She was making a glyph.
“Faster, witch,” Thanatos growled as the black mist reached the warriors nearest Harleena as she battered the barrier with her fists.
“Going as fast as I can,” Cassandra snapped. “Perfection takes time. You want this to be perfect. One small error and your demigoddess is dead.”
“And whose fault is that?” he snarled back at her.
The temptation to fly and grab the demigoddess to pull her out of the reach of the deadly mist sweeping towards her was strong, almost overwhelming, but the way Calindria clung to him and the fear he could feel flowing through her kept him in place. She feared for him, even though she knew this mist couldn’t harm him.
She needed him here with her.
Cassandra tapped the centre of the glyph she had drawn in the air and it rolled into a ball that shot towards the demigoddess. The moment it reached her, it expanded, wrapping around the female. Harleena began battering it instead, trying to break free of the sphere as it lifted her into the air and slowly bobbed towards them. She lowered one hand to the curved bottom of the sphere, pressing it close to her black-leather-clad knee.
The onyx mist devoured the last of the warriors and Calistos swept the ashes away with the vortex.
The sphere holding the demigoddess gradually lowered, coming to rest just a few feet above the black ground, hovering there as the female inside it screamed and pounded at its shimmering golden walls.
“Is it over?” Calindria murmured against his chest.
Thanatos rubbed her shoulders. “It is over. Would you like me to make the witch pay?”
Cassandra gave him a look that dared him to try.
Calindria shook her head, drew down a breath and rubbed at her face. Thanatos gave her a moment, keeping her concealed with his wings while she pulled herself together, aware that she didn’t want her brothers to see her like this and know how shaken she was. She wanted to look strong to them.
She didn’t need to worry about that.
She was strong.
She proved that by emerging from his wings with her chin tipped up and by walking right up to the demigoddess and looking back at Cassandra. “Can you make a cage?”
The witch nodded and went to her, painted another glyph with her fingers that shone yellow too, and tapped it. The orb struck the ground and a golden cage appeared.
“It will be strong enough to contain her and will stop her from using her powers.” Cassandra opened the door of the cage.
Calindria looked back at Thanatos as he walked towards her, keeping his eyes on her as Harleena cursed at him. There was an edge to Calindria’s blue eyes that said he wasn’t the only one who needed closure. This demigoddess had held her in a cage for almost six centuries and it was only right that Calindria be the one who put her in a cage this time.
“Do it.” Thanatos nodded when she looked into his eyes and he saw the question blazing in them. “You need to be the one to do this.”
She pulled down a deep breath and pressed her hands to the sphere containing the demigoddess, shoving it towards the cage. Part of him expected it to bang against the metal bars, but the walls of the sphere passed straight through them.
Calindria pushed the demigoddess into the cage and the sphere disappeared. Before the silver-haired female could do anything, Calindria slammed the door of the cage in her face.
And it felt as if he was shutting the door on his past and taking his first step towards the future he wanted.
He looked at Calindria as she turned towards him, her blue eyes meeting his.
One he feared he wasn’t going to get without a fight.
Chapter 31
Calindria didn’t like this. Thanatos had insisted the witch transported her to the palace while he and Daimon took the demigoddess to Tartarus, and had parted from her without another word, without even looking at her. She felt cold to the bone as she stared at the sprawling black stone building before her, with its elegant columned central section that supported a triangular pediment that made it almost resemble the temples she was familiar with.
Temples that towered behind her, guarded by males dressed all in black who were staring at her.
“You need a moment?” Calistos’s smooth voice was a comfort to her, chasing some of the chill from her marrow as she soaked it up.
She nodded.
Maybe she could delay long enough that Thanatos would come to the palace. Gods, she needed him here with her. Her twin’s presence calmed her, but Thanatos would give her the strength she needed to face this moment.
“Daimon said that he was the only one home when the commander came… other than Ares. Ares is glued to Megan’s side though, so I get why he didn’t come to help. They’ve got the kid to think about.” Calistos hiked his shoulders.
A child.
Thanatos had been telling her the truth and she was an aunt.
That knowledge only made her more nervous.
What if she messed up and hurt the baby?
She couldn’t do this.
Calindria backed away from the palace as dread weighed her stomach down, as fear trickled through her, her breaths coming faster as panic lit her veins.
“Thanatos—” she started, wanting to ask Cass to transport her to Tartarus where he was as the need to see him became too great, overwhelming her.
She tensed as she sensed someone closing in on her. More than one someone.
Her gaze darted to the palace and she couldn’t breathe as she spotted not only her father striding towards her, dressed in a fine black tunic and trousers, but her mother too. Her mother’s red hair bounced lightly against the cinched straps of her flowing black dress, the sheer layers of it parting and dancing around her legs with each hurried step.
Her brothers followed behind them, some with females in tow.
Too many people.
It was too much.
Panic blasted through her, had her spinning on her heel and looking around her, desperate to find an escape route. She couldn’t be here. She couldn’t do this. Not without Thanatos.
Her brow furrowed and she jerked to her left, scowled at Calistos when he tried to reach for her, and backed away from him. Her pulse hammered hard, a sickening beat that made her dizzy, made her feel as if she couldn’t get enough air.
“Calindria.” That deep, commanding voice rolled over her.
Stilled her.
She looked across to her left.
To her father.
Hades had his left hand held up beside him, his palm facing her, a silent order to those behind him. She stared into his blue eyes, ones filled with warmth and concern, with love that brought tears to her eyes as all her strength rushed from her. Her lower lip wobbled as she fought the tears, as panic morphed to joy, and then to fear as he took a step towards her.
She hastily shook her head and backed off, moving away from everyone as she struggled to breathe. “Don’t come near me.”
“It is I, Calindria. Your father. Do you not recognise me?”
She was quick to nod. “I do… but—”
She held her hands out before her when her mother advanced on her, her soft green eyes filled with love, with a need that echoed inside Calindria. She wanted to hold her too, to burrow into her arms and squeeze her tightly, but she couldn’t.
She looked around her, still backing off, throwing desperate glances at the palace and then the temples, aching for Thanatos to come back to her. Couldn’t he feel how much she needed him here with her? Surely, he knew she couldn’t do this alone?