Thanatos kept on fighting, battering any warrior who dared to come up behind him with his one good wing, and cutting and punching his way through those foolish enough to stand in his way.
Where was Calindria?
He tried to locate her, but the damned realm muddied his senses. All he could feel were the warriors crowding around him. Maybe if he killed them all, he would be able to feel her. He grinned at the pleasing thought of butchering them all.
Two more warriors met death by his blade, one going down screaming while the other gagged on his own blood.
By his count, he was down to only ten warriors.
He rolled his shoulders and readied his blade, flashed his teeth at one of the larger warriors, picking him as his next victim.
“Stop.” That familiar female voice had him turning on a vicious roar to face the owner of it.
The silver-haired female stood a short distance away, her violet eyes showing no trace of fear.
He went to launch at her.
Froze as she lifted her right hand higher.
Calindria winced as the tip of one of his own daggers pressed into the underside of her chin, angled her head back and stared at him through eyes flooded with fear and regret, with anger too. He instantly backed off, held his hands up in a faux act of surrender, buying himself time to assess the situation.
A situation that didn’t look good when he noticed Calindria’s hand covering the one the demigoddess had twisted tightly in her hair.
Just as his little goddess had feared, the drug had suppressed her powers.
Around him, the warriors closed in. Thanatos kept tabs on all of them. If any of them strayed too close, he would kill them. His gaze lowered to meet Calindria’s. Or maybe he wouldn’t. He couldn’t risk the demigoddess hurting her.
“It was not time to set you free yet, my little bird,” the demigoddess hissed in her ear. “Perhaps we should put you back in your cage.”
Calindria kicked at her for that, the fear in her eyes increasing, hitting Thanatos hard as she tried to fight her way free. She stilled again as the demigoddess pressed the dagger close enough that it nicked her skin.
“No.” Thanatos lifted his hand, holding it out facing the bitch. “Do not hurt her.”
The female’s violet eyes slowly narrowed in a look that chilled him to the bone. She knew. She knew he had feelings for Calindria, would do anything to save her, to keep her safe. She knew he couldn’t bear the thought of her going back into a cage.
He looked at Calindria, seeing how terrified she was of that happening.
“Let her go.” Thanatos kept his eyes on Calindria’s blue ones, needing her to see that he wouldn’t let them put her in a cage. He wouldn’t let anyone take her freedom from her again or stop her from reaching her family. “Hades knows she lives. He sent me here to retrieve her. Whatever plans you had for her, they are done. Over.”
“I will have to find another use for her then.” The demigoddess stroked the flat of the blade down Calindria’s neck and his heart wrenched into his throat as his little goddess closed her eyes and her brow furrowed.
“You hurt her—” He growled and flexed his fingers around his dagger, looked for his sword and found it only thirty feet away. Thirty feet that looked like a mile to him. He would never be able to reach it and then the demigoddess before she could sink the dagger into Calindria’s throat. His shoulders sagged a little. “Just… do not hurt her.”
A sick gleam lit the female’s violet eyes as she raked them over him. “You could convince me to let her go… but it would cost you.”
He bared his teeth at her, refused to do the things he could see she was thinking about even as part of him accepted his fate. The thought of submitting to the demigoddess again sickened him, had him wanting to snarl and lash out, to attack everyone in the vicinity. He wanted to kill her, slowly, savouring it.
He lowered his gaze to Calindria again.
But he couldn’t.
If he attacked anyone, the female would kill her.
And gods, that would kill him.
He had sworn that no female would ever hold sway over him again, would never enslave him and use him against his will, but he would submit himself to that horror for Calindria.
Because he wanted to set her free.
Because he loved her.
He swallowed hard and lowered his dagger, felt hollow inside as he looked at the demigoddess.
Defeated again.
“I offer myself in exchange.” Those words were like acid on his tongue, a thousand tiny blades that cut him to ribbons inside, making him wish he were dead already because what this female had planned for him would be a slow, torturous death of his soul. “Let Calindria go and I will serve you.”
A flicker of interest lit her vile violet eyes, worsening the swirling sickness that wracked him, had it filling his mind with images of what she had planned for him. The urge to clutch his dagger and fight was strong, but the need to save Calindria was stronger, had him standing his ground and facing his fate. For her, he would do anything, even this.
“I accept.” Those two words fell hard from the demigoddess’s lips, shaking him.
“No, Thanatos.” Calindria tried to struggle, but he shook his head, silently telling her not to.
Because she was only making this harder on him.
He stared at the silver-haired female, bone-deep aware that she would play him, that once she had him within her grasp she would recapture Calindria. He was going to have to buy her time to escape and then somehow he would turn everything around in his favour. He just wasn’t sure how yet.
The demigoddess drew another dagger from the waist of her black leather trousers, inspected it and tossed it to him. He caught it with his free hand and glared at it, could smell the vile poison that coated the blade—the same drug she had used on him before. She had come here prepared to recapture him too.
He swallowed thickly.
“Cut yourself with it.”
Thanatos drew down a fortifying breath, told himself that his captivity would only be temporary, that this time he would escape her sooner. Getting Calindria free of this realm and back to her family would be worth whatever he had to endure.
He slashed the blade across his right forearm, just above his vambrace.
Felt sick as warmth instantly rolled through him, clouding his mind, making his thoughts blur. He hated that feeling of weakness sweeping through him almost as much as he despised what came next.
“Thanatos,” Calindria breathed, her brow furrowing, blue eyes filled with fear and rage.
He shook his head again and looked into her eyes, focused on her and her alone as hurt welled inside him, as hope gave way to fear of never seeing her again, never escaping his prison and the sickening grasp of the demigoddess.
“Do not fight me on this, little goddess,” he whispered, voice thick with the emotions running rampant inside him, unleashed by the drug as it ravaged his defences, stripping down his walls and his inhibitions. Before long, it would transform him, would attempt to make him a mindless slave to lust, and he didn’t want Calindria around when that happened. He didn’t want her to see him like that. “Go. Run as soon as you have the chance.”
He tried to smile for her as tears filled her eyes, clung to the tattered shreds of his hope as he formed a plan and delivered a message he hoped she would figure out, because this time, he needed her to rescue him.