Enyo strode into the courtyard that overlooked the city, breathed deep of the fresh air and closed her eyes, desperately trying to push out the hurt and let the warmth that had filled her for the past few days flood her again.
Only it refused to come.
Because she needed to see Keras again.
She teleported to the gate and stepped onto it, and as soon as she reached the Underworld she teleported again, landing at the gates of the palace. The guards stepped aside for her and she hurried forwards, avoiding the main temple that loomed before her and heading to her right instead, towards a building that stood in the distance there.
The black Palladian three-storey mansion looked small in the shadow of the mountain that towered behind it, but it housed close to forty rooms, including ten bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, and a master bedroom that was enormous. The central third of it had great towering columns that supported a triangular pediment and made the house resemble the main palace. The lowest windows of the house were small, set into a wall of chiselled blocks that was deeper than the smooth stone that filled the façade above it. Lights shone from those windows, and she imagined how busy the staff were now that the master of the house had returned.
Hades had built it for Keras only a century before he had banished his son to the mortal world, and she could clearly recall how Keras had hated it at first. He had missed his family, even though they were only a short distance away in the main palace, and had complained about rattling around in such a large home, all alone.
She could understand why he had found it unsettling. The house had been built for large parties, for having guests staying for periods of time, company to share the grandeur of the place with and impress them with the opulence of it all.
The problem was Keras had never been one for lavish affairs.
He had never been one to make friends.
She paused on the path to it that cut through a meadow of tulips in full bloom.
In fact, she couldn’t remember him having any friends.
Other than her.
Her heart skipped a beat and she lifted her head, her gaze instantly fixing on Keras as he moved to the elegant balustrade that lined the edge of a raised paved area at the front of the house, separating it from the gardens where Enyo stood.
Gods.
That same heart started at a pace as she drifted towards him, heat flooding her as she drank her fill of Keras as he paced, his left hand resting on the hilt of the sword that hung from his waist.
She had forgotten how handsome he looked in his armour.
The black pieces resembled the ones his father wore, the boots rising to above his knee to end in a pointed cap that shifted away from his thigh with each step. The crimson edging them made them stand out as he pivoted, the swiftness of the movement causing his scarlet cloak to flare outwards. That same shade of red covered the pointed fingers of his gauntlets, making them look as if he had already bathed his talons in blood.
The black and red armour that protected his chest clung close to it, shaped like muscles that made her itch to peel it off him and see the real ones he hid beneath it.
He paused as he noticed her.
Smiled.
That smile faded as the black slashes of his eyebrows met and he disappeared, reappearing right in front of her in a swirl of shadows.
“What did your brother say to you?” He lifted his hand, darkness warring with concern in his green eyes as he carefully stroked her cheek with the backs of his talons.
Was it that obvious?
Enyo turned her cheek to him, not wanting to answer that question because she didn’t want to look weak.
She didn’t want to look as if she doubted him.
She didn’t want her brother to be right.
Keras sighed. “It was about me, wasn’t it?”
She nodded, the barest dip of her chin, and the feelings colliding inside her whirled faster, building speed that filled her with a desperate need to say something, to get everything out into the open and off her chest so the crushing weight of doubt would be lifted from her heart.
Whether that was because Keras admitted it was true or confirmed it was a lie didn’t matter.
She just needed to know.
She looked at him, deep into his emerald eyes, seeking the truth there.
“After we parted… when you were in the mortal world… did you—” Her courage failed her as darkness washed across his features.
And crimson invaded his irises.
“I will kill him.” He dropped his hand to the hilt of his sword and gripped it.
She lunged for his arm to stop him from drawing the weapon, heart fluttering wildly in her throat as two new thoughts clashed in her mind.
Did he want to kill her brother because he had revealed the truth to her, or because he had tried to turn her against him by lying to her?
Keras’s hard expression softened and he loosened his grip on his blade and cupped her cheek, his gauntlet cool against her face.
“It has always been you, Enyo. From the moment we met. I have been loyal to you.”
She hadn’t realised how badly she had needed to hear those words, not until they wrapped around her like a comforting blanket, keeping the chilling cold of her brother’s lies at bay.
She sank into Keras’s touch, her strength wavering, hurt welling up in her heart but for a different reason now.
Keras’s eyes darkened slightly again. “He’s a bastard.”
“He’s my brother,” she whispered, part of her still feeling as if she should defend him, even after he had hurt her, had intentionally tried to ruin things between her and Keras by sowing discord.
“He’s still a bastard.” Keras gently gathered her into his arms, gripped the back of her head and held her. “The only reason I haven’t stepped to Olympus to kill him is because it would kill you too. I cannot hurt you like that.”
She smiled faintly, silently thanking Keras for knowing her so well, and for caring about her so deeply.
Ares was her only family.
She might hate him sometimes, and he could be callous and cruel, but he was her brother.
She wanted to resist as Keras drew back and gazed down at her, ached to be pressed close to him again, but something in his eyes stopped her.
“What—” Keras cut himself off. His emerald eyes darted between hers, laced with uncertainty, and she sensed the nerves rising inside him. He stared into her eyes for a moment, and then drew down a breath and forced words out. “What about you? Was there ever—”
She was quick to shake her head, to end his pain and suffering, to take it all away for him. “Never. Not since we met. It was always you for me, too.”
The barest hint of a smile curled the corners of his lips.
“I want you to live here with me.”
She warmed right down to her bones as she stared into Keras’s eyes and saw in them that he truly wanted that.
“Because you do not like rattling around in this big empty house?” She smiled softly over his shoulder at it.
He huffed. “It is not so empty right now. You would find it amusing to know I am out here because it is too noisy in there right now. I wanted some peace.”
Her smile became a teasing grin. “You finally have guests, and you want them gone. That is not playing the good host.”
He shrugged that off and dropped his arms, wrapping them around her waist as he gazed down at her. “I always preferred it when it was just you and me. I had hoped that by complaining about being lonely that you would keep me company more. Speaking of which… you didn’t answer me.”