Fury of the Gods (Areios Brothers Book 3)

by Amy Braun

  LIAM

  THE FIRST THING Thea did as a new goddess was leave the Clouds and take us with her.

  Her new immortal “family” protested, but she quickly reminded them that she was a new goddess, and she needed to be closer to her people. She also argued that if I returned to earth, I could start looking for my brother.

  Didn’t matter that it was basically all a lie. She was a goddess now, and despite being new, she knew how to make herself known.

  Which was how we ended up in Mason’s apartment. He owned the entire top floor of a sky rise apartment complex near the heart of Sacramento. Half the walls were comprised of reinforced and warded windows, which made for a dizzying experience if you pressed your head against them and looked down.

  At least it gave me something else to focus on while my friends processed everything that I had just told them about the Council, the Omega Knife, and what they wanted me to do with it. I told them about Hades, but I didn’t tell them about what I’d seen beyond the gold doors.

  Neither did Thea. All she explained was that she’d made her Shift, and once the effects of the ritual wore off, she would become a full-fledged goddess. It would happen in a day, two max.

  Corey jiggled his knee and Mason drank his way through a bottle of expensive Scotch.

  Mason took another long sip, his gloved hands wrapped around a crystal glass. He exhaled as he set the glass down before reclining back and slinging his arm around Corey’s shoulder. His shy boyfriend stopped twitching and curled against him.

  “So, you’re supposed to hunt down Derek and try not to go insane,” Mason reiterated, before looking at Thea. “And they’re blackmailing you so your Shift helps give them power.”

  “That’s the gist of it,” Thea mumbled.

  Mason whistled through his teeth. One of his fingers wove around Corey’s curls. “We sure picked some winning role models. I should have just stuck with Prince.”

  I stifled a laugh. I’d been standing at the window and watching them, not able to sit. I needed to move lest I touch that fucking Knife again.

  I’d never been so aware of a weapon my entire life. I’d never wanted to destroy something so badly.

  I turned from my friends, not trusting my emotions to stay hidden.

  “I can’t believe they expect you to hurt Derek,” Corey murmured.

  “They probably think a pinprick will be enough,” Thea pointed out.

  Mason snickered. “Except it won’t be. And even if it is, that pinprick might as well be a sword wound––ow!”

  I heard the impact of Thea’s foot as she kicked Mason. Probably in the shin—I had no idea. I just stared at the twinkling city lights and steadily moving cars, wondering if my brother was in one of them. Had the Olympians put a bounty on Derek and not told us? Would Artemis do that? Did mortals or scions decide to do the dirty work themselves to get into the Olympians’ graces?

  “Liam?”

  I twitched at Thea’s voice. Probably grunted. Gods above and below, I was a mess.

  “Come away from the window and sit down. You’re worrying us.”

  I sighed and pushed back from the glass. I slowly made my way to the living room and its plush slate gray leather couches. The carpet dipped softly under my feet, and the couch I slumped into molded to my frame. Mason had a beautiful, clean, and modern apartment. His TV in particular was awesome; it literally hung from the ceiling by an electronic arm that would apparently retract into the ceiling with the push of a button. The screen wasn’t so high that you would smash your head on it, but high enough that you could slouch and sulk while watching cartoons. Or Game of Thrones. This seemed like a Game of Thrones kind of night.

  Gods, I wished I was twenty-one. Then I could drink.

  As if reading my thoughts, Mason reached across the glass and steel coffee table and handed me his glass of scotch.

  I looked at him. “I’m underage, and you’re the oldest one here. You’re supposed to be a responsible adult.”

  Mason laughed, reclining back to Corey and toying with his hair again. “Responsibility is for work, my friend, and I am enjoying the night off.”

  There was a moment of hesitation, but I accepted his offer with a nod. I took a sip. And almost immediately spit in back into the glass.

  I choked down the caustic, burning taste and handed the glass back. “That can probably fuel your car. And you’re putting it in your body.”

  “Hey, it’s expensive and it warms the belly. Plus, it was funny to watch your sour face.”

  I rolled my eyes and wouldn’t admit he was right. It did feel nice in the pit of my stomach, and the look on Mason’s face was goofy enough that it drew a smile from me.

  “Sorry, guys, I just…” scrubbed a hand down my face. “What are we going to do? I can’t hurt Derek, I don’t trust Hades, but if the Knife is cursed…”

  “Do you think you could destroy it, Thea?” Corey asked.

  “With the Trident?” She frowned. “Probably. But whatever powers I have on the way won’t be enough to stop the remaining Olympians.” She hesitated, then looked at me. “And I’m not so sure Derek is innocent.”

  “He wouldn’t kill anyone, god or not,” I defended. “He would never break that code.”

  “I want to believe that, Liam. I do. But it’s not what I remember.”

  I shoved my hands through my hair and glanced at Mason’s scotch again. Tempting, the way the amber liquid glistened in the bottle, like a blade under sunlight––

  “Look, I know what I remember, too,” I pushed onward, resisting the call of the Knife. “But I know him as well as I know my mind. And it doesn’t make sense. It makes more sense that the Olympians would try to fuck with us again.” I looked up at my friends. “Think about everything they’ve done from the moment they entered into our lives. We’ve been forced to work with them while they’ve manipulated, coerced, challenged, intimidated, and done everything in between. Their magic is beyond ours, and if it fits one of their agenda, it’s not unreasonable to think they’d mess with our memories.”

  “And who are we supposed to take this knowledge to? Zeus?” Mason laughed and held up a gloved hand. “I can tell you how well that will go.”

  “Look, I don’t know, okay? But I can’t hunt down my brother. I just… I can’t. He’s already lost Selena. I won’t let him lose me.”

  We fell silent, each of us remembering Selena. Thinking about Apollo stabbing her in the chest.

  “Then what do we plan for?” Corey asked. “We have to do something. It’s been three months of public relations that don’t work.” He turned to his boyfriend with earnest green-eyes. “I’m not trying to say you’re bad at your job, but if they aren’t listening…”

  Mason waved a hand. “I’m happy to do literally anything else right now.”

  “We could find one of the remaining Trinity Weapons or Cronus Shard,” Thea offered, quiet and unsure.

  The rest of us turned to her. “Where would we even start?”

  “I have no idea. Selena…” she paused, a heavy breath escaping her. I recognized that pain. “Selena Saw each Trinity Weapon and Cronus Shard. But if she’s gone, then we have to find someone else who might be able to sense that level of power.” She looked at us. “We need to find Apollo’s heir.”

  “Oh, so something simple,” Mason sniped. “And which haystack should we find that needle in?”

  Thea glared at him. “Do you really want to just push buttons right now?”

  “Not at all. But you’re asking for a huge leap, Thea, and I’m not sure it will work. I’m also not sure we want to drag another innocent person into this.”

  “But if we find the Helm, the Mind of Cronus, or the Sickle, it’s one more weapon off the table,” I pointed out. “And if the Olympians are occupied with us doing that, they may not pour on the pressure for us to find Derek. They might leave Thea alone.” I paused, considering the Weapons and how extraordinarily dangerous they were.

  Nothing like a
magical scavenger hunt to keep my mind from wondering which god would kill me first. But where to begin?

  My thoughts went to my brother. “Maybe we can look for the Mind. The Sickle is probably insanely dangerous and looking for Hades’s Helm may not be great when the guy is literally standing over my shoulder, but the Mind… maybe it won’t be so bad.”

  I mumbled the words so I wouldn’t laugh them out. Every item we’d searched for so far had been a certifiable death trap. The next ones wouldn’t be any different.

  But maybe we’ll run into Derek.

  Mason sighed. “Look, I care about both you guys. I really do. I’ve known Thea for some time and because of you, Liam, I have him.” He turned and planted a quick kiss on Corey’s temple. My friend smiled and blushed bright red. Shame that Mason didn’t look as thrilled. “But the truth is that you’re asking us to risk so much. More than I might be willing to give anymore.”

  “Then what do you want?” I asked, because it was clear to me now.

  I’d never spoken to Mason about what he wanted. Since Athena abandoned us to stand with Derek and Persephone, Mason no longer held direct loyalty to her. He had a ridiculously successful business and had fallen in love. Corey might keep helping us out of friendship to Derek and myself, but he wasn’t obligated, either. Thea and I were the unlucky ones.

  Mason sighed. “I want this. What I have now. A home, Corey, and expensive scotch.” He looked at his hand, seeing the wound through the leather glove. “And believe me, I feel like shit for saying that I want to tap out. I know what the stakes are, but playing the game isn’t fun for me anymore.”

  I understood. Gods above and below, how many times had I had this exact conversation with Derek? Telling him we didn’t need to fight, didn’t need to get involved, and that it was too risky? How many times had he run into a fight because his moral compass was a beacon for danger?

  We needed all the backup we could get going forward, but I couldn’t push them. Otherwise, I would be no better than the Olympians.

  “Okay,” I said quietly. “Thea and I will handle it if you want to stay in the sidelines for now. But if we’re hurt or we need you…”

  “Say the word, Liam,” promised Mason, his dark eyes as serious as I’d ever seen them. “Just because I don’t want to be on the front lines anymore, doesn’t mean I don’t care. I would be dead if it weren’t for you, and I am grateful for all you’ve done. I’m just not as reckless as I used to be.” He curled his arm around Corey.

  A low, rippled of cold energy slipped from Thea. She wasn’t happy with this outcome, but she accepted it.

  “Do you have any connections to the light scions?” she asked, getting back on topic.

  Mason nodded. “I know a few people. I can make some calls to see if they’ve heard or Seen anything. There are a lot of people to go through, so it might take time…”

  “I can look too,” Corey added. “If anyone’s heard anything on the borders, I might catch wind of it.”

  I turned to Thea. “Then we’ll look for the Mind. Sound like fun?”

  “Not really,” she admitted, “but I’m up for it if it will keep the Olympians away from Derek.”

  She didn’t have the hesitation I did regarding her memories. And that was fine.

  I would doubt my last memory of my brother if it kept me from hurting him. I trusted myself right now while I still had control.

  I wasn’t sure that control would hold if I saw him while holding the Knife.

  Mason insisted we crash at his place that night rather than return to the Clouds. Thea had to check in with the Olympians—they weren’t eager to let their newly forming goddess out of their sight, and were even less eager for her to spend her time with us, the mortal friends she should have left behind. Yet she convinced them, making mention that she needed time to process her new status as a goddess. She needed to understand how her human life would change. She was the first heir to replace a classic Olympian, and that carried unimaginable weight. Once she made that point clear, they grumbled but relented.

  Not that Thea trusted them for a second.

  She added her own magic to Mason’s wards, so while the Olympians would know where we were, they couldn’t break through the defenses and spy on us or disrupt our brief reprieve from them.

  At least, that’s what I told myself.

  Corey and Mason had gone to get some food. I wasn’t hungry and Thea didn’t want to advertise her new goddess status, so we stayed in.

  I’d wandered back to the window again.

  “Where do we start looking for the Mind of Cronus?” Thea asked after a long silence. She’d settled on the couch and seemed comfortable. That or she faked it well.

  “I can try asking my new friend, Hades,” I droned, “but I feel like any request I make will come with a waiver and a sacrificial altar.”

  After a long, silent moment, Thea asked, “Why did he approach you?”

  I sighed. “He knows who I am. He knows I’m Persephone’s son. Other than wanting to be creepy, I can’t figure out his angle. Somehow I don’t think it’ll involve puppies and rainbows at the end.”

  More silence from the couch, then, “I can’t believe he made you watch what I... What I did.”

  At this, I turned from the window. Thea lay across the couch, her hands laced over her stomach, eyes pointed to the ceiling.

  She looked relaxed and calm. Probably as relaxed and calm as I felt.

  “What you did will keep us safe,” I reminded. “You literally saved our asses. Stood up to a King and Queen. It was...” hot “intense.”

  “I know. And I don’t regret it. But I worry about what I’m giving up. I don’t know how to lead people. I don’t want to be in a position where I have to.”

  “I don’t blame you. Best thing we can do is stick to the plan. That’s how we beat them, Thea. That’s how we get free.”

  She sat up and looked at me. “By giving them what they want?”

  Well, when she said it like that... I kinda felt like shit.

  Worse, I felt weak. Weak war scions were universally loathed in their community.

  But I wasn’t my brother. I didn’t like to pick fights I couldn’t win.

  That was why Derek always took the hits for you from Dad. That’s why you’re always the bait for him. That’s why no one fears you.

  Good things. All good things. It meant staying alive.

  But Derek couldn’t be my crutch. I needed to be stronger.

  Just as I turned to Thea, I noticed something from the window in the corner of my eye. Curious, I turned to it and peered through the glass. I craned my neck, trying to see into the street as best I could a hundred feet in the air.

  It looked like… people. Hundreds of them. An entire crowd of them blocking up a road and moving forward with determination.

  “Hey, Thea, there isn’t a parade planned for today, is there?”

  “What?” She left the couch and stood shoulder to shoulder with me. “No.”

  Agitation wove through me. It was a wonder I could move with the tension I carried all the time.

  Rationality told me this could be nothing. While Néo Vasíleio might a new state under new rule and literally closed off from the rest of the country, we still lived in America. Protests happened all the time. Hell, since they Olympians locked off the state, they happened more frequently than ever. But the government didn’t want to fuck with entities that could literally bat a missile out of the sky with a palm of their hand.

  But rationality didn’t always link to my instinct. And my instinct told me this was something else.

  Something important.

  I turned to Thea. “I think we need to take a walk.”

  Some days, I hated being right.

  Of course, it was a protest. A protest against the gods for failing the people since the Re-Emergence. Everything they failed to live up to. The isolation, hurt, and mistrust. How they’d battled on a public beach months ago and left dozens injured and
hundreds petrified.

  Enough was enough.

  Thea and I walked a few blocks behind the parade. I Adapted to conceal us a little better, using magic to blend us in with the shadows. Not invisible, but most eyes would pass over us at first glance.

  Thea had curled her hair up and kept to the shadows, not wanting to be seen directly. I walked next to her, wearing a hood pulled over my head. I might not be as famed as she was after that PR incident, but Kallis had made me known again. Still, I assumed we would remain hidden for a few minutes at least.

  First mistake.

  I felt it quickly. A snap in my mind, like a giant rubber band pulled taught and released. It didn’t hurt, but it felt wrong. So wrong that I stopped in place, my heart hammering and my mind struggling to figure out what happened.

  Because the sensation felt familiar. It felt like a time a few months ago, when Persephone granted Derek’s wish and temporarily killed him so he could be free of his marks.

  Suddenly I couldn’t breathe. I reached for the blood bond, felt it still intact, but heard nothing.

  Derek was alive, but something happened. Something bad.

  “Liam.”

  I jumped when Thea touched my face. My gaze snapped back and forth, finally landing on her. Turquoise eyes peered at me, bright with worry. The protesters had long since passed us.

  “What happened?”

  I blinked again, trying to focus on her, trying to figure out what I’d just felt and why––

  But the crackle of magic halted my thoughts. Heat, pressure, and static lifted the hairs on the back of my neck. I whirled around and stared into the faces of three furious gods: Zeus, Artemis, and Ares.

  Lightning crackled through Zeus’s beard and the edges of his eyes. “Where are they?”

  I struggled to find an answer and came up empty.

  Artemis stalked past her father, making a beeline for me. “You have your blood bond. Find your brother. Tell us where he is.”