by Laura Kaye
“And I’ll tell you what I told your brothers. There has to be another explanation. Devlin would not—”
“But he did,” Zeph growled. “We all saw him there. Did he help Boreas? Did he intercede in the attack on our behalf?” He left the answers to the questions hanging there.
Boreas glanced at Megan and Teddy, then to Tabitha. He held her gaze for a long moment, then turned to face their father. “We can discuss Devlin further. A higher priority is getting out of the human realm before this fight breaks loose. We must take the war to the Realm of the Gods. If it happens here it will unleash unseen devastation.”
Aeolus gave a tight nod. “Agreed.” He looked from Chrys to Laney, then from Boreas to Owen’s family. “We will go within the half hour.”
Chrys heard his father’s unspoken command: say your good-byes.
Aeolus began issuing orders to the lesser Anemoi, who resumed their sentinel duties in and around the house. Zeph and Boreas turned to Owen and Megan. Chrys couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the looks on the couple’s faces told him everything he needed to know.
Some of us aren’t coming out of this alive. And everyone knew it.
Laney squeezed his hand. “Chrys?”
He turned to her and met her gaze. I love you, he thought. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved. Had it really only been a half hour ago that he’d nearly given voice to the words?
How could he possibly say them now?
How could he do anything to put Laney in any more danger? If he revealed his true feelings, she would throw herself more fiercely into protecting him and become an even bigger target.
The best thing he could do for her was stay away. Once and for all. The decision cut him deep, like a thousand icy shards filled his chest. He heaved a deep breath. “I regret it’s not safe to take you home now.”
“I’m not. I want to do something to help.” She peered up at him, expectant.
Her willingness to help, to risk herself, was exactly the problem, wasn’t it? It was why he admired her so completely and feared for her safety. He could never forgive himself if anything happened to her. Part of him would literally die.
He shook his head. “There’s no place for you here.” It’s too dangerous. But he didn’t voice those words, because he didn’t want her to latch on to his concern as his reason for sending her away. He needed her to believe…oh gods…something it killed him for her to believe. That he didn’t want her.
“But…” Hurt washed over her expression. Laney tried to mask it, she really did. “But I…” She shrugged. “My place is with you.”
“No. Your place is your farm. Your human life, with the horses you love, and your friends. As soon as I can, I will take you back.” The words were like crushed glass coming out of his throat. “I’ve enjoyed you, but I can’t take care of you, Laney.” He waved his hand at the room. “Not with all this going on, you know?”
Blue eyes flashed with anger. “I don’t need you to take care of me. I love you.”
The declaration pierced straight through him. He bit down onto his tongue until the taste of copper filled his mouth. “I told you I’m not the guy who sticks around. I’m sorry.”
Laney’s hands whipped to her throat. She tugged at the cord around her neck. “Here,” she said, pulling it over her head.
He caught her hands. “I want you to have it.”
A hard, fast shake of her head. “You said it has protective abilities. You should wear it. You’re the one in danger.” She pressed it into his palm. “Please, Chrys.”
Even now, as he was breaking her heart, she thought of him first. The woman humbled him beyond all imagination.
Tears shimmered in her beautiful eyes. She pushed by, grabbed the molding to the kitchen doorway, and slowly walked into the next room. Away from him. His heart went with her, leaving a gaping, raw, empty place in his chest.
“Sure that’s what you wanted to do, little brother?”
Chrys looked up into Zeph’s concerned face. He stood where Laney had a moment before. Shaking his head, he said, “If you’d met Ella at this precise moment, would you have pursued her? Would you have drawn her further into this mess?”
Zeph’s gaze bored into him.
“That’s what I thought,” Chrys said.
Over his brother’s shoulder, Boreas caught Chrys’s attention. Tabitha kissed his cheek, her worry and confusion apparent. The show of affection apparently caught him off guard, judging by the almost comical surprise the god wore on his face. But then Boreas cupped her cheek and kissed her softly on the lips.
Zeph’s gaze followed Chrys’s. “It’s good to see, isn’t it? It’s like he’s come back to life.”
“Yes,” Chrys said. And it was so true. Except for his white hair, which had spontaneously lost its brown color upon receiving the shocking news of Ori’s death, Boreas was more his old self than Chrys had ever expected to see from him again.
Chrys couldn’t have been happier to know that Boreas had found happiness again, that he might even be in the midst of finding love. Although why he’d open himself up to that now, of all times, he couldn’t fathom. He looked away.
The hole where his own heart had been throbbed in empty agony.
But that was just his heart.
Nothing compared to what would happen if Laney died because of him. He’d lose his very soul.
…
Laney stood at the back door, staring at the great black nothingness, a combination of the dark and her night blindness. She couldn’t be in the same room with Chrys. Not now. Not when she was so close to breaking down in tears, or begging him to love her back.
There’s no place for you here. She hugged herself against the evening air.
The words echoed in her head until they ached a throbbing beat against her temples and behind her eyes.
In a short time, he’d take her back to Summerlyn and leave. And then, what? Was she supposed to pretend he wasn’t out there somewhere? Was she supposed to forget that she knew this world—the one of gods and multiple planes of existence and divine wars—existed?
She’d feared that the brief return of her sight after they’d been in the elements would make it hard to go back to her blindness. But she already knew—it was going to be much, much harder to go back to her old life without Chrys than it would be if she could never see a single thing again.
Seth. What time was it? And where was he? Ever since the Anemoi had appeared out of thin air and she’d learned Chrys was hurt, the night had been a complete and total blur. In between realizing she was in love and getting dumped, she’d forgotten about the problem of explaining everything to her best friend. Now, there was nothing left to explain. Wasn’t that convenient.
She retraced her steps into the kitchen and, after a few moments looking, found the handset to the cordless phone on the counter and dialed Seth’s cell number.
“Hello,” he barked.
“Where are you?”
“About two hours out. Trapped in stopped-dead traffic on 66. Accident. You okay?”
No. “Yeah. I was just getting worried about you.”
“I figured with rush hour traffic, it would take me three or four hours to get to you, but this is ridiculous. This is the worst storm I’ve ever seen.”
If only he knew. “Just take your time and be safe. I’ll be here when you get here. You still have the address?”
“Yes.” He blew out a long breath. “It’s good to hear your voice.”
“Yeah. Yours, too.” She swallowed a knot that formed in her throat. “See you soon.”
They hung up and Laney sagged against the counter. She wanted nothing more than for Seth to get here. She didn’t want to stay where she wasn’t wanted, and Chrys had better things to be worrying about anyway.
The thought gutted her.
Shouts erupted from out back. A stream of gods ran through the kitchen, passing her in multicolored flashes of light.
Chrys paused in front of
her just long enough to say, “Stay here.” And then he was gone.
Heart in her throat, Laney crept into the mud room in the back of the house. Warm, humid air blew in through the screen door. Sticking to the shadows, she stepped as close to the screen as she dared. The yard beyond was now a riot of colorful auras, formed in a circle around a single god, judging by the dark, purple light. The newcomer’s aura flashed and flared and rippled, sometimes appearing almost black, but occasionally a softer, calmer shade of purple pushed through the dark. Her heart tripped into a sprint. The flashes of black reminded her of the black light surrounding the god who had attacked her and Chrys.
“On your knees! On your knees!” someone shouted.
“I’m here to see Aeolus,” a harsh voice said.
A number of angry responses rang out, and Laney couldn’t hear who was saying what.
“What do you have to say for yourself, Devlin? What can you say to prove which side you’re on?”
“There’s no time for speeches. I have given you my word, Aeolus. Take it or don’t. But you can all get off your high horses. Where have you ever been for me and my brothers while our father tortured us? Murdered one of us?”
“You work for your father. You do his noxious bidding,” Chrysander said.
“And you make judgments without knowing all there is to know. Think what you will. I only came to warn Aeolus. Apheliotes is dead. Eurus tortured him. Knows he was on an errand for you.” He paused. The purple light flared black. “He’s coming. I’m sorry. I swear I didn’t—”
The purple-black shot into the sky.
“After him!”
Other auras pursued. Shouting voices and frantic commotion made it impossible for Laney to follow what was going on. Where was Chrys? She couldn’t perceive his gold light among all the others. And who was coming?
The lights of the Anemoi spread out, some on the ground, some in the sky.
An immense weight of anticipation hung in the air, which took on an almost electrical quality, like a storm approaching.
“Laney,” a man’s voice said. She turned, and the white aura revealed it was Owen. “Come away from the door.”
“I can’t see Chrys.”
“He’ll be okay. The safer you are, the more he’ll be able to concentrate on keeping himself safe.”
With one final look out over the dark yard, Laney moved toward Owen. He took her hand. She gasped and halted as an image sucked her in completely. Owen, standing in the middle of an overwhelmingly grand hall, silver fur robes hanging on his tall body. It disappeared as soon as it came, leaving a headache hammering against the backs of her eyes.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes.” What was that? And why did it keep happening?
“Come on. Let’s get you downstairs. Megan and Tabitha are already there.”
“Is this necessary?” she asked as they descended the steps. Just how much danger was she in?
“Just a precaution.”
Outside, thunder detonated. The house shook, and Laney hung on to the railing so hard her knuckles hurt. Somewhere, Teddy wailed.
“I’m going to pick you up.” Owen scooped her off her feet and ran the rest of the way down. He made his way along a hall and into a room, where he placed her back on her feet. “Sorry.”
She attempted a shaky smile. “I’ll forgive you, this time.” Truly, though, her knees were like jelly. Probably a good thing that Owen had carried her the rest of the way down. Seth would have a field day with an admission like that.
“What happened? Is she okay?” Megan asked over Teddy’s breathless cries. “What’s going on?”
“She’s fine. I don’t—”
Thunder exploded again. And again. Right overhead.
Laney shrank into herself and grabbed her head, like the sky might fall on it. Which didn’t sound like an exaggeration.
“Come sit down,” Tabitha said, taking her hand and leading her to a leather couch.
“Thank you,” she said as she settled next to the other woman. Laney scanned her vision over the room, an office, it looked like, until she found Owen crouching on the floor in front of Megan.
“Is Eurus here?” Megan asked.
“Come here, big man.” Owen took Teddy into his arms. The boy burrowed against his father’s body, still crying, but less enthusiastically now. “I don’t know if he’s here. But I think he’s coming. No matter what happens, I want you to stay here. All of you.”
Eurus is coming? A shudder ripped through her.
An ominous rumbling sounded, as if from a distance. It got louder by the moment.
“What about you?” Megan asked. When he didn’t answer, she said, “You’re going to fight.”
“I have to.”
“Owen,” she said, her voice tight with tears. “I can’t lose you, too.”
He pulled Megan’s face in close to his, and whispered words Laney couldn’t hear over the odd rumbling, then he spoke to Teddy in that same language Chrys sometimes used. “I love all of you,” he said, passing the baby back to Megan.
He rose and left the room, pulling the door shut behind him.
Megan choked on a restrained cry. Laney eased down off the couch and made her way to Megan’s side. Given how scared she was for Chrys, Laney could imagine some of what she must’ve been feeling. And, oh, God, what if Seth got here in the middle of this? She pushed the question away. She couldn’t let herself go there, to a place where she might lose both Seth and Chrys.
“Owen loves you, Megan,” she said. “He’s not going to do anything stupid.”
“I know,” the other woman managed.
The rumble crescendoed to a roar and slammed into the side of the house. The whole building lurched. Upstairs, windows exploded. Laney screamed and flinched, her hands coming up to her ears. Crashes and thumps continued until she couldn’t tell if she was shaking or if it was the house.
Tabitha joined them on the floor, forming a tight circle. “They’re really gods?” she asked over the noise from above.
“Yes,” Megan said. “I’m sorry about all this, Tabitha.”
“Don’t be. It’s amazing, really. I’m just sorry—”
Thunder like an eruption shook the world. The lights went out.
Laney’s cry was drowned out by Teddy’s. God, she hated thunderstorms. Hated them. She gulped down a breath and forced herself to calm down. In the windowless room, it was pitch black—at least that she was more used to.
Megan groaned. “Oh, God, no.”
“What is it?” Tabitha asked.
“Contraction,” she gritted out.
“Give me Ted,” Tabitha said. “I want you to breathe slow and deep. Have you had any false labor yet?”
“No,” she said. “But that could be what this is, right?” The hope in her voice was plain.
“Yes, so just try to relax. Just breathe.”
Laney found Megan’s hand in the dark. She squeezed it through a series of percussive poundings. Thunder? Wind? Something else entirely? Please don’t let the baby come in the middle of whatever else is out there. “I’m going to work on breathing with you so I don’t hyperventilate.” Megan gave a strained chuckle, and Laney talked to distract herself from the fear. Though she felt like she was shouting over the racket coming from all around the house. “When I was nineteen, I got turned around outside one night in a storm. I’d already lost my night vision and was completely blind in the dark. I couldn’t find my way back to the house or the barn, or even find anything to try to take cover. I finally just sat down and waited it out. Felt like hours. I’ve been terrified of…storms ever…” She sniffed, once, twice. “Do you smell smoke?”
Neither did.
But with her diminished sight, Laney’s other senses had strengthened. “I do. I swear I do.”
“Hold Teddy. I’ll go check it out.”
“Be careful, Tabitha,” Megan said.
Laney accepted the baby. He fussed and wiggled at the handoff. S
he could hear Tabitha’s movements but not see. Even when the door opened, no light spilled in.
“She’s right. It’s stronger out here. Stay put for a minute.”
Mere moments later, footsteps ran down the hall.
“Oh, my God. I’m so sorry, Megan. The house is on fire. It’s coming down the steps. We have to get out of here.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chrys could hardly believe what he was seeing. Nor that Eurus was actually unleashing this horror upon the Earth.
The night sky was in chaos.
Bolts of multicolored lightning zinged through the air. Concussive blasts of thunder unleashed shock waves of turbulence that blew roaring winds this way and that. Rain slashed diagonally until it was almost impossible to see. Hail rained down in body-battering blasts. Trees had fallen—some brought down intentionally to close off the area. Homes had been damaged. Power lines were downed, wires twisting and sparking in the streets.
Aeolus wore the strain of attempting to rein in the elements in the tension on his face and in his muscles. Every time he was successful at drawing down the maelstrom of the storm, Eurus used the power of the ring to whip it up again.
Eurus had help in keeping Aeolus and the Anemoi distracted. A half-dozen Harpies swooped and screeched. And it appeared he’d lured a new ally into his malevolent cause—the Keres, female death daimons who lusted for the blood of dying and wounded men on the battlefield. The black-cloaked wraiths had gnashing teeth and vicious claws. Between the Harpies and the Keres, it was virtually impossible to get at Eurus.
Only Aeolus could get close. Father and son had engaged in nearly a half hour of grueling lightning-and-wind duels, neither making discernible headway.
Next to his father, Chrys was best equipped to take out the enemy. Between the season, the infernal dagger, and Laney’s amulet, he was about as well protected as you could be. He pulled on his rage for Eurus and his grief for Apheliotes and threw himself into the confusion of the battle.
He flew up behind a wraith hard in pursuit of Livos. Fortunately, the Keres tended to prefer the easy pickings of those unable to fight back. Battle wasn’t their specialty, and their situational awareness wasn’t well developed. Chrys zoomed in close enough to slash the blade down the Keres’s back, then veered hard left to avoid the imploding spray of blood into which it dissolved.
