Ravaged: An Eternal Guardians Novella (1001 Dark Nights)

by Elisabeth Naughton

  Daphne’s mouth fell open, but he stepped past her before she could stop him.

  Long, silent seconds passed. No one in the room spoke.

  “We can’t go to Olympus,” Sappheire finally said quietly. “Athena will never side with us, not against Zeus. Not even if she knows about his secret sect. We wouldn’t be safe there.”

  “We can’t stay here,” Silas said.

  “No, we can’t,” Sappheire answered.

  “I know who can help us.” Strength gathered inside Daphne as she turned to face them. A strength she hadn’t even known she possessed until just this very moment. “A Siren who would never say no to an Argonaut in need.”

  Sappheire’s brow lowered. “You’re talking about Skyla.”

  Daphne nodded.

  Sappheire’s jaw clenched. “She hates me.”

  “Doesn’t matter. She’s bound to an Argonaut. She’ll be able to get the help we need.”

  Sappheire and Silas exchanged glances, then Sappheire looked back at her. “Are you sure about this? If we do this, they’ll find out he’s still alive, and he clearly doesn’t want that.”

  “I’m more than sure. That little speech of his was complete bullshit. He might say he knows what he wants, but I know what he needs. We’re not leaving him to Zeus alone.”

  “Well done, nymph.” A slow smile spread across Silas’s face. “Very well done.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  “Come on.” Cerek tapped his palm against his bare chest then held his arms out wide. “Hit me. Ever since you and Skyla were bound, you fight like a pussy.”

  A low chuckle rumbled from Orpheus across the mat, rising in the ancient gymnasium toward the upper seating levels of the oval-shaped stadium that showcased some of Tiyrns greatest sporting matches. The Argonaut tipped his head and shot Cerek a pointed look. “I know you’re scared of females and all, big guy, but let me tell ya a secret. Pussies don’t fight. The good ones give nothing but pleasure.”

  Cerek swiped the sweat out of his eyes with the back of his marked forearm and scowled. He wasn’t afraid of females. His reasons for avoiding them were his own and no one else’s. But just the fact Orpheus seemed to make it his personal mission in life to razz Cerek about his lack of female companionship only fueled Cerek’s desire for blood. “Fine, then you fight like a fucking girl.”

  “My girl’s a Siren.” Orpheus grinned as he dropped his bare shoulder and shifted his feet on the mat. “Or was. She’d take that as a compliment.”

  Orpheus charged and plowed his shoulder into Cerek’s ribs. Locking his arms behind Cerek’s back, he lifted Cerek off the floor. Air whooshed over Cerek’s spine just before he cracked hard into the mat. Pain spiraled across his back, but before Orpheus could get the upper hand, Cerek flipped Orpheus to his stomach, grabbed the back of Orpheus’s head, and slammed the Argonaut’s face into the ground.

  “Son of a fucking...” Orpheus shoved his elbow hard into Cerek’s ribs, knocking Cerek back a step. “That’s my godsdamn nose, you prick.”

  “Let me guess.” Skyla’s voice echoed from the doorway that disappeared beneath the spectator area. “My mate was giving you a hard time.”

  Cerek pushed upright and glanced toward the former Siren. Skyla’s blonde hair hung in a sleek wave past her shoulders, and her green eyes sparkled with amusement as she watched her mate roll to his back and pinch his nose to stop the gush of blood.

  “I warned you not to taunt him,” Skyla said to Orpheus. “Clearly, you didn’t listen. Again.”

  A goofy grin slid across Orpheus’s face as he peered up at Cerek. One that told Cerek loud and clear that the bastard had intentionally pushed him right to the edge just for the fun of it. “It’s not really a workout if it doesn’t get the blood pumping.”

  Fucking idiot. Orpheus was a deadly warrior in battle, but he liked to stir the shit at home. He always had.

  Cerek held his hand out to Orpheus and pulled the Guardian up. “Next time I’ll break your arm.”

  Orpheus flashed bloody teeth. “Next time I’ll get my girl to break yours.”

  Skyla sighed. “My hopes for either of you to grow up just crashed and burned. Listen, children, we have a situation.”

  “What kind of situation?” Cerek’s gaze snapped to Skyla, his focus zeroing in on the Siren and her real reason for being here.

  “A very serious one.” A female wearing slim black pants, boots, and the baggiest T-shirt Cerek had ever seen stepped up next to Skyla, her auburn hair, streaked with gold and brown, hanging past her shoulders like a luxurious mane. Beside her, another female moved into the room, this one much shorter, with long, dark hair, dressed in nothing but a man’s oversized shirt.

  “Whoa,” Orpheus muttered. “Siren.”

  “Both of them?” Cerek’s brow lifted in surprise. Sirens didn’t often visit their realm. In fact, he could only remember one time in the last ten years that any Siren other than Skyla had shown up in Argolea.

  “No, just the one on the right,” Orpheus muttered. “The other’s a nymph.”

  Cerek’s gaze ran over the nymph, and his back tingled when her focus locked solidly on him. He’d never met her before but something about her made the hairs on his nape stand at attention and a whisper of worry rush down his spine.

  “Don’t get any ideas, daemon.” Skyla shot her mate a pointed look. “The nymph’s already spoken for.” She turned toward the nymph. “Don’t worry. He’s harmless.”

  Grinning, Orpheus stepped off the mat and slid an arm around Skyla’s waist, then leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Totally harmless.”

  “Ew.” Skyla grimaced and leaned away from him. “You’re covered in blood and sweat.”

  “Never bothered you before.”

  Skyla rolled her eyes. The Siren beside her looked Orpheus over with speculation. “This is the male you left the Order for?”

  Skyla frowned up at her mate. “Yes. The one and only. Sometimes I can barely believe it myself.”

  Orpheus held out his hand toward the Siren. “Orpheus the great and powerful.”

  Skyla crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. “In your dreams, daemon.”

  Orpheus’s bloody grin only widened. The Siren returned his handshake cautiously. “Sappheire.”

  “Whoa.” Orpheus’s stupid smile faded, and he looked back at Skyla. “The same Sappheire who—”

  “Yes,” Skyla answered quickly, turning toward Orpheus and widening her eyes in a shut-the-hell-up signal only a moron could miss. “The same Sappheire I served with on Olympus. Amazing, isn’t it?”

  From his spot on the mat where he watched the banter, Cerek couldn’t help but chuckle. Even Cerek had heard Skyla’s stories about the Siren who’d constantly challenged Skyla’s status as Athena’s right hand on Olympus. Leave it to Orpheus to stir the shit for his mate when the female in question was standing in the same room.

  Orpheus looked back at Sappheire, his gaze sliding over her baggy shirt. “What are you doing here? That’s not a sanctioned Siren uniform.”

  “No, it’s not,” the nymph said, finally speaking. “We’re here because we need Cerek’s help.”

  “Me?” Cerek glanced at the nymph once more, confusion tugging at his brows. “Why me?”

  “Because Aristokles is in trouble.” Her green eyes narrowed only on him. “Your father’s alive, Cerek, but he won’t be for long unless you help him.”

  * * *

  Please don’t let him die. Please, please, please...

  As she traveled through the portal toward Stonehill Hold with the handful of Argonauts who’d joined them, all Daphne could think about were the multitude of ways they would find Ari’s lifeless body.

  Don’t let him die. Please don’t let him die.

  She wasn’t stupid. She knew why he’d said the things he had. Not because he meant them but because he was trying to get her to leave him so she’d be safe. But what he’d been too stupid to realize was that the only safe place for her was with hi
m.

  Her nerves vibrated as her feet connected with the frozen ground. As they couldn’t flash through solid walls, they’d chosen a location on the hillside outside the hold. She said another prayer that they’d gotten here before Zeus’s army, then opened her eyes and gasped.

  The entire structure was on fire. Dark smoke rose to the gray sky above. Female bodies littered the ground, some missing their heads, others stabbed through the heart by random blades, even more burned as if consumed by flames.

  “Oh my gods.” Fear wrapped an icy hand around her throat as she scanned the destruction.

  “Way to go, Ari,” Silas said at her side.

  Daphne whipped toward him with wide eyes, but when the half breed met her gaze, she discovered he wasn’t horrified like her. He was impressed. “Why—?”

  “Booby traps,” he said. “Ari wired this place up good in the event we were ever attacked.” He pointed toward a dagger sticking out of a dead female’s chest. “A rain shower of blades. Dirty bombs.” He glanced toward the charred remains on the hillside beside them. “Barrels of oil he could light on fire.”

  Daphne looked back at the burning structure, a new sense of terror ripping through her. “Are you saying he set this fire himself?”

  “Maybe. Hard to know. Zeus could be trying to smoke him out of the safe room.”

  “Is there no other exit?” Cerek moved up next to Daphne, his features tight, his eyes a little wild. Wild, Daphne knew, because she’d told him his father was alive, and they’d just walked into a nightmare.

  “If Ari’s in the safe room, he can get out.” Silas pointed toward the south. “A tunnel runs from there, through the mountain, and exits in a ravine on the other side of the ridge.”

  Hope leapt in Daphne’s chest. She scanned the snowy hillside.

  Cerek took a step in that direction, but Theron, the massive Argonaut with shoulder-length dark hair Daphne had learned was the leader of the Argonauts, stepped in his way and pressed a hand to Cerek’s chest. “Be careful. If what the half breed said is true and Ari’s in one of his episodes, he could be dangerous. Even to you.”

  Cerek’s back tightened. “He’s my father. I’m not afraid of him.”

  “I know you’re not, but—”

  “He can control it,” Daphne said. They both turned her way. “He just has to focus. If I can get to him, I can help him.”

  The skepticism in Theron’s eyes said he wasn’t convinced. “Let’s hope you’re right, female.” He glanced toward the other warriors who’d flashed in just after them, standing behind Cerek. “Zander, Demetrius, and I will take Silas around the south side of the building and check the hold. Skyla, you and Sappheire go with Cerek and Daphne to where the tunnel lets out and see if you can find him. Orpheus, Phin, and Gryphon are coming up from the west where the path leads down the mountain in case anyone’s coming or going that way. I sent Titus to find Nick. He and Cynna are on holiday, but if we run into Zeus, we’re going to need our own god on our side. Let’s hope we get out of here before that happens. Everyone clear?”

  Heads nodded. Blades were drawn. As a light snow began to fall, Daphne looked from face to face, both awed and relieved that so many had come to Ari’s aid. He thought no one cared. If he knew what they were all willing to do for him—

  “Good.” Theron stepped past Daphne and headed for the burning hold. “Let’s wrap this up before anyone gets hurt.”

  “That dumbfuck better be alive when we get to him,” Zander muttered as the group parted and he followed Theron down the snowy hillside. “Or I’ll kill him myself.”

  Cerek turned to Daphne. “Come on.”

  Daphne had so many questions, about the Argonauts, about their relationships with Ari, about Cerek and what he’d been through these last fifty years, but now wasn’t the time to ask them. She and Cerek had spoken briefly regarding Ari before they’d left Argolea, about who she was to Ari and how she’d known to go to Argolea for help, and though she knew Cerek had a million questions of his own, he didn’t ask them either. Both of them were lost in thought as they hiked through the snow.

  Her throat grew tight and her hands trembled as she stepped around trees and boulders, trying not to sink into the snow, trying not to let fear get the best of her. Sappheire and Skyla were silent as they followed. But the closer they drew to the ravine, the harder it was for Daphne to keep her pulse steady and her breaths slow and even.

  The sound of metal hitting metal reached Daphne’s ears first. Her heart rate shot up when she realized blades were striking. Her legs pushed into a sprint.

  “Daphne,” Sappheire hissed.

  But Daphne didn’t stop. Couldn’t. Her heart lurched into her throat.

  Breathless, she reached the edge of the ravine and looked down. Ari stood in the bottom of the small, snowy valley, his blade clanging against the dagger of a Sirenum Scorpoli as she lunged and tried to slice him. His arms were a whir of black menace, his blade a violent weapon that beat her back. And though Daphne couldn’t see his eyes, she knew they were black and crazed. Could tell by his jerky motions that he was in that moment where all he craved was blood.

  Screams echoed from the other side of the ravine. Daphne’s gaze jerked that way, toward the dozen or so Sirenum Scorpoli sliding down the snowy incline. Her heart rate went stratospheric.

  “Holy gods,” Cerek muttered at her side.

  She didn’t have time to respond. Before she could look his way, he was over the edge, sliding down the snow, yelling Ari’s name and swinging his blade as he sliced through Zeus’s assassins like paper dolls.

  Skyla and Sappheire quickly followed him down into the ravine and joined the fight. She was trained for this very thing, and Daphne knew she should join them, but all she could focus on was getting to Ari. On grounding him before he turned his blade on the wrong person and did something he couldn’t undo.

  Dagger gripped tightly in her hand, Daphne slid down the hillside. The sounds of blades slicing through flesh and bone echoed in the small valley, but she shut them out and focused on her target. Twenty yards ahead, Ari arced out with his blade and caught the Siren he’d been fighting across the jugular.

  The female hit the rocks with a crack. Blood gurgled from the wound, choking her to death.

  “Ari.” Daphne raced up on Ari’s right and gripped his forearm with her free hand as tight as she could. “I’m here, Ari.”

  His eyes were a sea of black, as possessed as she’d ever seen them. As if she hadn’t spoken, he jerked his forearm free so he could move on to his next kill, but she knew if that happened, he might attack the wrong person. Frantic to get through to him, she dropped her blade on the rocks at her feet and grabbed on to his arm with both hands.

  “Ari, dammit. Look at me.”

  Using every bit of strength she had, she jerked him around to face her. His crazed eyes couldn’t seem to focus, skipped everywhere as if looking for the threat. But she held on, not letting go, and said his name over and over again. Until those black pools landed on her eyes. Until the glossiness started to fade. Until his eyes flickered from black to blue and green and back again, telling her he was still in there. That if she didn’t give up, he could come back to her.

  “That’s it,” she said softly while the battle continued to rage behind him. “I’m right here. Focus on me, Ari.”

  “D-Daphne?”

  “Yes, it’s me.” Relief swept through her, stealing her breath, making the muscles in her legs grow weak. “I’m here.”

  His familiar, beautiful mismatched eyes skipped over her features. “What the hell are you doing here? I sent you to Olympus where you’d be safe.”

  Oh, she’d been so right.

  “I’ll never be safe on Olympus. Not when anyone who looks at me can see I’m in love with you. Did you really think I was going to let you do this alone?”

  “Do what alo—” He turned to look over the ravine, then froze. “Holy skata.“

  Daphne glanced past him, toward Skyl
a, pulling her arrow out of a dead Sirenum Scorpoli, then to Sappheire, shaking her head at a body on the ground at her feet. Each and every one of Zeus’s assassins who’d come over the side of that ravine was now dead. But Ari’s shock had nothing to do with their victory.

  His reaction had only to do with the fact his estranged son was striding right for him with a bloody blade held tightly in his hand.

  * * *

  Ari tensed. Cerek was exactly as he remembered. Fifty years hadn’t changed the color of his eyes, or the slope of his nose that was so much like his mother’s, or the square cut of his jaw that came directly from Ari. He was just as big as he’d been before, the same height and size as Ari, and his sandy brown hair was just as rumpled as it had always been when he was a kid. Even the small scar on his upper lip, the one he’d gotten when he’d fallen out of that tree, was exactly the same.

  But he wasn’t the same. Fifty years had aged him in a way that didn’t show on his face, but reflected deeply in his light-brown eyes. Eyes that were now guarded and filled with disbelief.

  Cerek stopped two feet away, his wide-eyed gaze skipping over Ari as if he’d seen a ghost. A splatter of blood was smeared across his cheek. His jacket was torn at the shoulder, and the blade in his hand dripped crimson red droplets onto the dirty snow. But Ari didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Didn’t know what the hell he could say to make up for fifty empty years.

  “I didn’t think it was true,” Cerek muttered. “I can’t believe it’s you. All these years...”

  Ari’s pulse whirred in his ears, and his hands grew damp against his side. He wanted to turn, to run, to disappear, but he couldn’t. Not this time.

  Say something, shithead. Do something. He’s your son.

  He swallowed hard. “Cerek, I—”

  The blade in Cerek’s hand clanged against the snowy rocks at their feet. Then he moved so fast, Ari barely had time to brace himself. But instead of the right hook to the jaw Ari deserved, Cerek closed his arms around Ari’s shoulders, pulled him in, and held on tight.