In the water, colourful fish darted around.
She watched them as she walked with Keras, moving closer to him when more females paused to admire him. She remembered that Poseidon had given his favour to Esher, and how the two of them had seemed close the few times she had seen them together. She didn’t want to be the one to tell Poseidon what had happened to Esher, but if it would sway him, then she would mention it.
Because this mission had to succeed.
She needed to convince Poseidon to lend his forces to Keras and convince him to speak with Hades too.
At the very least, she needed him to speak with his brother.
They reached the high wall of the palace and ascended the broad white steps that led up to a formal garden that filled the space around the temples, level with the top of the wall. Along the edge of the garden, golden statues of Poseidon stood.
Elegant white marble fountains flanked the path that carried her forwards, towards one of the lower temples. She banked right, heading for the gatehouse beside it, the only entry point for the palace. The brightly clothed people coming and going from Poseidon’s temple glanced at her, and then at Keras.
Enyo ignored them and approached the guards, two males dressed in white and turquoise breastplates and skirts who stood side by side with their golden tridents crossed.
They took one look at her and Keras and stepped aside, bowing their heads and easing their tridents back.
Keras led the way up the narrow road, following it around another two columned buildings made entirely of gold, and out onto a broad paved area before the main palace.
Three rows of enormous white columns supported the gold triangular pediment of the temple-like building, the turquoise, lapis lazuli and marble frieze depicting Poseidon and his wife on a chariot drawn by creatures that had the front half of a horse and the rear of a sea serpent or fish.
She stepped to one side as three females bustled past her, two of them carrying gold bowls overflowing with rose petals while the third carefully held a pitcher of oil.
Keras raised an eyebrow at them. “I see Poseidon’s tastes haven’t changed. He still prefers his females to bare more flesh than is respectable.”
Enyo looked at the clothing they wore, layers of colourful sheer fabric that covered only their breasts and was fastened with gold, and two long strips of matching fabric that hung from a gold belt around their waists, barely covering their backsides and the front of their hips, and then at herself.
Her skirt was short, barely reached mid-thigh.
Was that respectable enough for Keras?
He moved and she hurried to keep up, her pulse pounding faster again as they entered the main temple.
A female greeted him, bowing her head, causing tendrils of bright gold hair to spill down her ample chest. “Son of Hades.”
Keras dipped his chin. “I wish to speak with my uncle.”
She nodded again and swept her arm out, gesturing towards the grand doors at the end of the hallway. She led the way, and Enyo watched Keras like a hawk, sure he would admire the female as she gracefully walked ahead of him.
He didn’t.
He kept his eyes fixed on the door.
Her pulse settled a little.
It didn’t last long.
The moment the twin gold doors opened, it spiked right back up.
Her breath leaked from her when the female left them and she looked at the room. The gold and white throne that stood on the high dais at the other end of the room was empty.
“We can get Zeus to speak with him.” Enyo reached for Keras’s arm, unwilling to waste this chance she had been given.
A deep male voice rolled from beyond the white and turquoise fluted columns that lined the room, supporting the roof.
“I am the only one home, but you can speak with me. I am in charge in my father’s absence.”
She tensed.
Keras arched an eyebrow at her.
She cursed him for noticing.
Cursed the blue-haired male who rounded one of the white columns and smiled at her, his aquamarine eyes brightening as they landed on her.
Before she could say or do anything, he strode towards her and swept her up into a hug, lifting her boots off the white marble floor.
“It is good to see you, Enyo.”
Enyo pressed against his bare shoulders.
Keras growled.
Nikos set her down and eased her away from him. Slowly. As if she was a bomb liable to detonate if he moved too quickly.
Or perhaps he feared Keras would explode at him.
She glanced at Keras.
Didn’t miss how he scowled at Nikos, or how his look only darkened as it dropped to his body. She swore she could read his mind, knew the dark path his thoughts traversed as black invaded his irises.
Nikos wore the traditional garb of his position as a son of Poseidon.
Which meant he wore only a thick gold belt that dipped from his waist to under his navel, almost following the curve of muscle that arched over his hips. Two long heavy strips of fine cobalt fabric hung from that belt—one at the front that was only a little wider than the centre of his thighs, and one from the back that covered most of his rear.
Leaving the sides of his legs and his hips completely exposed.
A fine gold braid linked the two pieces a few inches down from the belt, giving him some modesty.
The silver embroidery on the front strip caught the light of the torches as he turned towards Keras, a golden glow shimmering across the depiction of shells and sea life.
It caught on the iridescent swirls and arcs on his skin that curled around over his hips and wrapped around his thighs too, markings that were unique to him.
“The firstborn of Hades.” Nikos looked at Enyo, a smile curving his broad lips. “And the goddess of war. Let me guess. This is about the war brewing in the Underworld. The rumours about it have reached our shores.”
“It is why we seek your father, Nikos.” She did her best to ignore the way Keras’s eyes drilled into her, and the darkness she could feel rising inside him.
Nikos ran a hand through his short blue hair. “All these years and I finally see you again, and it isn’t even me you have come to see.”
He glanced at Keras again.
Her heart seized.
“He is handsome.” Nikos smiled slowly, an air of mischief about it. “I see now why you broke off our engagement.”
Keras was on him in a flash, had his right hand around Nikos’s throat and had him pinned to one of the columns.
Nikos wheezed, “If not a little dark like his father.”
Enyo wanted to close the distance between her and Keras and seize his arm, but planted her boots to the floor. Intervening physically would only provoke his darker side. She had witnessed the possessive nature of the blood of Hades, and how easily jealousy had turned the god-king dark, had pushed him to attack her own brother.
Keras had that same blood running in his veins.
If she seized hold of him, he was liable to misinterpret her actions, would believe she was trying to protect Nikos.
Was defending his cousin.
“I never had feelings for him.” She let those words slip from her lips, felt them fall heavily in the room.
Saw them shake Keras.
His green gaze edged towards her.
She stood her ground, gathered her courage and pushed the rest of the words out.
“I barely even knew Nikos when my brother and his father decided we should marry.” She clenched her fists at her sides to stop herself from reaching for Keras. “Nikos is only a friend. I do not feel for him the way I feel about you.”
Keras lowered Nikos and viciously shoved him into the column before letting him go and stepping back.
“We really do need to speak with your father,” she said as Keras backed towards her, as he came to stand at her side, his gaze never straying from Nikos.
Staking a claim on her?
&nbs
p; She had half a mind to complain about his behaviour, didn’t like anyone thinking they owned her, but let it go. He had inherited a protective streak from his father, and she had witnessed it enough times in Hades to know better than to provoke that side of Keras.
Besides, part of her liked it.
“Hades is intent on allowing none outside of those in the Underworld to participate in this war,” she said. “Valen and Marek have gone to speak with Zeus about convincing Hades to listen to reason. We came to speak with Poseidon.”
“I cannot help there.” Nikos rubbed his reddened throat. “Father is off in one of his moods, brooding about something.”
Which was very like the god-king. He had a bad habit of disappearing for weeks on end whenever someone upset him.
“My brothers are all out of the realm on a mission.” Nikos crossed the short span of the lapis lazuli, gold and white mosaic that formed a pattern on the floor, reached the dais and sank down onto the edge of it, his breaths loud as his broad chest heaved.
“Nikos?” She risked a step towards him, concern building inside her as he paled, apparently struggling to recover from Keras’s attack. Which was strange. Keras hadn’t been that rough with him. She canted her head and studied him. “Are you unwell?”
Nikos shook his head, and then gave a half-hearted shrug. “Nothing for you to worry about. Just a little curse. My brothers have it under control… I think.”
He pulled down a shuddering breath and wheezed as he exhaled and lifted his head. His dull blue eyes fixed on her and his smile lacked emotion, looked forced to her.
“I just have moments.”
She reached for him.
He shook his head again.
She could feel the pressing weight of Keras’s gaze on her back, wanted to risk his wrath to check on Nikos, but tamped down that urge, reasoning with herself that she would hardly be helping him if Keras attacked him again because she had dared to touch him.
Nikos alleviated some of her worry as he pushed back onto his feet, the colour returning to his skin again as he stopped rubbing his throat.
“See? All better.” This time, his smile was genuine. “I’ll speak to Father. Maybe I can get a Messenger to him.”
“No Messengers,” Keras snapped. “They are working for the enemy.”
“All of them?” Nikos arched a blue eyebrow at him.
“Not all of them, but they are not to be trusted. Not right now.” Enyo’s brow furrowed as she looked Nikos over. “Are you sure you are all right?”
“Nice of you to be worried, but it is unnecessary. Talos is following up a lead as we speak.”
Which comforted her. Talos was competent, a very capable and intelligent male. If any of his four brothers could help Nikos with this curse, Talos could.
“I’ll speak to Father. Go.” Nikos jerked his chin towards her. “Before I find myself rudely pinned to another column by my cousin.”
She glanced over her shoulder at Keras.
His green eyes were narrowed on Nikos, black ringing them.
She backed up to him and took his hand. His eyes widened and dropped to their joined hands.
She nodded to Nikos. “Thank you.”
He shrugged that one off and eased back down to sit on the dais. “Call if you need me to fight.”
Like hell she would.
Nikos was in no condition to go into battle.
Whatever curse afflicted him, it was strong.
She led Keras out of the temple, down through the streets to the gate, and couldn’t step into it quickly enough.
When they reached the other side, Keras was swift to wrap his arms around her.
She stared up into his eyes as he teleported with her, into fathomless black that sparked with crimson around his dilated pupils.
Shivered from the possessive way he stared at her and how tightly he held her.
A feeling washed through her.
Things were about to change between them.
Chapter 20
Anger scoured Keras’s insides like acid, lit his blood on fire and devoured all rational thought, leaving him seething with rage as he stepped with Enyo, sweeping her away from the reach of the handsome god of the sea she had been betrothed to.
Anger with that god.
Anger that Enyo had hugged that male, pressing her curves to his near-naked body.
Anger that he had let her slip from his grasp once.
Anger that he still hadn’t found the strength to tell her how he felt.
He landed deep in the garden of the Tokyo mansion with her, wrapped in the shadowy night. She frowned as she tried to pull back and take in her surroundings, as he kept hold of her and refused to let her go.
He stared down at her.
His heart drumming faster and faster.
Blood burning hotter.
It was now or never.
He needed to get the words out, because he felt he might explode if he didn’t.
The moon peeked out from behind a cloud, bathing her face in pale light, stealing his breath as her beauty hit him hard.
“Are you unwell?” she whispered as she gazed up at him.
He thought about how she had asked Nikos that same question, with the same tender concern in her voice. Showing affection to her former betrothed. His own damned cousin.
The anger rose a little more, flared a bit hotter in his veins, rousing his darker side. He fought it, wrestling for control, but it refused to obey him, and fear joined the rage that poured through him.
Fear he might hurt her.
He struggled to breathe through it.
“Keras?” Enyo’s gentle palms framed his face, the lilac scent of her growing stronger as she pressed closer. Her eyes darted between his as her brow furrowed. “I am sorry I took you there. Nikos was never more than a friend to me.”
“A friend like I am to you?” he bit out, his words sharp as a blade, nerves getting the better of him as they swamped him, as they roused a blur of feelings he couldn’t decipher, ones that tore him in several directions. He felt like a youth again as he waited, standing on trembling legs, afraid of the answer to that question.
She lowered one hand to his chest and glided it down his arm, cupped his hand and lifted it. He stared at her fingers as she stroked them over the ring he wore on his thumb.
“Not like that. Not like us,” she whispered.
He felt the nerves in her too, an echo of the fear that filled him.
He tried to tamp it down and master it.
Failed spectacularly.
“I’ve spent the last two hundred years thinking I still loved you.” Those words came out harder than he had meant, and he cursed as she snatched her hand away from his and stepped back, severing the connection between them.
Tears glistened in her jade eyes and she lifted her hand to her chest, covering the spot over her heart with it.
Godsdammit.
The hurt inside her beat inside him too, travelling through the fragile bond that had always connected them. Every instinct inside him screamed at him to take that hurt away.
He stepped into her, framed her face with his palms and gazed deep into her eyes.
“Now I am certain that I still love you.”
She just stared at him, her eyes wide.
This wasn’t going well.
“I love you,” he repeated, some foolish part of him saying that she hadn’t heard him and that was the only reason she hadn’t responded. He pressed onwards, nerves be damned, somehow finding the courage to keep marching forwards, to tear down the walls that had always been around his heart and expose it to her. “I liked you the moment we met, and I fell in love with you the first time you kicked my arse six centuries ago.”
Her black eyebrows shot up. “Damn you for not telling me!”
“I’m telling you now,” he countered, a frown marrying his eyebrows as urges erupted inside him, goading him into giving in to them.
Urges that had his blood thundering.
/>
Heating.
She opened her mouth, no doubt to complain about the manner of his confession again.
Keras covered it with his own, captured her lips and silenced her with a kiss. His hand dropped to her nape and he gripped it as he pulled her against him, bending her to his will as he angled his head and kissed her deeper, willing her to respond.
She surrendered on a sweet moan, her lips moving against his, tongue sending a thousand thrills arcing down his spine as she opened for him and it brushed his.
He groaned and tugged her closer, so not even a molecule of air could exist between them, palmed her nape and kissed her harder as centuries of need spiralled out of control inside him. He tried to be gentle with her, afraid he would harm her as those needs got the better of him, as heat rolled through him and had him burning for her.
She seized hold of his shoulders and gripped them so hard pain shot down his arms, lancing his bones.
Took command of the kiss and addled his mind as her tongue caressed his, as she pressed closer still. The hard plates of her breastplate dug into his chest through his black shirt, and he cursed it as he lowered one hand to her back, burning with a need to feel her bare skin beneath his questing fingers.
Aware that out here in the garden anyone could see them.
He stepped with her, appearing in his room this time, couldn’t hold back the moment he realised that Ares wasn’t in the next room. His senses placed most of his brothers in the main room of the house, but Cal and Ares weren’t there. Cal must have taken Ares to see Megan.
Meaning Keras would probably have privacy for the rest of the night.
He groaned at the thought.
A night with Enyo wasn’t enough, but it was a start.
The first of thousands if he had his way.
He found the buckles on the side of her breastplate, fumbled with them and cursed when his hands shook so badly he couldn’t get the strap loose. He broke the kiss, his breath sawing from his lips as he attacked the buckle, as the strap finally gave. Enyo’s hands knocked against his as she worked on the second one, her breaths coming faster, her chest straining and drawing his gaze to it as the strap slipped free.
Keras: Guardians of Hades Series Book 7 Page 22