“Fuck.”
“What?” Talisa looked up at Zagreus, standing with both hands perched on his hips, staring into the trees. “Why does it matter which gods Max has ever met?”
He clenched his jaw and looked down at her. “It matters because I’m pretty sure he has any power they ever used in his presence.”
Her brow wrinkled. “That’s not possible.”
“Isn’t it? Just because you haven’t seen him access those powers doesn’t mean he can’t. He just torched a fucking satyr like he’s done it a hundred times. Only gods of a certain level can harness energy like that, and I’m one of them. That amount of energy, at that power? He was around someone who did that at some other time.”
Talisa’s heart raced. It still didn’t make sense, but if true, it meant Max was more valuable as a prisoner than before. “Then we have to get him before it’s too late.”
“We’re not getting him. Let’s go. You’re done catching your breath, and I want to get back before it’s dark.”
He stepped away, but she caught his arm before he could get too far, shocked he was being so blasé about this.
“We are getting him,” she snapped. “It’s our fault he’s a prisoner. We have to rescue him before they kill him.”
Zagreus whirled back to face her. “You think he’s a prisoner? He’s no prisoner. He’s their fucking leader.”
“What?”
“Open your eyes, Talisa. Your little Argonaut cousin is as powerful as any Olympian—probably as powerful as several Olympians. If he didn’t know it before, he sure as shit knows it now. You and me and Ehrendia’s measly band of silens don’t stand a chance against an Olympian with Pandora’s Box. Do you know what that box is? Do you have any idea? Yeah, Pandora might be mortal, but that box is a fucking genie without a wish limit. She can conjure any damn thing she wants from it, and she’s clearly fixed her sights on your cousin. He was as besotted as a schoolboy when they were sucking face. We already know she was working with the satyrs, but she wasn’t powerful enough to lead them herself, which is why she kept trying to get me to come back. Only I wouldn’t, so what did she do? She found the next best thing—or, no, actually, she found something better. Someone stronger. If he’s under her spell—and I guarantee he is—there is no way he’s getting away from her.”
Talisa couldn’t believe what he was saying. How he was saying it. As if it was no big deal. As if Max being controlled by something evil was… expected.
Anger welled inside her as she stared at Zagreus. Anger and a defiance that came out of nowhere.
“The only things we’ve got going for us at the moment,” he went on, “is the fact they don’t know we saw them today, and that the border of Ehrendia is solid. But if you go off with some half-ass scheme to rescue him when he clearly doesn’t want to be rescued, you’re going to screw all that up. You’ll get all of us—including every one of the nymphs back in Ehrendia—killed, and for what? So you can play hero? You’re not doing it. I’m not letting you do it. Come on.”
When he reached for her, she jerked out of his grasp and stepped back, not about to let him touch her. “You coward.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard what I called you. You’re a coward. You’d rather let that bitch continue to mind fuck Max instead of do the right thing.”
“This isn’t about right or wrong. It’s about what you can win and what you can’t. And we can’t win this. Not even close.”
“No.” When he reached for her again, she stepped back once more. “No, this is about you only looking out for yourself, like always. You’re as selfish as everyone said you were. I-I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. I was so wrapped up in wanting to think you weren’t what everyone said that I didn’t pay attention to what was right in front of me. You didn’t care about the nymphs or the silens when you decided to give up during that satyr battle. If those satyrs had gotten through, they would have killed everyone. Including me. And you didn’t give a shit then if your magickal border collapsed. You clearly don’t give a shit now.”
“Talisa…” He dropped his hand and straightened, looking to her left at something she wasn’t about to be distracted by. “Take a breath.”
“Don’t tell me to take a breath,” she snapped. “I’m done listening to you. People have been telling me what to do my whole damn life, and I’m sick of it. I’m not a child, and you don’t get to make decisions for me.”
“Son of a bitch.”
Something whirred through the air. Talisa jerked that direction just in time to see a rock the size of a tree stump fly right toward Zagreus’s head.
He ducked out of the way and threw himself at her.
Her body hit the hard earth with a grunt. He landed on top of her, pushing the air out of her lungs. She struggled but he was too big, and she was having trouble getting air…
“Stop fighting me, dammit.” He wrestled for her hands, finally pinning them both above her head. “I’m not your enemy. And stop using your fucking brain strength to throw things at me because you’re pissed.”
“Get… off… me.” She struggled beneath him, her vision still red but growing dark at the edges the longer he pinned her to the ground. She was losing too much oxygen. Nothing he was saying was even making sense. “I don’t… need you.”
“You do. You’re just too stubborn to admit it right now.” He looked up toward the tree arch. “And you’re going to attract every damn satyr in the area if I don’t do something fast.”
She had no idea what he meant. But before she could even try to get her mind to work, he looked down at her, muttered, “I’m sorry for this,” then pressed his lips against hers in a swift kiss.
He was there and gone before she could scream at him. Then he grasped her wrists in one hand to hold them pinned over her head and held the other in front of her face as he muttered ancient words.
A spell.
She wheezed, “Godsdamm—”
The word wasn’t even out of her mouth before everything went dark.
Chapter Seventeen
It was dark by the time Zagreus reached the castle.
Flashing would have been easier—and faster—but he wasn’t about to give his father any chance to track him. Especially now, when Talisa was dead weight in his arms.
Rhen met him just inside the main gate, torchlight reflecting off his concerned face when he spotted Talisa. “What happened? Did you run into trouble?”
“No.” Zagreus didn’t slow his steps. He crossed the cobblestones and waited while Rhen pulled the heavy wood door open. “She’s just asleep. Find Nysa and have her meet me in the Ivy Spire.”
“The tower?” Rhen stepped into the grand hall behind Zagreus. “But—”
“Yes, the tower,” Zagreus snapped as he carried Talisa across the room, ignoring the nymphs and silens who’d been lounging on couches and chairs around the hearth with their wine, now sitting up, taking notice of him.