The circle of trust had been broken. Whether it could be mended or not would be seen in the next few minutes. Our pain was real. Learning that it had been intentionally orchestrated didn’t make it go away. In a way, Nate had humiliated us by beating us, succeeding in kidnapping the people we loved most. Rubbing our faces in it didn’t make it better. He knew our weaknesses—shared with him in confidence—and he had exploited them. Our loved ones had seen us fail to protect them, and that was something that could not be unseen. No matter the intention of the kidnapper, they had been kidnapped, and our respective people had seen us lose. In one morning, Nate had hamstrung three Horsemen with very little effort.
Nate abruptly tensed with a surprised look on his face as his eyes shifted to something over my shoulder. “He speaks the truth,” a woman’s voice said from directly behind me. The three of us spun, crouching instinctively at the potential threat. A truly stunning blonde woman in gold, dented and scuffed armor faced us without even a whisper of fear in her bright—
I blinked. Her eyes were two different colors. One green and one blue, both sparkling like gems.
Then a man stepped up beside her and Alucard gasped like he’d been shot in the heart.
Was this whole place not warded? Because I hadn’t sensed either of them appear, and they definitely hadn’t been here when we arrived.
38
Yahn, the chameleon dragon and Greta’s grandson, smiled reassuringly. Instinctively, I almost blurted out Happy Birthday—anything to fill the oppressive silence. He had filled out—a lot—since the last time I’d seen him in a neon leotard, dancing to some sort of techno garbage. He was very handsome, and he oozed confidence—both traits that the pudgy dancer had not had when I first met him.
“We were never in danger,” Yahn said. “Well, Gunnar almost killed Nate, I heard,” he added, calmly. “Other than that, not even a scratch.” He glanced at Nate with a guilty shrug, pointing a thumb at the blonde warrior. “She asked about the risk to innocent bystanders and I realized that I hadn’t even considered the customers or employees,” he said. His eyes flicked past Nate’s shoulder towards the teller line. “They’re now in a private meeting to give us some privacy. Once I was confident these three had seen through the illusion, I had the manager disable the alarms, so you can use magic again. The anti-illusion field always stays on, which is probably a good thing right now,” he said, shifting his attention from Nate back to us.
Why had I not sensed anyone here? I really needed to practice this vampire skill. Then again, neither Gunnar nor Alucard had sensed other people hidden in the back room. Maybe the place was warded. If it was a bank, that made a lot of sense.
Nate shook his head, looking mildly annoyed to be outclassed, but I also caught a faint smile directed past my shoulder at…the blonde woman. It was a deeply personal smile—not openly, but I noticed it because he’d once smiled at me in much the same way. Nate…was in love with this woman. My pulse suddenly escalated, realizing that Aphrodite had told me the truth. Whether he realized it yet or not, he’d moved on from thoughts of me. So. This hot ass bitch and a half was Kára. I judged her, as was appropriate, and permitted myself to hate her a little bit.
Nate’s smile morphed into one of resigned gratitude. “Thanks.”
Kára and Yahn shrugged it off, keeping their eyes on us.
“Mind stepping over here?” Nate asked her, sounding strangely excited, as if he’d had a sudden epiphany. I frowned, curiously, my eyes shifting to the illusion-breaking line. Nate wanted to see what she looked like beyond the line, which was strange. What was the woman hiding?
“Not a chance,” she said with a knowing grin, already thinking three steps ahead of Nate. I narrowed my eyes at the statues. What kind of illusion did he think the Valkyrie was under?
Nate shot Gunnar a crestfallen look and a hapless shrug, begging for sympathy. Gunnar gave him nothing. At all. In fact, he broke eye contact with his once best friend and he may as well have kicked Nate in the chest, judging by the reaction on his face. I didn’t blame Gunnar.
Nate turned to Yahn. “At least tell me you didn’t leave Carl in charge.”
Yahn smirked. “I left the pups in charge, of course.” Gunnar tensed, shooting Yahn a sharp, anxious look. The younger dragon stood firm, not wilting under the alpha werewolf’s glare.
Realizing I was still kneeling, I rose to my feet and directed my glare at Kára. Then I turned to share my ire with Nate. “Someone needs to explain. Now. Is Peter truly free or was that another stunt you pulled to terrify us? And why can’t I sense you?” I demanded, eyeing Nate up and down. I now realized why he’d made up the excuse about finding Nate’s satchel. Because he knew one of us would have paused upon seeing it if he hadn’t dismissed our suspicion. Even then he’d been trying to protect us. He’d brought us here so he could reveal the truth in private, knowing there was no other way to convince us. As mad as I was, I couldn’t imagine being in his shoes.
Gunnar and Alucard were suddenly shouting over each other, demanding answers to all kinds of questions, their voices echoing and competing for dominance in the large open space.
Nate held up a hand, silencing them. When they’d quieted down, he turned to Yahn. “Can you head back and keep an eye on everyone?” For some reason, he didn’t ask Kára to do the same, which made her grin victoriously.
Yahn nodded, ignoring the arguing shouts from Gunnar about how he better bring the pups here right the fuck now. Alucard silently watched Yahn toss a Tiny Ball on the ground and hop through the resulting Gateway. Despite being so concerned, he hadn’t said a single word to Yahn. Perhaps his own rage had surprised him. Scared him, even.
They turned back to Nate with grim scowls. Nate took a deep breath and then began to tell the most bizarre story I had ever heard, and that’s saying something. He told us about the cuffs on his arms—Titan Thorns—and how they could only be removed by…true love. Cliche almighty! They were the reason he couldn’t use magic and we couldn’t sense him. He talked about Kára—more than absolutely necessary, in my honest opinion—and we were soon sitting down on the floor like children listening to the tallest of tall tales from a compelling raconteur. Nate had been busy battling one pantheon after another, freeing Fenrir for Loki, visiting Asgard to pick a fight and kill Thor with Gunnar. The werewolf’s chest puffed up with pride at that one and he smiled, smugly, gripping the legendary hammer tightly.
Nate told us of how he’d been abducted by Zeus and locked in a prison with Prometheus and Carl for the past week, suffering daily inventive forms of torture from both Ares and Apollo. He told us about the sleep-inducing stuffed animal Carl and Yahn had used to abduct Ryuu, along with the eyepatch from Grimm Tech that rendered one invisible—just like the one hanging around Nate’s neck. He even mentioned quasi-real dreams with Quinn MacKenna, an Underground Railroad in the foundations of Chateau Falco that he’d just discovered, and I began to see an alarmingly elaborate tapestry unfolding, weaving seemingly erratic, random events into one great big quilt of intrigue and conspiracy. And…it was beautiful.
And terrifying.
Zeus wanted our new band of Horsemen to answer his beck and call. To be his Horsemen. And Nate was doing absolutely everything he could to make sure that didn’t happen. Like kidnapping our loved ones so that we didn’t have to face what he currently faced with Alice. I could see the concern was eating him alive inside.
Through it all, I kept thinking back on Hermes and Aphrodite, having a newfound appreciation and respect for their exceedingly careful comments. They were under just as much—if not more—scrutiny than even Nate. All were prisoners under the vicious tyranny of Zeus, and the Father of the Olympians had established dozens of safeguards to prevent them from messing up his plans to take over our new band of Horsemen.
As we listened in rapt attention, I realized another startling discovery. Nate was doing something magical even though his Titan Thorns prevented him from using his awesome powers.
He was…being brutally, painfully honest. Hitting us with raw truths that he normally kept under lock and key and behind several vault doors. He was inviting us into his inner sanctum as a means of indirectly apologizing for his actions. I wasn’t sure if it would be enough to mend our wounds, but it was definitely helping, judging by the reactions on Gunnar and Alucard’s faces. It made a difference to me. A big one. Nate had saved Ryuu from Zeus.
For me. Even as he had his heart set on the stupidly beautiful Valkyrie in our midst. Kára watched the four of us like a sleepy cat, her eyes vigilant but her posture utterly relaxed, almost sluggish.
Finally, Nate trailed off and Gunnar shook his head woodenly. “It’s all tying back to the beginning,” he growled, waving a hand at Nate, indicating the earlier Peter illusion. “When the dragons came to town with Alaric Slate.”
Nate nodded. “We’ve all been played by the Olympians. By Zeus. Especially you guys. He’s a sick, twisted, clever man. I have to give him that. But here is the important bit—and the reason for my secrecy.” The three of us leaned forward subconsciously. “You cannot let on that you know any of this. I didn’t kidnap everyone just to get your attention. I need Zeus to see you furious, emotionally wrecked, and focused like a laser on Peter. He needs to know you are broken and malleable. His hubris is his greatest weakness. I need you to do this for Alice. And me. And your loved ones—who are now safe from his reach, thanks to me.”
I narrowed my eyes at his decision to pat himself on the back, even though he was right. Social grace was not in his repertoire—except when he was manipulating someone to get something he wanted. But his warning echoed that of Aphrodite and Hermes.
“I knew this would hurt you,” he went on, “but I valued knowing that your loved ones would not become the next Alice over the pain of knowing that I had to hurt you to make them safe. I’ll carry that guilt to my grave,” he rasped. “But I would do it again in a heartbeat. That’s part of the job, Horsemen.”
The bank grew silent. Painfully silent. After a few moments, I turned to lock eyes with Gunnar and then Alucard, reading their body language and silently asking what they thought of his spiel. We came to the same conclusion and finally gave Nate begrudging nods of acceptance. He smiled, faintly, gratefully.
Nate, the Horseman of Hope, had been backed into a corner and had made the hard call—the one no one ever wanted to have to make. He was the leader of the Horsemen, and he’d just proven it by risking our fury to keep our loved ones safe in the long run. He had betrayed us in order to protect us. The stakes were that high, and I found myself respecting him more than I thought possible. The incorrigible billionaire playboy wizard was still inside those eyes, but there was so much more to him now.
In a way, Nate’s act was much like Ryuu’s training lessons. He beat the living hell out of me on the daily, all to prove to me that I could take it—and that I could take so much more. He gave my confidence calluses. Again and again and again. Nate had hit us where it hurt, and we had rallied as a team to confront the threat. We had answered the call.
We. Were. Horsemen.
He had reminded us what truly mattered, and that we could handle anything if we were unified. We had definitely not been unified in Nate’s office, but now that he was here…
There was a magic to his words. A fire kindled to life in our chests. I could feel it growing between the four of us. We did not fight for duty, we fought because we had heart and compassion for those less powerful. He had given us a taste of just how bad things could get in the days to come. We had faced our worst fears, and we hadn’t fractured. We were still here. Kára was staring at Nate with fiery, passionate approval in her dazzling, dual-colored eyes.
“We have spilled first blood, so now we have nothing left to fear,” Nate said. “We have tasted the worst already, and we have overcome it. Together. Now, there is nothing we cannot do, my brothers and sister,” he said, staring each of us in the eyes. As one, we climbed to our feet, resolved for the battle to come. “Go along with whatever Zeus asks of you. I don’t know, exactly, how his plan will play out, but you need to be convincing if Hermes shows up with an ask.”
I think I masked my instinctive flinch, but Kára glanced over at me for the briefest of moments.
“How do you know he will?” Alucard asked, speaking for the first time in a while. I kept my face studiously blank. Hermes was playing double agent, and he’d obviously chosen to single me out, pulling me aside before the others. Did that make him trustworthy? If he hadn’t met up with the others, did that mean I was supposed to keep my trap shut? I decided to wait before speaking. I could always tell them later. We’d heard enough truth bombs for the time being.
Nate grimaced. “Oh, he definitely will. I’ve come to know him very well.” He turned to me with a resolute gleam in his eyes. “Whoever shows up, get a good read on them. You know how to play people well. Convince them by manipulating their personality type. If you need to show a little aversion to authority or capitalize on your worry for your abducted loved ones, do it. The rest of you, follow her lead.”
I turned to Gunnar and Alucard, smiling for another reason entirely. I’d already played Hermes like a fiddle, but some of his comments made me hesitant to share here. Nate had asked me, specifically, to manipulate Hermes, so I made the executive decision to keep my circle of trust small. After all, Nate could be wrong about who he had lent his trust to. “I can do that,” I agreed with a firm nod.
“Peter is working for him—whether willingly or not, I don’t know. You can tell us apart by my Sensates,” Nate said, showing off a truly horrific mess of tape covering his bracelets and then pointing at his necklace to reveal a simple black stone. “He doesn’t have them. Again, Callie will read the social cues and act accordingly. We will cross paths again tonight.”
Already done, I thought to myself. Unless Hermes is playing me and Nate, simultaneously. Tonight, we would battle Olympians. Not just Zeus, but Ares and Apollo as well. If things went poorly and Zeus found a way to rein in Aphrodite and Hermes, it might end up being five Olympians versus Four Horsemen.
“What if he asks something of us that disrupts your plans?” Gunnar asked.
Nate gave us a roguish grin, proving that he was the same old troublemaker. “I don’t have plans. I have dice and a board that I think can be utilized for any situation. I’ll let you know when to break character.” He took a deep breath. “Horsemen, prepare for war. Tonight, we downsize the Greek Pantheon. Tonight, we let every other pantheon in the world know we’re here to stay. Tonight, the world will meet the new Horsemen—the Dread Four.”
I grinned, wickedly. I liked that name. A lot. Gunnar and Alucard licked their lips, mirroring my smile.
“We won’t have long,” Gunnar said, his smile fading as he put on his let’s get down to business face. “He said he will have Peter with him tonight and that we can extract our vengeance then.” I cocked my head, frowning. Gunnar had spoken with Zeus? Had that been the strangely secretive phone call he’d taken in Nate’s office when I’d been…strangely secretive with Alucard. I let out a sigh, admitting that trust was still a problem with the other three Horsemen.
Nate clenched his jaw. “Oh, really?”
Gunnar nodded. “You’re sure my pups are safe?”
Nate’s concern faded and he smiled. “They are the safest people in the world right now. I took them swimming.”
Gunnar gasped, falling to his knees and making me flinch in alarm. “You mad bastard,” he rasped. “You did it.” I glanced at Alucard with a curious look, wondering what the hell they were talking about.
“That’s what I do, man,” Nate said. “Now get hold of yourself. The Dread Four do not get sappy.”
39
Kára capitalized on the lull in conversation to storm over to Gunnar, brandishing her trident at him while pointing at his hammer with a scowl. He stared at her with a bewildered look. Alucard made his way closer, highly entertained by Gunnar’s plight. I watched them, si
lently, trying to process everything I’d heard as I mentally weighed my responsibilities here as one of the Dread Four with my duties as Count Dracula in Kansas City. At least I now knew that Ryuu was safe—as long as we were successful in defeating the Olympians tonight. My talk with Hermes weighed heavily on my thoughts, and I kept changing my mind on whether or not to mention it to Nate. What if telling him gave Nate a false sense of confidence in his plan? Wouldn’t it be better for everyone if he proceeded like we had no allies?
I was smiling as I watched Kára berating the alpha werewolf of St. Louis like he was a puppy who had just peed on the floor when Nate touched my arm. I glanced over at him, proud that I hadn’t flinched to see Peter’s face. “Can we talk?”
I nodded, following him towards one of the sentinel statues. It was disorienting to know I was talking to Nate but to see and hear a different man, entirely. Thankfully, he stepped beyond the barrier to reveal the man I knew. He smiled, knowingly, reading my reaction. “How did you know to take him?” I asked, thinking of Ryuu. “How did you know—”
“What he meant to you?” Nate replied, softly.
I stiffened, shaking my head stubbornly. This was not how I had intended the Ryuu conversation to go. I had intended to start off with a kick to the balls, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. “No. I don’t know. It’s—”
“Complicated.”
I grew still, sensing that he knew much more than he should. Like he’d been watching me or something. Or maybe Aphrodite had been entirely too loose-lipped—heh—with Nate about her conversations with me.
Alucard had been pulled into Kára’s vortex and he earned a sharp slap to the side of the head for trying to touch her trident. Gunnar was scratching his temple with a puzzled look on his face as Kára continued to fume at the poor men. Nate watched me, thoughtfully, and I could tell he was just as wary of me as I was of him. We both had secrets we intended to keep, and too much mutual respect to give any sort of leg up in our verbal sparring match.
Trinity: Feathers and Fire Book 9 Page 22