by Bella Klaus
He strode toward me with his fists clenched. “That’s your answer? To do nothing?”
Tilting my head to the side, I stared at a penis-shaped stalactite straight ahead that bent to the left.
“Hemera,” he growled. “You can at least honor me with the courtesy of words.”
“If you can hear me, my answer is to bugger off.” I let the words echo through my mind.
Kresnik growled. “I will not tolerate your insolence.”
“Tough luck, because that’s all you’ll get.”
He appeared at my side, and I tried not to flinch. “Do not test me.” His breath fanned across my flames. “With my magic, I can torture you with unending pain.”
I held my breath. If he could open a rift with the force of his power, he would have done so already. Hell, he might even have tried and tried again to put me to work while I’d been unconscious. That was the kind of creepy act I would expect from the man who had spawned Jonathan.
Something rose from the pool behind me, forming huge splashes of water that sizzled against my flames. Before I could rise off my perch, darkness engulfed me, and I tumbled backward into a warm, slippery chasm.
I splayed out my wings, smelling burned flesh and a substance that seared my nostrils and coated my sinuses with its acid. No matter how much I thrashed, I continued through the slimy chute, which churned and spasmed, bent on forcing me down.
My talons stretched out, digging into the creature’s flesh and trying to claw my way up. Then a rattling hiss made my breath catch.
Rapid pulse beats thudded between my eardrums. I couldn’t have been swallowed by an animal. It was impossible, but we were in the Realm of the Gods, a place that had monsters like the hydra.
Hacking and tearing sounded from above, and light streamed down from a slash within the darkness, and Kresnik poked his head inside, staring down at me through eyes round with shock.
“Hemera.” He stretched out an arm. “Take my hand.”
A warble sounded in my chest. This had to be a trick. If he could create illusions with his light magic, then he must have stolen other powers I didn’t know about to simulate this horror.
The muscles squeezing me spasmed, and I slipped a few inches further down the chasm. My stomach plummeted with the onset of my doom. Maybe I could trust him this once, since he seemed genuine about wanting to help.
Kresnik roared, his hand slicing through the dark, widening the rift of light. “Hemera, if you don’t come with me now. The acid in that thing’s stomach will digest you until there is nothing left to regenerate. It has swallowed gods and phoenixes, and not one of them has survived.”
Every instinct screamed at me that this was a ploy Kresnik had conjured up to manipulate me into falling into his clutches, but a tiny voice whispered that he might be telling the truth.
The walls of my prison squeezed until half my feathers flickered out, and my eyes bulged. I pulled my magic back into my body, reverted back into a woman, and stretched out a hand.
Kresnik grabbed my wrist and yanked me out, holding me to his broad chest. A lock of hair fell into my eyes, making them sting. He carried me to the side of the water, placed me gently onto the rocks, and rinsed my face.
“Are you hurt?” His warm hand rubbed soothing circles on my back.
Revulsion rippled through my insides. Why the bloody hell would he care when he had already caused me the most intense physical pain of my life?
Without waiting for a reply, Kresnik set me on my feet, placed his hands on my shoulders, and swept his gaze down my naked form. “I need to rid you of those digestive fluids before they dissolve your skin.”
I squirmed, pulling an arm over my breasts and another over my crotch, but he grabbed my biceps and turned me toward the pool.
Something large and green and dragon-like fell back into the water with a massive splash, spraying water over us both.
Nausea rose to the back of my throat, and every ounce of blood drained from my face and settled into my plummeting stomach.
“What was that?” I whispered through panting breaths.
“Python,” he snarled.
“A python?” I turned to meet his burning amber eyes.
“The Python,” he said. “A gigantic serpent killed by Apollo in revenge for the attack on his mother. Also one of the monstrous Titans born to Uranus and Gaia.”
A shudder ran down my spine. “What’s it doing alive?”
“It’s the Great Separation,” a thin voice said from somewhere deeper in the chamber. “It destroyed our realm and spat out the dead from Tartarus.”
“I don’t get it.” My voice shook. “Father Jude talked as though the realm was beautiful.”
“His temporal magic was far stronger than mine,” Kresnik muttered. “He likely accessed the realm at a different point in time in order to steal your phoenix.”
I ground my teeth. “Then Aurora shouldn’t have been punished for failing to find an eagle here?”
Rocks fell from the direction of the stalactites, making us both flinch.
“Who goes there?” Kresnik snarled.
A naked man stepped out from behind a stalactite with his palms raised. His long beard covered his prominent ribs, concave stomach, and crotch, trailing several feet behind him. “It is I, Epimetheus.”
Kresnik’s face went slack. “But you died.”
His thin shoulders rose to his ears. “The Great Separation released me from death.”
“Who is that?” I whispered.
“My twin,” Kresnik said.
Epimetheus’ gaze turned to the water, his eyes solemn. “You killed our uncle and my only companion.”
I glanced from Kresnik to his brother. The only similarities they shared was their amber eyes and height, but what was all this about that snake being their uncle?
My brows drew together. More importantly, what was the Great Separation? I was sure Father Jude had mentioned it once, but I hadn’t had the chance to ask him what it meant.
Kresnik wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest. Resisting the urge to elbow him in the gut, I placed my hands over my breasts and crotch.
Epimetheus turned his watery eyes back to Kresnik then stared at me with a penetrating gaze. It was one of those looks I would describe as undressing with his eyes, but I was already naked.
The newcomer bared his teeth. “I will avenge Uncle Python, and when I have taken your life, I will take your female as my bedmate.”
Chapter Three
Darkness descended on the cave, like Epimetheus’ proclamation of war against his brother had made the clouds outside thicken. He stood behind the shard of light in the chamber’s ceiling, seeming taller, more skeletal, and infinitely more menacing than before.
Fury burned in his amber eyes, and he bared brilliant white teeth that contrasted with his grubby beard.
Against every instinct in my body, I edged closer to Kresnik, who stepped in front of me, forming a barrier between Epimetheus and me.
Kresnik raised his palms. “Brother, wait—”
“Silence,” Epimetheus roared. “I have been alone in this realm for eons with nobody but monsters for company. Do you know how long it took me to make alliances? Uncle Python was the only beast I considered a friend.”
“Surely, he will rise again.” Kresnik almost sounded reasonable.
“You killed him.” Epimetheus’ voice broke. “And for that, you will perish.”
As the air thickened with those ominous words, the pulse in my throat fluttered, trying to beat its way through my skin. Would Kresnik really fight his twin? Epimetheus seemed even more insane than his brother.
Kresnik sighed. “There’s no need for violence. If it’s companionship you want, I can—”
“You?” The other god threw his head back and laughed. “Do not think for one second that I haven’t seen your life unfold in the Pool of Delphi. You know nothing but murder and betrayal.”
Something cracked under
my foot, and I glanced down at the rocky ground to find that a few scales had lost from Python during his struggle against Kresnik. They were glossy and golden-brown with glinting edges that looked sharp enough to cut even leather.
While Kresnik tried to reason with his brother, I picked up a scale the size of my hand and held it behind my back.
Epimetheus spread his arms wide. “Hark, I command the winds to seal your doom—”
“Stop this nonsense,” Kresnik growled.
The air thickened, slowing my movement. I placed a hand over my mouth. If this lunatic didn’t stop ranting, his magic would get us all killed.
“Creatures of the air and feather and claw, come forth and feast. Feast on the liver of your foe.”
Screeches echoed through the chamber, accompanied by dark shadows of unearthly size forming within the shaft of dimming light. They mingled and twisted and coalesced into the outline of a massive bird.
Every hair on my body stood on end, and the lining of my stomach trembled in anticipation of another monster. I held my breath, waiting for danger to descend. Based on Epimetheus’ chant, I was guessing he’d just summoned an eagle.
“Brother.” Kresnik’s voice shook. “What are you doing?”
The shadow floated down and spread across the chamber’s ground beside Epimetheus. Just as I finally exhaled, thinking that the god wanted to frighten his brother with a shadow, a golden eagle rose from the ground.
It stood six-feet tall, with brown feathers that appeared coppery in the shaft of light. The eagle stared at Kresnik with a humanlike intelligence, tilting its head to the side and parting its curved beak.
“Someone else returned from the dead, Brother.” Epimetheus patted the eagle on the shoulder. “Do you recognize Aetos? He doubled in size after eating Heracles. I expect he’ll develop speech after consuming you.”
The eagle screeched.
“No,” Kresnik whispered. Sweat soaked the back of his tunic, and he stumbled backward toward the pool. “Don’t do this, Brother. Send it back.”
I side-stepped, almost feeling sorry for the guy for having to face the same kind of creature that had feasted on him for thirty-thousand years. A twinge of pain in my heart reminded me that Kresnik was just as sadistic as those who had condemned him to an eternity of torture and didn’t deserve my pity.
The eagle expanded its wings, seeming even more menacing than it had appeared in the vision Kresnik had shared with me that time he’d attacked me in Beatrice’s living room.
I edged along the poolside, distancing myself from Kresnik, whose gaze was fixed on the bird’s unblinking gold eyes. Palpitations reverberated across my body, making me tremble to the marrow. If the monstrous bird was going to eat anyone’s liver, a) it wasn’t going to be mine, and b) I wasn’t going to hang around to watch.
Kresnik stepped onto a boulder that bordered the pool, looking like he was about to launch himself backward into the water, but the eagle lurched forward, catching him by the tunic.
My heart jumped into the back of my throat, blocking a scream.
“That’s it, Aetos.” Epimetheus rubbed his filthy hands together. “Punish my wretched brother. Avenge Python!”
My gaze shot up the shaft of light. It was time to get out of this cave and find my way home.
Pushing my magic out of my chakras, and down my meridians, I tried to shift, but Kresnik’s blood-curdling scream turned my insides to stone, drawing my attention to the carnage by the pool. Swallowing hard, I tried again, making sure to turn away from what sounded like the most horrific torture.
Wiry arms wrapped around my middle, and a bony body pressed into my side. “Going somewhere, sweet female?”
“Let go of me.” I elbowed Epimetheus hard in the gut, but the god of insane hobos didn’t even grunt.
“You are powerless against my magic-dampening ward,” he growled in my ear.
“Why would you want to block anyone’s magic?”
“So that Prometheus won’t cheat his slow and grisly death.” Epimetheus leaned toward me, puckering his cracked lips.
I leaned all the way to the side and clenched my teeth. Of all the possible outcomes, getting molested by this filthy creature was worse than becoming Kresnik’s prisoner or being swallowed by the snake. I needed to defeat Epimetheus and get the hell out of this cave… And out of the Realm of the Gods.
Something turgid pressed into my side, making my internal organs shudder with revulsion. The only thing that kept me from hurling was the knowledge that Epimetheus’ greasy beard had formed an impenetrable barrier between my body and the monster protruding from his crotch.
Bending all the way to the side, I pressed a palm on his bony shoulder, trying to hold him back. “Can we at least go somewhere more romantic?”
“The pool of Zeus is not arousing?” he asked.
Kresnik’s agonized scream tore through my eardrums, making me shudder.
“Not particularly.” I jerked my head to the side, where the eagle stood over Kresnik’s struggling form, holding him down with its yellow talons and bobbing its head up and down.
“There’s a chamber behind the stalactites we can use.”
I gaped into his manic amber eyes. “For what?”
His face fell slack, and he stared back at me as though the answer was obvious. “You are to be my bedmate.”
Bile rose to the back of my throat, and I resisted the urge to spit. Maybe if I’d spent thousands of years cooped up in a realm with no better company than an eagle and a snake, I might also assume that I was entitled to the next member of the opposite sex who fell into my lap. But Epimetheus needed to remove himself, his beard, and the appendage poking into my side.
I clenched my teeth. “Where I come from, a man buys a woman dinner and has a bit of conversation before they have sex.”
His eyes narrowed. “There is no food in the Realm of the Gods.”
“Are you going to tell me there’s no conversation, too?”
His lips tightened, as did the corners of his eyes. He stepped back, folding his arms across his chest as if I was spoiling his fun with irritating demands. “What do you want to know? I will answer you three questions, after which, you will retreat behind the stalactites and bend over.”
My skin tightened, and I pushed all my anger and frustration and outrage down my meridians. There was enough grease on that beard to set Epimetheus on fire… If only I could just squeeze out a spark. As soon as my magic reached my fingertips, pressure from outside pushed it back.
“Ask now, or I will lift you off your feet and take you where I stand,” he snapped.
The words hit me like an icicle through the heart. Every muscle in my body stiffened, and questions churned through my mind. If I didn’t phrase them right, I would get a first-hand look at what lurked beneath that beard.
“Alright.” I licked my dry lips, trying not to shudder as Epimetheus mirrored the movement. “How do we get out of the Realm of the Gods?”
His thick brows rose. “We?”
I ran a fingertip down his matted beard. “If you can’t buy me dinner, I may as well take you home and make you a sumptuous meal before our night of passion.”
His eyes widened, and he swept his gaze down to the arm I’d pinned over my breasts. “A generous and most tempting offer, but such a feat is impossible. There is no way out.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
He flashed me a smile of brilliant white teeth. “That’s your second question.”
Shit.
Epimetheus waggled his brows and bounced on his feet, his scratchy beard rubbing against my skin. My nostrils flared. If being covered in the digestive fluids of a python wasn’t bad enough, now he was coating me with trails of beard grease.
Under any other circumstances, I would snap and ask if he was going to give me an answer. Then he’d smirk and say that I’d asked my third and final question.
In the panic of the eagle’s arrival and the ensuing revulsion, I hadn’t fo
cused on being caught out by cheap tricks. Now, I was a question away from being ravished by a Greek god who couldn’t even keep himself clean.
Kresnik’s screams turned to whimpers, and wet slashing sounds of the eagle’s meal made my flesh tighten into goosebumps. He’d probably fallen into a state of deep trauma and couldn’t muster the strength to fight against both his brother’s ward and his worst fear.
“Well?” Epimetheus snapped.
“I asked you two questions already, and you failed to answer.” I glared into his amber eyes. “You strike me as the type to leave a girl unfulfilled.”
His features twisted into a rictus of rage, and he leaned toward me, his hot breath filling my nostrils with fumes that reminded me of nail polish. “What was your second question?”
I would have stepped back, but he was still clutching me around the middle.
“Actually, it was a follow-up from the first incomplete answer you gave me for my first.” My brain stuttered. If I repeated those two questions, he might count them as four and demand something even more horrific than sex.
Slowing down my words so he wouldn’t catch me out, I said, “I wanted to know how to escape the Realm of the Gods, but you said it was impossible.”
“True.”
“Then I wanted you to elaborate, and you didn’t.”
Forming his lips in a tight line, Epimetheus exhaled a harsh breath through his nostrils. “Leaving this realm is impossible because the last phoenix disappeared eons ago.”
I raised my brows, nodding at him to continue.
“After the Great Divide, gods could no longer leave the realm. Those who lived in the Human World could return, but they became stuck here forever.”
I bit down on my lip, forcing myself not to ask that third question. If I remained silent, he might give me more information.
“Phoenix tears became the most potent source of magic in this realm, but only if you could capture one and coax it to cry. A wish upon its fresh tears is powerful enough to permit a single god to exit.”
Warm triumph surged through my chest, filling my heart with hope. Kresnik’s peculiar behavior now made sense. He needed me to be awake and compliant, so I would cry on demand and help him return to the Human World.
