Spring's Descent : A Sinful Seasons Novel by C. L. Briar

Author:C. L. Briar [Briar, C. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: C. L. Briar Books
Published: 2024-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

29

PERSEPHONE

Sapphires and sleet crunched beneath my worn boots, small puddles forming along the edges as my life magic burned bright through the layers of snow surrounding me. Slowly making progress, I followed my magic along an unforeseen path, looking for a cave entrance.

The earth of The Underworld helped when it could, like a subtle tugging deep within. I could also feel Aidoneus behind me, somehow remaining close despite me literally jumping to my possible death to get away from him.

That demon had seriously fucked with my mind.

It should have been easy to distance myself from sex and emotion. It had never been a problem before. The Earth Coven may have hated the idea of casual sex, and gods knew we were taught to hate ourselves for it, but Lark and I carved out our own morality code.

My worth wasn’t defined by how many partners I took to bed. I wasn’t used or dirty. I wasn’t a ripped piece of cloth poorly stitched back together or a crumpled flower with its petals plucked and tossed to the floor.

My body was my own.

It was mine to do with what I pleased. Sex didn’t condemn me. Allowing myself to believe the truth of those sentiments had dramatically altered my life for the better. It was freeing. I’d never let that self-confidence waver. And because of that, I’d never let the line between physical and emotional blur. Until Aidoneus.

There shouldn’t have been anything to distance myself from. But he’d gotten under my skin. Limits didn’t exist for Aidoneus. He took what he wanted, and he didn’t once question himself. Power came naturally for him, that much was obvious, and I found myself reaching for my own power when he was near.

He made me want to push. To shatter the expectations that had been placed on me by my mother, by the coven, but also… by myself.

It had been so hard for me to accept that I had power. That the humming beneath my veins, the pricks of electricity at my fingertips—that such power could be mine.

I’d been told so often that I was worthless. Weak. Useless. That I was a burden who would never amount to anything… it was hard to believe there was a reality where I was powerful and strong—one where my life had meaning.

And yet, somehow, Aidoneus had believed in me.

Shaking my head against the onslaught of budding self-worth battling with years of learned helplessness, I lifted my hands and drew more of that fire to my palms.

Melted ice trickled down the sheet of snow covering me, but the bank in front of me felt weaker than the others. Less oppressive. The sapphires at my feet hummed. I followed their urging, calling more of the magic in my veins as I pushed forward.

The snow broke, the edges tumbling around my forearms as my palms melted through the last of it. I stepped out of my sleeted path into a large tunnel illuminated by the continuing, faint blue stones at its base.

Brine

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