by Sable Grace
Even the Dark Breeds of the Order were expendable. Faces she recognized exploded all around her. Kyana tucked her face against Ryker’s back, blocking out the vision now seared into her brain.
“Half the Order are Dark Breeds,” she managed, unsure now if her throat was constricted from dust or the threat of tears. “What the hell is he doing?”
“Protecting us all.”
“At the expense of us who get in his way? Gods, stop him, Ryker!”
“Casualties of war,” Ryker muttered.
She looked at him, found him watching her from over his shoulder, his jaw tight and his gaze unapologetic. She opened her mouth to berate him for his casual attitude over the loss of her peers, but another blast of white lightning flew past her head. Suddenly, she was on the ground, gasping for air, Ryker pinning her to the grass with his body sprawled on top of her.
He managed to pull her behind a low wall. “Keep your head down,” he shouted, trying to force her to stay on the ground.
Kyana fought to her knees and peered over the wall. Morbid fascination had her watching Zeus continue his slow parade down the road. Bodies soared off the plains and over the cliffs of his mountains. Screams accompanied roars of pain, and Kyana cupped her ears to shut them out. They were unlike anything she’d ever heard before, and Dark Breeds or not, they were puncturing what little soul she had left.
Knowing they were outnumbered and completely beaten by the power of the God of Gods didn’t persuade the remaining enemies to turn tail and run. Instead, they pushed forward as one, determined to take as many Order members’ lives as possible before they gave their own.
Another bolt flew overhead. More Dark Breeds fell, but still more surged through the portal to take their places. Kyana pulled her gaze away from Zeus to take in the fight still being waged on the bloodied field. Most of Cronos’s supporters fought with Order members, but a few, however, were taking to the outer rim where trees, rocks, and protective walls could hide them from Zeus’s wrath.
Kyana struggled against Ryker’s hold. “Zeus and his sentinels aren’t guarding this path anymore. The Oracles are unprotected, and if Haven is going after them—”
Ryker refused to budge. “No. If you die, there’s no one left to fight for Haven.”
Yes there was. There were Geoffrey and Silas . . . Kyana froze. Ryker believed she could still save Haven? After everything Haven had done, he believed Kyana had that kind of power? She swallowed and fell limp beneath his stony body. His belief in her was overwhelming, but her muscles grew taut again as she pushed those emotions aside and sought out her logic.
If Haven had a chance to get her hands on an Oracle, they’d all be dead. One Oracle could lead Haven to all the Eyes of Power, though with Zeus’s show today, they already knew where his was. Likely, Geoffrey still had his amulet as well, but the whereabouts of Cronos’s ring was still unknown by all except Ryker and whomever he’d given it to. If Haven succeeded in this suicide mission, she could find out. Then she’d be able to retrieve them all and finish raising Cronos.
“We don’t have a choice.” Kyana wiggled her arm free to point at a group of Dark Breed picking their way around a small outcropping near the edge of the cliffs. “Zeus can’t stop them all and his guards won’t leave him. It’s up to us to make sure those Oracles are protected.”
She didn’t wait to hear his objection. Bracing her hands against the wall, she shoved backward as hard as she could. Caught off balance, he released his hold and Kyana broke free.
Knowing he’d follow her, and praying she wasn’t about to get herself ashed, she ran straight for the path that would take her farther up the mountain above Zeus’s temple. From the corner of her eye, she saw Zeus raise his staff again.
Certain she was about to find out how much electricity a body could hold before it popped like an overfilled balloon, she skidded to a halt. The blast soared several feet overhead, clearing a path in front of her, but somehow, she remained on her feet.
Zeus’s icy blue eyes locked on Kyana. He gave a slight nod before returning his full attention to the frontal attack. It was all the encouragement she needed. Not willing to risk her remaining strength on a god-speed sprint, she balanced on the balls of her feet, bent her knees, and jumped.
She landed in the middle of the pack of Dark Breeds stealthily making their way toward the Oracles’ cave. Kyana swung out with her leg and sent two over the edge into nothingness. Their companions charged forward but then the three closest to her careened backward and disappeared into the mist.
Ryker had joined the fight.
She didn’t wait for the remaining Dark Breeds to coordinate an attack or run away. She flew forward, breaking a Lychen’s neck before turning on the remaining four. Saliva dripped from their bared teeth, and they lowered their furry bodies toward the ground in preparation to pounce.
Not giving them the chance, her blades quickly sent two to their bellies. The others flew backward, sailing into the boulders, bones snapping upon impact.
Turning slowly, she checked to make sure they hadn’t missed anyone. Satisfied that the path to the Oracles was deserted for the moment, she nodded at Ryker. “Let’s go.”
As they started back up the mountain path, shrieks of pain kept calling Kyana’s attention to the temple gates. There had to be hundreds of attackers still spilling from the portal. The Order was fighting a losing battle. For every one that Zeus’s bolt turned to dust, two more quickly took his place. Even with every Order member willing to give their lives to protect Olympus, too many were going to die before this battle ended.
Kyana cursed, swinging her head to look up the path toward her destination. This could be her last chance to get her hands on Haven. But if Zeus was overtaken, it wouldn’t matter whether Haven figured out where the conduits were or not. Zeus had no Chosen, which meant his powers would cease to exist with his death. As much as it pained her, she grabbed Ryker’s hand and began pulling him away from the mountain peak toward the bottom they’d fought so hard to get away from.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“The portal!” she yelled, her voice muffled by all the screams cocooning Olympus. “We have to clear the path so Zeus can shut it down!”
If they could manage that, then not only would they prevent more from breaching Olympus, but they’d also have trapped Haven inside. If she was here at all.
She summoned what was left of her energy and surged forward, hoping Ryker would trust her instincts and follow. She lost track of the number of Dark Breeds she brought down as she ran, giving herself only a moment with each to check their eyes before delivering their deaths. Her hands and clothes were covered in black blood that smelled so horrendous it was smothering.
Each time Zeus raised his bolt in the air, she took cover behind the nearest wall, tree, or boulder, waited it out, and began the fight through the mobs once again. It was a painfully slow journey, but inch by inch, she made progress, getting closer and closer to that damned portal and the evil continually pouring through it.
“KY-A-NA!”
The familiar voice brought Kyana to a halt, knocking her shoulder into a tree. The pulsing red portal had darkened to near black, but that wasn’t what held Kyana so still she couldn’t feel the lower half of her body. It was Haven, standing in the center of Zeus’s gate, her arms held out wide, the trident gleaming in the late-afternoon sun.
“You lose, Kyana,” Haven’s laughter carried over the battlefield like broken wind chimes, high pitched and grating. “This is only the beginning. The path to the gods is open now. Cronos will take his rightful place on the throne—”
Zeus’s roar stopped all sound, all motion. He held out his staff. The ancient words that flowed forth caused the ground to quake. Lightning flashed overhead. A blinding white-hot flash of light shot from the end of his staff. Order members fell to their knees. Dark Breeds disintegrated in a puff of black smoke carried on the wind toward the portal.
“Non est! Ut igne inferni
consumet!” A loud whoosh shook the grounds, and like a vacuum, Dark Breeds were sucked toward the portal and through it.
Knowing she was about to lose her chance, Kyana lunged forward, a scream of protest on her lips as Haven’s body soared high into the air. Her torso bent backward as it was propelled through the portal and out of sight. Kyana stumbled, a bright light blinding her as the portal glowed red again . . . then white.
Then, with a deafening boom, it imploded.
Chapter Eighteen
Kyana’s gaze held steadfast to the chaos around her, her heart frozen solid in her chest. Tiny quakes shook the ground beneath the crumbled portal. Six or seven small sinkholes spread out ten feet from the spot that had once held so much power, and drank in the red and black pieces of the doorway.
The damned thing had eaten Haven.
She felt Ryker’s hand on her back, and try as she might, she couldn’t look away from the horror. “Is she dead?” she whispered.
Ryker squeezed her hip. “No. The portal would have sucked her back Below.”
Relieved, she stepped aside as Zeus’s procession made its way back up the mountain to his temple. Behind him, the cleaning process began. Sentinels bent to lift their dead and wounded allies over their shoulders. They kicked enemy bodies from their paths, bodies likely to get tossed on a burning pyre this evening.
Kyana tried not to drop her gaze to the Mystic’s body at her feet. The poor bastard. Mystics lived like monks, believed in peace and simplicity above all else. This one had gotten pulled into a fight that had cost him his life. What a brutal way to go.
“If he could do that,” she said, jutting her chin in the direction Zeus had disappeared, “why did he wait until so many were dead?”
“He waited until he had no choice.” Ares appeared from around the corner, his tunic and sword stained with blood both black and red. Human and Dark Breed. “Closing that portal sealed out those Below who might require our aid. We’ve left them defenseless. If you had caught Haven like you were supposed to, all of these deaths could have been prevented, you inept whelp.”
“Watch it,” Ryker growled, stepping between his father and Kyana. “If Haven was so easy to catch, you and your men would be wearing the glory of her blood on your swords.”
She flinched. She wasn’t about to let that happen. If it came down to killing Haven, she’d be the one to do it. She’d be the one to make sure it was painless and swift. She stepped around Ryker to stand beside him.
Ares looked her over before returning his attention to his son. “Until a new portal is constructed, no one can enter or leave Olympus. We’re shutting down the one to Above as well, so find something useful to do in the meantime.”
“How long will that take?” Kyana asked, unsettled at the thought of being trapped here while Haven was still loose.
“Several hours. It will take longer to decide on new precautions than to actually rebuild it.”
Sighing, she rotated her shoulder to work out the kink slowly torturing her to death. “I want to see the Oracles. Make sure they’re all where they’re supposed to be.”
She had no intention of explaining to Ares her suspicions that Cronos had maneuvered this attack to get new prophets since the Cassadaga psychics had been killed. Haven didn’t need more black marks against her, especially ones based on theory, not fact.
“No one can get to our Oracles—”
“I’ll take you,” Ryker said, his jaw clenched so tightly, Kyana was afraid it might start to chip away from his face. As he pulled her past Ares, he stopped to face his father. “Just once, would it kill you to be a help rather than be a pain in our asses?”
Ares opened his mouth but Ryker was already pulling Kyana up the path before the God of War could respond.
Twenty minutes later, Ryker was leading her back down the path to Zeus’s temple. All Oracles were accounted for. Unharmed. Kyana was relieved. She’d considered the possibility that Haven had been here and taken what she wanted before showing herself at the portal. Apparently, she hadn’t gotten any further than where she’d been expelled from.
So why make the empty threat in Cassadaga about finding someone else who could read for her? Why make such a grand appearance rather than try to sneak her way to what she’d wanted?
When they reached the foot of the mountain, Ares was still standing where they’d left him, bellowing orders to his sentinels and yet not lifting a finger to help clear the bodies.
“Well?” Ares barked, giving them a cursory glance.
“They’re all safe,” she muttered.
Ares’s grin was one of triumph. “You see? We are well defended.”
Of course he had to say that. It would be his fault if they weren’t.
Ass hat.
Ryker ran his hands through his hair and tugged hard before looking at Kyana. “She’s obviously sending us on wild-goose chases.”
“This attack had to have a purpose other than to kill Order members.” But since the Oracles were safe, Kyana couldn’t for the life of her think of what that might have been. Without an Oracle, Haven had no way to know where Geoffrey kept his amulet or where Cronos’s ring was. Even if she had been able to steal Zeus’s staff right out of his hands, there would still be pieces of the puzzle missing.
“The Oracles are fine,” Ryker said. “She’s just messing with us.”
“There’s one way to find out,” Silas said, appearing behind Ryker. Kyana had forgotten he’d been on the mountain at all. She was relieved to see that, other than a scratch below his eye, he was seemingly unharmed.
Silas turned to Ares. “Where are the surviving enemies being held?”
“You’re assuming I allowed there to be survivors.”
“You didn’t keep any alive to give you answers?” Silas said. “I don’t believe that. If you let me, I can offer some assistance in questioning them.”
Ares’s glare sharpened. “I trust Witches about as much as I trust Vampyre/Lychen Half-Breeds.”
Silas shrugged, unaffected by Ares’s intimidating demeanor. “Suit yourself. I’m sure the gods are still powerful enough without my kind of magic to help things along.”
When Silas started to walk away, Ryker grabbed his arm and held him in place, his gaze locked on his father. “You know you can use him. You’re willing to let your pride stand in the way of getting answers?”
Ares’s dark eyes flickered with something Kyana couldn’t put her finger on. “Why would you assume his methods would prove more useful than mine?”
As much as he and Ryker didn’t get along, she almost pitied Ares when she saw the pair together. There was always a longing, a sadness, that crept over the god when his son spoke to him. It made him seem almost human.
Ryker shrugged. “Because brute force doesn’t always ensure compliance.”
“You’ll vouch for him, then?”
Ryker gave one curt nod, and Ares motioned for a passing guard. “The Witch is going to accompany you. He’s not to be left alone with any of the prisoners. When he’s done, bring him to me. Understood?”
Silas crossed his arms and glared. “If you really can’t trust me, why allow me to assist your men at all?”
Ares’s gaze shifted to Kyana, though he still talked to Silas. “Because I want to make sure you report all details to me, first.”
She rolled her eyes. “A few more days, Ares, and you’ll have no authority over me. Becoming a full-blown goddess has never been more appealing.”
She pushed past the men and started toward Zeus’s gardens. She needed a minute to breathe. To decide what to do next. She was locked here until a new portal was created, which gave her both time to think and time to drive herself nuts with the lack of action. Knowing Haven was somewhere out there and unreachable at the moment was already getting under her skin.
Kyana quickly scanned those roaming Zeus’s gardens and spotted Geoffrey. He was holding a frantic conversation with Hermes. Geoffrey, in his Hades garb of black robes, pointed to
the east, and Hermes flittered off in that direction, his winged sandals taking him above the arriving chariots on the mountainside.
She glanced behind her to make sure she was still alone before making her way to Geoffrey’s side. She’d rather pick his brain without an audience.
“You all right?” she asked, letting him pull her into a tight hug.
“Ah, my heart is breaking minute by minute, lass.”
Kyana nodded against his chest. While she loved Haven like a sister, Geoffrey had been falling in love with Haven for years. He’d never acted on his adoration, though, knowing Haven wanted a family one day. Vampyre were notoriously infertile. Only one in a thousand or so were even capable of producing children, and after what Kyana had seen on the penal isle where Cronos had created the first Vampyre, she now knew why it was so. Vampyric children were horrific monsters. Geoffrey would never act on his desire for Haven because he cared too much for her to let her sacrifice so much.
She led him to a less populated area and cringed when she saw the pain etched in his face. He was still as beautiful as always—his Irish blue eyes dazzling with intensity beneath long black hair that hung loose around his face. But now, there was worry lining those eyes and streaks of silver in his hair—not all of which were attributes inherited from Hades, Kyana suspected.
“Did you see her?” she asked, sitting on a cold stone bench in front of the iron gates sectioning off Zeus’s temple from the rest of the mountain.
She watched him swallow, let him take a minute to find his voice. “Aye.”
Kyana sighed. “I can’t seem to get through to her, Geoff. When we saw her in Cassadaga, it was as though there was no Haven anymore. Cronos is inside her and I’m not sure she’s strong enough to kick his ass out.”
“She is. Don’t give up on our girl.” Geoff sat beside her and rested his hand on Kyana’s knee. “The rest of the world will want to see her dead, Kyana. It’s up to us to make sure that’s not how all this gets sorted out.”