Keras: Guardians of Hades Series Book 7

by Heaton, Felicity

  Other voices joined Valen and Enyo’s, a blur of them that it hurt to focus on, so he focused on himself instead, on slowly picking apart the wretched mash of his feelings and processing them one by one.

  Eventually, his head cleared enough that the conversation came into focus.

  “What if we took another look at Guillem’s mind?” Daimon’s words were met with the sound of feet scuffing the stone floor and a muffled grunt.

  Keras cracked his eyes open, squinted across the room to the arched stone doorway where Caterina had Daimon pinned against the wooden panels that covered the walls.

  “Or maybe not,” Daimon muttered and raised his hands at his sides.

  “Pointless.” Keras shoved that word from his lips with effort and everyone looked at him. “Cannot.”

  If he was going to crack open anyone’s mind for answers, it would be the witch’s he probed.

  “Aiko could.” Valen shrugged when Keras frowned at him.

  Aiko was a Carrier, with the talent of reading intentions in people, and sometimes their minds, but Guillem was strong and might block her. The last thing Keras needed was Aiko hurting herself trying to read his memories and Esher finally coming around to find her recovering from it.

  Esher was going to be angry enough as it was.

  Keras wasn’t sure what condition the enemy would leave the Tokyo mansion in.

  There was nothing of importance stored there. Keras had made sure of that only a month ago, when Calistos had first used his favour mark to summon a portal to the Underworld so he could report to their father.

  He had made Calistos take all their swords and shields with him.

  Marek had kept every scrap of information they had on his computer, and Keras had no doubt that his brother had evacuated that item from the mansion too. His brother would never leave his beloved laptop behind.

  There might be a few documents left there, and their clothes, but that was all.

  “I can force the witch to speak.” Keras held his hand up when everyone looked as if they might protest.

  It didn’t stop Enyo.

  “No. You are not strong enough right now. You are being reckless.”

  Reckless.

  He kept being called that recently.

  The look she gave him said it wasn’t like him, and he had to admit that she was right. He was being reckless, letting his emotions rule him when he should have been following a more logical path.

  “You’re going to rest.” Ares huffed as he preened the overlong lengths of his tawny hair back and secured it with a leather thong. He folded his arms across his chest and frowned down at his black T-shirt when his muscles flexing caused one of the small tears in it to grow longer. “We all are. Today, we take a moment. Take stock. Think shit through. Then we’ll come up with a plan. Don’t give me that look.”

  Keras wanted to deny he was giving his brother a look, but he couldn’t wipe it from his face.

  It wasn’t like Ares to think things through and be the one to recommend coming up with a plan.

  Valen slapped Ares on the back, jerking him forwards and earning himself a glare. “Look who’s all grown up and mature like. Never thought I’d see the day when you chose careful meticulous planning over flexing your muscles and going with the flow.”

  Ares took hold of Valen’s hand, removed it from his shoulder and shoved it away from him. “Well, I can safely say we’ll never see the day it happens to you.”

  Valen’s golden eyes narrowed on him. “I’m mature.”

  Eva stifled a giggle.

  Froze when he glared at her too.

  “No sex for you.” Valen crossed his arms over his chest and tipped his chin up and his head slightly away from Eva as he closed his eyes.

  Her shoulders slumped beneath her crisp black T-shirt and she sighed, and somewhat reluctantly fussed over him, speaking to him in Italian.

  Keras shut them out and focused on the brothers that would be of use to him.

  And realised that Cass was nowhere to be seen.

  He looked at Daimon. “Where is the witch?”

  “My witch or the…” Daimon looked around him and his ice-blue eyes snapped back to Keras. “I think my witch is with the witch.”

  A scream shattered the air, had everyone twisting towards the arched doorway to the vestibule.

  Daimon was first out of the door. He banked left on the other side of it.

  Enyo helped Keras onto his feet and he hurried after his brother with her help, the urge to step flooding him as magic rushed through the castle, had the ground shaking beneath his bare feet.

  He guided her left when they reached the vestibule, quickening his pace as they neared the hallway. He pushed forwards, into a shadowy area of the wide corridor.

  She went for the mahogany staircase that led upwards.

  Keras pulled her back and released her as he gripped the stone wall and the central pillar of the spiral staircase that led downwards into the rock.

  “Have you lost your fucking mind?” Daimon snapped, his voice echoing along the narrow corridor that came into view as Keras reached the bottom step.

  Enyo seized hold of him again as soon as there was enough room, helped him as he moved as quickly as he could manage, banking right at the wall.

  Daimon stood a few metres along the corridor, beyond a stunned looking Caterina where she leaned with her back plastered against the damp stone wall. The overhead lights flickered as the ground shook again.

  Keras couldn’t believe his eyes when he reached his brother.

  Cassandra kneeled on the floor of the cell beside the one they were holding Guillem in, an intricate circle shining on the flagstones in front of her. Smaller circles formed a pattern inside it, together with runes and glyphs. Some shone violet, and others were blue or green, and the lines that contained them glowed crimson and orange.

  “What are you doing?” Keras snapped.

  His green eyes leaped from Cassandra to the redheaded witch kneeling in the middle of the circle, her eyes dull as she stared straight ahead of her, her body unmoving.

  Cassandra leaned forwards and pressed her palms to the floor, close to the edge of the circle, her raven hair falling from her shoulders to brush her arms and obscure her face.

  The light of the circle glowed brighter.

  “Giving myself a boost,” Cass muttered, her Russian accent thick as she laboured for breath. “Need it to find Mari.”

  He stopped midway through reaching for Daimon, intending to push him aside so he could stop her from killing the witch by draining her.

  The magic in the air grew denser, and he swore it was invading him too as his head turned.

  Daimon shook his head and pushed him back, following him to a safer distance, where the power that was building no longer felt as if it was sucking the strength from him too. He sensed everyone else behind him, felt how on edge they were as they waited. As on edge as he was.

  Could Cass find Marinda?

  If she could, then there was a chance she could lead him to Meadow.

  To one of the enemy strongholds.

  Power hit him like a shockwave, knocking him back into Enyo.

  Cass screamed.

  Daimon lunged into the cell.

  Keras hurried after him.

  Stopped on the threshold and stared at his white-haired brother where he sat with Cassandra tucked in his arms, fear etched on his face and his eyes dangerously white as he looked down at her.

  “Cass. Wake up, baby.” Daimon gently jostled her.

  Frost flowers bloomed on his black leather gloves.

  He went to release her.

  Her nose wrinkled as she frowned and quietly murmured, “Don’t. Don’t let go.”

  He held her closer instead of releasing her, his brow furrowing as he lifted one hand and stroked her cheek, caught a tear that rolled down her pale skin. It turned to glittering ice on his gloves.

  Her eyes fluttered open.

  Filled with despa
ir and hopelessness.

  She croaked, “I can’t find Mari anywhere.”

  “Maybe they cloaked her?” Daimon caressed her face, his effort to reassure her doing nothing to stop her tears as they fell.

  Another possibility hit Keras like a thunderbolt.

  Chilled him like ice.

  He looked at his brothers.

  “Maybe they are no longer in the mortal world.”

  Chapter 22

  Enyo grumbled something as she teleported with him to Mount Olympus, probably something about the fact that upon waking in the bed they shared in the castle in Scotland, he had announced they were going to try to find where the enemy had taken Marinda.

  Keras had rested for a day, felt strong enough to head out into the world now. He couldn’t wait any longer, sitting around the castle, leaving Marinda out there. Cal would wake soon and he wanted to give his brother good news, not let him down by telling him the furie still had the woman he loved.

  The light of Olympus hurt his tired eyes, bright sunshine that beat down on him and heated his black shirt and hair. He squinted at the city that filled every inch of the gently sloping base of the mountain, his gaze scanning the terracotta rooftops of the ancient white buildings.

  Cypresses lined the broad street that cut through the heart of the city, providing shade for the denizens who strolled along the road, stopping at some of the stalls that spilled out onto it near the harbour.

  Olympus had always been too bright for him.

  It suited Enyo though.

  Warm light caressed her golden skin as she peered at the people passing them by, softened her jade eyes as she lifted them towards the point where the mountain grew steeper.

  A glimmer of something he didn’t like flitted across them as her gaze fixed on one building in particular, and he glowered at the columned temple that stood on a huge pale plateau of rock, looming over the buildings clustered around it. A leafy green garden filled the space to the left of the complex of buildings, and guards patrolled the grounds, the sunlight that glinted off their golden armour revealing them to Keras despite the distance between him and the home of Ares, god of war.

  Enyo’s brother.

  Enyo’s home.

  She turned away from it and busied herself with plaiting her fall of dark hair, twisting the braid into a knot at the back of her head and securing it with a pin she pulled from the side of her skirt.

  A silver pin he had given to her.

  “I thought you would have thrown that tatty old thing away a long time ago.” He echoed the words she had said to him when she had noticed the ring he still wore on his thumb.

  She stilled and looked at him, her eyes brightening as a smile emerged, curling lips he had kissed.

  Lips he ached to kiss again.

  “I would not part with it for anything,” she murmured, her smile widening.

  Making him want to kiss her even more.

  He would have, but they were being watched. Not only by the patrons who moved between the wooden stalls that lined the buildings along the harbour, but by the guards who stood before the gate behind him.

  A gate that led to the mortal world.

  Keras dragged himself away from Enyo and thoughts of kissing her, and settled his mind on business rather than pleasure.

  Cass had tried the spell again this morning, in case she had been mistaken and the reason she hadn’t been able to locate Marinda was because she hadn’t had enough power to cast the net wide enough.

  She had almost killed the witch by drawing on her magic again, using it to fuel the spell together with her own magic.

  And had met with the same result.

  Marinda was no longer in the mortal world.

  Keras had decided there and then that they needed to speak with the guards who protected the only gate the furie could have possibly passed through.

  A gate that had remained open to traffic.

  He turned to four males dressed in golden armour that was moulded like muscles over their chest and hung in pointed slats from their waist, over a royal blue skirt. The gold Corinthian helmets they wore covered most of their faces, revealing only their eyes and a sliver of their cheeks, together with their mouths.

  They flanked the vertical gate, two on either side, their long spears held proudly at their sides as their dark gazes remained fixed straight ahead.

  “Have you had much traffic through the gate this past day?” Keras looked them over, trying to discern which was the leader.

  A male to his right answered.

  “Several parties have entered or exited the city. I am not at liberty to discuss such matters with you.”

  Keras turned on the male, closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye and snarled in his face, flashing his emerging fangs. “Do you know who I am?”

  The male didn’t even flinch.

  Enyo took hold of Keras’s shoulder and he eased back, reining in his fury as he levelled a black look on her.

  “Do you know who I am?” She spoke to the male.

  He practically reared back a step.

  His right fist flew to his chest, knocking against the spot over his heart. “Goddess of war.”

  He bowed his head. The other three guards followed suit.

  Keras glared at them all.

  Enyo turned a smile on him. “Do not be angry with them. They are young. Most likely, they have never seen your face since you have been in the mortal world the past two centuries.”

  Her smile turned a little mischievous.

  “They do not know they spoke rudely to the firstborn of Hades.”

  The leader blanched, his eyes widening as he kept his head bent, his gaze fixed on the pale flagstones at Keras’s feet.

  Keras coaxed his shadows, let them dance around his shoes, savoured the way sweat rolled down the male’s cheek from beneath his helmet to drip from his chin.

  Or it might have been tears.

  “Answer his question, or I will not be held accountable for what he does to you.” Enyo stepped aside again.

  The guard swallowed and raised his head, looked Keras in the eye with only a slight flicker of nerves in his.

  Keras listened as the male listed all who had passed through the gate in the last forty-eight hours, far more than he had expected. He wasn’t sure he would find the information he was looking for here.

  He was about to tell Enyo that when something the male said snagged the whole of his focus.

  “Then there were the two females with their valkyrie escort.”

  Keras frowned at him. Valkyries? The enemy had employed one once, back when Lisabeta, the illusionist, had wanted to make Esher her pet. Esher, Daimon and Cal had defeated her. Valkyries were notoriously hard to kill, were impervious to damage unless you knew what their protective charm was and broke it.

  The thought that the enemy had more like her was troubling, but he couldn’t discount the possibility.

  Not when his gut said these were the ones he was looking for.

  “What did they look like? Were the two females blonde and young?” Keras was tempted to peer into the male’s eyes and see the memory for himself, but Enyo gave him a look.

  A stern one that said if he dared to try to use his powers, she was going to stop him.

  She didn’t need to coddle him. He was feeling stronger now, could probably probe the guards’ minds without breaking a sweat. Although, it would probably overstep the mark. Zeus wouldn’t be happy if he went poking around in his men’s heads without permission.

  The leader shook his head, causing the sunlight to glint off his golden helmet and hit Keras in the eyes. Keras grimaced and squinted, glared at the male who didn’t seem to notice that he had almost blinded him.

  Or perhaps he didn’t care.

  The male seemed a little too focused on Enyo. His dark gaze kept sliding to her, and the more he looked at her, the stronger the compulsion to put the male in his place grew.

  Enyo was his.

&n
bsp; The darker side of his blood snarled that.

  Had him stepping closer to her to make it clear to the male that she was spoken for and they were more than allies seeking a common enemy.

  The leader’s eyes leaped to his. “They were brunettes and older, appearing around the venerable goddess of war’s age.”

  Venerable goddess of war?

  Keras slid Enyo a questioning look.

  She shrugged. “All guards are trained to revere the gods and goddesses here. He is only being polite.”

  Polite his arse.

  The male was trying to hit on her.

  The urge to hit the male instead grew stronger still.

  One of the other males stepped forwards, sparing his leader by dragging Keras’s focus to him. “The females had been blonde. I am certain of it. Or perhaps they had been brunettes.”

  “Which is it?” Keras snapped and his shadows rushed forwards, towards the leader.

  Keras noticed and halted them before they could strike the male down, pulled them back under his control before anyone witnessed their unruly behaviour.

  Of course, Enyo noticed it.

  She arched an eyebrow at him, her pointed look making it clear she had seen his shadows attempting to attack the one who insisted on hitting on her.

  That male dared to speak to her and her alone again. “I am sure they were brunettes, my lady.”

  “My lady?” Keras growled, unable to hold those words back as darkness raged through him.

  Roared at him to release the shadows he had held back so they could teach the male a lesson.

  He dropped dark, fearful eyes to the ground, to the shadows that whipped around Keras’s feet, and stammered, “I-I m-meant it only as a-a-a sign of r-respect.”

  Keras huffed when Enyo delicately placed her hand on his arm and his shadows instantly settled, her touch like black magic that worked to calm him even as he tried to stoke his rage, desire to put the male in his place demanding he obey it and obliterate him.

  “Were they blondes or brunettes?” she said, and for a heartbeat looked as if she might dare to smile at the males to encourage them to speak. Keras shot her another look. She slid him one in return. “I am seeing a new side to you today.”