Calistos was married?
It hit her that she had missed so much of his life, that she had missed so much of all her brothers’ lives. Thanatos had told her that they had females, but she hadn’t expected things to be this serious. Her brother had a wife.
“Ho-ly fuck.” The male voice coming from behind her made her tense and whirl, her hands coming up to defend herself at the same time.
They instantly dropped to her sides as her eyes met wide ice-blue ones that rapidly filled with a warmth that heated her heart and brought tears to her eyes.
“Daimon,” she whispered, unable to believe it was him standing before her, scrubbing a hand over the soft white spikes of his hair as he stared at her as if she was a ghost.
“I’m not sure I actually believed that commander when he said you needed help… that you were… shit… alive… free… I don’t know.” He chuckled, sounding a little crazed.
She felt as if she was heading that way herself.
The urge to hug him was strong, but she denied it, looked back over her shoulder in the direction of the fight, the hope that had been fading in her growing stronger and stronger as she saw that Calistos and his wife were now decimating the enemy forces.
She looked back at Daimon and realised he wasn’t alone.
Beside him, a very beautiful and elegant dark-haired female wearing a flowing, figure-hugging black dress, gently touched his shoulder, smoothing her fingers over the navy material of the top that covered him to his wrists and his jaw.
The soft look in her pale blue eyes was the complete opposite of how she sounded when she spoke, her words hard and laced with a strong accent Calindria couldn’t place.
“Talk later. Fight now. Mari needs help.”
“Are you really here?” Calindria reached for him but didn’t touch him, needing to stop him from leaving. She just needed a moment. She needed to know this was real. “Only the enemy can teleport in this realm. You could not have teleported here.”
He grinned. “I didn’t teleport. The missus transported us. A term for teleporting that Cass here insists is different to teleporting, but I’m not buying it.”
“It is.” She frowned at Daimon.
“Anyway… Cass is a witch. Guardian of Marinda, the furie who is having one hell of a field day out there.”
“A witch?” Calindria had never met one before, but she had heard of them.
“Best witch there is.” Cass raised her hands, her palms facing the sky, and Calindria tensed as bright colourful light burst from them.
She tracked the blue and green orbs as they shot high into the air and flinched as they detonated. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing as light flowed from the point where they had exploded, sweeping down and outwards to form an enormous dome over the area.
“Now no one can teleport.” The witch smiled wickedly. “Fair is fair.”
She disappeared.
“Sweetheart,” Daimon hollered, a frown etched on his face. “I told you about doing that.”
He glanced back at Calindria, his scowl turning to a look that told her that he was eager to get going now that his female had transported herself elsewhere.
“What do you need?” he said.
“An opening. I need to get through to the building.” She sensed more males approaching, these ones coming from the direction of the town. Their forces were arriving. Hope bloomed stronger in her heart. They could do this. “Can you help?”
Daimon nodded. “One path coming right up.”
He casually swept his left hand out towards the battlefield without taking his eyes off her and she gasped as two thick walls of ice swept towards the fortress. Calistos grabbed Marinda, tugging her back as one of the walls almost hit her, and he said something to the blonde female. Whatever it was, it had her bearing short fangs and breaking free of his grip.
Calistos huffed and kicked off, leaping over the wall of ice as Cass appeared near Marinda.
“Go with him.” Daimon flashed her a smile. “I’ll take care of the ladies.”
Calindria nodded and raced towards the tunnel he had made for her, catching up with Calistos. Her breath fogged in the air as they sprinted along the corridor of ice that stretched all the way to the building. Calistos shoved his hand forwards as they reached the wall that blocked the end of the tunnel, sent rock flying as he blasted a hole in it.
Dust choked the air, blinding her as she clambered over the rubble, into the building.
“Which way?” Calistos’s voice came from behind her.
“This way.” She focused her senses on Thanatos, her heart thundering as she raced along the hallway.
They reached a large room and she skidded to a halt as several big males, each as tall as Thanatos, rose from the seats that surrounded a feasting table in the middle of it.
“Go, I’ll deal with this lot.” Calistos gave her a hard look when she glanced back at him, one that told her that he could handle the warriors who had all turned to face them, had picked up weapons and were looking at her brother as if he was next on the menu.
She nodded and ran for the door opposite her, ducked as the nearest male swung a heavy club at her, narrowly dodging it. He grunted as he was suddenly hurled into the wall near the door, shaking mortar loose, and wind hit her in the back, propelling her forwards.
Calindria sprinted along the hallway on the other side of the door, breathing hard, her legs tiring as adrenaline took its toll on her. The connection she could feel to Thanatos grew stronger, giving her the will to keep going.
She pushed herself past her limit when she sensed him just ahead of her. Her gaze locked on a door at the end of a wide corridor, and she ran at it, sure he was on the other side.
Calindria mustered her strength as she sensed the demigoddess there too, tore her glove off her right hand and slammed into the door with her shoulder, barging it open.
Her eyes leaped around the torch-lit room.
Landed on Thanatos where he stood in the middle of it.
And then the silver-haired demigoddess before him.
Calindria’s eyes widened, heart lodging in her throat as the nude female brought a dagger down, aimed at his chest.
She screamed.
“No!”
Chapter 30
Thanatos’s head whipped to his left, his eyes landing on Calindria as she burst into the room, and time seemed to slow as something in the region of his heart clenched and fear washed through him.
It turned out he didn’t want to die after all, but now he feared he was too late to stop it. He could feel the shift of the air as Harleena plunged the dagger towards his chest, couldn’t convince his body to move as he stared at Calindria, right into her widening blue eyes.
Eyes that gained a crimson corona.
“No!” she screamed, the sound carrying for a long time as he tried to convince himself to move, to knock the demigoddess away, to stop her from stabbing him through the heart.
Before he could manage it, a wall of black brambles with long sharp thorns burst from the stone floor, rapidly filling the space between him and the demigoddess. He grunted and flinched as several of the thorns jabbed into him and he heard Harleena shriek in pain as they attacked her too.
One of the vines pierced him through his left forearm near his elbow, the needle-like spike punching easily through his flesh.