Keras wasn’t sure who she was directing those words at. Probably all of them. There wasn’t a single person among his brothers and their women who didn’t look worried as they surrounded the large bed.
Megan blew out her breath and lifted her hand. Before she could swipe it across her brow and her dark hair, Ares gently smoothed the damp cloth across her skin and tenderly brushed her hair back from her face.
“You’re doing great, baby,” he murmured and kneaded her shoulder with his other hand. “It’s working.”
She nodded.
“But if you feel even the slightest twinge—”
“I know! I know!” Her gaze fell to her swollen belly. “I’d never risk her.”
Ares looked as if he wanted to argue, but wisely bit his tongue.
Keras paced as he waited, glancing from time to time at his father to see how far the spread of the violet tendrils had reversed. When Megan had healed Esher, it had happened far more quickly. Was the toxin from the wraith’s blade having a worse effect on Hades, or was it because Megan was heavily pregnant and holding back some of her energy?
He couldn’t blame her for doing so if she was.
Hades would be furious if she harmed her unborn child for his sake.
Ares would be furious too.
Cass moved around to Megan’s side and muscled Ares out of the way. His brother glared at the sorceress as he moved behind Megan and settled for rubbing her shoulders and murmuring words of encouragement.
Keras glanced at his father’s chest again.
Relief bloomed sweetly inside him.
The tendrils were small now, barely a centimetre or two long.
Cass whispered words that caused green and blue ribbons of light to chase around her palms and then placed her hand on Ares’s where it gripped Megan’s shoulder. His brother grunted as the light burst from Cass’s palm, forming a circle that resembled the one she had used in Scotland on the witch, only in miniature. The glyphs inside the smaller circles set around the ring glowed red. Ares’s face contorted as his fiery eyes darted to the sorceress, and Megan gasped and jerked.
The remaining tendrils were pulled back into the wound and wisps of violet smoke rose from the gash.
Cass released Ares and wiped her hand on her clothes, keeping her eyes fixed on anywhere but his brother as she said, “What’s a little energy transfer between a couple?”
“A little?” Ares rumbled, a hard frown pinching his dark eyebrows together. “I think I just lost a few centuries.”
“Oh, do not be so overdramatic.” Cass waved him away, all bravado that was instantly ruined when she hurried away from him, making a fast exit in Daimon’s direction.
Ares looked as if he wanted to pursue her, but then huffed and rounded Megan, turning her to face him at the same time. He looked her over, brushing his thumbs across her cheeks and smoothing her damp hair back.
“You good?” he murmured softly, his brow furrowing as he gazed down into her eyes.
She nodded. “Peachy.”
Her dark eyes slid to Hades.
“I’ve done all I can. It’s down to him now.”
Persephone stroked Hades’s black hair from his brow, her gaze loving as she leaned over him. He was breathing more easily now, but was still too pale for Keras’s liking. He told himself that his father was strong. He would survive this.
He looked at the angry wound on his chest.
His father would survive this.
“I don’t get it,” Daimon muttered, drawing Keras’s focus to him. “The remaining furie is dead. Nemesis is gone, and her army has been decimated or spread to the four corners of the Underworld and unlikely to return. What’s Eris’s plan?”
Keras wasn’t sure himself.
“Perhaps desperation drove her to do it? She aimed for his heart,” Marek put in, his expression grave as he stared at Hades. “She wants to rule this realm, or split it between her and her siblings. Killing Father would gain her enough power that she could take control of the Underworld. I don’t think many would rise against someone who took him down.”
“Maybe losing Nemesis and the other furie pushed her to do something.” Valen rubbed his thumb across his lower lip.
“I just said that.” Marek frowned at him.
Valen shot daggers right back at him.
That wasn’t it. Keras shook his head. They were overlooking something. Missing something.
He had the feeling this had been the plan all along.
“No. They sacrificed Nemesis so they could get close to Father.” Keras stopped pacing and looked at him where he lay on the bed, deathly pale against the black sheets.
“If it was… then did they want to kill him, or take his blood?” Esher stepped forwards, his knees pressing against the edge of the bed, a storm building in his blue eyes.
“The furie is dead. If they want to use Dad’s blood then they’d need to get their hands on Mari, and that is not happening,” Cal growled, taking hold of her hand and clutching it tightly. “Not again.”
She petted his hand and closed the gap between them, pressing against his side, concern lighting her blue-green eyes as a breeze played in her golden hair. “No one is taking me again.”
“We could ask the Moirai what they see now.” Marek’s suggestion was a good one.
The Moirai hadn’t been in touch to say anything had changed, something Keras had overlooked when he had been swept up in the moment, foolishly believing himself the victor and that they had averted the calamity the three fates had foreseen.
“Are we sure the furie is dead?” Ares’s gaze came to land on Keras.
“She’s dead,” Cal said. “We all saw it. I cut her in half. No way she could have survived that.”
But they didn’t have a body to prove it.
Keras ran over everything that had happened in the battle, replaying it on repeat in his mind, looking for something out of place, something that didn’t seem right. A clue.
When he found nothing, he looked at his brothers.
His gaze landed on Caterina and he stilled right down to his breathing.
They didn’t have a body to prove it.
The clue was right there.
“What if we only saw what the enemy wanted us to see?” He stared at Caterina.
A mortal turned hybrid.
“What do you mean?” Ares twisted to face him, his left hand remaining on Megan’s shoulder as she checked Hades over.
“At the gate in Olympus, the guards were confused. The commander saw two women Enyo’s age with an escort of valkyries. Another guard swore they were young women and blonde.”
Marinda’s eyes widened. “I thought it was strange that they didn’t try to stop her, but then I thought perhaps we were allowed to travel to the city. I tried to get the guards to help me, but none of them responded.”
“You were in contact with Meadow. I need you to try to cast an illusion.” Keras shifted a step towards her.
“An illusion?” Esher didn’t sound happy about that, and Keras could understand why.
Lisabeta, the illusionist, had been the one to kill Aiko.
Aiko came to him together with Daimon and soothed him as Keras returned his focus to Marinda.
Marinda closed her eyes and drew down a deep breath, and doubt laced her French accent as she spoke. “I’m not sure how to do this.”