I glared at Ashael. He flinched, and then spread out his hands as if to say, this isn’t my fault.
Oh yes it is! I wanted to snap. All you had to do was not teleport Ian to Phanes’s home base within hours of my leaving!
Phanes crossed his arms. “What was your father’s title?”
Ian smiled again. “Viscount Maynard, member of the peerage since his birth in the year of our Lord 1731. We’re on Wikipedia under ‘Viscounts of Great Britain,’ if that helps.”
Half true. He was Viscount Maynard’s son, but not a legitimate one. Ian’s real name was Killian, and he was the bastard child of Viscount Maynard. The Viscount had forced Killian to serve out his legitimate heir’s prison sentence back in the seventeen hundreds since Killian looked enough like his heir, Ian, that no one questioned the switch. Killian had kept the name Ian ever since, and I was the only person alive who knew that it wasn’t the name he’d been born with.
“I’m also the vampire offspring of Mencheres, former pharaoh of Egypt,” Ian said. “So, I have a noble lineage through my vampire side as well.”
I stared at Ian as if I could strike him mute by willpower alone. Why was he spoiling for a fight against creatures he didn’t even know how to kill? Sure, Ian was mad, but if he could only holster his rage until dawn, this would all be over!
He did glance at me then. A long, heated stare that made me feel like my clothes flew off and landed at his feet. But beneath the possessive lust, I saw a hardness that sent the wrong kind of shivers over me.
Ian was more than angry. Much more. I just didn’t know what else it was, or whether it was all directed toward me.
Then he looked away, giving Phanes his attention again. “Tell me she’s the challenger I must face,” he said in his most insinuating tone. “Would love some full contact with her.”
Let the mayhem begin! my other half thought as Phanes stood so fast, his chair upended.
I also shot to my feet. I didn’t even intend for my darkness to boil out of me until it transcended shadows and became a flood that drowned the opal lights in the floor, but it did. It also coated my entire chair, making it now resemble a liquid obsidian throne. The netherworld practically throbbed in invitation beneath me, the veil feeling so thin that I wouldn’t need much effort to break through it. No, it felt as if I’d able to brush it aside as easily as Ian had brushed away the fog he’d strode through.
Okay, perhaps I’d overreacted, but no one was allowed to hurt Ian for being this reckless except me.
“Stop,” I said in a voice that boomed with eerie echoes.
The guests at our table scattered. Even Phanes backed up, avoiding the liquid darkness around me.
Not Ian. His gaze raked me, taking in everything from the inky waters that surrounded me to the new silver beams lighting up my gaze, and his brows only flicked in suggestive invitation.
Ashael stepped forward, clearing his throat. “The daughter of the Eternal River is right. A formal challenge has been issued, and protocol must be observed.”
Protocol? I could care less about protocol—
“Long ago, the gods gave us the trials to honor them,” Ashael went on. “The challenger has shown his worthiness. Your champion must accept. Let the trials commence!”
Phanes glanced at me and then gave Ian a long look that made me think he did finally realize who he was, either from belated recognition, or my reaction.
Then, with an arrogant smile that made me even more concerned, Phanes clapped his hands.
“If the challenger insists, then bring forth my champion, Naxos, and let the trials commence!”
I tried to find a way to speak to Ian, but everyone started filing out of the room while chanting “to the stadium!” Within moments, I lost Ian in the enthusiastic crowd. Another surge of people later, and Ashael faded from view, too. Then all I saw was wings as Phanes encircled me within them.
“What game are you playing, Veritas?” he hissed.
I was too rattled to object to how he loomed over me. “I have nothing to do with this. If you would stop this challenge and let me speak to Ian—”
“Too late,” he cut me off. “As that demon pointed out, even I can’t refuse to honor the higher gods by denying a worthy challenger his right to the trials. Your lover insisted on meeting my champion in battle, so meet him he shall.”
Phanes was bound by the same traditions that had once led ancient Greeks to consider formal athletic competitions as part of their religion? Interesting, but why was Ian doing this at all? If he’d given me another half day, I’d be home!
“What happens if Ian loses to your champion?”
Phanes gave me a look that required no interpretation.
Ice climbed up my spine and fanned out until even my fingertips felt cold.
“For your sake, I am sorry that he did this,” Phanes said, and dropped his wings. “Come. You can watch the trials with me.”
My jaw clenched. Yes, I would watch, and if it came to it, I’d also participate, because anyone who tried to kill Ian was dead.
I’ll slaughter them without mercy, my other half swore.
For once, she and I were in complete agreement.
“You go. I’ll be there in a moment,” I said.
Phanes frowned. “You shouldn’t be alone now.”
I caught a glimpse of Ashael in the crowd. Oh, I wouldn’t be alone for long.
“I need a minute to myself.” My hard look stopped Phanes when he opened his mouth to argue. “Go. I’ll find you.”
Phanes sighed. “If you insist, but remember, this was not my doing.” He caught my hand, raised it, and brushed his lips over it. “I would never hurt you this way if I had a choice.”
Now Ashael ducked out of view. I pulled my hand away.
“I’ll see you soon,” I said, and headed toward where I’d last seen Ashael.
Chapter 8
In the back of the temple, a garden path opened up to an impressive stadium that looked like a smaller version of the Colosseum in its prime. The stone benches quickly filled with Phanes’s guests as well as people who seemed to pour in from paths between the tall shrubs that surrounded the stadium.
Must be the occupants of the other temples on this cloud-strewn mountain. News about the challenge and subsequent trials had traveled, and it was obviously a not-to-be-missed event.
I felt sick when I heard people placing bets on who would survive: Naxos, or the unknown challenger. So far, everyone was betting on Naxos. I had to get Ian to drop out of this.
I pushed through the crowd, glancing behind me every so often. Yes, Phanes was still staring after me, even as he made his way to a private alcove three rows up in the stadium. Servants scurried behind Phanes, carrying kylixes of wine, silk cushions for him to sit on, and other luxuries.
Phanes didn’t want to let me out of his sight. Why?
I grabbed a woman by her arm as she tried to hurry past me into the stadium.
“Where’s the challenger?”
“Probably below the arena,” she replied, trying to pull away.
My grip didn’t loosen. “Take me there.”
She couldn’t have looked more shocked if I’d stabbed her. “I can’t. It’s forbidden!”
“Rules are made to be broken,” I insisted. “Come on.”
She screamed. Now I had the attention of everyone around us, too. I smiled through gritted teeth.
“Just a dispute between friends, people. Carry on.”
“Help me, she’s insane!” the woman shouted.
“I’m not. I just need to see the challenger—”
“Veritas.”
I whirled at my name. Ashael was several meters behind me, half hidden behind a thick stone pillar with a mural of Zeus painted on it.
I released her with a muttered, “Apologies,” before I strode over to my half brother.
“Take me to Ian,” I said as soon as I reached him. “I need to stop this. Do you know what will happen if he loses?”
<
br /> “Yes,” Ashael said, yanking me behind the pillar. “And if I couldn’t talk him out of this, you won’t. Besides, if you’re caught interfering, it’ll be considered as cheating, and his life as well as yours will be forfeit.”
Anger and anxiety exploded in me. “Then why did you bring him here, let alone tell him how to issue a non-retractable, lethal challenge? I had the situation with Phanes handled!”
Ashael looked at me the way the screaming woman had: as if I were insane. “Handled? You’re choosing to be here?”
“For one night, yes! You couldn’t give me that before bringing Ian here so he could risk his life for me again?”
Ashael’s angry, defensive expression melted away. “One night. That’s how long you think you’ve been here?”
“Not even,” I began, and then stopped. “What do you mean, that’s how long I think I’ve been here?”
Ashael gave me a pitying look. “You don’t know where you are, do you?”
My hand sliced the air in an impatient wave. “On a magically hidden island, similar to the one you took Ian and me to when we were looking for Yonah.”
Ashael’s tight grip loosened. “No,” he said very softly. “You’re not on an island. You’re not in your world at all.”
“That’s impossible.”
His brows arched. “Didn’t you notice the celestial wormhole you had to enter to get here?”
Oh, shit.
Yes, I had noticed the strange, extended whirlwind of darkness when Phanes teleported us here. I’d also never before been to a place where mountains appeared to be held aloft by clouds, the temples were far larger than their exterior appearances accounted for, and creatures from different mythologies were real. I’d discounted the former as glamour and the latter as unusual, but maybe it was more than that.
I took in a breath that did nothing to ease the sudden tightening in my body. “If I’m not in ‘my world,’ where am I?”
Ashael patted me the way you’d soothe a startled beast.
“Some call these places fae worlds. Others call them the home of the gods. Some consider them purgatory. Technically, they’re all correct because no two bubble realms floating on the lip of the netherworld are the same. They become whatever their ruler designates them to be. Phanes modeled this one after the legends mortals told of him, but in all these realms, time passes differently because of their proximity to the netherworld. In some, it speeds up. In others, it slows down. I didn’t know which one this was until now.”
I’d been shaking my head as he spoke. Logic had nothing on denial. By the time he was done, I was fighting a shriek. Yes, I knew that time passed very differently in the netherworld. I’d been killed often enough to notice that the few minutes I spent in that dark void before my father resurrected me could equate to hours back in the living world. But I didn’t know that “bubble realms” like this existed, let alone that I was in one.
“So, how long have I been here, according to you and Ian?” I managed to ask through a new lump in my throat.
Ashael sighed. “A little over three weeks—”
My horrified scream cut him off.
Chapter 9
Ashael clapped a hand over my mouth, giving an alarmed look around before tightening his grip.
“In case Phanes’s reaction escaped you, my kind is hardly welcome here. If you scream again, someone will assume I am assaulting you, and it will not go well for me.”
I forced myself to stop. To take in a breath instead, and not think about how the whole time I’d been getting bathed, massaged, and then displayed like a trophy for this stupid feast, weeks had passed where Ian was. And he’d had no idea where I was, why I’d left him, or if I intended to come back.
No wonder he’d looked at me with such rage! He must’ve thought that I’d abandoned him just like I had after my father erased most of Ian’s memories of me.
I felt my back hit the wall behind me, and I leaned against it because I suddenly needed the support. Now, I didn’t feel like screaming. I felt like weeping.
A new thought shot anger through me, until I straightened as if I’d been yanked up by an invisible hand.
Phanes must have known. This wasn’t the first time he’d gone back and forth from my world to his. Oh, yes, he knew, and he’d insisted that I come here to “talk.” Once we were here, he’d stalled again, telling me that he needed a night of pretending before he’d reveal how to save my dad.
What would his excuse have been tomorrow? That he had to wait until after lunch before telling me how I could free my dad? How long would Phanes have put me off, knowing that every hour I spent in his world equated to being gone for days in mine?
“I’m going to kill him,” I ground out.
Ashael gave a wary look around. “Who?”
Phanes! both parts of me replied.
Neither of us said it out loud. Most people who noticed Ashael and me seemed too intent on reaching the stadium before all the good seats were taken, but a few of them had lingered because of my previous scream. I caught their eye and forced a smile as I patted Ashael’s arm to show that everything was okay.
No matter my anger, I wouldn’t threaten to kill Phanes within earshot of anyone who was loyal to him. Oh, no. I’d continue to pretend to know nothing.
“I have to tell Ian that what he heard was an act, and I had no idea I’d been gone that long,” I whispered to Ashael.
He frowned. “I told you, the trials start soon, and again, if you’re caught doing anything that’s considered interfering, your life and Ian’s life will be forfeit.” Then Ashael’s tone softened. “But I am his second. If I can manage to tell him without being overheard, I will. Regardless, be ready to leave as soon as the trials are over.”
I didn’t get a chance to reply before I saw Helena, head of the servants who’d dressed me earlier. From the way Helena’s head swiveled to and fro, she was looking for someone. When her gaze stopped as soon as it landed on me, and she practically charged in my direction, I knew I was her target.
Phanes must have sent Helena after me. I glanced around the pillar that concealed us. The onlookers in the stadium were focused on the center of the field, waiting for the action to start. Phanes, however, was staring off in the direction where he’d last seen me.
Oh, yes, Phanes was anxious to get me back. No wonder, too. He must be worried about what I’d discover. Well, too late.
I ducked back behind the pillar. If I couldn’t stop the trials, I intended to be there to assist.
I swept away from Ashael without another word. I couldn’t risk Helena telling him that she’d seen me arguing with him. Then I clapped my hands at Helena as imperiously as Phanes.
“Take me to Lord Phanes,” I said. “I’ve gotten turned around in these crowds.”
She gave me an appalled once-over. “Your hair is askew and your dress is smudged. Come. I will make you presentable first—”
“No, you’ll take me to Phanes,” I cut her off. Ashael had said the trials were about to start. I couldn’t miss a moment.
“At once, mistress, after I make you flawless again.”
I couldn’t waste time letting her primp me. I hated playing the imperious mistress, but I’d do far worse to save Ian.
“Take me to Lord Phanes, or I’ll find him myself, and tell him of your insolence.”
With a grimly resigned look, Helena swept out her arm. “If you would follow me.”
Chapter 10
Helena shouldn’t have worried. Smudged dress or no, Phanes looked glad to see me when I ascended the stairs to his private stone alcove. He smiled at me, and I forced a brief smile in return. I couldn’t let him see the anger boiling behind my eyes.
As soon as I sat, Helena snapped her fingers, and servants scurried to offer me wine and fruit. I declined, and she gave me another disapproving look before moving to the corner of the alcove behind me.
In the scant time since I’d last seen it, the empty expanse of grass in the infie
ld now boasted a wide strip that ran down the middle like an airplane runway. It ended in a silk line stretched across the ground. A disc made of an indeterminate metal was in front of it, with a finish line about thirty meters away. At that line, a single bow and arrow rested on the ground, its target probably the small, red fruit dangling from the beam that stretched across the top of the stadium, because why else would that be there?
Ancient Greeks had featured foot races, discus throwing, and archery in their early Olympics. This setup vaguely resembled those games. That didn’t sound as ominous as Phanes and Ashael had inferred, let alone explained the heavy betting from spectators that Ian wouldn’t survive.
A loud cheer from the crowd snapped my attention to the entrance of the stadium. A naked, blond-haired man ran into the arena holding a lit torch. My brows rose. Was this the champion Ian had to face? If so, he didn’t seem that imposing.
The naked blond man ran to the end of the U-shaped stadium and touched the flame to what looked like oil-soaked twine surrounding a hatch in the ground. The twine burst into flames, and he ran away to the sound of more cheers that soon became a chant.
“Naxos . . . Naxos . . . Naxos!”
The hatch burst open. Tremors vibrated through the stadium as everyone suddenly jumped to their feet. Something very large, dark, and horned burst from the flame-haloed hatch to a crescendo of cheers from the crowd.
I stared. Naxos was imposing enough when he ran on all fours. But when he stood, topping nine feet tall and about half that length wide, I let out a soft sound that had Phanes glancing over to give me a look that was partly arrogant and partly pitying.
“My champion,” he said, as if I needed the clarification.
I took a moment to compose myself before I replied. “You didn’t mention that Naxos was a Minotaur.”
One of Phanes’s shoulders lifted in a half shrug.
Right. As if that was of no consequence.
Minotaurs weren’t just creatures that—normally—only existed in myth. They were also famed for their strength, ferocity, and most of all, lethality. Looking at Naxos, I could believe all of it. His head was twice the size of a normal bull’s, though he had a regular bull’s trademark shaggy dark fur, long snout, and sharp-tipped horns. He had a bull’s tail, too, a somewhat fragile-looking thing compared to the rest of him.
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