Serpent's Game by Pippa DaCosta

Author:Pippa DaCosta [DaCosta, Pippa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pippa DaCosta

Chapter 11

Chantal’s breathing came fast and shallow. I could only imagine the torment the power was subjecting her to. It would shred her mind and then her soul until there was nothing left but a mindless carcass.

And I had no fucking idea how to save her. The contents will answer to you.

The magic was mine, so I should know how to save her. Say the words, touch her, open myself to it, any or all those things? Problem was, I didn’t know where to start. In five hundred years, I’d never felt so useless. But I wasn’t about to stand by and watch her die.

I heard Cujo’s wife arrive downstairs and Cujo ask about the medication, knowing it was pointless but it at least offered hope. The strain in my friend’s voice was for another reason, though. We had to tell Judith the truth—all of it—and then I’d invite Isis into their lives. It was the only option I had left.

I’d meant what I’d said. I would do anything to save Chantal.

I nodded at Cat waiting silently at the foot of the bed and left the room.

“Judy,” Cujo began the introduction as I descended the stairs. “This is Ace Dante. He’s a colleague and a friend…”

Something was wrong with Judith’s face. I’d seen her pictures. She was a woman in her late thirties, full of light and smiles, but she’d weathered around the edges a little after Cujo’s accident. She looked up. Her eyes were as gray as slate. Her lips were skewed. Deep-seated instincts recoiled. I knew her… No, not her, but the soul buried deep inside and wrapped up in layer after layer of illusion, making it difficult to pin down.

Shukra appeared, slammed an elbow into Judith’s back, sunk her fingers into the woman’s hair, and slammed her face first into the wall. “How do you like that, bitch?!”

Cujo exploded. “Shukra! What—”

I leaped over the banister and landed behind the two women. “Shukra!” Carefully, oh so carefully, I added, “Let her go.”

A curl of laughter pealed from Judith’s lips. I knew that laugh and wished I was wrong. I so wanted to be wrong, but as that laughter sailed through the house, it changed, becoming soft and sweet like honey.

“Isis.” I cast Cujo a warning glance to back off but kept my attention trained on the goddess. The man’s eyes widened as the name and its implications hit him.

“Call off your sorceress whore,” Isis ordered, her voice not quite right while tumbling from human lips.

Shukra leaned in close to the goddess. She sucked in a breath, drawing Isis’s scent over her tongue. “I have you. Right now, I have you. If you hurt them, if you’re behind this, I’ll tear that pretend mortal body apart piece by piece and make you suffer the way a god has never known. There was a time when my name was uttered in fear. A time when I toyed with minor godlings and used their insides as decoration.”

“Release me!” The compulsion hit like a sledgehammer.

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