The hand on her stomach dropped lower, pressed just above the juncture of her thighs.
Fear trickled down her spine as he grazed his fangs over her shoulder.
“Do not,” she whispered, deeply aware on some level that if he crossed this line, there would be no coming back.
She loved all of him—both the darkness and the light—the controlled side and the wild one—and at times she had found this battle as strangely thrilling as he had, but surrendering to that twisted desire would be a step too far.
She knew him.
He would enjoy it in the moment, when his darker side was in control, but afterwards it would cause him more pain, would eat away at him and taint whatever feelings he had for her.
He would never forgive himself.
She would lose him forever.
Red lightning slammed down around her, charging the air as Keras held her at his mercy, his fangs poised to pierce her flesh. She breathed hard, screamed at herself to move, to fight, to do something to get free of him.
But she couldn’t move.
For the first time in her life, she froze on the battlefield.
And she had the feeling it would be the first and last time.
Keras suddenly shoved her forwards, and she tripped, hit the ground face first and lay there, breathing hard and struggling to catch up.
The sound of his laboured breaths joined hers and she pulled herself together, twisted onto her backside and came to face him. He stood where he had been, bent forwards now with his hands buried in his black hair, fingers pressing hard into his skull. She thanked the Moirai that he had found the strength to stop himself, and cursed herself for being unable to do it.
His skin paled, his gaze growing unfocused as he stared at the strip of rooftop between them, as he fought for air.
Around her, the shadows began to thin.
Her senses lit back up again, and she locked them on Keras, monitoring him.
Feeling his fatigue.
And the war he waged as he struggled for control.
“Keras,” she whispered, unsure what she wanted to say to him.
That she was sorry she had pushed him like this? That she should have known better? That she was sorry she hadn’t come to see him?
Been brave enough to tell him that she loved him?
His black eyes shot to her, his scarlet pupils narrowing as he glared at her.
As the shadows began to gather again.
As crimson lightning forked from the dark clouds, striking around her to rip apart the rooftop.
Fear trickled through her, cold and chilling, stealing her strength and her breath. Fear of him.
She had never realised he was capable of such great destruction. He had always been gentle with her, even when they had been fighting, but now she could see that time was past. Whatever had made him hold back around her was dead, killed not by his pills but by her, by her weakness.
She flinched as the lightning struck so close to her that heat sizzled over her skin and she leaned away from it, from the gaping hole in the roof beside her that smouldered, smoke rising off it.
Her gaze whipped back to meet his. “Keras, listen to me.”
He bared fangs at her, his eyes filled with malice and hatred once more, and she knew she didn’t have long to calm him.
And if she failed?
Gods help this world.
Chapter 9
“Come back to me.” Enyo held her hand out to Keras again.
He was on her in a flash, crossing the roof of the skyscraper in the blink of an eye and hauling her off her feet, slamming her onto her back. He pressed down on her and she grimaced, gritted her teeth as pain speared her, as she had to fight to get air into her bruised lungs. He grabbed the front of her breastplate, lifted her a few inches off the ground and slammed her back into it.
She shrieked as the roof gave way, as she plummeted through it with him on top of her. Lightning struck and panic seized her lungs as it blazed past her, as she sensed the barrier crack under the onslaught. Her back hit a beam and she grunted, cried out as she was flipped and ended up on top of Keras.
She felt the heat of lightning closing in on her back.
Braced herself for the blow as it bathed Keras’s face in crimson.
His wide eyes locked with hers.
A flicker of green in them.
He roared and wrapped his arms around her, and darkness engulfed them.
Her breath burst from her as she hit the roof hard on top of Keras, her mind scrambling as black ribbons of smoke curled around her and fear blasted through her—fear that they were his shadows come to lash at her again.
She rolled away from them—from him—and stopped only when she realised they weren’t attacking her.
They weren’t his shadows.
They were the lingering vapour trail of his teleport.
She shuffled onto her hands and knees and looked across at him where he lay on his back a few feet away.
Her heart lodged in her throat.
He was still.
Too still.
She quickly crawled across the broken rooftop to him, lifted her left hand and touched his cheek. Her eyes darted over him as she patted his face, as she silently begged him to be all right.
Enyo brushed her fingers across his mouth.
Her breath leaked from her when his lips parted, a soft puff of air escaping them, bathing her fingers.
She sagged on top of him, her head coming to rest on his chest, all of her strength rushing from her. Around her, the shadows dissipated, the world going still again. She pressed her palm to his chest and focused, needing to know that he was going to be all right and was only out cold because he had used up too much of his strength.
Had used the last of it to protect her by teleporting her.
As the shadows cleared, her senses grew sharper.
Made her aware of the five gods standing on the next rooftop.
She focused and the barrier she had created shattered. Keras’s brothers were quick to teleport to her, to loom over her as she slowly eased away from him. Guilt twisted her stomach again and had her seeking the right words to explain what had happened.
“Keras has only gone supernova once before, when we first arrived. Why now?” Calistos stared down at her, his eyes stormy grey, demanding an answer.
“We should move him,” she said, her voice weaker than she would have liked, not a command but a desperate plea.
For Keras’s sake and for her own too.
She needed time to come up with a good explanation for what had happened, because she could see in his brothers’ eyes that they were ready to attack her if they didn’t like her answer.
“We aren’t going anywhere until you do some explaining.” Valen’s golden irises brightened, and tiny arcs of lightning chased across his fingers.
Enyo looked down at Keras, focusing on him to avoid the accusatory glares of his brothers, to lift the weight off her heart enough that she could find her strength again and make them see she had only been trying to help him.
She knew that it looked bad.
She knew that it was bad.
“Keras is reliant on the suppressants that your father made for him… and they do more than inhibit his power.” She swallowed hard. “He has been using them to inhibit his feelings too… his emotions… numbing himself.”
She glanced up at the five gods towering over her.
None of them looked surprised to hear that.
“I only wanted to help him overcome that addiction. I wanted to make him feel something… anything.” She sounded desperate, felt it too. She didn’t want his brothers to be angry with her.