Hunt of the Gods

by Amy Braun

  We were close to the Eye.

  Forcing my attention away from the sickly throb of magic, I looked about the rest of the cavern. Light emanated from various places throughout the room, though I couldn’t identify its source. It was too powerful to come from a flashlight, as it filled the entire cavern, which nearly as wide as the one we’d faced the gorgons in.

  But instead of the beehive-like cells for gorgons, the walls were covered in Greek scripts and wards. I scanned them quickly. They seemed to be traps, warnings, and strange phrases that didn’t make any sense. Words like “fire,” “aether,” “death,” and “blood” were the most prominent—words that weren’t really great to read in our situation.

  Pushing out with my aura, I tested the spells and wards. The dark presence under my feet surged to life again, but it wasn’t the only thing I felt. The spells and wards bit back. Short, quick stings warned me from pushing any further, which worried me. Any doubts I had about whether Cassandra would really set a trap requiring a blood sacrifice were crushed.

  My eyes moved to the others in the room. I found the Olympians first.

  They looked out of place in the dark, humid cave. Well, perhaps not Ares. With his sturdy black and red armor, battered gauntlets, tight warrior braid, furious blue eyes, and a sword and shield in his hands, he looked right at home.

  Next to him was his brother, the opposite of him in every way. Apollo’s white suit was crisp and seemed to glow. His golden hair was artfully styled and luminous. He was devastating to look upon, with an elegant face and piercing golden eyes. He wore no weapons that I could see, but his power was immense. His aura combined with Ares’s made the room feel like it was burning.

  I tore my eyes away from the gods and quickly found the Sea Guards.

  They were still dressed in their gray-and-blue uniforms, but most of the cloth was ripped and stained black with blood. Their skin had taken on a sickly pallor, their eyes wide and glazed. Large gashes had been cut along their throats, though they no longer bled. These innocent men had been drained of their blood long before we got here.

  I ground my molars together. I would not forget the faces of these men. Not until Ares paid for killing them.

  Dragging my eyes away from the dead men, I searched for my friends. They weren’t far from the corpses.

  Liam, Corey, and Mason were lying on the floor, their wrists bound by metal shackles, likely spelled to keep them from performing any magic. Corey was folded in on himself, trying to protect his body and looking so, so small. He looked terrible, bruises and swollen cuts marking his face. His blond hair was as wild as his eyes. He looked both relieved to see us and horrified we’d been caught.

  Mason was in the middle of the floor. He lay on his back with his eyes closed, his gloves removed, and his horrible scars exposed. The pocked, twisted skin of his hands and wrists had been slashed open and bled freely onto the floor. The only reason I knew he was alive was because of his shallow breathing and the steady flow of blood from his wrists.

  To my right, trapped next to Ares, was my little brother.

  He too was slumped on his side, the top of his skull facing me. I lunged toward him, but Alexi’s cold hand clamped on my shoulder and yanked me back. I snarled and twisted to kick him, and was stopped by the cold, sharp touch of an ice dagger against my neck.

  “Ah, ah, ah,” crooned Catalina. “You need to play nice in front of our guests.”

  I scowled and glared at her. “Not my style.”

  Catalina just laughed. She flicked the icy dagger away from my throat, nicking the skin and drawing a thin bead of blood.

  I looked at my brother again, reaching for him with the blood bond.

 

  No response. My heart sank, and then…

 

  He turned his head, tilting his neck awkwardly to see me. His bruises were just as bad as Corey’s, but they looked fresher.

  As if a god had been beating on him.

  Liam told me. I could almost hear his internal sigh.

 

 

 

  He lowered his head to the floor.

  I looked down.

  The floor was decorated in the same style as the walls and roof, but where the spells and runes on the wall were shallow engravings, the floor’s marks were much deeper. They were etched into the floor with lines as wide as my index finger and as deep as the first knuckle. Surrounding the engravings were a series of dull gold spirals. Their ends connected to one another, creating one large circle.

  Mason’s body was placed in the center. The runes beneath him and the nearest ring were nearly full of his blood. I moved my eyes across the floor. Mason’s blood hadn’t filled up the entirety of the runes yet, but the Sea Guard’s blood had helped speed the process along. Their blood had been spread across the outer edges of the circle. It must have been drained and dispersed before their bodies were tossed aside. Mason was the final piece of the macabre puzzle.

  “Bring them to us,” Ares commanded.

  We were marched forward, Catalina dragging me while Alexi gripped Selena and Thea’s arms tightly. Distantly, I heard a crackling of ice magic. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Kallis had created a thick wall of ice, locking us inside the cave.

  The three of us were forced to our knees in front of the Olympians. I raised my head and looked directly at Ares.

  No emotion showed on my forefather’s face, but I could tell he was enraged. His aura burned and trembled. Ares would never shake, but his aura vibrated with anger.

  “Where is the spear?”

  My chest squeezed. My knives had been removed and left in the gorgon cavern, but the Cetea hadn’t taken Ki̱demónas.

  Catalina removed the spear from its sheath on my back and handed it to Ares gleefully. I watched in horror, unable to do anything. Fighting back would only get me beaten, and I couldn’t afford to endure any more pain. I needed to conserve my energy.

  But seeing Ares hold the spear, the weapon that spurned him and chose me… it was like watching Ares hack off my arm and use it to wave at me.

  The war god spun Ki̱demónas in his hand, snapping the weapon to its full length, then spinning the blade to touch the brand on my neck.

  “You could have made this easier on yourself and your friends, my son.”

  “Yeah,” I drawled. “But what fun would that be?”

  Ares blinked, unamused. He turned my head with the spear’s blade and traced the War Pact again. I grimaced, feeling the scar open anew. I was never going to be rid of it.

  Once he was done, Ares commanded me to rise and stand next to him. I obeyed, having no other choice. My brain fumbled for a plan, but any I might have concocted wouldn’t have defeated the two Olympians, each with enough power to crush me, incinerate me, and erase my ashes.

  “Place Poseidon’s heir next to Zeus’s,” instructed Apollo. “Then bind her and cut her.”

  “With pleasure, my lord,” replied Kallis.

  He dragged Thea roughly to the center of the room and dropped her next to Mason. With a quick snap of his fingers and sweep of his hand, ice poured out of his skin and bound Thea’s torso and legs to the floor. I heard chains rattling, and knew Liam was trying to get to her. Alexi watched with focus, but disinterest.

  Thea squirmed, fighting to get free even though it was pointless. Her aquamarine eyes darted to her former mentor. She didn’t bother masking her hatred.

  “And here I thought Poseidon was your lord,” snapped Thea. “Not the God of Light.”

  “Times have changed, Thea,” Kallis said. “I’d be a fool not to change with them.”

  “Why? What do you get from this, Kallis? What are you trying to do?”

  He star
ed at her for a long minute, then crouched down to her eye level.

  “I earn a place for me and mine. I earn security for my family. I earn power. I earn the satisfaction that you won’t be there to see what they are going to create. They’re giving me revenge on you, Thea. They’re giving me what I have earned and what you deserve.” His hand shot out and squeezed her cheeks together in a crushing grip. “Treacherous, lying bitch. I’m going laugh when you breathe your last.”

  Thea jerked her head back. “Not as hard as I’m going to laugh when you breathe yours. You’re going to pay for what you did to Brian and Jane.”

  Kallis chuckled. “Poor little Thea. Always looking for a family, and always breaking the ones she finds.” His eyes lifted and scanned me and my friends. “Look at what you’ve done to your latest.”

  Thea’s jaw clenched, but she made no attempt to argue with him. His words had cut deep.

  He stood up and backed away. “Alexi, I’ll let you do the honors.”

  Kallis’s son stepped into the middle of the circle and knelt next to Thea. He opened his hand, and water spilled and looped around his fingers until the magic formed a jagged blade. He looked into Thea’s eyes then pressed the knife to her throat.

  “I warned you.” Alexi’s voice was like a creeping frost, bitter and icy. “I warned you what would happen if you left us. Left me. I told you that you couldn’t go back to a normal life.”

  “Don’t you dare throw that argument at me Alex,” Thea shot back. “You turned me into a murderer, you lied to me, and I killed two people I loved. Did you really think I was going to forgive you?”

  His jaw tightened. “If they knew the truth about you, would they have forgiven you? Or would they have sent you to prison?”

  “I don’t know. But they wouldn’t have stopped caring about me. You did. You stopped loving me when you and Cat tricked me into sinking that boat. And if you’re going to kill me, you’ll die knowing that I hate you. Falling in love with you was the biggest mistake of my life. Turning that love into hate was one of the best choices I ever made.”

  Alexi’s face was a stone. I couldn’t read him, but I imagined Thea’s words cut him deep. She knew him better than I would and knew just what to say to make him hurt.

  And I knew he was hurt, because he tightened his grip on the knife hilt.

  “No,” Liam cried. “No, don’t!”

  He started to get to his feet to help Thea, but Ares reacted. He threw Ki̱demónas at my little brother.

  I reached for the spear with every ounce of my will, commanding it to veer off course. The blade sliced across Liam’s bicep. Blood gushed from the wound, and Liam was forced back to his knees. But he was alive. Ki̱demónas still responded to me. Thank the gods!

  Ares grabbed my shoulder, whirled me around, and punched me in the chest. I was thrown from my feet and slammed into the wall. I landed hard, cracking my knees and scraping open my hands. A horrible lump filled my throat, and I coughed up blood. Ribs had been broken, likely before I’d even touched the ground. I spat the gore from my mouth and was hauled to my feet again by Ares.

  The god’s fury closed around me. My lungs burned with the fiery taste of his magic.

  “I am keeping you alive because your role is separate from that of those treacherous heirs. Your brother is alive because that is how I will control you. If you interfere again, your punishment will be his blood.”

  I didn’t argue with him. I wasn’t sure I ought to risk speaking. I had no magic to heal myself with, and fighting with broken ribs would get me killed.

  “What do you want with him?”

  I nearly stopped breathing when Selena asked the question. The God of War turned away from me and faced her. She shivered but didn’t blink or shy away.

  “You retraced the War Pact, which means you need to control him for something. What is it?”

  “Farseer,” Ares growled. “Can you not See his purpose? And yours?”

  “I’m cursed. Even if I could See it clearly, how would I be able to trust it?” Uneasily, she raised her eyes to Apollo. The Golden Prince said nothing, staring at her in silence with rage in his eyes. “You’ve no doubt Seen everything from the moment we handed over the Thunderbolt to Zeus. You knew we would come here. I just don’t understand why. Why are Derek and I not in that circle with Thea and Mason? We’re heirs. Why aren’t we—”

  Blazing light shot out of Apollo’s body and slammed into Selena. She screamed and collapsed, the heat and pressure crushing her. I made to move, overwrought with horror, but Ares jabbed an elbow into my stomach and forced more blood out of my mouth. Gods, I didn’t have many more ribs he could break.

  Mercifully, Selena’s screaming ended when Apollo withdrew his magic. Steam rose from her crumpled body, yet she remained unburned.

  “How?” It was the first word Apollo had said since our arrival, and it was a whisper. “How have you evaded me for so long? How have you escaped me again?”

  Selena raised her head. Pain and confusion filled her eyes. “I… I don’t know what you mean.”

  Light exploded in the cavern again, and she screamed.

  The flares vanished, and she lay on the floor, gasping and trembling.

  “Liar,” Apollo growled. “You have always been a liar. You lied to me then, and you lie to me now.”

  His body flared with light again. Selena whimpered and turned away.

  I couldn’t bear it. I yelled, “She doesn’t remember!”

  Apollo whipped his gaze to mine. Gold eyes stabbed into me.

  “She doesn’t remember,” I repeated. “Her memories, whoever she was, whatever she did to you in the past, she’s hexed and can’t remember it.”

  Apollo stared at me, his magic electrifying the space between us. It closed around me, searching for a lie that wasn’t there. Scowling, and looking no less handsome because of it, Apollo turned away and glared at Selena. She didn’t meet his gaze again.

  “Then allow me to remind her. Let her be revealed for the traitor she is. Let her remember this.”

  Apollo’s electric magic stabbed into me. Distantly, I heard my brother and friends shouting. Flashes of light exploded in front of me. My skull felt as though it was being cracked open and molten liquid poured inside.

  I’m in a city. It’s old, regal, and beautiful. Its outer walls are high and sturdy.

  I’m in the garden of a palace. A young girl is meandering through them, her gown rippling in the breeze, her curling brown hair swishing against her back. She touches flower petals, favoring the lily pads drifting in the garden pools.

  And yet she is sad. Worried. She is here because she senses war at the gates of her city. Her brother has been foolish, stealing a Queen for his bride. Her oldest brother will go to war to salvage what he can from the ruin her brother has wrought.

  Apollo knows this as he watches her, this beautiful, sad princess.

  He wants more for her. He wants her to survive the coming conflict.

  So when she prays to him, asking for Sight, he emerges in a burst of light. She falls to her knees, humbled that he has answered her prayers. He grants her Sight, makes her the most powerful human Farseer in the world.

  All he asks for is her virtue.

  But she does not give it. She lies. She spurns him.

  And his rage is absolute.

  He curses her. Not only will she be immortal, but she will speak Prophecies and never have her words heeded.

  She cries, but she does not beg. She does not run. She does not fear him.

  Not until it’s too late.

  She Sees the end of her people. She Sees the false horse and tries to burn it, but her people choose to praise the god of the sea.

  The bloodshed begins that night. The fires, the screams, the pain and blood. No one escapes it. No king, no prince, no lord or lady or peasant.

  No one but her.

  She begs in the temple of Athena, crying for the gods. They do not hear her. No one comes to put out the flames, to
save the mothers and fathers, sons and daughters and babes.

  No one stops Ajax when he enters the temple and finds the princess. No one stops him when he ravages her.

  It is too late when Athena comes and raises the broken princess. Too late for the goddess’s promises. Too late when the goddess takes revenge against that warrior and strikes him down at sea.

  For the princess is taken as a captive, the last of her people, now a concubine of a lascivious king and cruel queen. She tries to end her life, to free herself from her curse, but Athena saves her. Makes more promises. Rescues the former princess from deaths of her own design and the design of others.

  Apollo watches, and waits, because he believes she will return to him. She will recognize her mistake, beg to be his.

  Yet she never does.

  But one day, she will. One day, Apollo will have his muse. His Trojan Princess.

  His Cassandra.

  Light exploded, and I was back in the cavern. I replayed everything I had seen, the weight and horror of it chilling my soul.

  And I looked at Selena.

  The cavern was dead silent, except for her quiet sobs. She shook her head, murmuring the same words over and over.

  “It’s not true. I’m not her. It’s not true…”

  Apollo felt no pity for her. He never had. He never had.

  “Athena changed your hair and your eyes. That was how you evaded me for so long. But I recognize my mark on you. Deep down, you are the same traitor and liar you have always been, Cassandra.”

  SELENA BOWED HER head and cried. No one condemned her for it, not even the Cetea Clan, who must have Seen the same visions we did, for they were looking at Selena as if she carried the plague.

  I watched, torn. I didn’t want to risk Ares attacking Liam again, but seeing Selena—Cassandra—broken like that, reliving the worst moments of her life, an immortal life…

  I’d barely stomached it. The Rage within me was just as unsettled.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I spit the words out like the poison they were.