He lowered his face into her hair and held her so tightly, her heart contracted. He still didn’t speak. Just drew in slow, ragged breaths that forced her panic even higher.
Instinctively, she knew he still wouldn’t tell her what he was hiding. What he had planned. Because he didn’t believe they would ever be back here. At least, not together.
Pain sliced through her chest. A pain she didn’t understand. “Zagre—”
“Come on.” He released her and quickly stepped past, grasping her hand as he moved. “We’re out of time.”
She wanted to pull him back. To force him to talk to her, but he was right. They were out of time.
All these years, all these lifetimes, everything the Fates had done to push them together… It had all been reduced to this.
To one battle she wasn’t about to let them lose.
By the time they reached the castle, the great hall was in full chaos.
Silens were grabbing armor and weapons from the supply that had been hauled up from the undercroft, then rushing out to the battle. Nymphs were readying bandages and supplies for the wounded that would inevitably be arriving. Others were bringing down cots and setting them up in the grand hall like a hospital wing.
She spotted Nysa doling out directions, and her mother and aunt helping with the prep work. Her heart pinched with the knowledge they were here because of her. Pinched even harder because she knew they wouldn’t leave for the same reasons she couldn’t leave.
Zagreus squeezed her hand. “There’s Rhen.”
They met up with the sileni in the center of the room, where he was strapping on his armor.
“How many?” Zagreus asked.
“A thousand. At least. They came in through the northern border. On the far side of the lake.”
Zagreus glanced down at Talisa, and her stomach clenched. That was where they’d crossed when they’d gone to scout for Max.
“What about the rest?” Zagreus asked, turning his attention back to Rhen.
“I don’t know.” Rhen sheathed his blade. “We’ve got battalions at each of the access points, and so far we’re holding them, but if they all attack at the same time…”
He glanced toward Talisa, his words trailing off.
She swallowed hard, knowing exactly what he was thinking. If three thousand satyrs hit at once, they were fucked.
“What about the Argonauts?” Zagreus drew Rhen’s attention. “And my uncle?”
“They’re already at the stone arch. Waiting for Pandora.”
They’d all agreed that’s where Pandora would show her face. The site of her last defeat. But Talisa wasn’t so sure. If Pandora slipped through one of the other access points with her box…
“Talisa! Talisa!”
Talisa turned at the sound of her name being called and barely had time to drop to her knees before Aia launched herself at her.
The child closed her arms around Talisa’s shoulders and hung on tight. Easing back just enough so she could meet Talisa’s gaze, she said, “Take me with you.”
“Oh, I don’t think so, honey.”
“But I can fight! I’ve been practicing with the blade you gave me!”
“You gave her a sword?” Zagreus muttered above them.
Talisa glanced up at him, noticing Rhen had stepped away and was hugging Nysa across the room.
Looking back at Zagreus, she said, “It was wooden. And I made sure the end wasn’t even pointed.”
Footsteps sounded, and Talisa glanced past the child toward Aia’s mother, already trying to pry the girl from Talisa’s shoulders.
“Come on, agkelos,” the nymph said to her daughter. “We have to let them go so we can make our way to the tunnels.”
“Tunnels?” Talisa pushed to her feet and looked toward Zagreus.
“There are a series of tunnels beneath the castle that lead out into the mountains. If we can’t hold them, the nymphs will have a chance to escape.”
Talisa reached for his hand and squeezed, praying the nymphs would be okay. Praying also that Rhen wouldn’t be hurt. Nysa wouldn’t survive losing him.
Aia’s mother cradled her daughter against her chest, fear evident in her pale features. “Thank you. Thank you for what you’re both doing.”
Talisa sent the nymph a small smile. It seemed like a lifetime ago she’d walked into this castle for the first time and been jealous of this female. So much had happened since then. So much she did not want to lose.
We won’t lose. We can’t.
Zagreus nodded at the nymph, but he didn’t speak. She rushed off with her daughter and disappeared around the corner.
“Where are your weapons?” Zagreus asked.
“In your suite.”
“I’ll get them.”
He let go of her and headed for the stairs.
Heart thumping, Talisa made her way across the room toward her mother and aunt.
“Matéras.”
Casey straightened where she was laying out sheets on a cot and captured Talisa in a fierce hug. “I didn’t know if I’d see you.”
“Where’s patéras?”
“Already out there.”
Talisa eased back and met her mother’s gaze. Her throat grew tight. And words she didn’t know how to say tumbled through her mind.
“It’s okay.” Her mother hugged her again. “Go, finish this, and come back. I know you can do it. I’ve always known you could do it.”
When Talisa let go, her mother swiped at a tear on Talisa’s cheek and smiled. And the conviction she saw in her mother’s familiar violet eyes gave Talisa strength.
Footsteps sounded at Talisa’s side. She glanced that way as Zagreus stopped with her weapons and the leather armor the nymphs had made for her. “I take it this is yours.”
“Yeah.”
He handed her the armor. “Strap it on. We need to go.”
She made quick work of the chest guard, then the bracers and greaves. As he passed her the blades, her aunt stepped up next to them, a worried look in her eyes.
“Bring my boy back.” Callia squeezed Talisa’s hand then looked to Zagreus. “Please.”
They both nodded, then made their way out of the castle.
It was all surreal. Having her family here. Having them helping. All of them treating Zagreus as… maybe not as one of them, but definitely not their enemy.
They bypassed the tunnels behind the waterfall and headed for the rocky cliff along the top instead. Where Zagreus had surprised her that first time by wrapping his arms around her and jumping her to the top with his super god-strength.
Water roared near their feet as he drew her to a stop and turned her to face him. Closing his arm around her waist, he pulled her against him and looked down in the moonlight. “Stay close to me. Pandora will be searching for you.”
She wrapped her arm around his shoulder, holding him just as tightly as he was holding her. “I will. Just so long as you don’t do anything stupid like last time, dios. I need you. Don’t forget that.”
Emotions flashed in his eyes just before he crushed her to him. He didn’t kiss her. Only pressed his face into her hair and held her so close, she knew he didn’t want to let go.
The ground disappeared beneath her feet, and she held on tighter, not wanting to release him, either. But it reformed seconds later under her boots at the bottom of the waterfall, and the shouts and voices and clashing weapons she heard in the forest at her back told her she no longer had a choice.