Keras: Guardians of Hades Series Book 7

by Heaton, Felicity

  A pebble rolled across the ground, tumbling towards her from the far end of the cave.

  She tensed, her gaze snapping up, adrenaline flooding her aching body as her gaze scoured the darkness there.

  It rushed out of her together with her strength as she locked gazes with the intruder.

  Soft, tender green eyes fell to the god Enyo protected.

  Persephone stepped out of the gloom, drifting towards her, flowers blooming in the wake of her bare feet. When she reached Enyo, she gathered the layers of her black dress and lifted them, sank to her knees beside Keras and stroked his hair.

  “He always used to come here whenever he was angry about something,” Persephone murmured, her voice a warm caress that eased Enyo, had her lowering her guard and finally relaxing. Nothing would happen to Keras now. Persephone would see to that. She would protect him with Enyo. The queen of the Underworld tilted her head and studied her son’s face, her fall of scarlet hair swaying from her slight shoulders as she leaned towards him. “He thinks no one knows about this place.”

  Persephone lifted her emerald eyes to lock with Enyo’s.

  “A mother knows everything.”

  It struck Enyo that his mother had always known about this side of his nature too, this darkness that could so easily control him and take him away from everyone he loved.

  The goddess shifted into a more comfortable position, tucking her legs beside her hip, and her gaze roamed back to Keras. “I shall let you into a secret. The rumours of Hades are true. There is another side to my husband… A side I once had to tame.”

  “Tame?” Enyo frowned.

  Persephone glanced up at her. “I am the leash on Hades’s darker side, the sole thing that can keep it in check and stop him from losing control. That is the real reason why I am always with him… why I rarely leave his side. Without me near him, the darkness so easily overwhelms him.”

  “The tale about the seasons being the reason you remain with Hades is a lie?” Enyo found that difficult to believe.

  She had witnessed how the goddess could cause the seasons in the mortal world to spin out of control. She frowned again. Although that only happened when it was autumn or winter, the months in which nature grew dormant.

  The tale said Persephone could leave her husband during spring and summer.

  Yet she rarely did.

  Enyo had always thought it was because she had a family with him, loved him and her children and preferred to remain with them. She had never imagined that it was because her being apart from Hades caused the god-king to grow dark.

  Persephone’s eyes grew serious as she stared at Enyo.

  “You are the leash on Keras’s darker nature.” The goddess’s tone matched her expression, and it was strange to hear her voice holding such a stern edge when normally it was light and breezy, filled with warmth and tenderness. It softened again almost instantly, dropping to a whisper as she lowered her gaze to Keras. “I would understand if—”

  Enyo shook her head and cut her off. “I love Keras, with all my heart, and I always have. I am not going anywhere. We have spent too many days apart in our lives. I never want to leave his side again.”

  Relief washed across Persephone’s delicate features, lifting the sombreness from her eyes.

  She stroked her son’s brow. “Rest now. Heal well. I will tell your father you are safe. I will tell your brothers you will come back to us. They all worry so much about you.”

  Persephone glanced at her one last time, her green gaze holding hope and affection, and then she was gone.

  A strange feeling stirred inside Enyo, warmth that bloomed in her heart and that she found difficult to define.

  Love?

  She felt loved, but not in the way she did whenever Keras looked at her. This was different. Because the look Persephone had given her was one of motherly love—the love of a parent?

  She had never known her mother, couldn’t recall her, and had been raised by her brother. She had never known a mother’s love, but now she felt as if she did, and it was a wonderful, warm feeling that buoyed her and gave her strength.

  Enyo lowered her hand, skimming it down Keras’s arm, over the cool plates of his armour. She stopped when she reached his hand.

  Stroked her fingers over the ring he wore on his thumb again.

  “I love you, Keras,” she whispered as she gazed at it, building courage that took effort even though he was asleep and wouldn’t hear her. “I meant to give you this as a token of that love… I wish I had been brave enough. I am sorry I wasn’t.”

  She would make up for that.

  She would be brave now, facing the darkness in him as Persephone must have with Hades all those centuries ago. She would help him tame it, doing all in her power to give him control over it.

  Because he was hers now, and she meant to keep him.

  Forever.

  Chapter 35

  Keras had a dry mouth and one hell of a headache. He groaned and shifted to get more comfortable on his bed.

  A bed that moved and squeaked, the feminine sound drawing a frown from him.

  “Enyo?” he croaked, sure she hadn’t been the one to make such a sound, but he could smell her now his senses were coming back online.

  He cracked his gritty eyes open, squinted as they watered and blinked, trying to clear his vision.

  A lot of golden, smooth skin greeted him.

  He swallowed hard.

  Shot into an upright position and regretted it when his head turned. He planted a hand against his forehead and grimaced.

  “You shouldn’t move so quickly. You are still healing.” Enyo’s hand fluttered over his chest.

  Touching bare skin.

  He looked down at her hands, wanted to groan for a different reason as he saw them resting on his chest, one on each pectoral.

  She snatched them back. “I had to check your injuries and you did not seem comfortable in your armour.”

  It hit him that he had been sleeping on her thighs, using them as his pillow, and guilt flooded him as he lifted his gaze to her face. She looked tired, dark circles around her eyes. He frowned as he recalled her saying something to him.

  Something about watching over him while he healed.

  Gods, he was selfish.

  Her own injuries were still healing while his were gone. She must have sat for hours with him, tending to him, keeping him safe. He wasn’t sure what to say, not when he remembered other things. Like attacking her.

  He cast his gaze down at his knees, his right eyebrow arching as he saw they were bare too. At least she had left him in his underwear. He shoved aside the urge to mention how naked he was and focused on apologising to her, only he couldn’t put together a good enough one to make up for what he had done.

  “I’m sorry.”

  It sounded weak to his ears, but Enyo smiled at him, the look in her pale green eyes telling him that it was enough for her.

  He took in his surroundings and frowned as he recognised them. It had been centuries since he had seen this place, a cavern he had found as a youth during his trial, one that had become his sanctuary in the years that had followed.

  He had never brought anyone here before.

  “What happened?” His gaze drifted over the surface of the pool, watching the glowing bugs as they whirled and danced, as fascinated by them now as he had been when he had first seen them.

  Although part of his current fascination with them was because he couldn’t bring himself to look at Enyo, not when fear was building inside him, sketchy memories of what had come after he had broken his limiters surfacing in his mind.

  They were a jumble, but he recalled a few things that had shame and guilt sweeping through him again.

  He looked at Enyo, desperate to ask her something but afraid of her answer.

  “Everyone is fine,” she whispered and shuffled closer to him, picked up the dark blanket that had pooled around him and pulled it up, draping it over his shoulders. “We won bec
ause of you… but if you ever do something so reckless again—”

  Tears filled her eyes and she bit her lip.

  He cursed himself for making her cry, self-loathing filling him as he reached for her. She welcomed his touch, let him brush his thumb across her cheek to clear her tears away, even let him linger with his palm on her as he looked into her eyes.

  He didn’t deserve her.

  His gaze fell to her throat.

  His hand dropped from her face.

  He didn’t deserve to touch her.

  She had every right to be angry, as furious with him as he was with himself. He had hurt her again, had attacked her and others, had been consumed by vile needs that had been seductive, had almost lured him into acting them out.

  Enyo took hold of his hand and brought it back to her face, and gods, that utterly undid him.

  Together with the bracelet he noticed on his wrist, one that appeared to have been woven from the two he had broken. It was strong, helping him control his power as he slowly regained his strength. A gift from Enyo. A gift filled with love that warmed him to his soul.

  He slid his hand around her nape and pulled her to him, wrapped her in his arms and thanked the fates they had given him Enyo—a beautiful, strong, brave and kind female to call his own.

  The light to his darkness.

  She wrapped her arms around him and held him. Just held him. No words. No judgement. Just warmth. Love. It poured into him, filled him with that light he always saw in her, chasing back the remnants of darkness and freeing him of its hold.

  Keras drew back and kissed her.

  Softly. Tenderly. With all the love he felt for her. An apology for what he had done and a plea to her to forgive him, to stay with him, rolled into one.

  She framed his face with her palms and kissed him for a moment, but then she broke away from him and fear rushed through him, chilling his blood.

  Only she didn’t look as if she was going to leave him.

  She reached to her left and he frowned as she picked something up, and held it out to him.

  A neat stack of clothes. Black slacks. Black shirt.

  “Your mother brought them.”

  His eyes widened.

  “Mother knows about this place?”

  She nodded. “A mother knows everything apparently.”

  He took the clothes from her, looked at them and then back into her eyes.

  She read the question in them. “She came here a few times. First to see you were safe and speak with me, and then she brought me food, a blanket and news from the palace, and then she returned a final time to bring you clothes. Possibly because she found you undressed the second time.”

  A blush heated her cheeks.

  Because his mother had seen she had stripped him to his underwear? He imagined his mother was aware they had done far more wicked things than Enyo seeing him almost naked while he had been in a deep healing sleep. There was no reason for his goddess to be embarrassed.

  He dressed anyway. He didn’t trust his legs yet, so he sat on the blanket as he pulled his trousers on.

  “Is Father well?” He tugged the trousers over his backside and fastened them.

  She nodded. “Everyone has returned to the palace. Thanatos has taken Eris to Tartarus to await trial.”

  Eris.

  Keras had wanted to kill her too. He recalled that. He had wanted to kill Thanatos for trying to take her from him.

  He also remembered trying to kill Enyo’s brother.

  He grimaced. She noticed it.

  “I’m sorry about attacking your brother.” He pulled his shirt on.

  She shook her head. “Don’t be. I think he was enjoying it until I got in the way. He probably wants a rematch in the arena.”

  It had been centuries since Keras had set foot in the arena in Olympus, and he had no plans to enter it any time in the near future. Even when he wanted a rematch with her brother too. He paused halfway through buttoning his black shirt and looked at her. Although he had the feeling he didn’t have to fight for her anymore. He had the feeling that she really was his and she always would be.

  “How long was I out?” He slipped another button through the hole.

  “Perhaps a little over a day.”

  He froze. “A day?”

  He could only imagine how worried his family was.

  Enyo or his mother could have taken him home at any time, but they hadn’t. Enyo had kept her promise to stay in this sanctuary, to remain with him, to watch over him. He was eternally grateful for that. He could remember something about when he had brought her here.

  He had feared he would lose his fragile hold on his lighter side if she took him anywhere near another male.

  The need to protect her, to keep her as his and his alone, had been strong.

  Was still strong.

  But his will was stronger now, his mind and heart clear. She was his, and the darker side of him didn’t need to worry about losing her. She would always be his.

  “We should return.” Because he was tired of worrying people all the time. He had done that far too much over the last two centuries.

  She stood and held her hand out to him, and he slipped his into it.

  She hauled him up and into a teleport before he could use his own ability to take her to the palace, another sign of her love for him that warmed his heart and soothed his darker side. She didn’t want him to weaken himself.

  They landed just outside the main palace and she helped him inside.

  As they made their way towards his father’s bedchamber, he grew aware of something.

  The building was eerily quiet.

  He focused his senses, frowned when he felt only Enyo on them.

  “Something isn’t right,” Enyo whispered.

  He glanced at her. “Where is everyone?”

  A shiver trickled down his spine as he tried again and sensed only Enyo. Even the guards who were normally stationed around the grounds were gone. A sense of foreboding filled him, had him moving faster as they neared the bedchamber. He shoved the door open and stilled.

  It was empty.

  He seized hold of Enyo’s wrist and stepped, was walking as they came out of the teleport in front of his own home. His pace picked up, his heart thundering as he stretched his senses outwards and that same eerie stillness greeted him.

  Enyo slipped her hand into his as they rushed into his palace and through it, checking everywhere.

  Finding no one.

  Had something happened while he had been absent?

  His gaze shot to Enyo. “When was the last time Mother visited?”

  She pulled a thoughtful face. “A few hours ago. Maybe five.”

  A lot could happen in five hours.

  He spun on his heel, went to a window and desperately scoured the grounds, seeking a sign of life.

  What if Eris had managed to escape Tartarus?

  Horrific images filled his mind, chilling his heart.

  He mustered his strength and stepped again.

  Landed in the grounds of his brother Ares’s palace, fearing what he might find.

  He stopped dead when a female bellowed, the sound pure agony.

  Keras grabbed Enyo and rushed towards the palace, dragging her along behind him as his heart thundered, adrenaline spiking, and the darkness surged.

  Another piercing scream cut through the tense silence as he entered the vestibule.

  His head jerked up to his right and he ran in that direction, his shadows racing ahead of him. He mounted the stairs two at a time and sprinted towards the end of the corridor.

  Towards his brother’s master bedroom.

  He shouldered the door open, his shadows at the ready to strike down whoever was attacking his family.

  Froze.

  It wasn’t quite the bloodbath he had expected.

  Persephone, Aiko and Cassandra all turned to look at him.

  Every single one of them looking ready to hit him for bursting into the roo
m.

  Ares stood with his back to him just in front of him, obscuring his view of the bed.

  As his brother turned towards him, a shiver tripped down Keras’s spine.

  There, tucked in his brother’s thickly muscled arms, was a tiny, squirming bundle wrapped in pink cloth spotted with flowers.

  “I thought—” Keras swallowed hard, couldn’t take his eyes off the squalling babe as she wriggled, fighting her father’s tender hold.

  “Yeah, she’s a little early. Mother says stress induced it. Feel like a bit of a dick now.” Ares’s eyes misted up, but there was worry in their dark depths.

  Keras couldn’t help but join him. He had meant to say that he had thought something terrible had happened when he hadn’t been able to find anyone, but he didn’t have the heart to tell his brother that now, not when Ares looked so worried as he gazed down at his daughter. Keras couldn’t imagine the fear Ares must have felt when Megan had gone into labour almost three weeks early.

  His brother looked as if someone had put him through hell in the last twenty-four hours, his face pale and drawn, and his overlong tawny hair mussed, as if he had repeatedly stabbed his fingers through it. Keras felt partly to blame for his brother’s condition. Ares had probably been worrying about him, and then Megan had gone into labour.

  “Not a dick.” Megan sounded tired, her voice drifting from behind his brother. “Just… maybe try not to worry me next time.”

  Ares looked over his shoulder at her. “Next time?”

  Megan didn’t answer that.

  “He was not the only one to blame for this. Healing Hades did not help.” Persephone glanced at Hades where he leaned against the wall near the corner of the room.

  He blended with the black paint in his tunic and trousers, his long legs crossed at his ankles and his arms folded over his chest. His onyx hair was wild, as messy as Ares’s, and his blue eyes held a worried edge as they remained fixed on the baby in his son’s arms.

  “But I am glad you healed him for me. I am eternally grateful to you, Megan.” Persephone smiled at her and then came to Ares and checked the baby, lightly running her fingers over her from head to toe. Both Hades and Ares watched her like a hawk, fear mounting in their eyes. When she lifted her gaze from the baby to Ares, she smiled softly again. “She is strong. She will be fine.”