Eternity Glass

XVII: Beauty of Water

Rezar turned over to his stomach and hacked up the water he swallowed onto the white sand. Once that finished, he hurled the contents of his stomach until his throat burned and he feared that his guts would turn inside out.

When he finally got a grip on his surroundings, he found himself to be in front of a great ocean bluer than anything he'd ever seen, so bright and clear that he could spot the bioluminescent life below. That didn't say much, though. Living in the Underworld all of his life, Rezar didn't get the chance to enjoy the more vibrant colors in nature. In the deepest parts of his mind, he could probably remember a light sky and a golden flower, but he'd dismissed them off as dreams.

The ocean was real, though he wasn't sure where he stood. The Underworld sure as hell didn't have any oceans, only the ever-still river near the ports.

Not to mention that he was fucking freezing thanks to the drenched clothing sticking to his skin.

His memories blurred together as he tried to recall what in the blazing rings of Hell actually happened. He remembered his father ordering him to follow that girl—that asencir—and find out her weakness so they could blackmail her. That stupid fuck-up Zafiro couldn't do it, and there was no questioning why. It didn't matter that he had a dragon's heart or bloodline or whatever; that reaper was weak and the compassion he held for the girl would eventually be his undoing.

Even if Rezar wanted to ignore it, he couldn't. At the very mention of the asencir, the colors around Zafiro would change, lightening into soft yellows or pinks. It was enough to make him want to throw up all over again.

He remembered catching up to the girl in that human shithole they called a boutique, enjoying the sight of her humiliating herself with that trickster goddess in tow. Her colors were annoying as hell, too. She shone brighter than most mortals and celestials. Rezar nearly winced the first time he saw her aura back at the Eclipse Ritual. Until that point, he'd only been awestruck by his father's colors. Eyal. The Emperor of the Underworld. His father. Of course such a deity's aura glowed that remarkably.

All Fallon had to do, that minuscule mortal in a sea of billions, was show up to make Eyal look like a dying ember.

Part of him, the part of him loyal to the crown, wanted her to be easy. He'd offered her a position in his father's court, and all that little brat did was curtsy and walk away. No one walked away from him without his permission.

Another part of him hoped for just the right accident, just the right twist of fate, that would allow him to squash that girl like a bug. From that blinding aura of hers to the way she appeared almost out of nowhere to even his father's undeniable obsession with converting her to their side—the entirety of Fallon Phorisdottir shook Prince Rezar to his very core, like two stars colliding into an explosion.

But it turned out that fate wouldn't be on his side, as that mortal had three goddesses right behind her.

"You're alive."

He looked up. Speak of the Seventh Lady of Hell. Morgant stood not too far from him, comfortably naked in her true skin. Gone were the thick curls her adorned her human body with, replaced with a wreath of coral, pearls, and seashells to crown her bald head. The skin of her back darkened into a midnight blue only to give way to the pale violet of her ventral side. Fins protruded from each of her limbs and even replaced her ears. Splotches of scales wrung around her elongated arms and up her shoulders, giving them the same glow of the ocean. Her webbed hands rested calmly beside her knees.

Rezar traced his tongue across his bottom teeth. It'd wasn't the first time he saw a woman naked; he'd had his share of fun with whatever pretty face he'd come across. It was, however, the first time he saw a goddess naked. "Do you sleep with that crown on, sea witch?"