He felt Ares’s gaze on the back of his head, was deeply aware of the others as they stared at him. Was he meant to say something? About Aiko? About Esher? About the daemon?
He was too tired.
Keras sank to his backside in an open spot at the long table and stared at the empty plate and bowl set before him. Ares was kind enough to fill them for him.
Although load them up might have been a more appropriate choice of words.
When his plate was overflowing with meat and vegetables, and his bowl held a mound of rice so high that it was in danger of toppling over, he looked at his brother.
Ares eased into the seat opposite him and hefted his broad shoulders in a shrug. “You need to eat.”
Keras stared at the food. None of it appealed to him. He was hungry for answers, not sustenance.
He picked at the food though, eating small mouthfuls to appease Ares and get his brother off his back. If he didn’t eat, Ares would dog him until he gave up. The others would make a fuss.
He wanted them all gone, busy with other things, their eyes no longer on him.
Megan swayed to her right and leaned against Ares’s shoulder, a sigh escaping her as she rubbed her belly. “I’m so full but she wants more.”
Ares chuckled and covered her hand with his. “She has my appetite.”
They had recently discovered the baby was a female, not a male as they had been expecting.
That news had been enough to place several of his brothers on edge.
It had placed him on edge too.
None of them wanted what had happened to Calindria to happen to another female in their family.
He cursed the Moirai for making the child female.
Females were vulnerable, weaker than males.
An image of Enyo flashed across his mind, sword a silver arc as she gracefully cut through a horde of enemies, her moves more like a well-choreographed dance than a fight. She spun and dropped, the black leather pieces of her skirt lifting upwards as she hit the ground and rolled. Her onyx hair flowed behind her as she came onto her feet in a lightning fast move, the silver plates on her armour flashing as they caught the bright sunlight.
She decapitated the warrior she faced and twisted, soft green eyes bright with the high of battle.
Perhaps not all females were weaker and more vulnerable than males.
Keras dropped his head and rubbed his temples, harder and harder, trying to purge thoughts of her. Emotions tangled inside him, had him shaking with a need to reach into his pocket and seek the calm oblivion of another pill.
It was getting harder to stop the feelings from coming.
“Keras,” Megan murmured, concern in her tone.
He shook his head, hoping to stop her before she could ask him what was wrong, before she could show more feelings for him that would only stir emotions in response.
“I am just tired.” He pushed to his feet and didn’t miss the way Ares looked at the food he had barely touched. Hoping to fend off his brother before he could make a fuss, he smiled tightly. “I will eat more later once I have slept and am feeling better.”
Ares continued to stare at him, a calculating edge to his sharp gaze, and then he gave a slight nod. “Fine. But I’m holding you to that.”
Keras drifted away from them, the sound of the conversation that surged to life the moment he was out of sight drifting into the background as he trod the well-worn boards of the walkway.
Thankfully, Cassandra had vacated his room, moving into Daimon’s one instead.
He eased the panel that acted as a door open and then slid it closed behind him.
Turned towards it.
Kneeled.
He rested his palms on his thighs, closed his eyes and waited.
It wasn’t long before the house fell silent and still.
He focused his senses, sharpening his internal radar until he could pinpoint everyone. They were all in their rooms.
All except Daimon and Cassandra.
Keras pushed to his feet, shook it off when he wobbled a little, fatigue rolling over him, and opened the door of his room. Cool air kissed his skin as he stepped out onto the walkway and cloaked himself in shadows, moving stealthily past the other bedrooms in the south wing of the house.
When he reached the separate building that contained Esher’s cage and the daemon, he let the shadows dissipate and pushed the wooden door open.
“You look like shit,” Daimon muttered as he glanced at him, lifting his gaze away from Cassandra.
“I am fine. Fed and rested. You two should do the same.” He looked at the daemon who was still sleeping curled up on the bottom of the square cage. “Anything?”
Daimon shook his head. “It’s like he’s hibernating.”
“Conserving his strength.” Keras ran an assessing gaze over the wraith, from his black hair, over his tattered long black robes, to his bare feet. “Go. I will watch him. I doubt he will wake any time soon.”
He was going to wake.
Keras was going to wake him.
He schooled his features as Daimon studied him, not allowing his younger brother to see his intent.
“You sure? You don’t want company?” Daimon looked reluctant to leave.
His brother was suspicious and he wasn’t the only one. The sorceress looked as if she didn’t believe him either.
“Do not make me issue an order, Daimon.” Keras eased down onto one of the benches that lined the walls of the square building.
For a moment, Daimon looked as if he might, but then he jerked his chin towards the door. “Come on, Cass. Let’s see if anyone left us some food.”
Daimon issued him a black look as Cass swept past him, pausing for a second before following her out into the fading night.
Leaving him alone with Eli.
Keras’s green gaze slid to the sleeping daemon.
Shadows rose from the ground and snapped at the cage, rattling it as they tried to pierce the barrier that surrounded the enchanted metal.
Eli shot to his knees in the centre of the cage, violet eyes darting to the shadows. He jerked left and right as those shadows lashed at the cage, rocking away from whichever side of the bars had been hit.
Keras leaned forwards and rested his elbows on his knees as he folded his hands together.
The daemon looked at him and hissed, flashing fangs.
Keras slowly smiled to reveal a hint of his own emerging fangs.
The wraith stiffened, realisation dawning in his eyes a split-second before he tried to back away from Keras. His spine met the cold metal bars of the cage and he tossed a fearful look at them and then Keras.
Keras’s smile widened as their eyes locked.
The world dropped away, everything familiar to him blurring into nothingness.
Something pushed back against him.
Keras gritted his teeth and resisted it, drew down a breath and focused all of his will on breaching that barrier that stood between him and what he wanted. Pain splintered across his skull in agonising waves that seemed to steal more of his strength with each one that washed over him.
His breaths shortened as he leaned forwards, as he peered harder into the darkness, determined to shatter it. He was a master of shadows and they would obey him.
He flinched and grunted as heat speared his mind, as his teeth ached and darkness writhed within him, snarled and gnashed its fangs at the threat before him.
Keras pushed it all back down inside him, shoved aside the fear and the pain, and tried again, pressing forwards into the darkness.
Eli whimpered. A pathetic sound.
From the darkness, a new place constructed itself, greenery rising to tower over him as blue and white tiles fell into position around a fountain, and golden dirt rolled across the ground beneath his feet.
Seville.
A female lay before him, eyes fixed on him in a sightless stare.
Lisabeta.
Anger rolled through Keras, fury that stole his bre
ath and had him wanting to lash out.
He lifted his head and glared at the ones responsible for her death.
His brothers.
Keras growled and pushed past the memory, seeking another. When it was one of Lisabeta again, he sought another. This one had the female daemon on her knees before him, naked and smiling. Keras tore it down and cast it aside. Sought another. Cold trickled down his spine and his hands shook as he flipped through the memories of the female daemon, following them deeper, sifting through layers and layers of them.
Eli was using them to hide the information Keras wanted. He was sure of it.
The wraith was resisting him.
Keras dropped to his knees and gripped the bars of the cage, rattled it as he snarled at the daemon it contained.
Muscles clamped down on his bones, his limbs trembling as he leaned hard against the cage, pushed deeper into Eli’s mind.
Pain wracked him, fire that devoured every inch of him as shadows twined around his limbs and dragged him deeper still, under the next wave.
He pushed through it, dived deeper and deeper, tearing down the memories of Lisabeta, racing back through time.
Jagged black lines spread across his eyes, forming fault lines like lightning that forked in all directions.
He caught a glimpse of a mansion. European.
Then another memory.
This one a building that looked more American. He tried to focus on it, but the black lines were spreading too rapidly, obscuring too much of it and it was gone before he could seize hold of it and watch the memory play out.
He spun into the next one, bile rising up his throat as his entire body ached and his muscles turned to water.
Darkness surrounded him.
Not darkness caused by the fault lines.
Keras stood on a bluff, cold air buffeting him, his eyes fixed on the valley below him and a small village.
Fixed on two golden-haired children where they hid behind a boulder.
His targets.
Pain lanced him, straight through his heart as he recognised them. Calistos and Calindria.
He tried to stay with the memory, but it fractured and shattered, crumbling around him as another one replaced it.
A beautiful blonde female.
She was slow to come into focus.
He pushed through the pain that seared him to piece together the memory.
A cage shimmered into being around her, suspended by a thick chain from the roof of a cavern.
Black rock blended with the darkness in all directions, making it impossible to pick out any details.
Other than her blonde hair.
And tattered scraps of sky-blue material that hugged her curves, looked as if she had pieced them together from a garment that had been too small for her womanly frame.
He stilled as a huge male dressed only in leather pants trudged towards her, as she noticed him and backed into the corner of her cage that was furthest from him, causing it to sway.
Couldn’t breathe as she shook her head, her blue eyes pleading the meaty warrior.
The male flexed fingers around a spear tipped with a black blade.
Crusted with blood.
Keras fought to move, snarled and struggled when his feet refused to cooperate. He looked down at them, at the jagged black shadows snaring his legs, creeping up them. Devouring him.
He had pushed too far.
He lifted his head and looked at the woman.
Swore she looked right at him as the male drove the spear towards her.
As she screamed.
Keras screamed with her.
The shadows engulfed him.
Chapter 30
Daimon stepped the moment the harrowing scream cut through the night air, landing in the building where he had left Keras.
Keras gripped the bars of the cage, his eyes locked with the daemon’s, his fangs long and irises black as he unleashed another pained bellow.
Daimon grabbed him by his shoulders and tore him away from the cage, shattering the connection between him and the daemon. His brother hit the floor in a sprawl and Daimon’s heart hammered in his throat as he crouched to check on him, fearing the worst.
Ares and Calistos appeared in the doorway.
Cal was quick to reach Keras and feather his fingers over his neck, his sigh saying it all as it escaped his lips and he sank back onto his haunches.
Relief washed through Daimon, and through Ares too judging by the way his shoulders sagged, the tension draining from him.
Ares raked his hands over his tawny hair and stared at Keras, his dark eyes lit with gold and red sparks. “What the fuck did he think he was doing? I told him not to fucking do this.”
Ares hadn’t been the only one to lay down the law with Keras either. Daimon had told him the same thing, and so had the rest of his brothers. Keras had agreed he wouldn’t probe the daemon’s mind and then he had gone ahead and done it anyway.
It wasn’t like Keras to be reckless.
Valen and Marek appeared beyond Ares and Cal, Caterina and Eva in tow.
“What the hell happened?” Valen looked at Keras, his golden eyes bright. He stooped, his violet hair falling forwards to obscure his face as he grabbed hold of Keras and helped Cal get him onto the nearest bench.
Keras remained deathly still.
Valen cast a worried look at Marek and Ares. “He’s gonna be all right… yeah?”
Ares didn’t look sure, but he nodded anyway.
Esher charged into the room, knocking Ares and Marek aside, Aiko hanging off his left arm. The petite female gave up trying to hold him back as Daimon stepped into his path, quickly obscuring his view of Keras.
“Good to see you up and about,” Daimon said, keeping his voice calm and letting none of his fear show in it.
Esher glanced at him and then turned his glare back on the wraith. “What happened to him?”
That growled question had everyone looking at the cage.
At the daemon who sat in the middle of it, hugging his knees and rocking, babbling incoherent things to himself.
Gods, he wasn’t sure what he would do if Keras had suffered the same fate.
“His mind fractured.”
The tension suddenly washed from the air as Keras’s deep voice rolled over it.
Daimon stepped back and twisted to face his brother.
Keras curled over, dug his fingers into his black hair, and clutched the sides of his head as he slowly breathed.
“And you?” Ares snapped. “You break your own fucking mind too?”
Keras lifted bleak green eyes to Ares, but didn’t say a word.
Which wasn’t reassuring.
Ares took a hard step towards Keras, heat shimmering over his body as fire raged in his eyes. “I fucking told you not to do it.”
Keras dropped his gaze back to the floor and closed his eyes, his voice thick with fatigue as he said, “We were getting nowhere.”
Daimon glanced at Esher, checking on him as his brother began to breathe harder and faster. “Esher?”
Esher’s dark blue eyes snapped to him and he blinked, his breaths coming more slowly again. “I want answers. I wanted…”
Daimon knew what his brother had wanted. He had wanted to be the one to break the wraith. He had needed to be the one to get them answers.
But Keras had beaten him to it and he wasn’t happy about it.
Daimon looked at the daemon. Although he wasn’t sure what answers Keras had managed to get from him.
One thing he did know—they wouldn’t be getting any more.
Eli was a mess, babbling strange things as he rocked, his violet gaze unfocused.
Esher went to take a step forwards, darkness emerging in his eyes, and Daimon stood his ground. When Esher dragged his gaze away from the daemon and narrowed it on him, Daimon lifted his right hand and hovered it over his bare shoulder, offering comfort in the only way he could and hoping it would be enough to calm his brother.
Crimson ringed his brother’s sapphire irises as he snarled, “I wanted answers. I was patient, Daimon… Patient. I wanted answers. I brought him here… I—”
Daimon inched closer to Esher. “You did good. You did what was right.”
He didn’t glance at Keras, but Keras’s gaze landed on him, and Daimon knew his oldest brother had read between the lines and knew Daimon thought he had done wrong. Hell, it was obvious everyone thought he had been out of his mind to attempt to read the daemon’s memories. There wasn’t a single person in the room who thought Keras had been right to do it.
Esher breathed harder, his chest straining with each one as he stared straight through Daimon, as if he could see the daemon on the other side of him.
“Esher,” he whispered. “We can still get answers.”
He wasn’t sure how though. Eli certainly wasn’t going to be giving them any information. Esher hadn’t needed this. Daimon could only imagine how difficult it had been for him to convince himself to capture the daemon rather than kill him, to bring him back here for them to question rather than torturing him for answers in the Underworld.
Now, that battle had been for nothing, and Esher was dangerously close to slipping back into the darkness of his other side.
The crimson invading his brother’s eyes began to spread and Daimon motioned to Aiko. She hurried forwards and took hold of Esher’s arm, slipped her hand into his right one and smiled when Esher looked down at her. His brother blinked as she stroked his arm and blue began to win against the scarlet in his irises.
“Maybe we should get some air?” Aiko breathed, her voice steady and no trace of nerves in her eyes even when Daimon knew she had to be afraid of losing Esher to his other side again.
Esher’s brow furrowed, his gaze darting between her and the cage, and he made a pained sound, as if having to choose between obeying Aiko and pleasing her, and unleashing his rage on the daemon was killing him.
“Get some air,” Daimon whispered. “I can come with you if you want.”
Daimon: Guardians of Hades Series Book 6 Page 27