Impure Read online

  Impure

  Ascension #1

  Kenna Bardot

  Tove Madigan

  Disclaimer

  Impure is the first book in a reverse harem bully trilogy where humans serve the Descendants of the Gods. It features dark scenarios that may offend some readers and may be triggering, as well as graphic content including m/f, m/m, and group scenarios. Please read at your own discretion.

  Impure Copyright © 2020 by Kenna Bardot & Tove Madigan. All Rights Reserved.

  No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  Cover designed by Kenna Bardot & Tove Madigan

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Kenna Bardot Tove Madigan

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing: February 2020 Bardot & Madigan

  About the Authors

  Kenna lives in her tiny house with her husband and two rambunctious hellions (under five) who she adores. When she’s not chasing all three of them and her shepherd/husky mix around the house, she spends all her free time writing and adding to the hoard of plots stored on her bookshelf and hard-drive.

  Kenna always wanted to write, and did from the time she was 10 when she wrote her first full-length fantasy novel. The subject matter has changed over the years, but that passion for writing never went away. She has a degree in Psychology, and prior to having her kids she worked as a therapist using horses in her treatment strategy and working with adults and kids with disabilities.

  A full-time mom with her eldest about to start preschool, four days before the release of Kenna's debut novel InkSpelled, Kenna is making a go of making a living from the real passion that has haunted her all her life.

  Tove has always had a passion for writing but it started with non-fiction. She was editor of her school paper and wrote heavily for the yearbook committee as well. This funneled into a love for short stories that were entered into contests and, eventually, to the wonderful world of fanfiction.

  Tove never thought she'd write as a career but Kenna, who is the yin to her yang, has been the best foil to her insecurities and weaknesses and now she has embraced the darkness, the insanity and, yes, the depravity with nothing but pleasure.

  Ten years ago, Kenna & Tove met on an online graphic-design community when they were 19-year-olds. Though they’ve never met in person and live on opposite sides of the world, they’ve talked mostly daily since then. Now 30, they’re using those graphic-design skills they honed in a new way and making their own book covers. Full circle, right?

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  Glossary

  Core Gods: The four original Gods

  Zeevar: God of Death & Reincarnation

  Rhiannon: Goddess of Life

  Caprice: Goddess of Emotion

  Anselm: God of the Physical

  Descendants: Children of the Gods

  Sylfes: Middle step in the Ascension process where humans who pass the Challenge are granted longevity and ethereal beauty.

  Godsvail Academy: Where the Descendants are sent at age 7 to learn and prove themselves worthy of God status.

  Sylfeshire: Where the Sylfes live

  Mt. Demiorgo: Where the Gods live

  12 Houses of Mt. Demiorgo

  Northern Houses - Moons

  Tovenaar: Necromancy

  Kald: Cold/Ice

  Vide: Pain/Mute

  Eastern Houses - Lightning

  Byta: Shapeshifters

  Tempestas: Weather

  Leven: Life/Healing

  Southern Houses – Suns

  Svadeni: Seduction

  Sutre: Heat/Fire

  Springen: Warp

  Western Houses – Stars

  Majele: Poisons

  Nastroj: Emotional Manipulation

  Karfi: Strength/Invulnerability

  Prologue

  Mireyah

  “I would rather walk through seven feet of just fallen snow wet, naked and freezing than use my saliva in devotion to you. Of any of you," I snapped out but a moment later, slapped a hand over my mouth, causing myself to lose my balance.

  One had to wonder, and I really did... why I couldn't just keep my big mouth shut. It was all a matter of common sense, really. Ever since I'd arrived here, I'd said things whenever I should have just been keeping my thoughts to myself. Because they'd gotten me into boatloads of trouble before. Hell, I wouldn’t even be in this situation if not for my big mouth.

  I almost fell when the thing I stood on shook again, and I had to look down just a little, making sure that my feet were still firmly planted.

  I took a sharp intake of breath and went back to looking straight ahead. To look at the God who owned the voice, I’d been hearing all day. He was tall, striking - on his face was a cruel beauty that repelled as much as it entranced. He exuded an energy that seemed to ripple in the surrounding air.

  He laughed, and the ground shook with him as he took a step towards me. "You're very brave, aren't you?"

  "Sometimes to my detriment." A cold and biting wind whooshed against my face and my hair whipped around my face, white whipping ropes that were punishing against my face.

  His hand came up, a whisper away from my cheek, and I had to stop myself from swiveling to avoid it.

  “Don’t touch me,” I snapped out.

  And there I went again, saying things that were sure to cause me trouble. In fact, it was the very reason I was there anyway.

  I thought of the guys, and I remembered how hard I'd avoided their very first touch as well.

  Funny thing? That hadn't even been a year ago.

  Chapter 1

  Mireyah

  "I'm home," I called out as I walked in through the front door, peeling off my wet gloves and stuffing them into the pocket of my oversized coat. Rubbing my cold, stiff fingers together, I finally unwound the scarf from my neck.

  "Mireyah, honey," I heard my mother call my name even as the soft scuffle of her shoes brushed against the linoleum floor. When she stepped around the corner, I came face to face with my most favorite woman in the world. With long dark hair and a stocky build, her deep eyes were full of concern. She reached me and examined my face and the pink flush that I knew tinted my cheeks.

  "You're so cold, my darling. Did you walk home again?" She chided me with a click of her tongue, and I threw her a cheeky grin in response.

  I zipped myself out of my coat, giving her hands a soft pat before turning to the hall closet to hang it up. "It's barely a 25-minute walk to the shop, and I'd really rather not spend the money on gas or the bus fare."

  "And it's a 5-minute drive or 10-minute bus ride. It’s safer. Warmer." She gave my freezing hands a rub which I appreciated. Thoroughly numbed, they tingled painfully as her warmth penetrated.

  I chuckled. "But I enjoy walking."

  The smile fell from my face at the next voice that sounded, "Tell me, you're just being stubborn, Mireyah."

  I blew out an annoyed breath even as my mother leaned in and whispered, "No fighting tonight."

  I rolled my eyes in her direction before throwing my sister an exasperated look. "No one asked you, Talisha."

  "Mireyah," my mother said in that tone that brooked no argument. Louder this time so my sister heard her and smirked at me. Mom's head swiveled in her d
irection. "And you, Talisha. You may be married, but you're in my house so behave. I just want my family to have a nice dinner together. Is that too much to ask?"

  "No, mom, absolutely not." I shook my head, sorry that my long-standing feud with my sister had to affect the once-a-month event that I knew my parents looked forward to more than anything.

  "Sorry, mom. It's just that," she stopped and gestured towards me, "will you look at her? Her nose is all red, her lips are dry, and her skin is all wind burnt. And still she's stunning! If only she'd take care of herself more, pay more attention to how she looks and presents herself, she has a chance -"

  I interrupted her by taking a step forward, "No, absolutely not. I've told you repeatedly that the last thing I want is to be exiled to Godsvail."

  "It's not a damn exile when it gets you out of the hellhole that is Wintercairn. You can help your family."

  My mom jerked her head towards the head of the stairs. "Talisha, language!"

  My younger brother came stomping down the stairs and threw himself towards me. I wrapped my arms around the little monkey as he hung onto my neck like it was a tree trunk. "Hey, Varo."

  "Mi, Mi! You're here! Do we get to play?"

  "Sure, thunder, we can play later. Dinner first, okay?" I gave him a kiss on the top of his head before he jumped off my arms and barreled down the hallway, pulling our mother behind him as he did so.

  She laughed at him, "Alvaro, don't pull! I'm not as young as I used to be."

  My sister picked up the conversation from earlier, obviously unwilling to let go of the matter. "If you went, you'd ensure that Alvaro had a better future."

  "Talisha, please. Just drop it." All I knew was that I wanted to just enjoy a peaceful night with my family and not think about the gods and the shit they allowed us to endure in Wintercairn.

  Eternal snow, my ass. I ached for green fields and the heady scent of freshly bloomed flowers.

  "I got married this year because my chance has gone, but you're eighteen this year. And out of all the girls in Wintercairn, you have a much better chance than most. Heaven knows how mom and dad managed it, but you have the looks that usually get picked to serve in Godsvail."

  I stopped half a foot from the door to the kitchen where the rest of the family was. "Tali, the last thing I want to do is serve the pieces of shit that ensure we barely have anything to eat and that we have to spend whatever money we have to pay for fucking heat because they've doomed us in this stupid snow eleven months out of a year. If they made the mistake of sending me to Godsvail? I'd spit at their feet."

  "And doom your entire family, Yah?" She turned her gaze towards our family - loud, beautiful and the best thing in my life. She spoke up quietly as I watched, "You wouldn't."

  I sighed and wrapped my arms around myself as I watched Alvaro play with Eric, my sister's husband of barely three months. "Don't call me Yah. I'm no longer a child. Look, Tali, all I want is to live my life as you have. Survive for seven years then hit the age when I’ll be free to do what I want. In my case, I've got the best apprenticeship I could ever want. And I want to be an herbalist, maybe get married when I reach the age that I'm allowed to do it, live and die peacefully. What's so wrong with that?"

  "There's nothing wrong about being satisfied with mediocrity, Mireyah." She sighed before running a hand down my arm. "That’s all most of us can do. But if you have the chance to aim for greatness, then why shouldn’t you?"

  She walked on ahead of me straight towards her husband who gave her a quick kiss even as he dangled Alvaro upside down by the ankles. The scene caused a pang in my heart.

  "Not worth the price of my dignity," I mumbled to no one in particular as I walked in to join my family. I had to force a smile.

  ✽✽✽

  Charolais

  The life of a Descendant should have been exciting.

  It wasn't. Instead, it was nothing but tedious.

  I’d have died to play with something new.

  The others seemed to echo that sentiment. I sat with my ass perched on the edge of the table, feet in the chair, idly listening to them gossip like human girls. My servant's eyes strayed to me repeatedly, always watching and waiting for a moment where I might want more from her.

  More than just cleaning my rooms. She was useful, in the way all humans were.

  Desperate.

  Clingy.

  Pathetic.

  She knew I was her only hope of escaping the mundane life of human servitude. She'd put all her chips on me like a fool. Maybe I'd submit her name to the Challenge, maybe I wouldn't. It didn't matter much to me, as I wouldn't be giving her a Sire Bond, regardless.

  "Fresh meat soon." Tate grinned at me, the freak of psychobabble always so attuned to the surrounding energy. He could sense my restlessness, feel my need for something to entertain me. I shrugged, my face remaining as expressionless as ever.

  Humans were humans, so it wasn't like any of them could ever intrigue me enough to tempt me.

  Shep slapped Annalee on the ass as she passed, and she turned her fake smile his way. There might have been a time I cared.

  But I'd only be lying to myself if I thought it.

  To be honest, I was more likely to be jealous of Hollis or Tate than the human, and since I preferred women that was just a sad sign of my boredom.

  "I can't wait to get my hands on the newbies," Ryle said with a menacing grin. "I need something delicious to sink my teeth into, and they're always the most fun when they're new."

  "That's because terror turns you on." Hollis laughed, tossing something at the meathead who caught it with a self-deprecating grin.

  We were many things but disillusioned about who we were - what we were - was not one of them.

  Immortals. Gods. Monsters.

  It was all the same in the eyes of humans, or it should have been at any rate.

  "Annalee?" I said, drawing her warm brown eyes my way.

  "Yes, Char?" She fell to her knees in front of me, and I barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

  "You're dismissed," I said coldly. She flinched but nodded before standing and striding from the room without another glance.

  At least she was obedient.

  Boringly obedient.

  "Not interested in her anymore?" Shep asked, and his violet eyes showed no hint of surprise.

  "She serves her purpose." I shrugged.

  "I don't know why you bother." Tate's mild-mannered face hid what lurked beneath as he turned those silver eyes my way.

  Ryle nodded in agreement with his twin. "There's no point when you can just walk up and take what you want from any human in this place. Why do you need one especially dedicated to you? Variety is the spice of life." Ryle snorted at his own pathetic joke.

  "She's becoming a problem." Shep grunted, jerking his head to me.

  "How so?"

  "That redhead, what's her name?" Shep turned to Hollis, who shrugged and kept playing with the ball he held in his hands.

  Tate rolled his eyes, redheads weren't common, so there weren't too many choices. "Hadley?"

  "That's the one!" Shephard announced, smacking a hand on the table so it shook. "She said Annalee tries to scare off the other girls. Put you off-limits, and they do their best to obey her. Because if Annalee finds out you've touched one of them, she's downright violent."

  I smirked at him, raising my brow. What did I care if some humans fought? They were replaceable.

  "You're good with a human laying claim to you? Like she owns you?" His words penetrated, and I huffed a sigh of annoyance. I'd worked too hard to land the five of us at the top of the hierarchy in Godsvail. I couldn't allow the humans or the other Descendants to think I was pussy whipped by some tiny slip of an insignificant human.

  "I'll handle it," I answered and Shep smirked. Sometimes I wondered if the tumultuous bastard was as sadistic as I was, for how much he loved to watch people suffer.

  "Can I help?" he asked, a broad grin stretching over his normally tense
mouth.

  "I suppose," I agreed.

  "We can make it a party. One last celebration before we're all tied up with new girls who need to learn the way of Godsvail." Hollis laughed, a smooth, honeyed chuckle that tempted even the strongest of men.

  "I can't wait to Ascend," Tate surprised me by saying. Of all of us, he was likely one of the least ambitious. Not that he didn't succeed regardless of that fact.