by Eva Brandt
“That might be true, but I think that’s also where Selene is,” Knox pointed out, “and in the end, that’s what matters.”
It really was as easy as that. Just like we’d launched ourselves into the quasar without questioning it, we continued our flight toward the spire.
The crystallized units finally landed in front of the structure. As soon as their ‘feet’ made contact with the ground—or whatever passed for ground here—they dissipated, and their pilots emerged from inside. Naturally, the first person I zeroed in on was Stella, but her companions were pretty shocking too. Leaving aside the inhuman ones, which didn’t surprise me that much after the descriptions I’d received from the others, one particular pilot stood out. “Is that who I think it is?” I asked through the coms.
“Yeah, it’s him,” August said. “I almost thought I was seeing things earlier when I realized it, but it seems like the apsids have a lot of surprises to throw at us.”
Knox cursed viciously. “Suddenly, things make far more sense than before. That fucker took her for himself.”
Jared Glass. He was the key to all this. Even leaving aside that damn bet, he’d always seemed much too interested in Selene. Selene had been very troubled by his death and by their conversation in the labyrinth.
Just how much time had Jared had at his disposal to force Selene to see things his way? It could have been years. And considering how betrayed she’d felt when we’d been separated, anything could have happened.
“It’s all right,” Brendan said. “Don’t panic. Even if he is trying to steal her from us, we’ll just have to find a way to convince her to take us back.”
It was easier said than done, but at this point, freaking out wouldn’t help us. Besides, the important thing was that we were here. We’d gotten through the defenses of the apsids. All signs pointed to the fact that Selene was alive. My sister seemed fine too, and the apsids seemed inclined to at least hear us out.
Maybe this wasn’t so hopeless.
With that in mind, I opened the cockpit of the Scylla and jumped out. My fellow Chimera Warriors were doing the same thing and together, we made our way to the group of apsids. None of us addressed the most glaring issue—the fact that both my sister and Jared were alive. It was better to prioritize and see to Selene’s well-being first.
“The Great Mother will see you now,” Stella said. “Be careful. Don’t say or do anything stupid. You aren’t on Tartarus anymore.”
“Oh, we’re well aware of that, Stella,” August murmured.
“Maybe not as aware as you might think,” Jared offered with a sharp smile.
Knox bared his teeth at him and I got the feeling he was seconds away from lunging at Jared and tearing his throat out with his teeth. Brendan grabbed his wrist, keeping Knox from losing control. “We appreciate the warning,” he said. “Please, lead the way.”
As if on cue, the gates of the spire opened. Jared, Stella, and the rest of their team entered the chamber beyond. The other apsids stayed outside. We followed and so did our chimeras.
I honestly thought the apsids would try to keep our mechas from going inside, but they didn’t. I was glad, but at the same time, it worried me. It meant the Great Mother, whoever she was, didn’t think the chimeras were a threat. But then again, if they had been—if any of us had been—we wouldn’t have made it this far.
All things considered, the Great Mother was strikingly straightforward. She and Selene were already waiting for us when we arrived. I should have probably paid more attention to the leader of the apsids, but my attention was fully drawn to my beautiful lover.
A little over a day had passed since we’d last met, which was why it struck me to see her so different. I couldn’t have put my finger on why exactly that was. Physically, she hadn’t changed. But there was a certain feeling I got about her that made me feel she wasn’t the same person she used to be.
She didn’t smile when she saw us. Instead, she nodded, greeting us with a coldness that made me ache inside. “Thank you for coming to see me,” she said. “I know it couldn’t have been easy.”
“The alternative was much worse,” I replied. “We’re so sorry, Selene. We shouldn’t have acted the way we did.”
“I don’t think you’re sorry about what you did, but more about me finding out. But that’s okay. I don’t… I don’t think I blame you as much for it as I used to. Gaia only knows I have my own faults. It’s not like I’m entitled to throw stones.”
“I don’t think anything you did can compare to their actions, Selene,” Jared chastised her. “Don’t beat yourself up just because you want to give them a second chance.”
I wanted to punch him in the face, to tell him to shut the fuck up. But at the same time, I couldn’t bring myself to argue with him. He wasn’t wrong. We hadn’t done anything to earn her forgiveness, but it was in her character to discard our actions out of kindness and love. The problem was that we’d come to take that for granted. If we hadn’t, maybe we wouldn’t be here in the first place. Maybe we’d have trusted her more and through that, made sure she wouldn’t be in Gaia’s Haven during the attack. Or better yet, we could have pooled our resources and found a different way, something that didn’t involve us killing innocent people.
We’d done none of that, and now it was too late to take it all back. But despite it, I was still just as selfish as I’d always been and I still craved her like a chimera craved blood and fire. “Selene, you’re right to be angry. We did some pretty horrible things. We had a good reason for it. We needed the power of human lives to bring Charybdis back. But I don’t blame you for finding it repulsive anyway.”
“I don’t think it’s repulsive,” Selene answered. “It’s just… painful.” Her lips twisted, but that wasn’t a smile either, not really. “I’m such a horrible person, you know. I think I wouldn’t have minded it at all if you’d told me about it beforehand, if you had explained. How can I make something like this about me?”
“Because it is about you,” Knox pointed out. “Everything we do is about you. Surely, you must know that by now, Selene.”
She glanced at him, torn and wretched. She looked like she wanted to say something else, but the Great Mother pressed a hand to her shoulder, stopping her. “Before we go any further, I’m afraid I have to intervene. You’re all probably wondering why we decided to bring young Selene here and keep her with us. Well, it’s quite simple. She’s been chosen as Jar’yd’s mate and the future mother of his children.”
What the fuck? On some level, I’d feared something like this would happen, but I hadn’t expected this woman to dump it on us like that. And I would’ve never blamed Selene for what Jared had done to her, but a child was another thing entirely, a real complication that could do a lot of damage both to her as a person and to us, as a unit.
Knox’s eyes started glowing, the air around him blurring as the beast inside him threatened to come out. This time, Brendan was too distracted to calm him down. “Chosen by whom?” he gritted out. “As far as I know, she had no such plans.”
An aura of tachyon emissions bloomed around August, and I could taste his fury in my mouth, in everything that I was. “We’d just brought up the possibility of having a family with her,” August continued, “and she explicitly told me she had no intention of taking such a step anytime soon.”
“I’m aware of that,” the Great Mother replied without missing a beat. “But things change every day, and our decisions affect the plans and lives of our loved ones. You made a choice when you attacked those innocent Terrans. That doesn’t come without consequences.”
“We’re aware of it,” Brendan shot back, “but we also know it has nothing to do with the relationship between Jared and Selene. If any of you have a problem with us, that’s fine, but don’t use it as an excuse to hurt her.”
“Oh, the last thing I want is to hurt her. We’ve welcomed her on Eos, given her a new home at a very difficult time in her life. We can offer her the answers and accepta
nce she’d never find on Terra.”
Fury surged through me, as hot and all-consuming as the sun. “Somehow, I don’t think all those gifts will come for free. Tell me, is that the same offer you made my sister? Is that why she left everything and everyone she knew behind?”
“More or less, yes,” the Great Mother replied. “But can you really blame her? She died a horrible death at your parents’ hands. Why would she want to come back to Terra?”
She’d died? How did that even work? She was right there, in front of me, alive and well. Was it an apsid skill? If so, it might explain why our enemies hadn’t really reacted when we’d attacked the other crystallized units. If they could regenerate or be reborn, anything we did was just a minor inconvenience.
But if that was the case, why hadn’t the apsids destroyed Terra by now? A constantly regenerating species would be next to unbeatable, if only because they had an endless supply of soldiers at their disposal. They could have thrown battalion after battalion of crystallized units at us, chipping at our defenses, eliminating us one by one. They might have taken heavy losses in the process, but it wouldn’t have mattered.
“It would have mattered,” the Great Mother said, obviously catching onto my thoughts, “because of your chimeras.”
Ah. I could see where she was going with this now. If chimeras consumed apsids like they’d eaten the Terrans in Gaia’s Haven, the aliens would likely not be able to heal or come back to life. All of a sudden, the invitation to come here no longer looked like such a good thing.
“Don’t worry about me, Pollux,” Scylla said. “If they do attempt to kill us, they’ll only be able to destroy our metallic shells. I think that’s the whole problem and why they’re having so much trouble facing us.”
“You could be right, Scylla, but we’re not on our own turf anymore. Who knows what these people are capable of doing in a singularity?”
I shot a glance at my sister, wondering if Stella could provide us with clearer answers. She looked back at me, meeting my eyes without flinching.
I hadn’t told her I didn’t blame her for her choice. I wanted to. I wanted to tell her so many things, to clear the air between us at least a little. But when our gazes locked, a sudden knowledge invaded my mind.
I turned toward Jared, finally knowing what I needed to do. “In the name of the Grand Chimera Unit, I challenge you and yours to a trial by fire. You’ve stolen a valued member of our team and that trespass cannot go unpunished.”
Jared’s ice-blue eyes flashed with sharp anger. “I accept your challenge. I will fight you.”
I was more than ready to wipe the floor with him, to crush him from the inside out. Brendan refused to allow it. “No,” he said, taking a step forward. “You will fight me. I am the one responsible for Selene, and for all of this. If it has to end in a battle, it’s better for it to be just between the two of us.”
He was trying to protect Stella, and perhaps keep me and August from having to face my sister. I appreciated it more than I could ever say. And maybe Jared acknowledged this necessity too, because he agreed.
“Very well. Let’s fight then, Your Highness. But be advised. This time, I won’t be holding back.”
Brendan grinned, and just like that, all signs of his previous calm demeanor vanished. “I’m counting on it.”
Shit.
The Agreement
Brendan
I’d never been a very emotional person. Self-preservation had forced me into a routine of constant discipline and the weight of my mother’s death had never truly disappeared. But there were things that surpassed my noble goals and my necessity to survive. My relationship with Selene was one of them.
I’d failed her. This lying asshole had used her in the worst way, taken advantage of her grief and forced himself on her. For that, he had to pay.
Honestly, I’d never wanted to kill anyone more, not even my father, my uncle, or Paul Welton.
It was a minor miracle I was given the chance to try, and not just because we were in the presence of apsid royalty. Knox was hovering on the edge of beastly insanity. He hadn’t taken the news of Selene’s possible pregnancy well. The Great Mother hadn’t actually told us if she’d accomplished her goal, but based on Knox’s reaction, I could make some educated guesses. His senses had always been more acute than those of a regular human being and he could see things we did not.
But Knox still held back, respecting my position even now, at such a difficult time. I hated myself a little for claiming Jared’s death and denying Knox his revenge. I’d have to compensate him in some way later.
For the moment, securing Selene took precedence. As far as I could tell, she still cared about us and she wasn’t completely averse to coming back to us. She still saw Terra as her homeland. If I could remove Jared, we might have a chance at taking her back.
I was actually unsure on how this whole trial by fire business worked. Pollux was the one who’d mentioned it, but I suspected he’d only found out about it just now, perhaps from his sister. Either way, I was grateful when the Great Mother was kind enough to explain a little. “The purpose of this challenge is simple—to prove yourselves to Helios. Whoever wins is allowed to make any request of the loser. The only exception involves treason against the Heliad Empire and Helios. You are allowed to attempt to kill each other if you prefer, in which case the winner will make the request to the person closest to their opponent. I will stand for Jar’yd. Prince Brendan, who will stand for you?”
“My second-in-command, Knox Alexander. If for whatever reason, he is unavailable, August Cavallero.”
I was tempted to pick Typhon, but he was a chimera and I wasn’t sure our bond would be respected here. The presence of Pollux’s sister made things very difficult for him. August had known and cared about Stella too, but if Knox lost it, he’d be able to do some damage control.
Of course, as far as I was concerned, their involvement wouldn’t be necessary at all, because I would win. There was simply no other acceptable option. We had to get Selene back, and this unexpected opportunity had landed in my lap. I wouldn’t waste it.
I knew better than to underestimate Jared, though. He’d said he wouldn’t be holding back and I could see that was more than an empty boast. I couldn’t rely on my past experience in fighting him. He wasn’t human, and whenever we’d sparred, he’d either lost on purpose or had been unable to access his apsid abilities. This time, he wouldn’t have that problem.
Jared’s team took several steps back, giving him room. Knox, Pollux, and August mimicked them, although they didn’t look all that thrilled. Meanwhile, the Great Mother pulled Selene away, back toward the throne.
The gesture was almost symbolic and I’d never been more aware of how close we were to ultimate disaster. I didn’t let it get to me. Instead of staring at Selene like an idiot, I focused solely on my opponent.
Silence fell over the spire. In the past, Jared had always been a vocal fighter, often throwing derisive comments at whoever was unlucky enough to run into him. He didn’t seem inclined to say anything now. We just looked at one another, each of us waiting for our respective opponent to make a move.
It took everything in my power to not lose my patience. I craved the taste of his blood almost as much as I desired Selene’s heart and body. But taking stupid risks wouldn’t win me this battle. If I got restless or cocky, I might lose this chance Pollux had bought for us.
At last, Jared took a deep breath. His uniform vanished in shards of light, and fire licked over his now exposed skin. It reminded me a little of the crystallized apsid unit, and it was obviously not good news.
“For what it’s worth, Your Highness, I didn’t want things to be this way,” he said. “You shouldn’t have pushed me. Selene shouldn’t have had to see this. But I have no choice now and neither do you.”
As soon as he finished the sentence, he lunged forward. I blinked, and suddenly, he was right in front of me, his hands alight with vengeful flame.
If I hadn’t trained in tachyon manipulation since before puberty, he’d have probably killed me on the spot. But no matter how fast he was, he was still slower than tachyons. And Tartarus only knew that after sparring with Knox so many times, I was used to fighting fast, strong men.
I didn’t see him coming, and yet, I did. Dancing to the side, I avoided his first attack. I made a grab for his arm, but he jumped back at the last moment, and I ended up missing him.
I didn’t let that deter me. Taking advantage of the fact that he was off balance, I pounced on him, tackling him to the ground.
After that, everything turned into chaos and pain. Making contact with Jared was dangerous and I’d known it from the moment I’d chosen to attack him like this. Wherever our bodies touched, my skin was scorched off.
But I was not alone, and not new at handling such pain. Typhon was with me, and even if he couldn’t physically help me in battle, his gifts never abandoned me.
My wounds healed as soon as Jared made them. My burns vanished, and my skin grew back. The end result was very painful for me, since my newly formed cells and nerve endings weren’t accustomed to taking that much of a beating. I endured it anyway, because it was worth it.
The stench of burnt flesh filled the air, but it combined with another scent. Green fumes emerged from my pores, surrounding Jared in a poisonous cocoon.
According to Typhon, his fumes could kill anything and anyone. Naturally, the toxins I emitted weren’t as potent, but that was fine. After what had happened in Gaia’s Haven, I had no desire to use Typhon’s skill anywhere near Selene.
My fumes weren’t as dangerous, and they wouldn’t reach Selene or harm her. But they would harm Jared. Maybe he wouldn’t die from it, but an induced paralysis was just as good, if not better.
It was a painstaking, agonizing process. At first, my efforts seemed to have no effect. Jared’s fire regenerated him, just like Typhon’s gift did to me. The constant pain I was in didn’t help, and at one point, he almost pinned me down.
