Enyo shook her head and looked beyond the women to the courtyard garden.
It was growing light out.
“I would like to stay here,” she said, her voice distant and quiet, the strength stolen from it by the thought of having to face the brothers. They wouldn’t want her there. She didn’t want to ruin their meal.
“I’ll bring you a snack.” Megan’s hand slipped from her shoulder and Enyo looked up at the Carrier, into her warm brown eyes.
The look Megan gave her would have made Enyo feel her Carrier talent was reading minds if she hadn’t known she had the power to heal.
The mortal knew that Enyo was avoiding the brothers.
“That would be nice, thank you.” Enyo dipped her head, and both women smiled and did the same. She was quick to add, “And thank you for earlier too.”
“No problem.” Megan’s smile widened and warmed.
She waited for them to go, gazed into the garden once they were gone and held Keras’s hand as the sun rose. The light slowly eased down the garden, casting shadows of the elegant pine topiary across the pale gravel. She watched them for a while, drifting in her thoughts, leaving them only whenever Keras needed her.
He snarled low and she tensed as his power pressed against her for the first time since the rooftop.
She glanced at his wrist.
At the pale band of skin where his limiter had been before he had broken it.
Aware that if she didn’t do something, his returning power might affect this world. He wouldn’t mean to harm this realm, wouldn’t be aware of the damage he was doing as he slept, fighting the effects of coming off his pills and regaining his strength, but he would feel guilty about it when he finally awoke.
She reluctantly released his hand and lifted both of hers to her hair. She carefully untied her hair, letting it fall around her shoulders, and sought the braids that hung down one side of her head. There were three of them. She caressed each, seeking the one she needed. When she found it, she carefully undid it, removing the silver wire from it. It was warm beneath her fingers, made of the same metal as Keras’s ring, but unlike that ring, this thread was blessed.
Enyo undid another braid, choosing the one she had threaded gold through and opening the small gold bands she had clamped around it in places. The gold was cool to the touch, but vibrated with power, not gold of this world but gold from the deepest heart of Mount Olympus. Whatever blessing she bestowed upon it would be increased in strength by its natural power.
She picked at her skirt, unravelling the thick black threads that bound the ornate silver plates to each leather slat.
When she had assembled all she needed, she set to work, focusing on it as the hours trickled past, weaving an intricate knotted band of the black thread, silver and gold metals, working a blessing into it that came from her heart.
The cool air of the day grew chilly.
She glanced up from her work, eyes widening as she saw it was dark again outside.
Her gaze caught on something as it moved.
Esher.
He paused at the end of the wing of the house opposite her, on the walkway that jutted out over the pond, and tipped his head back, basking in the moonlight. It brightened his grey shirt, cast highlights in his onyx hair and turned his skin milky.
His blue eyes remained fixed on the moon, even as the young Japanese woman came to him, slipped her hand into his and held it.
Was the moon affecting him?
His power over water came with a price in this world. He was easily swayed by the moon, felt the pull of it as keenly as the oceans did. Her fingers paused at their work as she watched him, wary of him, aware that it had only been weeks since he had gone on a rampage in the Underworld, had killed anyone who had strayed too close to him and appeared as if they might interrupt his hunt.
Esher had a dark side as black as Keras’s.
But there wasn’t a sign of it as he turned towards the woman and gazed down at her, as he stroked her cheek and spoke with her, a warm and tender look on his face.
Neither of them seemed aware of her, and she felt as if she was prying, yet she couldn’t bring herself to look away.
Esher placed his arm around the woman’s shoulders and held her to him, pressed a kiss to her brow that was sweet and gentle, nothing like the vicious killer he had been not long ago.
He seemed so different now.
So many of the brothers did.
Valen’s sharp tongue remained, but he had lost some of his bite, was civil more often than not. Daimon appeared less solemn and distant than before. Ares had found a balance between his duty and living his life in the way he wanted, with the woman he loved. Calistos had even calmed down, seemed steadier now and far less reckless.
Of course, Marek had remained the same.
But then she hadn’t seen him hunting vampires to extinction in Spain recently.
Maybe he had changed for the better too.
Golden light chased along the walkway beyond the white wood-framed panels, growing brighter as soft steps sounded.
Enyo looked up as the sorceress appeared in view, holding a lantern that cast warm light over her figure-hugging long black dress and her dark hair. A ginger and white cat wound around her feet, even pushed through the fine material of her dress to emerge from between her legs, his rumbling purr filling the silence.
A small guardian deity.
Cassandra had a powerful familiar.
The witch walked into the room, somehow not tripping on the cat as he kept walking in front of her, darting to brush her leg whenever she took a step.
When Cassandra eased to kneel beside Keras, setting the lamp down beside his head, the cat rubbed across her backside and rounded her, hissed at Keras and distanced himself.
Heading for Enyo.
She stilled as the deity crawled onto her lap and nestled there, purring loudly as he looked up at her and blinked.
“Milos, you are such a lothario,” Cass muttered and shook her head.
The cat kept purring.
Enyo wasn’t sure what to do.
When she could practically feel the weight of his expectation, she gingerly petted him. He shuffled onto his back, exposing his soft belly.
Cassandra huffed and muttered something in Russian, clearly not happy about her cat’s antics.
She checked Keras over. “He seems better.”
“His power is returning.” Enyo fidgeted with the bracelet she had almost finished. “I will help him with it.”
Cass nodded and stood. “If you need anything, just call. I’ll leave the light. The garden gets dark without it and you might want to get some air out there at some point.”
She moved to the threshold of the room and lingered. Waiting for Milos to follow? The cat left Enyo’s lap and sauntered over to the witch, but Cass still remained. She glanced over her shoulder at Enyo, her pale blue eyes warm.
“The others are worried. Won’t you come and eat something? Aiko is cooking.”
Enyo shook her head. “They do not want me there.”
Cass frowned at her. “You’re wrong about that. The brothers… They were angry but they understand why you did what you did. All of them would have done the same for the one they love.”
Enyo fell silent.
Was everyone aware of how she felt about Keras?
She glanced at him.
Was he aware?
“I am fine here.” She stroked his arm. “I do not want him to wake alone. I need to watch over him.”