“And the others? Aiko. Eva. Are the guards strong enough to protect them?” Megan’s eyes slowly widened and her breathing quickened. “I’m not the only one being left here.”
“You felt safe here before,” Ares said.
“Well that was before someone tried to stab your father through the heart!”
Ares stooped so he was eye-level with her and rubbed her arms. “I don’t intend to leave you unguarded, sweetheart, but I have to go with Keras and the others. They need me in this fight. I swear that I’ll be careful. What do you need to make you feel safe while I’m gone?”
And there it was.
Keras swore Ares had been taking lessons from Apate.
Because Megan looked straight at Hades.
Their father scowled at Ares, but all of his fight fled him as his gaze shifted back to Megan where she stood rubbing her baby bump with trembling hands, a stricken look on her pale face.
“Very well.” Hades sagged back against the pillows. “I know when I am defeated.”
The shadows finally lifted from Persephone’s face and Megan relaxed, her fear washing away as she looked at Hades. It returned when she lifted her dark brown gaze to Ares.
“Be careful,” she whispered.
Ares slung his arm around her shoulders and tucked her against his side. “You know me. You know my brothers. We’ll have each other’s backs and we’re all coming back from this. Want me to rub oil into your belly?”
She pouted a little and nodded.
Ares led her away. Keras’s brothers and their women slowly followed, leaving him alone with Enyo and his parents.
“You know what you must do,” his father said.
Keras nodded.
“I swear, I will make them pay, Father.”
Darkness curled through his veins, hunger mounting inside him that wouldn’t be satisfied until the blood of Eris, Apate, Oizys, Moros and the furie bathed his hands.
He was going to slaughter them all.
Chapter 32
The wait was killing him.
Keras tried to listen to what Valen was saying as he leaned over the map of the Underworld in the war room of the palace, but it was hard as anticipation gnawed at his insides and rage simmered in his veins. The darkness that had risen within him the second he had seen his father injured, betrayed by lesser goddesses and a lesser god of his own realm, still writhed inside him, clouding his thoughts and darkening the corners of his mind. He wanted vengeance, burned with a hunger for it, a black need to mete out justice to those who had turned against his family.
Thanatos paced into view beyond Valen, Marek and Daimon.
The grim god of death was as impatient as Keras, had muttered barely five words since they had decided to hold a meeting to discuss the enemy and their next move.
Nyx stroked a hand over Thanatos’s black feathered wing as he pivoted on his heel. He didn’t spare her a glance, kept his fiery blue eyes fixed on the stone floor of the huge room as he strode towards the shelves of books that lined the wall to Keras’s left.
Keras looked at each of his brothers in turn, seeing that he and Thanatos weren’t alone.
Everyone was itching to get going.
Ares planted a hand against the edge of the 3D map and rubbed his free hand across his mouth as his dark eyebrows pinched above flickering amber eyes. “Would she attack the palace?”
Concern laced his brother’s deep voice and Keras knew the path of his thoughts. He was worried about Megan being placed in danger. Keras reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder. The metal of the black armour Ares wore was cool against his bare palm.
Ares didn’t want to leave Megan’s side, he could see it in his brother’s eyes, and Keras was grateful that Ares was making this sacrifice, putting himself through this pain. His decision to head onto the battlefield was the only thing stopping their father from being out there.
Keras swore he would keep his brother safe for Megan.
He would keep all his brothers safe.
He wouldn’t let anything happen to them.
He didn’t know what sort of force they were up against, but his gut said this fight wasn’t going to be easy. Everything had been building towards this, Apate’s plan pushing them to this point. He wasn’t a fool. He knew she had been guiding them on this path, making whatever move was necessary to bring them to this moment.
Attacking Hades had always been the plan.
The enemy had wanted all along to force him and his brothers to close the gates, keeping them busy while they put everything into place for an assault on their father—an attack that would either kill him and give them the power to open a gate and force the Underworld and the mortal one to collide, or would result in only the latter.
Either way, Eris and her side were getting what they wanted.
The Underworld in chaos.
Unless Keras, his brothers and their allies could stop them.
The urge to pace was strong as he waited, deeply aware that someone was missing from their group. He felt it like a hole inside him, an abyss that terrified him, drew him to it as darkness poured into it, filling it like a well.
One he felt sure he would drown in.
A shiver bolted down his spine as the scent of lilacs hit him.
Enyo.
He turned on a pinhead to face her.
She strode through the double doors of the war room, a sight to behold in her black and silver armour. The modest breastplate was at odds to the shortness of the skirt that barely reached mid-thigh. The pointed slats of it moved with each stride she took into the room, flashing the black material that protected her legs beneath and gave her some modesty. The silver detailing on her greaves and the vambraces that shielded her forearms flashed as it caught the candlelight.
“Well?” he said, shooting for all business when what he really wanted to say was how beautiful she looked, how arousing he found her when she wore her armour.
This really wasn’t the place for such talk though.
“The Moirai confirmed that nothing has altered. The future they see is still the same.” She removed her silver-edged black Corinthian helmet.
The beauty of her struck him hard, had him taking a step towards her before he realised what he was doing.
Thanatos chuckled and spoke in a hushed voice. “You would think she was the sorceress in the room. Look how bewitched he is.”
“Who can deny the beauty of Enyo?” Nyx said. “Many a man would fall on their sword at her bidding if they witnessed her in battle.”
“Many a man would want her to fall on their—” Thanatos cut off.
Keras glared over his shoulder at the mountainous god of death.
Almost smiled when he found Nyx with her hand in the air near his head and Thanatos with his head angled to one side, a red mark forming on his ear.
“Do you want me to order you to go home?” Nyx tipped her chin up and looked down her nose at him, which was a feat considering Thanatos had at least ten inches on her.
Thanatos shrugged and rubbed the back of his head.
“Continue, my dear.” Nyx turned a smile on Enyo.
Keras supposed it was meant to be encouraging.
It came off chilling.
“They still see the gates breached and everything in ruin, with the two realms bleeding together.” Enyo kept her gaze locked on Keras, something he appreciated since he was considering punching the god of death himself as punishment for daring to find Enyo alluring.