He bore down on her, growling in her face.
Beneath her, the earth warmed.
She edged her gaze to her right as colour bloomed there, couldn’t believe her eyes as a meadow sprung up around them. Strength flowed into her, seemed to come from the earth itself, filling her up just as the last of hers had left her.
Enyo pushed back against the fear and looked at Keras again.
He snarled at her and his claws pressed into her throat, cold spreading outwards from them.
“Look at me,” she whispered, trying to keep his eyes on hers, not hiding the love she felt for him as she loosened her hold on his arm and forced herself to relax beneath him. “I do not want to hurt you. I am not a threat to you. I love you, Keras. I only want you to come back to me.”
His black eyes leaped between hers.
He jerked his head up and roared, deafening her, and she choked as he tightened his grip again, crushing her throat. Whoever had dared to move closer to him wisely backed off. As the ringing in her ears faded, she recognised her brother’s voice.
“Stay back,” she wheezed, fearing what might happen if anyone tried to get near Keras.
She didn’t want him to hurt her brother. She didn’t want him to hurt his own family.
She feared he would as she looked into his eyes, not recognising the male staring back at her. He was too far gone to discern friend from foe, his injuries and exhaustion pushing him to lash out at anyone who got too close to him.
He was trying to protect himself.
She could use the awakening of that instinct in him to her advantage.
She had promised to bring him back, and she intended to do just that.
She gathered her strength again and lifted her hands, flinched when he snapped fangs at her left one and caught her this time. Blood bloomed in the line of the cut.
He stilled, his eyes leaping to hers, and for the first time she had hope.
“You know me, Keras,” she murmured to him, trying to keep his focus on her, fearing he would bolt and aware she couldn’t let that happen.
The darkness’s hold on him was strong, and it would take too long to find him if he made a break for it. She had to keep him with her. He twitched, his gaze jumping up and then left, and this close to him she could sense his rage.
His fear.
He clutched her throat and glared at someone, tensing and hunkering down, as if he was going to spring at them.
Enyo gently placed her hand on his wrist and he glanced at her, his gaze colliding with hers and lingering as she stroked him.
This time, she only held his focus for a second.
His gaze darted back to whoever was off to her left and he flashed fangs.
She edged her eyes in that direction.
Thanatos.
He had returned from taking Eris to Tartarus.
“Can you please take your mother and inform Hades of what has happened?” Each word was a struggle but she somehow managed it.
Thanatos nodded and took hold of Nyx, and they disappeared.
Keras’s grip on her throat eased and she relaxed again, glad she had read him right and he had wanted Thanatos away from her. This deep in his darker side, he no doubt viewed Thanatos as a threat. Not to him physically, but as a rival for her affection. The darker part of him had been in control at the banquet, was no doubt reminding Keras that Thanatos had commented on her dress and her looks, stirring his need to keep her with him.
She also felt that same darkness was provoking black thoughts about her brother trying to take her from him.
She needed to show him that she didn’t want anyone else or want to be anywhere else. She only wanted him. She only needed him, and that need ran deep. She needed to bring him back to her.
“Keras?”
He frowned at her, confusion flickering in his black eyes.
“That’s your name. Keras.” She smiled for him and tried to think of something to say that would remind him of who he was, and might bring him back. “Do you remember what you said to me in the garden of your home?”
His frown deepened.
“You told me that it has always been me. From the moment you met me. Remember?” She searched his eyes, hoping to see a glimmer of recognition in them. When she found nothing, she continued, aware this was going to get them both into some trouble. “You told me that the only reason you have never fought my brother is because you knew it would kill me too. You said that you couldn’t hurt me like that.”
His grip loosened further and he frowned down at his hand on her throat.
“You asked me to live with you.” Tears lined her lashes as she gazed up at him. “I want that so much, Keras. I want a future with you. Do you want a future with me too?”
He didn’t answer her, but then she hadn’t expected him to.
“We can have it now,” she whispered, her brow furrowing as she slowly lifted her hands, warmth welling up inside her. “It’s over now. It’s over. Your father is safe. The realm is safe. You can return home and we can have that life we have been waiting for all these centuries. We can be together.”
Tears filled his eyes as they darted between hers.
Enyo risked it.
She framed his face and lured him down to her.
Kissed him.
He was still against her and her hope wavered.
But then he growled and slid his hand around her nape, yanked her up to him and crushed her to his chest as he kissed her, holding her so hard that she couldn’t breathe.
She sank into the kiss, not caring that he was hurting her, only caring that she was reaching him.
On the verge of bringing him back.
Someone moved.
Keras broke the kiss and snarled at them as he held her to him.
Shock swept through her as he teleported with her, and a flicker of fear lit her veins as they landed and she looked around her at a cavern.
She didn’t recognise it.
Veins of gold glittered in the black rock and threaded the stalactites that hung from the ceiling above a dark pool that shone with glowing blue dots. Those dots moved, swimming in the clear water, their gentle light enough to allow her to see how far the cavern extended in all directions.
It was huge, with only a small opening at one side.
Keras staggered to the wall near the pool and collapsed to his knees, breathing hard and trembling violently. Damn him. He shouldn’t have teleported her when he was already weak. The strain on his body must have been phenomenal. She was surprised he was still conscious.
She rushed to him, expecting him to snarl at her.
He cast her a desperate and fearful look.
And her heart melted for him when she realised what he was thinking.
Rather than taking hold of him, Enyo sat with her back against the wall, between him and the pool, and looked into his eyes. “Do not worry. I will not take you anywhere, and I will not go anywhere.”
He had brought her here because he was feeling protective and possessive of her, had needed her away from other males while he was weak, unable to defend her. He had needed her away from her brother so he couldn’t take her from him. Teleporting her here had been his way of keeping her to himself.
A reckless and foolish way, but beautiful too.
It strengthened her hope that she could bring him back to her.
She held her hand out to him and cupped his cheek. “I will stay right here with you, because this is the only place in all the realms I want to be.”
She patted her thighs with her other hand. He settled on his left side with his head on them and his back to her.