James cautiously entered the room, which was covered in white marble veined with gold and silver from floor to ceiling. His eyes watered at the sight, the bright light coming from all directions. The figure lounged, still rolling the small dagger across her knuckles. Her dark leather armor contrasted perfectly against the white throne, one heeled boot swinging lazily over the armrest.

  “Come, sit,” she said, clapping once. Then threw the knife at James' feet. It slammed into the marble, cracking it before disappearing and reappearing in her hand.

  "Sondia's blade, James. Is that—" Max gulped on the last word.

  "My blade? What little Maximus?" Her golden eyes seemed to linger on Max. They flared bright, and two chairs formed from the white marble at their feet. James and Max had to jump out of the way so as not to be knocked down by their sudden appearance. "I said. Sit."

  James hastened to do as the Goddess said, but Max paused, one hand on the back of the chair, magical eye glowing a deep purple. With a tilt of his head, he stood a bit straighter. " No."

  The one word echoed off the walls, reverberated. The Goddess sat up, leaning forward until she sat on the very edge of the throne. Shifting her head from side to side as if trying to weigh the interaction. Her golden eyes were hard and locked onto Max. She threw the knife again, so fast James couldn't follow it.

  Thud

  The knife buried itself in the wall behind Max, sinking into the stone to the hilt. Max had barely moved, just the slightest tilt of his head, blood dripping from his ear where the blade had cut him. James could see Max's white-knuckled grip on the back of the chair and the slight tremble in his arms, but Max stood tall, his amethyst eye glowing brighter and brighter.

  "Clever, smart boy, or maybe just extraordinarily stupid." She smiled like a predator about to eat its prey. "Have you figured it out?"

  Max swallowed hard, released the chair, and walked closer to the raised platform holding the throne. He did not step on it; he merely held his hands out to his side as if to show he held no weapons.

  "No...yes...maybe?" He looked back at James and winked. "Ya gone and got yourself trapped."

  Max—what in the hells are you doing?

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  James tried to reach out to the Sister to feel his power, but the wall around his mind and his power was like steel—immovable and impassable. He could feel the sweat on his palms and the dryness of his mouth. He forced himself to breathe to swallow.

  Sondia hissed and bared her teeth at him, a far more animalistic response than James had expected.

  "I. Am. Not. Trapped. Here." Sondia grew with each word until she towered over Max. James' mind flashed back to when the Sister had pinned him to the mountain, the sheer terror he had felt and being so small against something so vast and powerful. Slowly, he stood and walked to stand next to his friend. The air before him seemed to shimmer and move like the edges of a soap bubble. James reached up to touch it. Something in him urged his hand towards the bubble. James could almost hear the words. Touch it. Sondia took a deep breath, but Max caught his wrist.

  "Don't." The single word was the harshest Max had ever spoken.

  James locked eyes with Max and raised a single eyebrow. "Why not?"

  "You will get stuck inside with her." Max's gaze moved back to the simmering barrier. He let go of James' wrist. Sondia called her blade back to her hand before shrinking back to the size of a human. She watched them, not from atop a throne, James realized. But from a gilded prison.

  "Why can't you leave?" James asked, keeping his hands firmly at his side, even though the pull was growing stronger to touch the bubble and pop it. He took a slow, deliberate breath and focused entirely on the trapped goddess.

  "Ask that witch you call a mother." Sondia spit on the ground. Stepping down right in front of Max. Her finger traced the barrier as if it was a glass window. She pressed her face against it. "Let me out, Maximus. Your family has always believed."

  "No. My family is not your puppets any more. My parents died to keep me from your grasp." Max's accent was gone. James spun. Max stood tall, the casual slouch gone, and the goofy air he continuously evaporated. He even stood with hands clasped behind his back.

  "Max?" James was unsure of what had happened and who his friend had become. James' thoughts raced. Where had this proper accent, the lilting rhythm of high imperium, come from. Who was this man standing next to him?

  "No, James. I will explain later." Max did not look away from the goddess; she just pushed her face harder against the bubble, like a child making a face. Sondia turned her movements, stuttering, starting, and stopping.

  "Little moon doesn't know, doesn't see, can't know, or can't see. Oh, Maximus, you should tell him the secret you kept even from him. Tell Him." Like a command, the last words slammed into Max, and his whole body shook.

  "No, Sondia. I will not be your puppet." Max growled through his teeth, his body rigid, fist clenched at his side. Max turned his back on her. James saw the flash of steel, the too-swift flick of Sondia's wrist. He dove, arms outstretched to tackle Max. But Max spun on his heel, ducking low. In a swift flourish, he grabbed the blade from the air and, with the momentum, threw it back towards the bubble. James saw the shock, and then the smile exploded across Sondia's face as the blade's tip touched the bubble. Max swore, his face contorting into rage, his hand reflectively reaching for the dagger already loosed from his grip. But he knew it was too late.

  Pop

  It was such a soft sound yet so loud that James' bone vibrated with it. Sondia grew once more, this time larger than before, her blond hair touching the very ceiling of the domed room. She scooped them up in her hands as her head broke through the marble, stone, and dirt rising through the temple's very foundation. Debris rained down and around them, large bricks and the roots of trees, and she laughed a terrible, booming laugh.

  It wasn't long before they broke through to the orchard, the temple ruins collapsing all around them in a heap of soil and stone. Sondia hung them by their coats near the top of one of the ancient trees, her face level with theirs. Her golden eyes glowed unfathomably bright. James had to cover his face as he felt her breath push him against the tree's trunk.

  "Well done. Maximus Aurelius Gaius Duranius," and with a sound like the cracking of a whip, she was gone.