Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
“He just ripped me heart out like he was picking a fucking apple. Nothing heroic about that,” Everett mutters, slumping back to the bloodied ground in sheer exhaustion.
“At least it distracted that wanker so he didn’t come after our girl again,” Crypt says, patting Everett’s head in a way that makes the elemental glower at him. “Way to take one for the team, Frost. Almost makes me like you.”
Nearly delirious with relief that my quintet is all alive, I tune out of their ribbing to survey our surroundings. The Nether has continued to lighten until it’s almost like the glow of midday in the mortal realm. Dead shadow fiends, monsters, liches, necromancers, Reformists, and ravens litter the ground of the arena as the alluring ambience of death hangs thickly in the air.
Two gleaming golden dragons soar overhead, and when they roar, it sounds triumphant. I can’t put into words the way I know Amadeus’s control is no longer holding this plane of existence captive—I just feel it. The Nether is brightening as the shadow of my would-be father melts away.
And finally, I look at Amadeus’s spirit hovering over his body. It’s distorted and torn, blurred and sad-looking. I can barely even make out the shape of a head, much less his face.
Before I can decide to reap him, I hear Everett choke like he’s dying again. Whirling around in alarm, I quickly find that he’s fine—he’s just freaking out because my mother has appeared again.
The rest of my quintet flinches away as Syntyche’s looming, dark, hooded figure appears as if from nowhere. I guess it’s no surprise she’s come to reap the many ghosts waiting in the Nether, where she couldn’t reap before.
But it is a surprise when Galene also appears.
Galene is wearing the same garb she did when she disguised herself as Pia: dressed head to toe in white, concealing her beautiful face. The only difference is that she’s glowing brightly as she moves toward us across the bloodied arena floor.
All around, Reformists gasp and drop to their knees, telling me these goddesses are visible to everyone.
“Daughter,” Syntyche greets simply.
That one word elicits many more gasps from the Reformists, like not all of them completely believed that I’m this goddess’s “crotch goblin,” as Kenzie would put it.
“Hi.” I gesture at Amadeus’s decrepit, floating ghost. “That one is yours.”
She dips her hooded head. A quiet whistling sound follows her scythe before all at once, that trace of Amadeus is gone. Without another word, she vanishes completely. Maybe she’s not reaping here, then?
My question is answered as Galene reads my mind in real time. I can hear the smile in her voice. “She has returned to await your visit to Paradise, my fearless one.”
I tense, and so do my guys. Crypt pulls me away from Everett to hold me tightly, jaw clenched. Baelfire folds his arms to regard the goddess, not at all embarrassed to be naked as the day he was born.
Not that he needs to be embarrassed, with all those muscles and gorgeousness and a dick like that.
“She’s not going,” Baelfire growls.
“She’s not,” Everett agrees, trying to sound firm but failing because he’s so weak. Silas also looks exhausted from all the magic he’s used, but he looks relieved that Syntyche left.
Galene laughs. “Rest your fears, matches of Maven. She won’t be coming to Paradise the way she did last time. This will be a mere projection of her soul to fulfill the blood oath she made to my queen, but I’m afraid swiftness is of the utmost importance.”
Shit.
Shit.
My blood oath. My mouth runs dry as I stare at the white-cloaked goddess. The battle is still ending, and already I’m being summoned to speak with Arati? What the hell did I agree to pay for this to be the right timing?
My quintet looks sick to their stomachs. Baelfire’s golden gaze moves to me, and he shakes his head.
“Don’t. I don’t like this.”
“I’m with the lizard,” Crypt rasps, burying his face in the side of my neck.
“Your fears are unnecessary,” Galene says soothingly. “I give you my promise that Maven’s soul shall return with the utmost haste. She cannot yet remember why this is so vital, but she will know soon. Come along, my fearless one. Your sworn fate awaits.”
She waves her hand, and just like that, my vision goes white.
MAVEN
This time, when I wake in Paradise, I recognize it right away.
I’m sitting in Arati’s grand dining room. I remember it from the time I showed up here naked, back when I was still trying to piss off my aunt. It’s an ornate, massive dining room connected to the balcony that overlooks Paradise.
I’m in one of the dining room chairs beside a long, golden table etched with patterns like fire. Blue figures made of flames arrange gleaming plates and bowls full of strange, beautiful foods and pour a glowing purple liquid into golden goblets. A few of them wave at me before disappearing into smoke.
It looks like they’re setting up for a celebration, but I’m the only guest. Confused, I reach for one of the goblets to get a better look at it, but my hand passes through the gold.
“Projections are not corporeal,” Syntyche says behind me.
She moves into my view before sitting in one of the chairs beside me. Her hand wraps around the goblet in front of her, but she doesn’t drink the liquid in it. She just sits there in thoughtful silence.
“What oath did I make?” I finally ask.
“That was between you and my sister. But even with only your soul here in Paradise, you should have free access to the missing pieces within your mind,” Syntyche muses, finally taking a sip from the goblet.
I have my memories?
Oh, my gods.
She’s right.
I can remember everything about that blood oath now. I made it right here, in this very room. I can still remember Arati, smirking at me.
“If you really want to return to your fate-given matches so desperately, it will come at a price you already well know. You must first exchange a blood oath with me.”
“I accept.”
“I knew you would. As much a menace as you’ve been, my dear niece, your passion and depth of love have earned my respect. There’s fire in you where fear should be. Let’s hope you don’t regret that later.”
And I recall my golden ichor swirling into a bowl alongside Arati’s as we exchanged unbreakable oaths.
My words echo in my mind first.
“I swear this oath in my own blood, that should I survive my fall to mortality, I shall claim the Nether from the one who has corrupted it. I will tie mine and my quintet’s souls to that plane of existence to cleanse and reign over it until the end of our days. This I swear, and seal in blood.”
Oh, shit.
I agreed to rule the Nether? I even sealed my quintet’s souls to it, along with mine? That’s insane. What the hell could I have asked from Arati that would make this permanent exchange worth it?
Arati’s powerful voice booms next, her gleaming ichor dripping into the bowl. “I swear this oath in my own blood, on behalf of all gods and goddesses and with the approval of fate itself, that should you uphold your oath sealed this day in blood, I shall lift the entirety of the Legacy Curse from the face of the mortal realm to free all living and future legacies from this antiquated burden. This I swear, and seal in blood.”
“Holy fucking gods,” I exhale aloud, blinking back to myself in utter shock.
I asked Arati to break the Legacy Curse.
She agreed.
And I just fulfilled my end of the bargain. Which means…
“Blaspheming in our presence! Why, I never,” someone laughs on the opposite side of the table.
I realize that while I was lost in my Paradisical memories, the rest of the pantheon walked into this room. It’s disorienting to look at someone and feel like they’re both a stranger and familiar at once, but that’s what it feels like as I take in Arati, Koa, Galene, Raan, and Pheli.
Pheli is the one sitting across from me, smiling cheerfully. He’s the god of the skies, change, happiness, hope, and many other things. His skin is sky blue, and he’s shorter than the other gods with a robust build, sky-blue eyes, and a curly blond beard to match his hair.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.