Calistos shocked her by stepping into their mother’s path, blocking her way to Calindria. “She has a power. Anything she touches dies.”
Except Thanatos.
Her beautiful Thanatos was immune to it.
Made for her.
“It is true,” Cass put in, her strong accent making those words sound hard. “I tapped into her for a boost in power and what I unleashed… it killed all in its path.”
And it would have killed them too if not for Thanatos. His quick thinking had spared her family.
Her mother locked gazes with her, a soft edge to her eyes as her scarlet eyebrows furrowed. “Is this true?”
Calindria swallowed and nodded, wished with all her heart that it wasn’t because she wanted to feel her mother’s arms around her, wanted to be able to speak with her family and be close to them without constantly fearing killing them.
That heart ached as two of her brothers backed away, taking their females with them.
Valen tucked a female with black jaw-length hair behind him a little, despite her attempts to stay beside him, glanced at her with concern in his golden eyes. Eyes that had once matched his hair, only now that was violet. He had a scar down the side of his face and neck too, one that hadn’t been there when she had last seen him. It covered where his favour mark had been.
She recalled what Thanatos had told her. Valen had been the one to find her and Calistos, and according to her god of death, he had gone on the warpath. Had Zeus removed it as punishment when Valen had sought revenge, killing the Moirai and then attacking their uncle?
Marek held a caramel-haired female close to him, his powerful arms wrapped around her. Her blue trousers and white vest looked out of place while she was surrounded by so many wearing black, a bright dash of colour in a sea of darkness.
Esher remained where he was, his wide blue eyes locked on her, a war in them as he raked fingers over his wild black hair. He wanted to come to her too, but she shook her head, warning him not to do it.
Keras placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it through his dove-grey shirt, and smiled tightly when Esher looked at him, a lost edge to his eyes.
Her oldest brother’s emerald gaze came back to her and gods, she wanted to go to him too, wanted to tell him that she had seen him in that terrible realm where she had been held. A beautiful black-haired female stood beside him, her curves clad in black and silver armour, and power rolling off her that was as strong as what Calindria felt coming from her brother.
Ares.
He stood closest to her, his wide dark eyes shining gold as he stared at her with a look that was somewhere between disbelief and relief. Tears lined his dark lashes as he snapped his mouth closed and swallowed hard, and he looked down to his right as a female there moved. The pretty brunette offered him a soft smile and stroked his bare arm. Like Marek and Valen, he wore a strange black top with short sleeves that stretched tight around his large biceps.
The female tucked closer to him and curled her arm around his, settled her cheek against his biceps and said something Calindria didn’t catch as her gaze tracked down his arm to their joined hands.
That ache to see Thanatos again only grew worse.
“Maybe Calindria would like to freshen up?” Ares offered and the tears she was fighting surged for freedom upon hearing his voice.
It still held the same light note it always had and it hit her that she had feared so much would be different with her family now, that she would be a stranger in their ranks, but so much was the same.
They all still looked at her as if they wanted to coddle her, as if they loved her and would do anything to keep her safe, even if she found it annoying and restrictive. Every single one of them looked ready to smother her with their love.
A few of them looked ready to lock her in the palace and never let her out again.
“I would like that,” she said.
Tears filled her mother’s eyes, slipped onto her pale cheeks and dashed down to her jaw.
She glanced at her father and realised some things had changed. Tears lined his black lashes too, shimmered in his blue eyes as he looked at her. She couldn’t remember ever seeing her father cry, had felt sure it wasn’t possible for him.
“Come.” Her mother bustled over to her.
Calindria quickly backed off, shaking her head, and when her mother insisted on still coming towards her, she panicked. A wall of brambles shot up between them, six-inch thorns jutting from the side that faced her mother. She grimaced, wanted to apologise for what she had done, but the soft look of understanding that filled her mother’s eyes told her she didn’t need to.
Persephone moved back a step, her voice as light and gentle as a summer’s breeze. “I do not think you can hurt me, my little flower.”
She might not, but Calindria did.
Daimon appeared, muttering something as he strode forwards. He halted and frowned at everyone.
“Any reason we’re all outside?” He chuckled softly. “You guys stinking the place up again?”
Ares, Valen and Marek all scowled at him.
“You’re the stinky one.” Valen jerked his chin towards Daimon. “Place smells like flowers whenever your skanky ass isn’t in it.”
“You need to get your nose fixed if you think anything smells like flowers when you’re in it.” Ares grinned at Valen as he flashed his middle finger at him in a gesture she didn’t understand.
Calindria would have warmed to hear them teasing each other, another thing that hadn’t changed, but she was too busy scanning the area, sure that Thanatos would be coming too if Daimon was back.
She looked at her white-haired brother when a full minute passed without her god of death appearing.
Daimon flashed her a warm smile. “Thanatos is on his way. Got plenty to tell Dad about this female you guys caught.”
“A female?” Hades’s tone darkened.
She was about to tell him about the demigoddess, but a tremendous wave of power crashed over her and she tensed, her gaze whipping to her left.
Thanatos appeared there, stretched and furled his huge black feathered wings, a dark look etched on his handsome face and his eyes holding blue fire. It flickered and died when he drew up short and stared at everyone in the same way Daimon had.
“Thanatos,” Hades intoned. “My son tells me you have information for me.”
Thanatos didn’t look at her, didn’t even acknowledge her as she moved a step towards him. He strode over to her father and pressed his right hand to his chest. He rivalled Hades’s height, towering taller than her brothers, but his build was twice that of her father’s, made him look small almost, a feat few could manage.
“My god-king.” Thanatos bowed his head slightly, his eyelids falling to shutter his stunning silver eyes, and then lifted his chin. “We have captured the demigoddess responsible for holding your daughter and she has revealed to me that the goddess Mnemosyne is with the enemy and is in the process of carrying out a plan. The war we fought is not over.”
Your daughter?
Calindria frowned at Thanatos’s profile, willing him to look at her, that cold feeling she’d had spreading again to chill her heart. A distance seemed to open between them, a chasm that grew wider and wider as she stared at him.
“Mnemosyne,” her father spat that name like a curse. “Keras, I want Mnemosyne brought to Tartarus.”