Fury of the Gods (Areios Brothers Book 3)

by Amy Braun

  “It doesn’t work that way,” I told her. “It only reaches a hundred feet––”

  Her hand clamped around my throat and slammed me against the brick wall.

  “Tell us.”

  Can’t really talk when you’re choking me, I thought to myself. But even if I could, I wouldn’t tell her a damn thing.

  Icy magic slid into the air beside me. Artemis turned and looked at Thea, who’d summoned her Trident. The beautiful, engraved Trinity Weapon, one favored by Poseidon, stood as tall as Thea and must have been heavy. She held it like it were no heftier than a kitchen knife, and Artemis was next on her chopping block.

  “Let him go,” growled Thea.

  Artemis narrowed her eyes. “So, you have learned to summon your Trinity Weapon. How quaint.”

  Thea prodded the Hunter Goddess a little harder. “Snark all you want, bitch. I’m not afraid of you.”

  “Enough of this,” Zeus’s impatient voice boomed. “Release him, Artemis.”

  She scowled, squeezed her grip again for good measure, but let me go. I staggered when my feet hit the ground. I pressed my hands to my neck and winced. Those were some nasty bruises. I healed them lightly so I could speak but didn’t repair the damage entirely. Olympians were less inclined to hostile behavior when they thought humans were already weak.

  Thea stood at my side, gripping the Trident firmly in her hands. I looked at her, eyebrows raised in question. She stared only at the gods.

  “Your brother and the Farseer have stolen the Mind of Cronus,” stated Ares, watching all of this unfold from the street, like it was the funniest thing he ever did see.

  But his words halted me. “Selena?” I coughed. “She’s alive?”

  “And enduring. The same, unfortunately, can be said for your brother.”

  Relief shot through me. Being separated from Derek had been bad enough. Thinking Selena was dead had hurt more than I could bear. But if she were alive, that meant he wasn’t alone. Someone stood at his side, keeping him safe when I couldn’t.

  Beside me, Thea sighed contently. Like me, she’d loved Selena like a sister.

  But any joy I felt ended sharply at one look from the gods.

  “What… How do you know this? Why do you think I know anything about them?”

  “Your bond,” growled Artemis. “Did he not communicate his plans with you, as you have done so little of late?”

  I was too grateful at hearing Selena’s survival to care about her bitterness. “It only works within a hundred feet. And you told me not to look for him. You had us doing damage control. Doing nothing because you didn’t trust us.”

  Ares stepped forward, fire burning in his blue eyes. “Dangerous words, little Areios. Dangerous words to say.”

  Didn’t matter that they were true; they weren’t the truths the Olympians wanted to hear.

  “Things have changed,” Zeus growled. “Athena aided in your brother’s escape. You now wield a weapon that will halt the next attempt she makes.”

  Ares smiled wolfishly.

  My heart twisted. I’d always respected and admired Athena. Hurting her wasn’t something I wanted to do. Her goals aligned with mine, and I didn’t want to hold them back.

  “I… I’m not strong enough to fight her.”

  My forefather rolled his eyes, disgusted by me. The air around Zeus sparked and swirled.

  “You do not have to be. You merely need to be fast enough.”

  He swept his arm out and gathered us in a dome of airy energy. Another blink, and the air exploded with light. My lungs plummeted to my stomach, and in another snap, I stood on a rooftop.

  The sudden vertigo made my head and stomach spin. I glanced at Thea, who looked just as disoriented. After gulping in heavy breaths, we heard a low rumble from below us.

  Thea and I walked to the edge of the rooftop ad peered down.

  Hundreds of people clustered on sidewalks and roads, illuminated by the golden glow of streetlamps. An entire block of mortals grumbling and arguing about the Olympians, having no idea that some of the most dangerous gods in the pantheon were standing right over them.

  One person stood on some kind of platform to shout, his voice amplified by some kind of enchantment.

  Even with magic, I recognized the voice.

  “The gods have constricted us for too long. They enforce this curfew, refuse to answer our questions, and send their lackeys out to act as mouthpieces. We have spent over thirty years under their boot heels. Olympians killed my children and imprisoned me. Their petty arguments destroyed a sacred festival we held in their honor. I have had enough. I will stand against them. I will not let them use me any longer. I dare them to stand against me.”

  The crowd raised its voice, a chattering roar with a handful of louder voices demanding answers.

  “They’re too powerful!”

  “They will kill us!”

  “What makes you think you can fight them?”

  “They are just people,” roared Kallis Faidon, “and people can die. I will prove it.” He raised his head, as if he knew where we were, and shouted once more. “I challenge their new goddess, Thea Eldoris, a thief, a traitor, and a murderer, to fight me in combat. She betrayed me, broke my son’s heart, abandoned my daughter, and did nothing when they were slaughtered. She has a debt to repay me, and I will only settle for blood.”

  Sharp rumblings echoed from the crowd. Thea had already garnered an untrustworthy reputation among water scions, and Kallis just poured fuel onto the fire.

  I shoved my fingers through my hair. What the hell was Kallis doing, calling out the gods like this? Asking to fight Thea? And why were so many people listening to him?

  Thea trembled beside me. Her fists were tightly closed at her sides. I didn’t know what to say to help her.

  “An enticing offer,” drawled Ares. “Such a battle would draw the attention of many noble warriors.”

  My head whipped to him, eyes wide. He saw my gaze and didn’t react, but I noted the glint in his eyes.

  He knew Athena would hear about this. She might even act. And if she didn’t, Derek would.

  The Knife felt too heavy against my hip.

  “Thea Eldoris has Shifted. Now she must be feared as Poseidon was.” He lolled his head toward the crowd, watching their anger with interest. “Can you think of a better display?”

  “You can’t do this,” I blurted. “This isn’t how you get their belief. This is how you make them turn on you.”

  “This is our double-edged sword,” Zeus stated gravely. “Our chance to stop Derek Areios and mortal dissent.” He looked at Thea. “Remember your promise to us. Derek Areios was not included in it.”

  Tears blurred in Thea’s eyes. She glanced at me, horrified, before looking away. Ashamed, as if I would blame her accepting the mantle of goddess to save my life.

  “You do not have a choice in this, Thea Eldoris. Becoming a goddess means leaving humanity behind. And your friends are human.”

  Zeus, Ares, and Artemis stood in front of us, our backs to the edge of a roof, the ground surrounded by angry voices condemning the Olympians, led by a man who hated Thea.

  She stood with the Trident in her hand, shoulders slumped, and head bowed. “I don’t want to leave it behind. I don’t want to be like Poseidon. I don’t want to be like any of you.”

  Cold. Calculating. Cruel. Using humans like party favors and destroying their lives when they were bored or annoyed. Making choices on whims and not caring about the damage left behind.

  None of that was Thea.

  But there would be no escape for us. Once again, I was the bait. The squishy, weak human who could only throw punches that would never land.

  I did the only thing I could think of.

  I turned to Thea and wrapped my arms around her. She stiffened, not expecting the embrace, but returning it swiftly.

  My lips pressed against her ear, I whispered to her.

  “I’ll be with you. I’ll be right there with you.”


  Her smile was weak and uncertain, halfhearted at best. But it was there. So I smiled back, as though I weren’t terrified this might be the last time I saw her. That whatever she was about to do would draw my brother into the fray.

  This was a trap I would watch unfold and could do nothing about.

  Pushing away from me, Thea turned to the gods. Her eyes were strong and steely.

  “Fine,” she said in the voice of a goddess, “get me down there.”

  DEREK

  I WOKE UP to the feel of a warm hand on my chest. Cracking my eyes open, I took in the sight of a gothic-inspired room with pale gray walls, black curtains, slick hardwood cabinets and tables, black leather chairs, a black marble bathroom, and a four poster bed complete with a silk canopy, sheets, and pillows in, of course, black.

  The room I was currently borrowing from Persephone. We were back in Haven.

  Another person was on the bed with me.

  Selena sat with her legs curled underneath her. She’d changed out of her armor into a simple tank top and leggings. Her feet were bare and cool against my ribs. Her warm, gentle fingers stroked my left pectoral. She didn’t look at me, but at whatever was on my chest. I glanced down.

  Four sharp gouges cut across my chest. Claw marks from Tisiphone.

  “Scars from a Fury don’t heal.”

  I glanced up. Selena still wouldn’t look me in the eye.

  “We did the best we could—Athena, Persephone, and I. But we couldn’t get rid of them.” Her fingertips rested inches from my heartbeat.

  I laced our fingers together. “They’re hardly the first scars I have.”

  Since I was bare from the waist up, Selena could see every one of my nasty souvenirs. She’d seen them multiple times, yet none of them appeared to bother her the same way this one did.

  Selena closed her eyes and clutched my hand. “I hope you aren’t trying to make me feel better. I thought you were going to die. If it weren’t for Adelae and I calling Athena…”

  Her whisper made her sound so small. I sat up on the bed. My body ached in protest, but I felt better than I had a few hours ago. Or however long it had been.

  I shuffled forward until my knees were pressed against hers.

  “My heart is still there. I’m all right.”

  She looked at our fingers. I tucked my free hand under her chin and raised her head. Selena’s eyes glistened, starry silver and blue. Breathlessly, I asked, “Are you okay?”

  She closed her eyes, a strange laugh slipping past her lips. Then she threw her arms around me and crushed me to her chest. I folded my arms around her and closed my eyes. She felt warm and smelled like her lily perfume.

  Gods. I could have stayed here forever.

  “How do you do this to me?” she whispered. Her breath felt warm on my skin. “How do you make me feel so comfortable but so scared at the same time?”

  I winced. “You’re scared of me?”

  Selena shook her head and looked up. Worry glittered in her eyes. “I’m afraid of what I’ll feel if I lose you. With the Furies… I haven’t been that scared in a long time, Derek.”

  I slowly reached out and brushed a piece of hair behind her ears. My fingers grazed her cheek, and her eyes didn’t move from mine. “We’re friends. You care. That’s why.”

  “Are we? Just friends?”

  My heart thumped quickly. Could she feel it, pressed so close to me? “That depends on you, Selena. I will be whatever you want me to be.”

  I sat there, nervous to move, offering my heart to her. Wanting her to take it, worried about what I would do if she didn’t.

  An eternity passed before she untangled my fingers from her hair and clutched my hand in both of hers. She pressed a kiss to my scarred knuckles, sighing against me.

  “Love hasn’t been kind to me, Derek. After my family, Troy, Apollo, Athena… I want to keep running from it. I can almost make myself think it’s easier. And you. Reckless, kind, brave, honorable you,” she smiled, teasing and sad. “You make that difficult.”

  I grinned back at her. “There’s a compliment in there somewhere.”

  Selena pressed my hand to her lips again, thoughtful. It was all I could do to sit patiently and let her think.

  “There’s too much going on right now. It feels like the wrong time. I know that isn’t what you want to hear, because you…”

  Because I love her.

  She clutched my hand tightly, not wanting to let me go. “We have time, and I do care.”

  There were questions in her eyes. Hopes. Uncertainty. Like she worried I would die permanently.

  I settled back onto the mattress. “Come here,” I murmured.

  Selena crawled up the length of my chest and set her head down to listen to my heart. I wrapped an arm around her and enjoyed this. A simple, small moment where I could breathe, and feel relaxed. The first time in a long time that someone had gone completely right.

  “We have time, I promised.”

  The moment didn’t last as long as I wanted it to. Selena pulled back and tucked her hair behind her ears. “You should get dressed. A lot happened while you were unconscious.”

  “How long was it this time?” I teased.

  Selena threw me a wry grin. “Only a few hours. No more sleep for you.”

  “Damn. I was really comfortable just now.”

  Heat suddenly rose in my cheeks, but I was glad to see Selena blushing slightly as well.

  “You’re okay, though?” I asked, hoping to move past the embarrassment.

  Selena nodded. “Just a few scrapes and bruises. You drew the short straw back there.”

  I chuckled. “What else is new?”

  “That said,” she went on, “there were consequences to what we did. It’s best you hear about them from Persephone, and… and Athena.”

  Apparently saving my life hadn’t fixed the rift between Selena and Athena. I couldn’t say I blamed her––I wouldn’t be grateful for anyone who erased my memories—but I was grateful that she wasn’t dead. I loved Selena, Cassandra, or whomever she decided to be. The world would be a darker place without her.

  But I didn’t know what Selena wanted. Cassandra had been willing to die to free herself from Apollo’s curse and take the secrets of the Cronus Shards and Trinity Weapons to her afterlife. Being denied that by someone you trusted must have been a lot to process.

  Whether or not Selena still saw herself as the Trojan princess or as someone new, I could only guess. However she chose to see herself, I wanted her to be happy.

  “Hopefully there will be food,” I said, quickly changing the subject. “I’m starving.”

  Selena smiled gently. “Next time we go somewhere, it won’t have an elevator.”

  “Good idea. Elevators never take us anywhere nice.”

  My awkward comments drew a laugh from Selena, and that was more than I could have asked for.

  The smell coming from the dining hall was incredible: cooked meats, hard cheeses, colorful fruits and vegetables, decadent desserts, and dozens of fruit juices. By the time I sat down, I was ready to start gnawing on the furniture.

  I was so gripped by hunger that I nearly missed Athena and Persephone seated in chairs across from me. Both women had dressed casually. Athena looked more like herself instead of the vengeful goddess who’d saved my life.

  I showed them both the utmost respect, bending at the waist.

  “Thank you,” I told them. “I am grateful for your care, Persephone, and Athena.” I looked up at the goddess, whose eyes were gray once more. “I can’t thank you enough for protecting me against the Furies. If you hadn’t been there…”

  I didn’t need to elaborate. Every person in this room knew that no one, save for the Olympians, stood a chance against the Furies.

  “They’re still alive, though,” Selena remarked, sitting next to me. I picked some food up from the platters and set them on my plate.

  “My kin have summoned them to kill you, Derek Areios,” Athe
na explained. “Strong as I am, there will be little I can do to protect you again. The Furies will have no qualms about fighting me.”

  I nodded, understanding. The Furies were unstoppable. No weapon or warrior could beat them.

  Silence fell over the table. I nibbled at my food, simply because I needed the calories. I didn’t feel hungry anymore.

  “Is the Timeweaver safe?” Selena asked quietly.

  “Yes,” answered Persephone. “I have secured it with great care. I am the only one who knows its location.”

  “We should destroy it,” I said. “The longer those things are out in the world, the more dangerous they are. We’ve already lost the Trident, the Thunderbolt, the Eye, and the Heart. But we have the Timeweaver. If we destroy it, we can at least stop Cronus.”

  Athena sighed. “My instinct is to agree with you. But reality is far more complicated. Magical items cannot simply be thrown into a volcano. They are attuned and heavily enchanted. Destroying them will take power that even the Olympians do not have right now.”

  “Who does?”

  “Their makers. But the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires are long since dead.”

  Cautiously, I looked at Persephone. She smiled, as if knowing what I wanted to ask.

  “Restoring creatures such as the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires is not so simple as restoring life to a son. Even I do not know what happened to them after our Re-Emergence.”

  I stopped playing with my food, wiped my hands on a napkin, then rubbed my forehead.

  Of course, it would not be that simple. The Weapons gifted to Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades were granted after the Olympians freed the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires from Tartarus. They creatures had been imprisoned by Cronus, and probably knew him better than they wanted to. Which meant that not only could they destroy the Weapons, but they would know how to destroy the Shards and truly defeat Cronus.

  So, of course, they were permanently dead.

  “Then what do we do?” Selena pressed. She hesitated, then added, “If I can attune myself to the Timeweaver––”

  “No.” Athena’s tone brooked no argument.

  Her heir narrowed her eyes. “We don’t have many options here, and no one here is better equipped to handle the Timeweaver than me.” Silver-blue eyes darted between the goddesses. “You two can’t even touch it.”