by Amy Braun
I stopped and looked at her. Selena pushed off the balcony and walked toward me. My heart started pounding, and it nearly burst out of my chest when she stopped in front of me. The look in her eyes made me light-headed and warm. When she looked at my lips, I almost melted.
Gently, Selena rose to the tips of her toes and kissed me. It was a soft, gentle kiss, the kind that might have been between friends if she’d pulled away quickly.
But she didn’t. She stayed there, her lips pressed to mine, tenderly exploring my mouth. I ached to touch her, but knew she had to take the lead. And I wanted her to.
After a minute, Selena ended the kiss. I could still taste her sweet warmth.
“Thank you” was all she said.
I smiled, then bent forward to kiss her forehead. I hoped it spoke the words I couldn’t seem to. Reluctantly, I turned and left her on the balcony.
My heart pounded the entire walk back down the stairs. I would be thinking about that kiss for the rest of the night.
All in all, the day had been a disaster. Lies, pain, truth, and danger loomed on the horizon. It was going to be rough.
But moments like that—a simple kiss from the woman I adored—made all those hardships bearable.
And if I had to suffer to have more moments like that, it would be worth it.
I WAS TOO awake to think about resting, even though I knew I needed to. The mirror had shown the future and what we needed to do to stop it, so I knew we would see more action than rest in the near future.
I wanted to check on the others. I needed to tell them what was happening, but I also just wanted to see them and make sure they were truly all right.
Corey and Mason were the first ones I found.
Mason’s voice carried through the chamber and eventually led me to a large dining hall with a long table. Mason was happily devouring a plate full of meat, bread, cheese, fruit, and vegetables. He drank red wine contently from the large glass next to him. Brown leather gloves covered his fingers, not the same ones he’d originally worn.
I was glad to see him up and refilling himself with energy but wondered if I was intruding when I spotted Corey sitting across from him, idly picking at a much smaller plate.
Mason must have noticed Corey’s plate as well, since he took a sip of wine and peered at Corey over the glass rim. “You know, those sorrow scions working in the kitchen are going to be hurt when they see you haven’t touched your food.”
Corey winced and glanced at the kitchen, as if he expected someone to be watching him. “Sorry, I didn’t—”
Mason waved a hand through the air. “Relax. I just said that to get your attention. You’re looking a little down.”
“I’ll be okay.”
Mason half smiled. “Next time you say that, maybe do it with a stronger voice. Right now, I don’t believe you.”
Corey glanced at Mason, blushed, and slumped in his chair. He toyed with the cuffs of his borrowed shirt, looking entirely lost. Then he let out a breath. “I just feel… like I don’t belong.”
Mason set the wine glass down and nudged his plate away. He leaned forward and waited.
“It’s just that all of you are warriors and fighters and know what to do, and I just… react.”
“That’s fighting,” said Mason. “Adapting to a situation, seeing what needs to be done, and doing it. You saved all our asses in that cavern, Corey. If you hadn’t teleported us, we would all be dead. That’s not understating the truth.”
“I guess, but that’s all I feel like. The getaway driver. Standing on the sidelines until I need to be used.” He tightened his arms around his chest. “And the worst part is that in the heat of the moment, I’m okay with that. I don’t want to be a target. All I can do is run away, maybe distract, but I’m just one other person. The rest of you… you’re all these… forces. And I’m just… not.”
My heart sank. I knew Corey’s self-esteem was low, his anxiety only making it worse, but I’d never asked him about it. I’d been slow to trust him, and I never pried into business that wasn’t my own. I would always listen to the worries of my friends, but I never asked outright.
I regretted that more than ever.
Mason rose from his chair and strode around the table. He pulled up another chair and sat next to Corey. His knee brushed Corey’s, causing my friend to jump. Mason just leaned closer.
“That makes you the most important of all of us. When we fight and get hurt, you’re the one who rescues us.” Mason’s hand cupped Corey’s cheek and lifted his face. “That makes you the strongest of all of us. Think about it, Corey. I got knocked out and had my wrists cut. After that, the only thing I did was bleed.” Mason glanced down, likely looking at the gloved hand resting on his leg. “As soon as they saw my hands, the twins weren’t even threatened. Apollo… he thought it was amusing.”
“Nobody thinks less of you for your scars,” Corey murmured. “Not that anyone ever would. Think less of you, I mean. You do great things and are strong and charming and handsome and—”
Corey’s eyes widened, and his cheeks flamed. Mason tucked his fingers under Corey’s chin and captured his gaze again.
“Make me a deal, Speeds? I’ll stop seeing my scars as burdens if you start realizing how important you are to the group. And to me.”
Corey gawked, speechless and flustered. His green eyes flashed down to where Mason’s lips would be. He blushed again then nodded. “Deal.”
Mason suddenly leaned in and placed a kiss on Corey’s lips. It was no longer than the kiss I had shared with Selena, and by the look on Corey’s face afterward, it had meant as much to him as hers did to me.
Mason reclined backward and rose from his chair. “We’ll make that an incentive to keep our deal.”
Corey stared after Mason like he was walking on water. It made the storm scion grin as he returned to his dinner.
I thought about making my entrance, telling them about the Dreaming Room and the next steps it had shown us, but I decided to wait a little longer. They deserved to have some time to themselves.
I left the dining room and wandered the corridors and staircases again. After a few minutes, I heard the distinctive sound of wooden swords slamming against one another. I followed the sound to a dimly lit but modern basement. A door was open on the left side of the hall, leading to a gym with two people sparring in it.
Liam blocked an aggressive overhand swipe from Thea’s wooden dagger with his own wooden sword. She stabbed for his ribs, only to be turned away. Liam darted in and lightly jabbed her ribs. She growled and swept for his feet, but Liam was quick to dart behind her. He dodged Thea’s elbow and lightly jabbed her kidneys and ribs before she could turn. Thea yelled and hammered at my brother, but never laid a blow on him. Liam had always been an excellent defensive fighter, and his usual partner was me. He’d never won a bout against me, but while Thea was fierce and fought dirty, she just wasn’t at my skill level.
Plus, her emotions were wild. That wasn’t a battle for the sake of improving skills. It was a fight to air out aggression, to defeat a physical problem rather than an emotional one.
I could all but count the seconds before Liam finally struck.
He dodged a wide swipe from Thea and caught her outstretched arm. He twisted her wrist and put her in a lock. Thea hissed and swiped angrily but couldn’t reach him.
“Come on, Thea. I’ve killed you about seventeen times already. I’m hypothetically holding your shambling corpse hostage, and this hold is going to tire you out more than it will me.”
The water scion glared daggers at my brother. He sighed and pressed harder on her wrist. Thea grimaced, then dropped her wooden daggers angrily. Liam released her. Thea shook out her hand and stalked away from him. She got to the edge of the mat, grabbed a bottle of water from the floor, and took a swig. Then she sat down and dropped her head into her hands.
Liam gave her a minute before setting his sparring sword down and settling next to her. He draped his hands over his
knees and stared at the wall.
“I’m guessing it’s not just sparring that’s on your mind,” he offered.
Thea laughed bitterly. “What gave it away?”
“Well, you did just try to bash my head in with a piece of wood.”
She dropped her hands and raised her head. “Don’t tell me you felt threatened.”
“A little bit. It was pretty pointy.”
Another skittering laugh. Her smile faded quickly, though.
“I keep thinking about Alex and Cat.”
“I’m sorry about what happened to them.” Liam’s voice was earnest, but I could hear the hesitance in his words. “I know you cared about them.”
Thea nodded. “I did. She was a sister to me, and Alex was… someone I loved once. When I left the Cetea, I cut them out of my life. I honestly didn’t think I would see them again. And then all of this happened, and… it brought things back. Dug up memories. Now they’re truly gone, and I feel…” She rubbed the heel of her palm against her forehead. “I don’t know what I feel.”
Liam rubbed his chest, the spot where his father had stabbed him so many years ago.
“I know what that’s like,” he confessed. “When Derek killed Thomas, part of me was glad. I mean, he was gone. He couldn’t hurt us or anyone else anymore. But I still felt… wrong. Like there was something I could have done to change how he acted. Made it so we could have skipped the whole thing and had some kind of life away from him.”
He let go of his chest and rested his elbows on his knees. “We tried to run away from him once. Derek was fourteen, and I was eight. He learned how to hotwire a car from the internet. We used the blood bond and planned the whole thing. Derek knew how to unravel the wards, we packed our bags, and perfected our stealth spells. We made a break for it and…” He laughed coldly. “Well, we got around the block.”
Thea looked at my brother. His gaze was still fixed on the wall, seeing a memory he never wanted to relive.
“We had no idea Thomas had picked up on what we were trying to do. We’d been so careful. But he found out and put a tracker under the chassis. He was waiting for us to swing around the corner. We lived in a more isolated part of the town, so when he yanked us out of the car and kicked the shit out of us on the street, no one stopped him. I think it was that moment when I knew there was nothing we could do to stop him. I didn’t think we were going to escape, ever. And when Derek finally killed him, I was glad. But he was also our dad. And I felt wrong about being relieved he was gone. I never loved him, never even liked or respected him. I was scared of him all the time, but… it’s not right to wish someone in your family dead, is it?”
He blinked, sliding out of the memory and looking over to see Thea watching him closely. He laughed nervously.
“I’m sorry. I came down here to make you feel better, and I’m the one who’s moping.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s all right. I get where you’re coming from. Kind of. But I hurt worse because…”
“Because you actually loved them.”
Thea sniffed and wiped at her eyes. “I did. I really did.”
A choked sob wrenched from Thea. She tried to fight them back, clapping her hand over her mouth and squeezing her eyes shut. But her shoulders still trembled, and the tears still flowed. Liam slowly wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tugged her to his side. He folded her in an embrace and let her cry. It was all he could do.
And I knew there was nothing I could do, either.
I walked away from the room and rubbed a hand across my face. I needed to go somewhere that wouldn’t make me feel like a voyeur.
Depressingly, I realized there was only one more place I could go.
Finding the prison cells was easier than it should have been. After speaking with a couple laundry workers in the hallway next to the gym and persuading the guards outside of the cells that I needed to speak with their lone prisoner, I confronted Kallis Faidon.
He looked awful. He hadn’t washed or been given new clothes since the fight in the caverns. He was still splattered with the blood of his children. A tray of food had been placed on the floor of his cell, but it was untouched and cold. The cell was little more than a thick wall of bulletproof glass, a slit for food, and tiny holes for speaking, with nothing but a sleeping bag and steel bolted toilet in the corner.
Kallis sat against the wall, his eyes downcast and his eyes puffy and red. He must have seen me approach but said nothing until I stood directly in front of his cell and folded my arms across my chest.
“So, you’re still alive,” he grunted.
“And surprisingly well, all things considered.” I took a breath. “Kallis, I—”
“Don’t. Don’t you dare pity me. You are the last person I want it from.”
I released my breath. “Fair enough. But it remains.”
Kallis scoffed. “This from the man who left three more of my friends to slaughter.”
“I didn’t. I’ve already called the Sea Guard. Tobin, Ross, and Olivia will be picked up and arrested. I didn’t kill them.”
Kallis rolled his head up. “Ah, yes, of course not. How could I forget? You being such a saint and all. Never getting your hands dirty, except for that one time.”
I stared at him, refusing to let his words sting me. Liam’s recollection had brought up bad memories and twisted my heart, but I was working on letting it go. I couldn’t let my past with my father keep ruling my life.
“You’re going to be turned over to the Sea Guard,” I told him. “I’m going to make sure Persephone’s people make the right calls. Ares and Apollo aren’t going to come to your rescue.”
Kallis laughed. “You think I would want them to? They murdered my children after you did nothing to help them.”
No, I wasn’t rising to that bait again.
“You were in on this entire scheme, all of it, to get back at Thea. You failed, Kallis.”
His blue eyes burned. “And let me guess. This is the part when you ask me to tell you whatever I know in the hope that you get a step ahead of them?”
I shrugged. “Like I said, they’re not going to come for you. You’re going to be behind bars for the rest of your life. Don’t you want at least some solace in knowing they’re going to suffer for putting you there?”
Kallis pushed himself up and took measured steps toward the glass door. “Suppose I did. Do you actually think you can stop them? Ares marked you as his lapdog.” He tapped his neck. My scar itched. “Your little tattoo there is as good as calling card, and I don’t want to be there when he comes looking for you again. I almost feel sorry for your little crew.”
My fingers dug a little deeper into my biceps, but that was as far as I let Kallis bait me. “Well, I’ve never met anyone who declined the chance to get revenge on a god.”
Kallis looked at me for a long, long time, then stood up and walked to the glass window. He pressed his palms against it and leaned in.
“I almost feel sorry for you,” he whispered. “See, Ares did tell me something. I asked him if I needed to be worried about you. He laughed and said, ‘Derek Areios is of minute concern. Between those he loves and the War Pact, I have him leashed. When the time comes, it will be easy to strangle him.’”
“And yet I’m not the dog in a cage.”
I turned and walked away before he could say anything more. I didn’t want to see that his words had gotten to me.
Because, godsdamn him, he was right. So long as I bore the War Pact, my friends and loved ones would never be safe. I was forever chained to Ares, and I’d vanished from his grip. He knew I wouldn’t stay hidden forever. He was probably wondering where I was at that moment
I turned the corner, marched down the corridor, and found myself looking at the gym where Liam and Thea had been sparring. Glancing in quickly as I passed, I noticed my brother happily flirting with Thea, who was smiling with him.
My gut twisted. That was what Ares could take away if I didn’t obey him.
More than ever, I could feel the War Pact burning my neck.
I had to get it off me. I couldn’t avoid it any longer.
I just didn’t know how to remove it or what it would cost.
I FOUND PERSEPHONE in her garden.
I’d needed to get some fresh air after the encounter with Kallis. I’d started along the main marble path, but soon found myself straying. I wandered through the maze, letting my fingers brush against the hedges and taking in deep breaths of the cool, approaching dawn air. I walked with no destination in mind and stopped only when I turned a corner and came across the field of wheat.
The grain rasped gently in the breeze, moving contently and glowing in the pink light of morning. Standing in the middle of the field, her hair unbound and her fingers playing among the wheat, was Persephone.
She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at me. Early sunlight caught in her gold-and-black streaked hair like embers. She looked warm and welcoming and made me ache for home.
Quickly, I pinched myself. The quick bite of my fingernails brought me back. That was what the Olympians did. It was what they were. I couldn’t let myself forget that, no matter how kind one of them might be.
“My mother created this for me when we woke again,” the goddess said. “It took time for us to create our thrones and Regions out of so little and in so unfamiliar a place. She could not always be with me.” Persephone rolled her fingers against the wheat. “But she wanted to be. She immortalized this field. It will never wilt, never freeze, never die. It is a small patch of eternity, and yet it will rarely be seen, and never be shared by anyone but me.”
My eyes traced over the field. “That must make it a highlight of your time on earth, then.”
Persephone looked at me over her shoulder and smiled. “Yes. It is.”
I couldn’t hold her gaze for longer than a couple of minutes. I was still working through what she might be to me. I was grateful to know more about my mother and why I had the powers I did. I was relieved that there was at least one more goddess in my corner.