“Please!” she screamed. “Please listen to me. Zagreus, I love you, too. I need you. Come with me.”
His heart felt as if it shattered right at his feet, but he knew he was doing the right thing. The only thing.
To her father, he said, “Make sure she stays there.”
Theron nodded, brought his fingers together, and opened the portal with a pop and sizzle of energy that illuminated the trees around them.
Talisa screamed his name one more time, but her father pulled her into the portal before she could get out anything else. Then it closed, leaving behind nothing but a rush of energy that sizzled over his skin and the darkness.
A familiar darkness that had been waiting for him all his life.
He drew a deep breath that did nothing to ease the anguish inside, then turned and stared into the night where thousands of glowing green daemon eyes were interspersed amongst the fallen and charred tree trunks with blood-red hellhound eyes. And behind them, in a swirl of black smoke that seemed to shove the night aside, his father, stalking toward them like a colossus nightmare straight out of the Underworld.
He knew Nick was standing not far away. He didn’t need to look. He could feel his power as if it were his own. The last time they’d been in a battle together, Nick had focused his energy on the darkness and destroyed every one of Hades’s daemons. Tonight, that wouldn’t be enough.
“Are you ready?” Zagreus asked, not turning.
“I’m ready,” Nick responded.
So was Zagreus. Finally.
He moved forward, away from Nick, the Argonauts, and what was left of his silens. At his back, he felt the energy sizzle as Nick formed the shield between Zagreus and Ehrendia. There were still daemons and hellhounds behind the shield, but the screams and howls told him the Argonauts were already killing those that had gotten through.
Hades’s smoke swirled in the distance. Growls and snarls echoed in the dark. Zagreus ignored it all and focused on conjuring the hologram around his neck. The image of the Orb he knew his father could not resist. Then, knowing Ehrendia was safe, he lifted his hands and used his gifts to torch every daemon and hellhound he could see.
The howls and horrific screams echoed through the demolished forest as their bodies burst into flames. When the distance between Zagreus and his father was clear, he reached into his shirt and pulled out the Orb. “You want this? Call off what’s left of your army, daddy dearest, and come and take it. Just you and me.”
The growl that echoed through the forest was one of malevolence. Of terror. Of ultimate evil.
“You think you can negotiate with me? You think you can defeat me?” Hades advanced on him like a malicious shadow. “You’re more worthless than I thought.”
A vicious hand swept out of the darkness to grasp the Orb from Zagreus’s neck, but Hades’s fingers passed through air, causing the image of the Orb to flicker then reform.
“Not worthless,” Zagreus answered as Hades’s eyes flew wide. “Not yet, anyway.”
“That was stupid.” Fury darkened Hades’s features. He lifted his hand toward Nick and the others. A stream of fire shot from his fingertips, but Nick’s shield was too strong to penetrate.
“Not stupid, either,” Zagreus mumbled. “When it comes to you, I’ve finally wised up.”
A roar that shook the forest echoed from Hades’s chest like a shock wave, taking down any trees around them that had been left standing. Then he turned his infuriated red eyes on Zagreus and captured him at the neck with one meaty hand. “You are no son of mine. No one betrays me and gets away with it. If you thought you’d suffered before, you have no idea what true pain is.”
Zagreus gasped, reached up to pry his father’s fingers loose, but the hold was too tight.
With one last glare toward Nick and the others, Hades’s muttered, “Their time will come.” Then to Zagreus, he said, “You’re my prisoner now, boy. And this time, I’m never letting you go.”
In a swirl of black smoke that choked Zagreus’s lungs, he poofed them out of that forest and straight into hell.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“There’s still no sign of him,” Phineus said as he stood in front of the queen’s desk in the Argolean castle. “There’s no sign of any of them.”
From her spot on the far side of the room, looking out the tall cathedral windows at the Olympic Ocean rolling over the beach far below, Talisa listened as the Argonauts gave the queen the daily rundown on their search for Max.
A week had gone by. A week since that horrible battle in the forest outside Ehrendia when she’d lost everything.
Once they’d all returned to Argolea, Nick had relayed what had happened after Talisa and her father had left. Zagreus knowing Hades was coming. The plan he’d hatched with her father and the Argonauts to protect her, the Orb, and Ehrendia. And the moment he’d sacrificed himself to the Underworld, knowing full-well that this time Hades would never let him go.
Heartbreak tore through her. The kind of heartbreak that runs soul deep, sucking up every ounce of thought and strength and passion inside a person until they’re left empty and utterly alone. Even when they’re surrounded by dozens of people.
“The fortress was abandoned,” Titus said at Phin’s side. “The place was a total ghost town. The satyrs bugged out right after the battle, or they knew they wouldn’t be going back there when it was over.”
Talisa swallowed hard and stared down at the beach. Her money was on the latter. The satyrs might be simple creatures but their race had survived thousands of years for a reason. And Max was smart. If he was leading them, as they all suspected, he would have had an escape plan. He wasn’t just a strong and powerful warrior, he had an amazing strategic mind.
She wasn’t sure if it was a comfort or a burden that her father and the queen had included her in all the updates since she’d been home, as if she’d always been an integral part of the guardians. She knew she’d proven herself a capable warrior to the Argonauts, but somewhere along the way she’d lost the desire to be one of them. She’d lost the desire for everything since she’d been home.
Her eyes slid closed on another jab of misery. Gods, she hurt. Everywhere. So much that just getting out of bed was a feat she wouldn’t be able to manage much longer. And standing here, listening to updates on the search for Max when all she cared about was where Zagreus was and what was happening to him, wasn’t helping. Especially when she was surrounded by the Argonauts.
“And what of Pandora’s box?” the queen asked where she stood in front of her desk, leaning back against the old wood as she listened to the update.
“No sign of that, either,” Ari answered on Phin’s other side. “We turned the place upside down. Max has to have it with him. The only thing we did find was a funeral pyre several miles away in the woods.”
A funeral pyre for Pandora. The realization distracted Talisa from her heartbreak. For a moment, at least.
Pandora had been mortal. That blade Rhen had thrown had killed her almost instantly. And her death had driven Max into a rage even his forefather Achilles couldn’t rival.
Talisa’s mind skipped back to the last time she’d seen Max—his features twisted with fury and vengeance just before he’d flashed out of that forest. Something no Argonaut could do on Earth, except him. He hadn’t been the Max she’d known and looked up to all her life. He’d been a shadow of himself. One hellbent on destruction. Filled with wrath and powers most gods couldn’t even harness. He’d been… As dark as the evil that dwells in the Underworld.
“If anyone knows it’s possible to come back from the dark, it’s me.”
Zagreus’s words came back to her at unexpected times, sending a wave of agony through her chest. Every breath without him was painful. As if someone was raking hot, burning coals through her lungs, searing what was left inside.
Pushing away from the window, she quickly crossed the great Alpha seal inlaid on the gleaming floor and moved behind the Argonauts, heading for the d
oor, knowing her father was watching her, knowing they all were, but just needing to get out. Nothing mattered anymore except this giant hole in the center of her soul, growing bigger and darker with every passing second.
She didn’t draw a full breath until she was outside the castle, crossing the outer courtyard, passing through the gate, picturing the only place that gave her peace anymore.
The cobblestones disappeared beneath her feet. The sounds of the city and castle activities faded on the breeze. Seconds later, rocks reformed under her boots. And when she opened her eyes, she stared out at the green valley cut by a winding river far below, the blue snowcapped mountains rising to the sky beyond, and the growing darkness of dusk falling from the heavens.
This view had always calmed her in the past. When she’d been angry or frustrated or upset over something her father or the queen or the Argonauts had said or done, this had always been the one place she could go to clear her head.
But this wasn’t then. And as the fresh mountain air filled her lungs, all she could think about was that circular marble lookout in the mountain high above the Ehrendian castle. The surprise on Zagreus’s candlelit face when he’d realized she’d created a private oasis for him away from all his responsibilities and worries. And the way he’d looked at her that last night. With so much aching tenderness, she’d felt every emotion churning inside him. Every want and need and hunger he carried, all for her.
The heartache inside shifted to a sharp, blinding pain, like someone was plunging a thousand gleaming blades straight into her chest. So hot, so intense, it stole her breath. So vicious she knew it would never go away.
She gulped in air. Fat tears rolled down her cheeks. Hands shaking, she slowly sank to her knees on the rocks, giving in to the anguish, to the misery, to every excruciating emotion she’d been fighting for the last week.
Footsteps sounded at her back. She swiped at her face but didn’t have the energy to rise. The best she could do was look up through blurry vision at her father’s sorrowful face.
“Thisavrós,” he whispered, pulling her to her feet and into his arms. “I’m here.”
She let him hold her. Let him be her strength as the tears continued to fall. Let him be the hero he’d always been for her, even when she hadn’t thought she’d needed him.
She wasn’t sure how much time passed, but when the tears finally waned, she opened her eyes and realized darkness had settled over the valley and stars twinkled above.
He didn’t speak right away. Just ran his hands up and down her back as he had when she’d been a child and let her pull herself together. When she finally eased back and looked up at him in the soft moonlight, he smiled sadly and gently wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“A long time ago,” he said softly, “I was right where you are now. Wondering how I fit into a world that no longer made sense. Our situations are very different, but hauntingly the same. I guess that makes sense, though, seeing how your mother was right and you are more like me than either of us wants to admit.”
She swallowed hard, knowing he was trying to lighten the mood, unable to find anything light in the world anymore.
“I tried to keep you here,” he went on. “I told myself it was the only way to protect you. But you don’t need me for that anymore.” His mouth tipped up on one side, and he skimmed his thumb over her cheek. “You probably never did.”
She swiped at the tears on her jaw and stared at him, confused by what he’d just said. “I-I don’t understand.”
“I don’t think I truly did, either. But I do now.” His eyes softened. “Home is not a place, Talisa. It’s a feeling. It’s where you’re needed. It’s where you belong. I love this land, but it’s not my home unless your mother is here. My home is wherever my soul mate is.”
Grief sliced through her all over again, and she blinked quickly, trying not to let him see. She hadn’t told anyone Zagreus was her soul mate. She couldn’t even think the words now without feeling that bone-deep agony. “W-what are you saying?”
“I’m saying.” He drew a deep breath that seemed to pain him. “This is not where you belong. It’s not your home. It never really was. Your mother and I knew that from the start. We were just…” His voice wavered. “We are just so very thankful for the few precious years we had you with us.”
Her heart picked up speed, beating hard and fast. He was talking about her marking. The one on her hip that she’d been born with. The one that meant she already belonged to someone.
Tears filled her eyes once more. Hot, blinding tears. “My home is gone.”
He stared at her with such stark focus and unwavering intensity for so long, she didn’t know what he was thinking. Then, finally, he said, “His people aren’t.”
Ehrendia. He was talking about Ehrendia.
Her pulse turned to a whir in her ears. “B-but you said it wasn’t safe. That I need to be here to destroy the Orb.”
“Well…” A wry smile curled one side of his mouth. “We don’t actually need you for the Orb until we find the last element. As for you being safe in Ehrendia… Nick and I came up with a solution for that.”
“Nick?”
He smirked. “Don’t look so surprised. We do get along now and then.”
The humor fled his features as he took her hands in his. “I know the kinds of terrible things that happen to change people. I also know that everyone deserves a second chance. I’m proof of that. So is Nick. And together, well, Nick and I are also proof that people who were once enemies can be friends. And if not friends, then at least allies.”
Her heart felt as if it might burst in her chest. He was talking about Zagreus. Not just about the fact Zagreus deserved a chance at redemption, but that in his eyes, Zagreus had already achieved it.
Those fat tears rolled down her cheeks. Tears she didn’t even try to hold back anymore.
He reached up to swipe them away again and very softly said, “They need a leader, thisavrós. Someone they trust. A warrior who can train and protect them, the way he did.” He pulled something from his pocket and held it out to her. “Someone who’s smart enough to know when she needs help. And I know you’ll be smart and call for help when you need it. I’ll be expecting you to.”
Her gaze dropped to the Argos medallion in his palm. The one all the Argonauts wore in the human realm and was a direct line of communication back to Argolea.
Her gaze shot to his, and shock reverberating all through her. Not because he was here saying these things, but because he meant them. Truly meant them.
Unable to hold back, she threw her arms around his shoulders, pushed to her toes, and held him tight. “I love you, pampas. I love you so much. That will never change.”
He held her close, cradling her head in his big hand and holding her against his chest with the other. “Oh, I’m counting on that, thisavrós. Because no matter how mighty a warrior you may be, you’ll be taking a piece of my heart with you wherever you go.”
She closed her eyes and clung to him, just as she had when she’d been a child. Before she’d known about soul mates and destinies and how the evils of the world tried to destroy everything good and pure and decent in a person.
All the things she’d learned from him.
Her eyes burned again, only this time the tears weren’t from heartache. They were from love. And knowing that love would never die, no matter where she went. “And you’ll always be my hero. Just as you always have been.”
He chuckled against her ear. “It’s entirely selfish of me, but I’ll take that title. I’ll take whatever I can get.”
This isn’t real. She’s not real. She can’t be real…
Zagreus stared at the image of Talisa crossing the blackened ground, heading right toward him. She wore a silky white robe, her long dark hair flowed behind her like a river of black silk, and she smiled the way she had that last night. When she’d surprised him in the lookout with the candles and bed and her. Then rocked his world out from under him with the
depth of her ability to love.
But this wasn’t the lookout. This wasn’t the romantic scene she’d set up. This was the Underworld.
Fire and brimstone burned behind her, the soot making his eyes water, the black smoke causing him to cough. He stood immobile as she drew near, unable to warn her, unable to call out to her. He couldn’t even drop the dagger in his hand or lower his arm where it stood out like a tree limb at his front.
The dagger she was walking straight toward, as if she didn’t even see the blade.
No. Holy hell, no…
A scream rose in his ears. One that came from him but hadn’t left his mouth.
Frantic, he told himself again that she wasn’t real, that she couldn’t be in the Underworld, that she was safe in Argolea. Then the wind changed direction, and he caught a whiff of her perfume. That heady combination of orange and vanilla and cinnamon he’d know anywhere. The scent that was utterly her.
“Shh, My Prince,” she whispered, drawing even closer. “I’m here. I’m here now.”
No, no, no… This can’t be real…
Her eyes were hypnotic amethysts he couldn’t look away from. And her scent made his knees go weak, but he didn’t fall. And then she reached the blade, and he watched in horror as the tip pierced her chest.
Talisa, no!
Blood seeped from the wound. She cried out.
Panic and shock and terror engulfed every part of him. He struggled, tried to fight, but nothing he did caused the blade to retract.
Her eyes shot open, focused on his. Everything inside him stilled as she held his gaze with a blistering intensity he felt in the center of his soul.
“You did this,” she whispered. Wrapping her bloody fingers around his hand at the hilt of the blade, she growled, “You killed me. Again. Because of you, I’ll now suffer for all eternity. Because. Of. You…”
She jerked hard, pulling him forward.
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