Gadeiros chuckled and turned her, his hands catching her face in them to capture her lips with his kiss.
“Your mother is beside herself trying to find you,” he said brushing at her halo of curls with his thumbs.
“I just needed a quiet moment,” she sighed.
He frowned a bit, “I hope your thoughts are not too serious, Kassa?”
“No,” she rushed to assure her soon-to-be husband and king, “in fact,” she slanted him a mischievous smile and looked up at him through her lashes, “I was hoping you’d come to find me.”
A smile lit his features at that and he kissed her forehead.
“Come back to the palace with me, we have only an hour before the binding ceremony and then we will be wed in front of our two kingdoms.”
Aura nodded.
“Yes,” she smiled and slipped her hand inside Gadeiros’ much larger one and reached up to touch the black jeweled ankh that adorned his chest.
“Soon I’ll wear one too,” she said.
“My queen will have many jewels,” he said, “thousands, although I fear none of them will shine so brightly as she does.”
Aura lowered her eyes, smiling under his praise.
“You are kind Anax, but after my grandmother binds us with the Pearl of the Moon, I will never be without it.”
“And I will never be without you,” he said.
Aura brought shy eyes up to his and beamed uncontrollably, so much so that she glowed, as was the habit of her race.
“It would seem then, my king, that we are bound already.”
“Yes,” he smiled back then pulled her into him as his other hand came up to the ankh and then they were gone from the grove.
Chapter Forty-three
Astral Realm
With a wave of her hand, Panacea scattered scene tiles into an array. Like a quilt they interwove, not only the images but the stories, the actors all related whether they knew it or not. At least Poseidon was finally up to speed she thought. Then she heard a loud thump behind her. She tensed, ready to sift out or fight if her hideout had been compromised. She turned.
On the floor, lay a familiar heap of limbs and other body parts in humanized form.
“Krav!” She said and the heap moaned. She sifted across the room to land at his side and crouched down. When she reached out to touch him, her hand came back covered in blood.
“Krav, what happened?”
She placed both hands on his back and started the healing process through a redistribution of energies. Light emanated from her hands and transferred into his injured body. He’d mend, she had no doubt but she wanted to know what had happened. She rolled him onto his back, stretching his long limbs out.
After manifesting a tiny cask of pain tonic, she lifted Krav’s head off the floor and tipped the liquid into his mouth. When she laid him back down, he groaned and his eyes cracked open.
“Pan,” he said weakly.
She brushed a curl from his forehead.
“Krav, can you tell me what happened or should I consult the astrals?”
He shook his head side to side then muttered.
“She has a fire crystal.”
Pan’s eyes went wide.
“Who?”
Krav’s eyes had closed but when she prodded him they opened back up.
“Thema,” he answered. “She has a crystal dagger. You know the kind Pan,” he started to push up, frantic, “I thought they were gone from existence…”
“So did I,” Pan halted him with her hand.
If what he said was true, then it meant that evil had scored another powerful weapon. Poseidon had created the Fire Stone Crystal and gifted it to Atlantis. Thema only had a splinter of it, but used the wrong way it could end anything, even an immortal. “Have you told Poseidon?”
Krav collapsed back down and shook his head,
“I came straight here, after...” he groaned again.
“What happened to you?”
But he was already starting to drift so she produced cushions for him then went to her star scenes. She cleared away the tiles from before and brought up Krav from the last time they had seen each other. She skipped through scenes of him in Miami sending Cindy and Ronan through the Tides, showing Ronan his past in Atlantis, meeting with Poseidon...she stayed there.
In the scene, Krav stood in the center of a large room, his head bowed. There were windows on all sides where the sun would have revealed intricate ceremonial markings on the floor but it was raining.
Poseidon sat on a throne, his head turned to look out a window and his brow furrowed in the still that Panacea viewed. She pulsed the space in front of her with her hand and sent a small bounce of energy toward the scene, making it expand and come to life.
Poseidon brought his gaze to Krav and spoke.
“You’ve shown him the histories and so now he knows everything?”
Krav brought his head up.
“Not everything. About half, but enough for him to come to terms with the facts of his kingship, sire.”
Poseidon nodded.
“Sire, if I may,” Krav said in such a mollifying tone that Pan nearly laughed, it was so unlike the cocky serpent, “he has been living as a mortal man for a long time. His past must be revealed to him in small doses.”
Poseidon grunted.
“I know. You are right. The scenes stick was a good idea. I would have just placed all his memories in his mind at once but not for your suggestion.”
Krav bowed his head, acknowledging the compliment before Poseidon continued.
“Do you think he will be ready in time? All of this,” he gestured to the storm outside, “is a sign. Powers are being toyed with and I am the only major god left to deal with it. I’ve tried searching through the other pantheons even but they are in the same state as the Olympians with only minor beings left to defend the universe.”
“He is ready, my lord, it is his nature. Even before now, the warrior in him was a thing to behold,” Poseidon cocked a brow at him, “granted,” Krav rushed on, “he got a little carried away with the power but they all did, and besides, our darkest traits can be our greatest strengths.”
“I know it,” Poseidon said, exhaling, “my brothers’ curse has worked. I just wish we had more time and the amulet to close the Tides.”
Krav cleared his throat.
“What is it, serpent? Speak.”
“It’s only that… well...you know that all those centuries ago the Moon Pearl was bound?”
Poseidon nodded looking irritated.
“Yes, I had thought I would have to find a way to reverse the spell and bind it to myself. Now that I have found Gadeiros, he can man the portal himself. If I ever find the stone.”
“It is found, my lord, but, if you remember, the stone has two guardians.”
“The princess you mean? That is a small matter, besides, I thought her dead.”
Krav shook his head.
“Go on,” Poseidon commanded.
“You know that my mistress is well acquainted with the relics of all the realms and with their mysteries?”
“Your mistress,” Poseidon frowned, “has kept herself well hidden…”
“Yes, but she keeps a great many objects and knows of countless others that hold unspeakable powers, the amulet is no different…”
“Make your point,” Poseidon cut in.
“Princess Aureliaura, the moon goddess of the Keltoi, and King Gadeiros were bound to one another at the time of their marriage with the Pearl of the Moon. Along with the curse of the Olympian gods, Gadeiros also was spelled by the Keltoi deity Arianrhod into a spiral of the time wheel. The old goddess may be dormant, like so many are, but her spell remains.”
Poseidon’s eyes went still and Krav rushed on.
“As long as the stone is in existence, so is the princess as well as Gadeiros. If one of them is ever truly lost in an end death, they all are. Control of Gadeiros’ section of the Tides is only assured if both the pri
ncess and the king hold the amulet together.”
“So, seeing as how your mistress knows all of this, does she know how we go about finding this princess? The Keltoi’s time wheel is intricate. She could be in any ring of it, in any dimension.”
Here Krav grinned and Panacea did too just watching the scene.
“She may be in hiding but she is trying to be of aid to you my lord. The princess and your son are together through a series of circumstances and some delicate prodding,” Krav said this proudly, “and the amulet is with them.”
“On Gadeiros’ island?” Poseidon asked, his eyes going wide.
“Yes, sire.”
Poseidon closed his eyes and Krav remained quiet while the god tapped into the ether and drew information from it. When they opened again, his nostrils flared and he looked worried.
“The woman he saved,” he said, “I might have known,” then after a moment longer, “she is in danger. I’m going to the island to intervene.”
“But…” Krav started, “they’re both part human. You know…the whole ‘free will’ thing.”
“I’ll use a disguise,” Poseidon said. “You follow Thema.”
Then the sea god vanished, leaving Krav looking bewildered for a second before he too disappeared.
Pan followed Krav through realms until he stopped in the underworld and hid in the shadows outside a room where noises of what sounded like rutting beasts spilled into the hallway. Thema stood not far away with her lackey, Nia. She looked annoyed but the two of them waited.
“A time like this,” Thema muttered under her breath, “and the Keres’ queen decides to put him to stud.”
She shook her head more out of inconvenience than disgust and rolled her eyes when the sounds reached a fever pitch.
A guttural growl ripped through the air. A few moments later, the scrape of chains was heard before a door opened and Bazor stepped through. He was completely nude and flanked on either side by two female Keres guards. His hands were wrapped together in iron chains and he was prodded down the long hallway with spears.
Once he was back in his own cell, the guards left. Then Thema came out of hiding to stand at the bars that made his door. Nia stayed hidden, but Krav, who had camouflaged himself, inched a little closer to spy on Thema and Bazor.
Thema cleared her throat and Bazor’s head came up immediately.
“Nymph,” he said in a voice so low it croaked, he swallowed and smiled, laying back on his bed. Sex must agree with the king of carnage.
“Bazor, I bring you good news.”
He said nothing, only lifted a brow and waited.
“I have the stone,” she blurted out.
“On you?” Bazor stood up and Thema took an immediate step back.
“No, not yet but soon, very soon.”
Bazor glared at her with suspicion but she pressed on and Pan had to give the Nereid a small bit of credit for facing his hostility.
“The king and his woman have to be together when I strip the stone from them. Be ready tonight Bazor. My…our army is being readied. Once I kill the two that hold the stone, I will call you up from these bars.”
Bazor rubbed at his massive jaw then crossed his arms.
“I will be waiting,” he said.
Thema lifted her chin.
“Good,” she said, “it won’t be long.”
She backed away from the cell and found Nia then they both sifted out of the place.
Krav lingered only a moment but edged closer to Bazor’s cell.
Through his serpent’s eyes, Pan could see the Keres king throw his head back and laugh. The sound was so deep it shook the stone floor and walls.
“Very soon indeed nymph.”
Krav flashed out of the corridor and traced after the Nereids, Pan stayed with him in the vision. They remained in the underworld as they moved through more layers of hell than an Italian poet could have dreamed up. The heat and smoke became more intense along with cloying scents of sulfur and molten rock. All around there were seismic rumblings and discordant sounds of voices chanting.
Krav’s sifting stopped and Pan could sense the crush of bodies around them even before she looked through his eyes again and saw that they were in the middle of a demon horde.
Miserians.
The sea of black cloaks that hid their half formed bodies identified them. Krav bent his head down and she could see that he’d disguised himself in the same type of shroud.
The demons chanted in a dead language, lifting their gray faces up to a high stone where Thema was standing, but she wasn’t alone. By her side was another creature of the underworld, male and beautiful but wholly evil. There was something familiar about him though Pan couldn’t identify him.
That was strange. The read she got from him said that he was both as old as the elements and something new born. Krav must have been as thrown by him as she was because his stare stayed on that one a long time. But, finally, his attention shifted back to Thema who’d started to speak.
“Tonight, we attack the earth realm,” she was crying out to the mass of demons, “the Gigantes and the King of the Keres are on our side as are so many from your realm! When I dispatch of the Atlantean king tonight, the Tides will open for you and you will have the blood of a moon goddess for a sacrifice.”
A giant roar of approval rose up. Krav studied the edges of the crowd where what looked to be ancient Greek soldiers stood at attention. Gigantes. Panacea had forgotten about them. They guarded the volcanoes in the Mediterranean and had in Atlantis too.
“Rush forth.” Thema was saying. “Wreak havoc on human kind and I will join you. It is there that we will make our sacrifice to take the Tides and then we, shall, reign!!”
When she said this last bit, she and the male demon lifted a crystal dagger up between them.
The frantic outcry that rose up at her words shook the walls and the ground. Krav’s lack of enthusiasm must have stuck out because he attracted the notice of Thema’s partner. The stranger’s frozen gaze slanted right to him then flickered to the back of the crowd. All the demons started to funnel out of the area. Their movements en masse made them look like great dark oozing rivers. Get out of here Krav, Pan kept thinking just as she felt hands grasp his shoulders and drag him backward.
Krav struggled but the guards were strong. They threw him into a cell at the end of a long hallway. The place was fortified so he couldn’t sift out and, before he’d had time to come up with a plan, the strange demon showed up with Nia. The nymph turned to face the stranger then slanted her eyes to Krav and jutted her chin in his direction.
“One of Poseidon’s minions,” she said and smirked at Krav, then she left.
The demon crossed his arms and assessed Krav.
“A spy for the gods,” he said then bowed his head in acknowledgement, “I am honored.”
Don’t speak, Pan was thinking just as Krav opened his mouth.
“Thema’s plan will fail and you with her, whoever you are.”
The stranger smiled.
“I am Misros, King of the Miserians.”
“You’re lying. They have no king. They aren’t even supposed to exist.”
The demon shrugged.
“You don’t have to believe me. It doesn’t matter.” His eyes glittered, so light they were nearly colorless, Panacea thought but then they narrowed and he stared right into Krav’s gold serpent’s eyes so hard that it caught her off guard. “You haven’t come alone have you, spy?”
Pan jerked. Could he sense her? That wasn’t possible. To do that he’d have to be able to sense spirits and time sift because she was looking into the past. If he had those abilities, he was incredibly powerful. She needed to get out of there. Just as she was about to leave the scene, he spoke.
“Sometimes, it is the unwanted and the soulless that make the fiercest warriors.”
He motioned to the two Gigantes guards then turned and strode down the corridor. The guards opened the cell and Pan jumped right before they b
egan beating Krav. She didn’t want to watch that part. Later she’d ask how he’d managed to escape.
For now, she needed to lay all the bits of information she’d just gathered and add them to what she already knew. There were more players involved in this uprising than she’d thought. Thema, Bazor, the Gigantes and now this unknown, this Misros who was a complete enigma. In hell, there were many rooms and each one had its own devil.
Chapter Forty-four
Isle of Gades
Soon after Ronan left the room, a Dionai brought in a tray of food. Cindy saw that Bas had been stationed outside the door to keep watch over her. When the servant left, she marched across the room and swung the door open. Bas silently turned. For a split second she thought that maybe she could get him to help her. He was a guy after all, surely he could be charmed. She gave him a wide entreating smile.
His stony face never even moved. He folded his massive arms across his chest and Cindy gulped. Charm be damned. She’d have to find another way to make her date with Thema. She shut the door on Bas and huffed across the room to look out the windows. It was dark out and sounded like another storm was blowing in but the moonlight was strong enough to see by. She looked at the balcony trying to figure out a way down. There was nothing though, not even one measly tree limb close enough to climb out onto.
Hello, safety hazard. What if there was a fire for crying out loud?
She looked around the room. There had to be something she could use to lower herself down with. She searched every wardrobe and chest, even the bathroom and under the bed but found nothing. Come on Cindy, think! Surely there was something she could weave together to make a rope. Times like these made a girl wish she was crafty. She tugged on a length of gauzy curtain. Too slippery. Next, she eyed the bed, that magnificent bed where Ronan had done all those delicious things to her. Why couldn’t he have been a dud in bed? No wonder every female this side of normal wanted him.
Her eyes glazed looking at the sheets.
Sheets!
Duh. It was a little cliché but she was running out of time so she stripped the bed and started tying ends together. Hopefully her knots wouldn’t unravel. It would be just her luck to come to a crashing state of paralysis for all her trouble.
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