She didn’t want Keras to be angry with her.
Even when she knew he would be.
“You couldn’t have waited?” Daimon said, and shock rolled through her as her gaze leaped up to meet his. He scrubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not being a dick… Just, Keras sick and weak is a danger right now. We need him strong.”
It hit her that they were right.
They loved their brother, but their mission depended on Keras because he was not only the most powerful among them, but he was bound to the strongest and oldest gate. On top of that, Ares was out of action because he had closed the gate bound to him, and no one knew how long he would be sleeping by the sound of things.
Her gaze drifted down to Keras’s face again and she gently brushed her thumb across a streak of blood on his cheek, clearing it away. The world was in serious danger without him.
But she hadn’t been able to stop herself from doing something.
She wasn’t one for leaping into action without thinking things through, and cursed that the first time she had acted on instinct had been this moment, when the fate of this world and the Underworld was hanging in the balance.
Esher’s voice rolled over her, as dark and menacing as a thunderstorm. “I hate the thought of my brother suffering, doing this to himself, but… Daimon is right. We needed him strong… even though it came at a price.”
Addiction was a price she hadn’t been willing to pay, not when she was so familiar with it, knew how dangerous it could be. If she had to, she would protect this world in his stead, even if it caused all of Olympus to turn against her, or Hades to throw her into Tartarus.
Just thinking about him had rage burning up her blood, a fierce need to confront him about what he had done to Keras consuming her. She tamped it down and focused on Keras instead, trying to figure out what to do now, how to help him through whatever came next.
“He will have other pills,” she whispered, unable to pull her gaze away from him to look at his brothers.
“I’ll check out his apartment,” Valen said, his tone gruff.
“I’ll go with you.” Calistos touched her shoulder. “These guys won’t say it, but you did the right thing. I’ve watched Keras changing and if I had known why, I would have done something too.”
That comforted her, had her able to look Calistos in the eye. She dipped her head, silently thanking him for supporting her decision.
Valen mussed his violet hair, tousling the longer lengths that hung down one side of his face before he shoved his fingers through the choppy, shorter sides and back. “Ah, he’s been a dick recently. Kinda deserves to go cold turkey. I want him strong, but this shit… this isn’t right. I’m not going to hold it against you. Much.”
He teleported and Calistos followed him.
Leaving her alone with Daimon, Marek and Esher.
“I’m taking him home,” Esher grumbled and took a hard step towards her, forcing her to move aside. “He’ll be angry if he comes around here and finds out we all left Ares and the mansion unguarded.”
He grabbed Keras and disappeared with him.
Enyo remained kneeling on the broken rooftop, unsure what to do.
“We’ll take care of him.” Daimon pinned her with a black look, one that relayed every drop of the anger that pulsed off him in powerful waves and had the air around him chilling. He teleported too.
She waited for Marek to leave, sure that he would, deeply aware that she had messed up by forcing Keras to face his addiction and that it was going to be some time before the brothers forgave her.
Before they would let her be near Keras again.
Marek sighed, his broad chest shifting with it.
And extended a hand to her.
Enyo blinked at it.
She looked up at him where he loomed over her, and warmth flowed through her to ease some of the tension from her as his dark eyes twinkled at her, no trace of anger in them. She slipped her hand into his and he pulled her onto her feet, kept hold of her as her legs wobbled beneath her and pain rolled through her. She winced and pressed a hand to her side, gritted her teeth against the fire that spread through her from that point and her back.
“I… am sorry,” she said, the strength she had been trying to gather slipping through her grasp again as she looked at Marek, as she stood there alone on the rooftop with him.
He had always been honest with her, had been as close to courteous as he could get whenever she visited him, even in the times when her presence had clearly aggravated him. She felt closest to him after Keras, felt she could be open with him, and that he wouldn’t judge her harshly, not as his brothers had.
Marek shook his head, his unruly dark waves tumbling to caress his forehead. “Don’t be. Keras needed this. I only wish you’d had better timing.”
She looked down at her feet.
His hand slipped from hers. “We should get back too.”
Her head jerked up, gaze colliding hard with his. “We?”
Marek just smiled. “You weren’t seriously going to go home?”
She fidgeted with her skirt, reminded herself that she was a powerful goddess, one who normally demanded respect from this god. She didn’t have the strength to do that today, not when her heart felt so heavy, weighed down with worry and a need to see Keras, to be near him and take care of him.
Marek sighed again. “Listen… my brothers might be angry with you, but… Keras needs you with him, Enyo. He needs you there. If anyone can help him get through this… well, it’s you. When you showed up in Tokyo today… I’ve never seen Keras so happy. Not in a long time. Not since we left home.”
She had never been so happy either.
But now she had ruined it.
Or at least she feared she had.
What if Marek was right, and Keras would recover best with her help, needed her as deeply as his brother suggested?
She recalled how he had looked in the garden, when she had announced she wasn’t married.
Recalled how she had felt sure he was going to kiss her.
Marek looked her over, his gaze assessing, and then held his hand out to her again. “Need a lift?”
She swallowed her pride and nodded, slipped her hand into his and let him teleport her. She landed in the courtyard of the Tokyo mansion with him, on a steppingstone close to the broad grey step that led up onto the wooden walkway.
Megan paused as she exited the main room of the house in front of Enyo, her chocolate eyes wide. “Look at the state of you.”
The Carrier female bustled over to her, her loose autumnal jumper swaying in front of her baby bump with each step. Concern warmed her eyes as they took Enyo in. Before she could say anything, Megan had taken hold of her arm and was leading her somewhere.
“Let’s get you cleaned up.” Megan waddled ahead of her, one hand on Enyo’s arm and the other resting on top of her belly.
When they neared the turning in the walkway that ran around the courtyard, the path she had taken with Keras, Enyo’s gaze strayed in that direction.
She could feel him there.
Ached to go to him.
Megan’s grip on her arm tightened, her tone firm but light as she said, “Not until you’re cleaned up. Besides, his brothers are with him right now.”
That was enough to have Enyo yielding to her, letting her lead her away from Keras. She wanted to see Keras, but she didn’t want to face his brothers again, not just yet. Not when she felt so weak.