“He does not know I am safe?”
“You’ve only been out cold for about fifteen minutes, new girl. He’s probably still searching the Underworld for you,” he informed me, uncurling himself from the bed. The pants that he wore were unbuttoned and slung dangerously low on his hips. I could not help but notice when he walked past me and his leg brushed softly against mine along the way.
“Then I must go.” I shot off the bed, hurrying toward what appeared to be a pile of my clothing in the far corner of the room.
“No!” he shouted, grabbing me by the arm and causing me to turn and face him. “No.” His voice was softer that time, and he released his grasp. “Not yet.”
“Where are we?” I asked, taking in the sparse room.
“The room I took over.”
“And my father wouldn’t think to come look for me here?”
“I’m sure he would if he thought that I was still in the Underworld. . . .”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that he may have been led to believe that I left with the others. All part of my plan.”
“Because you wish to appear aligned with them?” I asked. My eyes narrowed slightly, assessing his expression more closely. It gave little away.
“Because I did not want him to show up here,” he replied, as though that fact were painfully obvious.
“How did you keep Kaine and the others from finding me?”
He laughed.
“I didn’t. They were here not long ago.”
“And they just left me with you.”
“In a sense, yes.”
“Care to expand on that?” I asked, knowing that he would not.
“All part of the plan, new girl.”
“And this is why I should trust you?”
“Now you’re getting it,” he purred, a wicked smile darkening his expression.
“You still haven’t explained the need to smash the side of my face in.”
“No. I guess I haven’t.”
“All part of the plan?”
“Consider it an unfortunate Plan B,” he explained most unapologetically. “You weren’t ready to blindly trust me, and I didn’t think that telling you to strip was going to inspire any more confidence in me, so I knocked you out so I could do what I needed to.”
“Which was?”
He shrugged.
“Make it look like I was bringing you over to the favor of the Dark Ones.” When I stared at him incredulously, he continued. “It was only a matter of time before they caught wind of your existence, Khara. You cannot still be so naïve that their desire to claim you comes as a surprise.” In truth, it had. I had not had my wings long enough for me to contemplate all the potential ramifications of being whatever it was I had turned out to be. My expression betrayed me, and Oz laughed haughtily. “You need to learn who your enemies are, Khara, and you need to do it fast. The paranormal world does not accept anomalies well. They are either claimed as a prize or a weapon—or they are destroyed for fear that their powers will be used against the murderous party.”
“And the Dark Ones wish to claim me for their side? Their use?” I asked for clarification.
He hesitated for a moment.
“They want you. For what, I cannot say.”
“They trust you?” That question had been burning at the back of my mind since he had said that he had dismissed them from his chambers.
“They think I am loyal to my new family.”
“But you are not?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Again, a serpent’s smile spread wide across his face.
“Then you are?”
“I didn’t say that either.” He pulled my naked body tight to his, the pressure between us nearing an uncomfortable level. “I like to keep my options open.”
“You plan to play both sides?” I said when the realization hit me. That hypocritical trait seemed to have weathered Oz’s transition unscathed.
“I plan to win,” he corrected, tilting his head so that his lips were at my ear. “You can thank me for that later.” He released me abruptly, heading for the door. The flickering light in the room highlighted the muscles in his back favorably when he reached for the handle. Stopping just shy of it, he turned back to face me. “When you find Hades, and he sees the split above your eye and the growing bruise spanning the side of your face, you will tell him that Deimos hit you.”
“Why would I do that? What do you hope that lie will accomplish, exactly?”
“I want to fuel Hades’ distrust in him.”
“Deimos is Hades’ second in command. You will have to do more to create doubt than bruise my face.”
“Hades knows something is amiss between you and Deimos.”
“Perhaps, but Deimos has managed to minimize the extent of his curiosity.”
He cocked his head at me strangely, like a raven locating its distant prey.
“Hades adores you. You are not ignorant of this fact. Do you think he would tolerate your face being used as a punching bag?”
“It has been used as one before. It did not result in the outcome you seek.”
He growled, its echo tapering off slowly in the confines of the small room.
“It should have.”
“Your plan will not work.”
“Did Hades ever see evidence of the previous crimes against you?”
I thought long and hard, considering whether or not he had.
“I cannot be certain that he did.”
“Then I will be certain on your behalf. I don’t believe he would allow you to be abused under his care. I may not like your father or trust him as you do, but he has some degree of honor, especially where you are concerned.”
“But how can you be so assured that he will react to the news in the manner you foresee?”
He moved toward me lithely, closing the distance in the blink of an eye.
“Because it would be my initial reaction to it.”
“Hades is not you,” I countered, standing stoically against his approaching form.
“No. He is not.” He leaned forward, his lips at my ear. His voice was a breath against me. “For if he was, Deimos would be dead the moment Hades’ realization of his treachery sunk in fully.”
A sudden rush of wind blew my hair over my eyes. When I finally managed to remove the tangled mess from my face, I found myself alone in the room. Oz was gone, but his enigmatic words remained. He would have punished the one who had affronted me in the way he just had. It made no sense whatsoever.
But that was Oz—full of hypocrisy. There was little reason to be found in anything he did. And the reasons for that truth would forever remain a mystery to me.
I stood outside my father’s door, thinking about what Oz had said. He wanted to cast a shadow of doubt in Hades’ mind. I just was not sure his plan would work. Casting doubt on Deimos was a dangerous plan, and I knew that Hades’ power, weakening as it was, would not stand against an angry Deimos. Would I put my father in harm’s way if I did as Oz had said to? Was that his plan? Did he wish to isolate me from those who cared for me, to meet some end I could not predict? When it came to fallen Oz, I had quickly learned his scruples were questionable at best. The Dark version of Oz, however, was an entirely different beast altogether.
When fallen, he had betrayed my brothers and inadvertently endangered me as well. He righted that wrong by birthing my wings and standing against those he had aided, but his initial actions still bred doubt in my brothers’ appraisal of him. I had remained on the fence regarding the matter, but I was starting to lean toward their opinion.
Oz was not one to be trifled with nor underestimated.
I turned to leave, not wanting to approach Hades until I had spoken to Oz again and received the answers I desired, providing he was willing to share his plan with me in detail. To my dismay, the door opened before I was out of sight. A concerned-looking Hades stepped out, catching me as I walked away briskly.
“
Khara! Where have you been? I have been beside myself with worry.”
“I’m sorry, Father. I did not know.”
“What happened? Did the Dark Ones not find you?” As I looked over my shoulder, my good eye facing him, the depths of the despair he had felt were still apparent in his eyes. In that moment, I made a decision which path I would go down. Which story I would tell.
“Oz found me.”
I could not ignore the incredulity in his gaze.
“One and the same, Khara,” he rumbled, stepping closer to me while I hovered outside the door to his office, shielding my battered face from him. “Khara. Come here, please.” It was not a request, but an order. An order that had an unmistakable edge to the tone in which it was given. I hesitated for a moment before turning to face him. I had not personally confirmed the damage I had sustained from the blow I took, but given how my head was beginning to pound, I knew the evidence of it would prove easy for him to find.
The sucking sound he made through his teeth confirmed that.
“The Dark One did this,” he seethed, lifting my chin toward the light to better assess my wound.
I hesitated again.
“No, Father. He did not.”
“Who, then?” he asked, releasing my face from his grasp but not his gaze.
“I would rather not say,” I said, hoping that I could afford myself the time I needed to speak to Oz.
“Tell me.” Another order. Though I knew my father’s powers were waning, I did not wish to treat him as such. I would answer him. But it would not be with the truth.
“Deimos,” I sighed, fearing that I had unwillingly opened a Pandora’s box. “But I do not wish for you to confront him, Father. I must learn better how to deal with him.”
“Tell me what happened. Now.”
Without hesitation, I pulled together the most believable lie I could.
“He came to steal me from Oz. He does not trust him. Perhaps he thought that Oz was working for those that had attacked. There was a struggle, and when I told him that I did not require his aid—”
“He did this intentionally?” he asked.
“It all happened very quickly, Father. I am sure that the circumstances surrounding the matter did not help. I cannot speak to whether or not he intended to harm me. This time . . .”
“Khara,” Hades started, clearly reading meaning into my words. “Has this happened before?”
I did my very best to look sheepish and contrite.
“Yes, though I allowed it. I did not wish to trouble you with it at the time. But now I am stronger and have abilities. I will deal with him myself. Please,” I asked softly. “Grant me that.”
I could see the struggle in his eyes; his murderous intentions flashed through his otherwise impenetrable wall of pain. He viewed me as his princess, one that needed his protection. In fairness, I had always had it, in a fashion. But he, too, knew—now especially— what it meant to be challenged. He understood that if I did not stand and fight, rather than hiding under the security he provided, I would always be fodder. Even more than he wanted to protect me, he wanted to know that I could protect myself.
“I do not understand why he would do this,” he said. The clarification he sought was not because he doubted me, but because he did not want to believe that Deimos, his most valued warrior, would have done such a thing to someone he cherished.
“Do what?” a voice called from down the hall. Right on cue, Oz strode toward us as though he had choreographed the scenario. Perhaps he had.
“You,” Hades boomed. “This matter does not concern you. You are nothing but poison to her.”
“This place is poison to her,” Oz countered, coming to stand at my side. “And anything that happens here involving her involves me. So I will ask you again: Who did what?” He looked down at me, my bruised eye clearly displayed. He scowled as though he had not seen the marking before. An observer would not have had the slightest inkling that it had been he who had made it. “Ah, yes. This is what happens when you send your henchman to retrieve your daughter. Do you sanction this behavior? Is this how you take care of those in your charge, Soul Keeper?” he asked Hades while eyeing my face with great scrutiny.
“Deimos will be handled,” Father snarled.
“He should not have to be, because it should not have happened.”
“You forget yourself, Ozereus.”
“No,” Oz snapped, lunging closer to Hades. “You forget yourself. You are responsible for her. You chose to be her guardian. And you are losing control of those you employ. You would be wise to be more selective of those you keep in your closest confidence, Hades.”
Without being dismissed, Oz took my arm and dragged me away from my father, leaving him alone in the hallway, surrounded by his guilt for endangering me and his anger at Oz’s truth. His mission had been accomplished. Oz had most certainly fertilized whatever seed of doubt may have existed in Hades’ mind regarding his second in command. The question remained as to what he could actually do to Deimos as a result of that revelation. As far as I had always known, Deimos was unstoppable. But perhaps he wasn’t. Perhaps Oz knew something that I was not privy to. It would not have been the first time.
Once far away from Hades, Oz looked down at me, flashing me a proud grin.
“I’d say that worked brilliantly, wouldn’t you?”
22
Before I could reply, the sounds of my approaching brothers caught my attention. They were shouting, presumably at Aery, who had done as she said she would and kept them away. But neither she nor they knew if I had survived the attack of the Dark Ones, and it was clear that if I had not, there would have been hell to pay.
“I am here,” I yelled down the darkened hallway, hoping to assuage their fearful anger.
“Khara!” Kierson shouted, and within seconds he came into view. Casey was right on his heels. “You’re okay! What the fuck happened?”
“I tried to keep them away,” Aery called from behind them, apologizing.
“Yeah. We’re going to have a little talk about that, too,” Casey snarled, stopping in front of me while Kierson scooped me up in his arms and crushed me against him.
“The Dark Ones,” I explained weakly; my breath was hindered by Kierson’s overly tight embrace. “They attacked the Underworld.”
“Holy shit!” Kierson blurted out, dropping me instantly.
“They came for you,” Casey observed shrewdly.
“So it seems.”
“It also seems that they were unsuccessful,” he continued, reaching out to the bruise on my face. “Put up a good fight, did you?”
My eyes drifted to Oz. I was uncertain how much to entrust the boys with. As was usually the case, I did not understand Oz’s plan, but when it came to the Dark Ones I had little choice but to defer to his judgment. I hoped that decision would not later prove unwise.
“She did,” Oz affirmed, looking down at me with a hint of amusement. It was as if he enjoyed my deference.
“You were there?” Kierson asked, the guilt in his tone so thick that my chest tightened again.
Oz leaned forward.
“Why do you think I’m here, Kierson? The ambience? The five-star accommodations?”
“You knew they would come for her,” Casey rumbled.
“No. But I wasn’t willing to find out the hard way.”
Silence fell over the group as the boys stared at Oz, disgust and appreciation warring in their expressions. They hated what he had become, but knew that I might not have evaded the Dark without him. And they were right. I would not have.
Kierson’s features softened when he finally turned his attention back to me, gently taking my hand in his.
“Khara, I know you are hell-bent on finding answers here, but even you have to see that it’s not safe. Your father couldn’t keep you from the Dark Ones when they brought you to us, and he couldn’t help you this time. He can’t protect you. Here, you are essentially trapped with no means of escape that
do not depend on the aid of others. That’s a terrible defense strategy. Clearly you see this now.”
“I know,” I conceded, thinking that it was unlikely the Dark Ones would be deterred forever; regardless of whatever lie Oz had sold them, they would eventually see that he was unwilling or unable to deliver me to them. They would come back to collect what they saw as theirs and would undoubtedly instigate the war they threatened to bring about. I could not do that to Hades. Especially not with his powers failing.
Begrudgingly, I agreed.
“Good. Then let’s get you out of here,” Kierson said, pulling me behind him as he started off in the direction of the Great Hall.
“Wait!” I snapped, wriggling out of his grasp. “There is one final thing for me to do. Then we will leave. I promise.”
His eyes narrowed at me, contemplating my demand.
“No.”
“There is no option, Kierson. I must do this.”
“Fine. Then we’re all coming with you.”
“No!” I cried. “You cannot.”
“Bullshit,” Casey spat, joining the argument.
“No bullshit,” I countered. “Go to the banks of the Acheron. Wait for me there. I will not be long. I swear to you.”
“Let us help you,” Kierson implored, unable to keep the dejection from his countenance.
“If you could, I would. But you cannot.”
“Can he?” Kierson’s eyes snapped to Oz, who stood there looking amused.
“No. He cannot either.”
Kierson seemed somewhat satisfied that Oz was denied as well. Oz, however, looked far less pleased.
“Do as she says,” he growled. “Aery, you take them there and wait.” He then turned his angry eyes to me. “I have something I need to do as well, new girl. Go do what you feel you need to. Say good-bye to Hades. Fuck Deimos. I don’t care, but you’d better be standing by the Acheron waiting to leave when I get back.”
“Where are you going?” Casey inquired.
“To see if my plan is working.” Without any further preamble, he stormed past my brothers and me, Aery still hovering near the wall a fair distance away. Oz’s speed increased with every step, urgency driving him onward. “See you soon,” he called over his shoulder before disappearing entirely around a winding turn in the corridor.
Unseen Page 17