of the attacking Skill. The glow of power coming off all the Estreyans present was bright enough to obscure any individual person. However, most of them were looking at the screen. A few reporters had gathered their wits enough to turn back to the queen and my team, and the eyes of the guards on the outskirts of the room roved, but only a few of them showed the flaring glow of an active Skill. 

As my mouth twitched involuntarily into a subtle smile, my awareness climbed upward to the inward-facing balcony looking down on the main floor of the throne room. 

A blonde Estreyan man, wearing a circlet similar to the one around Torliam’s head, stood there staring at the dais below, power blazing from him. 

A Window in front of my face made my heart sink. 

—I can’t move, and I can’t use my Skill. She must have planned this.—

-Adam-

I reached for Chaos, but after a surge of Seed-glow indicating Skill use from the man on the balcony, my mental grasp slipped off of my own power. A few thin wisps of dark-tendriled destruction grated against my armor before dissipating, ineffectual and unfocused. 

The reporters had regained their composure and turned their attention, and recording devices, back to the queen and my group. The ensuing barrage of shouted questions struck a blow to my already frazzled concentration. 

As the last of the ships left Estreyer through the array, Queen Mardinest raised her hands to the room, motioning for quiet. 

One of the kiddos let out half a whimper, quickly choked off. 

I sent a Window to all the members of the team with VR chips, which only excluded Torliam and Birch. 

—We’re being controlled. It’s the guy on the balcony above us. I can feel him fighting back when I try to act.—

-Eve-

—He can’t be stronger than all of us, yeah? We just gotta bust through.—

-Jacky-

—Good idea. He can’t keep this up forever.—

-Eve-

I turned Wraith on my teammates. 

Gregor flickered for a fraction of a second as he tried to activate Shadow and failed. 

Blaine’s suit whirred softly as if preparing for action, but he did not move. 

Zed’s fingers trembled as if reaching for something, though I didn’t know if he was trying for his gun or his Skill. 

Birch managed to kick up a wind before our controller’s power clamped down on him. 

Torliam’s body language was as calm as my own, but when my awareness brushed against his skin, I could feel his pulse running fast through his neck. 

He shuddered minutely, and his muscles spasmed, even as my own grip on Wraith slipped away.

My attention frayed and my sensory ability regressed to the limited capabilities of my physical body. The man above was clamping down on his control of me, apparently. 

Once the room was suitably hushed, Queen Mardinest ran her gaze over the assembled reporters, shoulders thrown back in arrogant pride. 

I reached for Chaos again. My mind seemed to fumble stupidly, and I got so little power that it wasn’t even visible beyond a faint haze close to my skin. 

“My people have been working tirelessly to uncover the extent of the atrocities committed by the Earthlings,” she said. “We discovered much. They have stolen our technology and used that to come to our world in secret, petitioning our gods for power.” 

A murmur of outrage welled up in the rapt crowd. 

“They jailed and tortured a member of the royal family.” She took a deep breath, and, even behind her, I could feel the force of her presence, a righteous kind of anger that encouraged my heart to pound. 

—We need to coordinate. Push, every five seconds, together. Maybe we can overwhelm him that way.—

-Eve-

“They have taken the Sickness and mixed it with another disease meant to weaken us. In doing so, they have created a new horror. Their weapon, cruelly tested and grown in their own people, will destroy our blood-borne power so that we are as weak and feeble as them, and as if that were not violation enough, it will infect those who receive it with the taint of the Sickness, purposefully.” 

Was that how Chanelle had been infected? Through the meningolycanosis? But I was pretty sure NIX had no idea about the Sickness. I drove the distracting thought away and continued to struggle for command of my body and my Skills as my teammates did the same. 

Up above, the man with the circlet pushed back, but my awareness spread out from my body a little further each time, and the air around me writhed with little gusts of warmth created by Chaos. 

“These brave warriors have agreed to go through the array to Earth to neutralize this threat before it becomes even greater. In doing so, we also save the Earthlings from themselves. They are too foolish to realize that the Sickness can never be a true ally, and will turn on their own people just as it attempts to drag us down into ruin.”

She paused, and my Skill sensed her eyes flick upward to the spot where our puppeteer stood. “We will not allow their madness to reach our world, to hurt our loved ones and our children. They will not destroy us. We will not rest till their depraved leaders and Sickness-infected warriors are ground to dust.” She bowed crisply, her body held stiff. 

After a pause, she straightened. “Questions shall be accepted by my son Reglium, who has returned from his diplomatic endeavors to lend his aid in this time of need.” She gestured to the stairs leading down from the balcony which grew out of the wall behind us. 

The man in the circlet descended, then cut across the room toward us. He entered my field of vision as he walked past, stepping onto the dais to stand by his mother. 

I raged against his control and felt the hair on the back of my neck tremble from the restrained power tingling in the air around me. 

He almost stumbled, but caught himself, breathing a little too hard. 

My body stood, along with the others on the team, except for Adam, and bowed to the reporters. 

Queen Mardinest lifted a hand in silent farewell and walked away. She stepped through the subtle door behind her throne, which led into a nondescript hallway. 

I followed her, my face still refusing to twist into the visage of snarling rage I demanded. 

My eyes caught on Adam’s for a moment. He was white-faced with pain, being carried between Blaine in his mecha suit and Torliam. Without access to his Skill, he had no way to move on his own. I took small comfort in the fact that Reglium obviously couldn’t control our Skills enough to use them, only suppress our ability to operate them. 

I stumbled as the door closed behind us. My body continued to move under Reglium’s control, but it grew clumsier as we walked further from him and the throne room. 

What was Queen Mardinest’s plan? It seemed obvious she couldn’t keep us under direct control indefinitely. Sure, she’d kept us from speaking out against the invasion of Earth and made it seem like we agreed with her decisions. But she’d made an enemy of us in doing so. Which meant she thought she could handle us as an enemy, despite our recent success in killing a god and the political power that had gained us. 

—Is she taking us somewhere to kill us?—

-Gregor-

—No. Don’t worry. She would never get away with that. She’s going to threaten us. She needs our cooperation.—

-Eve-