She stared up into his eyes, deeply aware of the responsibility he was placing on her shoulders, deeply aware of the hope all of Keras’s brothers were pinning on her and how devastated they would be if she failed.
Enyo dipped her chin.
A scarlet bolt of lightning struck the ground close to her and sent her flying. Debris bit into her legs as she sailed through the air. She landed hard and rolled, struggled to right herself and grunted as she finally stopped. She immediately pushed onto her feet and looked in all directions, trying to find where she had been.
Relief crashed over her as she spotted Marek helping Ares onto his feet and saw that everyone was all right.
Her senses sparked and she kicked off, narrowly avoiding another lightning strike. It hit a group of the enemy, decimating them.
Enyo ran until she found a clearing and focused, summoning her power. She swept her hands out, felt the wave of power explode from her, and looked up. She couldn’t see the barrier as it formed, but she could feel it. The clouds she had trapped inside it roiled, arcs of crimson chasing across them, spiralling down the shadowy tornadoes that tore across the land, sending people flying in all directions.
She shifted her focus away from the brothers, singling out Keras.
The clouds dropped lower, touching the ground in places, forming pockets of shadows that she avoided, aware that if she ran into one it would steal her sight, leaving her vulnerable. Screams came from inside several of the writhing masses of shadows.
She leaped as lightning struck off to her left and a fissure shot across her path, didn’t dare to look down into the abyss as she sailed over it. She stumbled as she landed on the other side, picked her way over boulders and around impact craters.
“He is going to destroy my entire realm!” Nyx screamed, her fury palpable as Enyo passed her.
She didn’t slow to help the goddess with Apate. Just kept running, narrowing the distance between her and Keras. She sprinted past Thanatos as he rushed to help his mother with the goddess of deceit. Wove her way through a battle between five of Hades’s soldiers and a group of Hellspawn.
Her heart shot into her throat as lightning struck them just as she cleared them, the percussion wave from it hitting her in the back and launching her forwards.
She slammed into Cal, took him with her as she tumbled across the ground, and landed on top of him.
“Sorry.” She pushed off him and twisted, her gaze seeking Keras, blood thundering as she searched for him.
A tiny orb of violet light hovered above the black ground a few metres from her. A gate.
Beyond it, Marinda fought like a wild thing, clawing and grappling with the other furie. Blood covered the side of her face and matted her golden hair. The enemy furie hadn’t fared much better. Her left arm dangled limp at her side as she threw a right hook at Marinda.
Something hit Meadow in the back, knocking her forwards.
A rock?
Enyo grimaced.
Not a rock.
A severed head.
Moros’s lifeless eyes stared at her.
Meadow turned to see what had hit her and her hand flew to her mouth, her skin paling as she spotted the head on the ground close to her.
Shadows swept around her and sent Marinda flying.
Cal disappeared in a swirl of black smoke, reappearing in Marinda’s path and catching her before he teleported again, appearing next to Enyo. He set Marinda down and looked at Enyo, his breaths sawing from his lips as his blue gaze demanded an explanation.
She didn’t need to give him one.
Meadow burst from the shadows, held aloft by Keras, her legs kicking wildly as she scratched at his arm. His black claws sank into her throat as he lifted her higher, a twisted grin curling his lips to flash enormous fangs as he stared up at the furie.
Enyo grabbed Cal and Marinda when they both went to move, holding them back.
She stared at Keras and he slowly turned his head towards her, his eyes locking with hers.
Eyes that were black around his scarlet pupils.
Onyx tendrils spread across Meadow’s ashen skin, flowing from the points where Keras’s claws pierced her. He didn’t take his eyes off Enyo as the furie’s struggles slowed, as those shadows crept outwards and downwards, heading for her chest.
“Keras.” Enyo released Marinda and held her hand out to him, moving slowly, not wanting to startle him.
Marinda launched at him on a feral snarl, evaded the blow he aimed at her and seized his arm, desperately trying to pull it from the other furie’s throat.
“Mari!” Cal wrestled free of Enyo’s grip and lunged for her.
Whether he had intended to pull her away from Meadow or beyond the reach of Keras was something Enyo would never find out.
Keras backhanded Marinda.
She rocketed backwards, crashed into Cal and sent him flying with her. The two of them landed in the middle of the group that were battling behind Enyo.
Her gaze whipped back to Keras.
His shadows swept up from his feet, curled over his shoulders and rose into the air before they rushed downwards to spiral around him, covering both him and the furie.
Enyo kicked off, racing towards him as red lightning streaked from the black clouds, slamming into the earth all around the mass of shadows.
A mass that dissipated to reveal only the furie where she lay on the ground, cut to ribbons.
Dead.
Where had Keras gone?
Her head snapped to her right when an entire section of the thick wall that surrounded the palace exploded. The stones of it sprayed the elegant black building, shattering windows and blasting holes in the walls.
A feminine, pained cry reached her ears above the din of battle.
Enyo mustered her strength and teleported, appearing in the ruined garden of the palace, her eyes darting around as she sought Keras.
They landed on a hole in the wall of the palace.
She ran for it.
Threw herself into a slide across the flagstones as her senses blared a warning. She covered her head with her arms and curled inwards, shielding her vital organs as shadows tore through the air above her, snapping at her on their way past.
Enyo shifted onto her front and lurched to her feet as soon as she stopped sliding, heading back the way she had come.
Keras slammed Oizys into the perimeter wall, causing an impact crater fifteen feet wide and fracturing stones for at least twice that. Blood burst from the fair-haired female’s lips, a choked cry following it as Keras gripped something silver and twisted it, yanked it free and plunged it deep into her chest again.
An arrow.
He was brutal as he ripped the shattered Corinthian helmet from her hair and smashed it into her face, a low growl rumbling from him. She took three hard blows before she managed to block him.
Oizys’s blue eyes darkened as she seized the hand he held the arrow in, her face contorting as she wrestled with him, struggling to stop him from stabbing her again. Keras grunted and growled, leaned into her and drove forwards.
The goddess kneed him between the legs, causing him to loosen his grip on her. She was quick to twist the arrow from his grip and plunge it into his chest.
Enyo kicked off, shooting through the air in her direction, her blood blazing as she drew her sword and aimed it at the female.
Before she could land a blow, an arm broke through the shattered wall behind Oizys, wrapped around the front of her throat and dragged her backwards through it. The rest of the wall crumbled, stealing her from view, something that had Keras roaring.