by Sable Grace
Chapter Thirty-five
Once Drake was subdued behind closed doors, his wailings quieted, the hall grew tense all over again. Kyana squirmed as all eyes rested upon her. It was her turn, and she wasn’t ready.
“Hearing Drake’s testimony reminds me of how severe the charges against you are, Kyana,” Artemis said, her amber eyes damp and wide as she studied Kyana. “You’ve been a prize to me. A valued huntress that has fulfilled more tasks for our cause than any other. Your rare breed makes you priceless. But your judgment, it seems, has made you a liability. We’ve heard Drake’s testimony, seen what a destructive weapon you created in your friend. If Drake Mallone is correct, than you’ve just given Cronos the means to return and destroy us all. How am I to defend you now, child?”
Atropos pushed off her hood, her black eyes narrow little slits of distaste. “She’s always been a liability. Disrespectful. Insolent. She’s never done her duties for any reason other than her own glory.”
“Yes,” Ares said, looking far too pleased. “She thrives on having the other tracers know her by name. They envy the combination of breeds inside her that allows her to do what they cannot. But it is luck that has made her so different. Not skill.”
Kyana seethed beneath her carefully calm demeanor. How dare they accuse her of being lucky? She was good. Damned good.
“I made a mistake,” Kyana blurted out, uncertain when her turn to talk would come. “But I didn’t do it for glory. I did it to save Haven and I won’t plead for forgiveness for something I would do again.”
When Ares tried to interrupt her, Artemis silenced him and motioned for Kyana to continue.
“She was dying. She asked me not to turn her and I did it anyway. Murdering an Order member is against the laws, but letting one die isn’t? You purged me when I came to you. Taught me how to tame the monster in me and become a valuable asset to this cause. It’s what I believed would happen to Hav—”
“Enough!” Atropos stood and leaned across her table, spit accumulating in the corners of her mouth. “You’ve always thought yourself to be above our laws. Do not lie now and pretend to have cared about the specifics of them when you broke them.”
“She was trying to save a friend. I believe that,” Jordan said, leaning closer to Carmen. “Like she saved me.”
Beside Carmen, Atropos’s Chosen remained silent. Kyana had never met her, but she kept her head bowed, her hands wringing nervously on the table. She would be of no use to Kyana, but Jordan might be. Artemis would be. Carmen, Lachesis, Clotho, their stance was unclear. That put two judges on Kyana’s side; Ares, Atropos, and probably Hades against her. The odds were not in Kyana’s favor. She’d need at least five of them on her side to be saved.
Sweat beaded on the back of her neck and dripped down her shirt.
She felt as though a wildfire was blazing in her throat. “I can find Haven. I can bring her back and get her help before—”
“Before she raises Cronos?” Lachesis peered out from beneath her hood. “We know what you found in that room, know what caused it. I may not have all my powers, but with Jordan, we were able to see what happened there. What you caused.”
“She’s powerful enough to succeed, Kyana,” Clotho said. “The Witch that mingles with the monster you created is skillful enough to perform the ritual, and the beast is strong enough—or will be soon—to keep us from getting our hands on her in time.”
Kyana shut her mind to the image those words provoked. “No. I felt her. I know her. Whatever Cronos is doing to control her, he won’t find it easy. She didn’t want to do what she did at the Healing Circle. He made her.”
“Exactly. He controlled her. Each day, his hold on her will grow stronger.”
“But I’m like her! I’m the only one who can match what she is and go head-to-head with her. I’ve been this genetic mutation for longer, and I’m her Sire. I can link to her, be one step ahead of her and bring her back here. Damn it, she’s been loyal to this Order for years. You owe her a chance to redeem herself for something that wasn’t her fault!”
To Kyana’s surprise, it was shy Carmen who removed her hood and, albeit nervously, spoke up. “But that’s not right, is it?” She looked to Clotho. “She’s not as powerful as the thing she created. Hannah is a Witch too. She has an extra breed in her, right?”
Clotho smiled. “Her name is Haven, and yes. You’re quite right.” The goddess turned her gaze to Kyana. “You have my vote, Kyana. My choice is to set you free so that you may find Haven. Other tracers would be forced to keep their hunts at night, while your Lychen form can save hours by prowling the days. And the link you have to her . . .” She looked to her sisters. “Can we afford to lose that link to someone so potentially dangerous?”
Hope nearly sprang Kyana from her chair. “If I don’t succeed, I will return here and cut my own damned life thread.” And she would, because if she failed, it meant Haven was a lost cause, and Kyana wasn’t sure she could live with that.
“Let her go,” Jordan said. While her tone was a tad shaky, she held her back rigid. Gone was the timid mouse Kyana had pulled from the rubbish bin. “She saved my life. I cannot vote to take hers now.”
“She scares me. I—don’t know her, but how can letting a monster free be a benefit to what you’ve been telling me is our cause?” This from Atropos’s Chosen, who received a pleased smile from Atropos in response.
“Frances is correct,” Atropos said. “Setting one lawbreaking beast free to catch another is a moronic way of thinking and I will not have a hand in it. My vote is no.”
Artemis sighed, her gaze never wavering from Kyana’s. She wasn’t certain, but she could have sworn she saw nearly as much fear in the goddess’s eyes as was in Kyana’s heart. “Two for letting Kyana go with conditions. Two for carrying out the sentence of death. You know where my thoughts fall on this matter, so make that three for letting her resume her duties and stop Cronos from carrying through on his threat. Ares? Do I even need to ask or shall we just call it three for and three against now and save you your breath?”
Two more. I just need two more. Kyana’s gaze swung to Lachesis and Carmen, and rested on Hades. Two of them would have to choose to save her. Hades’s silence wasn’t comforting. She’d never met the god, but she wished she could see his face so she might gain some glimpse into his thoughts.
Ares watched Kyana closely, his gray eyes looking so much like Ryker’s at that moment, she was strangely comforted despite the dislike aimed in her direction. His gaze swung behind her. Kyana turned to find Ryker himself standing in the south doorway, his arms folded across his chest, his stare steadily focused on his father.
“Ryker,” Artemis snapped. “Tell me it’s done.”
He gave a brisk nod. “Tartarus has been sealed.”
“You’ve done us proud.” Artemis’s tone softened and she smiled. “You have our thanks.”
“It was Kyana who found the key. Thank her.”
Ares narrowed his gaze. “Yes, Artemis.” His tone dripped with sarcasm. “Let us thank the one who has delivered doom to our doorstep.”
“Tread carefully,” Ryker hissed through clenched teeth.
Obviously displeased by Ryker’s defense of Kyana, Ares folded his arms across his chest and glared. “You should not be here, Ryker. This is a sentencing.”
A cold smile curved Ryker’s mouth. “You’ve been trying to get me to Olympus for years, Ares. My first venture here, and you want me to leave?”
“He may stay,” Artemis said. “If this does not go in Kyana’s favor, she should be allowed a friend. But Ryker, if you cannot remain silent, you will be asked to leave.”
Unable to bear the thought of Ryker watching her fate unravel, Kyana almost asked that they make him leave. But instead, she turned away and allowed herself to realize that his presence made this all a bit more bearable. If only Haven and Geoff were here, she’d go out with family around her. That would have been a gift.
“Very well. Stay. Your pr
esence will not sway my vote.” Ares nodded at Artemis. “I vote no. She is too unpredictable to believe she’d abide by any conditions.”
“Carmen?”
The Chosen seemed to shrink to the size of a Milk Dud. “I trust Clotho. If she believes in saving Kyana, then I do too.”
Artemis smiled. “Four to three.”
Don’t count your chickens. There were still Lachesis and Hades. Lachesis wasn’t Kyana’s biggest fan, and yet she didn’t loathe Kyana the way Atropos seemed to. But judging by the pitying stare she delivered to Kyana now, this wasn’t looking good.
“I’m sorry, Kyana. I cannot risk putting any more faith in hopes that you’ll change. When I read you eighty years ago, I saw your desire to do something good, and also read your desire for power. Your greedy tendencies. If eighty years wasn’t enough to tame that side of you, I can’t believe a little more time will do it. Though my vote really doesn’t matter at this point, I must side with Atropos on this.”
Kyana’s heart sank. A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped at the light squeeze. Ryker wrapped his hand around her nape and gave a tender massage. He knew she was doomed too, but his eyes didn’t say his final, silent good-bye.
Confused, she turned back to the table. Why did Lachesis think her vote didn’t count? She’d just evened up the score, leaving only Hades to deliver the final nail to Kyana’s coffin. Her vote had mattered a lot. Yet as she scanned the faces peering down at her, the expressions all seemed to read that the matter had been resolved. Artemis and Jordan looked pleased, Atropos and Ares looked ready to spit. It was as though they’d all assumed Hades would set Kyana free, which was a ridiculous notion. Hades wasn’t known for his forgiving nature. He wasn’t even particularly nice.
“Then it’s settled. Kyana is free to go after Haven.” Artemis clapped her hands together, her face positively beaming.
Ryker leaned over Kyana’s shoulder. “I told you not to give up hope.”
She looked up at him, completely confused. “But Hades hasn’t voted. Not that I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but—”
“But they know I would never vote against you, lass.”
Kyana’s neck twisted painfully as she snapped her attention back to the table and toward that sexy, familiar Irish accent. Geoffrey stood among her judges, his black hood falling around his shoulders as he smiled smugly down at her.
“Wha—”
“I couldn’t say anything until the final blood ceremony was complete,” he said. “It was too dangerous to let anyone know Hades had found his Chosen.”
“You . . . you’re Hades?”
Her world tipped on its head. Understanding righted it again as she remembered his quick healing, his speed, his tap on information he shouldn’t have been able to gain all this time, his disappearance in his tracking duties. She’d never been given the full, original list of Chosen. Geoffrey must have been picked early . . .
Holy shit. Geoffrey was becoming a god.
She’d never had a particularly fond view of any of the gods except for Artemis, and now both of the men in her life were godly. She wanted to ask a million questions of Geoffrey, but only one tumbled out of her mouth. “I’m free?”
Geoffrey grinned. “Find our girl, lass. Prove to these window lickers that they’re wrong about you.”
“Better leave now too, before one of your votes has time to change.” She could hear Ryker’s smile in his voice. He didn’t seem at all surprised by the revelation that had Kyana reeling.
“You knew?”
He nodded. “Geoffrey and I came to an understanding and he confided in me. A way to show I could trust him. I would have found out anyway, but it was nice to see him try to offer something of himself—”
“You ass. You kept this from me. I wouldn’t have been so . . .”
“Scared?” Ryker brushed her hair from her face. “It’s okay to be scared, Ky. It means you still have a bit of humanity in you.”
She wanted to kick him in the shin and kiss him at the same time, but neither action seemed appropriate. She also wanted to get the hell out of here before Atropos decided to clip the life thread despite the outcome here today.
As she allowed Ryker to help her to her feet and toward the door, Artemis moved from the table to join them. Her gaze was no longer filled with satisfaction, but worry.
In the privacy of their small corner of the room, the goddess touched Kyana’s arm. “You must perfect your link to Haven. It’s the only thing that’s going to give you an advantage. If Cronos truly has uncovered the secret to resurrecting himself and is able to communicate and persuade her, she only lacks four things to help him. If she gets them, the fight is over. We can’t win.”
Kyana smiled, feeling for the first time that she might have a chance to save Haven. “What things? If I find them first, she’ll have to come to me to get them. That’s how we find her.”
“The Eyes of Power.”
Kyana swallowed. Of course it would be something so ominous. Zeus’s staff. Poseidon’s trident. Hades’s amulet. And Cronos’s ring.
Artemis clasped her hands in front of her, her glowy face pale. “The only way to raise a god of Cronos’s power is to obtain those things that gave him the power in the first place. He’ll need all four before he can regain the power to finish what he started all those years ago. Then he’ll be after his sons. Their lives are in your hands, because if their powers keep waning so drastically, they’re practically defenseless without fully trained Chosen. There’s no need to look for the Eyes of Power. Their owners still retain possession of them, save for one—Cronos’s ring—which Ryker has made certain was given a safe home. Find her, Kyana, and know that she’ll kill you if you stand in the way of her claiming those conduits. If Cronos’s hold on her is strong, she won’t see you as a friend any longer.”
“She can try. I won’t let her, and I won’t let her harm the gods or herself. Believe in me, Artemis. I can do this. I can bring Haven back. She can be your Chosen, and everything can be okay again.”
Kyana could hear the desperation creeping into her voice.
“I’ve always believed in you. But I pray you can be swift in this. You won’t be the only one hunting her. You must be better than the other tracers already sent after her.”
“We don’t need other tracers,” Ryker said. “Call them off.”
“I can’t.” Sadness replaced worry. “I no longer control them all. Until I have my Chosen, I’m not strong enough to lead so many.”
“I will bring your Chosen back.”
Artemis shook her head. “I have no Chosen, Kyana.”
“Yes, you do.” Kyana threw up her hands. “You have Haven.”
“Even if Haven was strong enough in her new body to take my powers, the murder of those Healers are too fresh . . . it will take months to purge and purify her. That is time I don’t have.”
“So I’m supposed to bring her back so she can be put to death?”
“A trial is her only hope of survival. You must find her before she can raise Cronos. If the other tracers find her, they will carry out her execution to prevent her from completing her task.”
Geoffrey appeared behind Artemis and slipped to Kyana’s side. “She’s right, lass. Those tracers won’t offer Haven a chance to live. They’ve been ordered to kill on sight.”
Determination built like fire in Kyana’s belly. She was ready. She’d work on the link until she could summon it at will. “I’ll find her first.”
“And what will you do then?”Artemis asked.
“I’ll save her.”
“And if you can’t?” A tear slid down Artemis’s cheek and she lightly cupped Kyana’s. “Are you prepared to do what’s necessary?”
Kyana swallowed. “If I can’t save her?”
Artemis nodded. Kyana felt Ryker’s fingers run through her hair. She sank against him, drinking in his support. “Yes. What will you do if you can’t safely bring her down?”
Kya
na jerked her face away from Artemis and pulled away from Ryker’s hold. Standing on her own, she said, “Then I’ll kill her.”
“I have one last gift that will help you in this, Kyana.” Artemis nodded solemnly, then turned to speak to those remaining at the table—the Moerae. “Clotho, prepare your ceremony. My choice has been made.” Artemis turned, and with a smile held out her hand. “Come, Kyana, and become the new Goddess of the Hunt.”
Acknowledgments
HEATHER: I would like to first and foremost thank the most supportive family in the world. Writing a book is much like running a marathon. Sometimes, there’s no one there when you cross the finish line to throw confetti and set off fireworks, but without the support of loved ones, you’d never get to finish at all. Who else is going to be there at the side of the road, passing you water and encouraging you when you think you’re out of steam? So while my family passed me those refreshments and waved their pompoms while I staggered by, writing with a partner this time means I had someone at the finish line to finally feel what I feel, and Laura, bravo. I’m proud of you.
LAURA: First, a special thank you to my family for cooking their own dinners, and doing all the laundry, and for entertaining the four-under-four, and most of all for telling everyone you know that mom just sold a book, and yes, you’re going to get a copy for your birthday. Your support means the world to me and I can’t tell you with words how truly special each and every sacrifice you’ve made—even those with complaints—is to me. To the Plot Queens for helping me learn the craft of writing and giving me the skills I needed to see this dream come true. And to the SG Cheerleaders—Tag-team sisters Cheryl and Deb (don’t worry, Deb, you’re still Captain of the squad as promised!), Jess, and Krysta, thank you for picking up your pom-poms and glowing words of praise for each and every milestone we cross.
Sable Grace would like to take this opportunity to apologize for destroying the world, most especially the beautiful city of St. Augustine. Rest assured, you will be rebuilt! It takes a lot of people and a lot of work to rebuild from devastation, and so we’d like to thank the men and women who rise to the challenge every day to rebuild what nature and mankind have destroyed—those who get their hands dirty and spend their days saving lives and hunting the true monsters of this world. Military and civilian, you have our whole-hearted thanks and love.