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?
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?
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.”
Keras nodded. “I will take Enyo and locate her immediately.”
“I’m coming with you,” Esher growled and gave Keras a look that warned him not to attempt to dissuade him.
Valen pressed a quick kiss to his female’s cheek. “I’m coming too. More the merrier, right?”
The four of them were quick to depart, and while it was a relief that she had fewer people to face now, she worried about them all. Mnemosyne was a powerful goddess, could easily trick their minds and escape.
Her father turned back to Thanatos. “We will question this female you captured and Eris too. They will talk.”
Thanatos nodded.
Panic lanced her once more, the thought that he was going to leave her alone again making her take a step towards him as her brow furrowed and the need to reach out and grab his arm blasted through her.
He glanced at her, a strange look in his eyes.
A cold, emotionless look.
The walls were back up, towering around his heart, caging his feelings, and she wasn’t sure why.
What was wrong with him? Where was the male who had looked at her as if she was his entire world? The male who had held her whenever she had needed his strength, had moved mountains to protect her and keep her safe? She didn’t recognise this male before her.
She tried to school her features as hurt flashed through her, as a single thought tormented her. She was back with her family now. His mission was done, and so was whatever they had shared.
When she couldn’t hide her hurt, she looked away from him, not wanting him to see how deeply he had wounded her. Her eyes fell on her mother.
Persephone’s fine scarlet eyebrows pinched and then she looked from her to Thanatos, and she had never seen her mother look so dark. She looked ready to harm Thanatos.
“My love?” Hades said and tracked the path of her gaze, frowned at Thanatos too as a corona of scarlet emerged around his pupils.
When he looked at Calindria, that crimson devoured all the blue.
He turned on Thanatos with a vicious growl. “Why is my daughter upset when she was not before you arrived? Why does my wife look as if she wants to gut you where you stand?”
Calindria reacted on instinct, unable to hold herself back as her father looked as if he was considering doing worse than gutting her god of death.
She placed herself between them, bared fangs at her father and snarled as darkness surged through her, roared at her to protect Thanatos. He might not have feelings for her anymore, but she had feelings for him, and she was damned if she would let her family harm him.
Hades stared at her.
He wasn’t the only one.
She glanced at everyone as she realised what she had done, caught the shock on all their faces, even her mother’s. The only ones who didn’t look surprised were Daimon and Calistos, and their females.
“What is the meaning of this, Calindria?” her father boomed.
She had the feeling she had only made things worse when he glared at Thanatos.
“Explain yourself!”
Those two words held enough force to have her clamming up, just as she had when she had been younger and had done something wrong and had been brought to her father to face his wrath.
“Thanatos is my boyfriend,” she blurted.
Went rigid when she looked at her father and discovered he hadn’t been talking to her. He had been talking to Thanatos.
“He’s your what now?” Ares growled and the pretty brunette tightened her grip on his arm and held him back.
“Oh, this is going to be good.” The black-haired female Valen had left behind grinned. “Valen is going to be pissed he missed this. I wish I had some popcorn.”
Hades bared fangs at Thanatos.
Calindria backed towards him, the tension inside her growing with every step. She wasn’t strong enough to defeat her father if he dared to attack Thanatos, but she would fight him. She wouldn’t be able to stop herself. She wanted to look back at Thanatos and gauge his reaction, needed to see in his eyes that what they had shared wasn’t over, but she didn’t dare take her eyes off her father.
Strong hands came down to rest on her shoulders and she stiffened and then instantly relaxed, warmth rolling through her to ease her fears and chase the cold away as Thanatos took hold of her. Her eyes slipped shut as he stepped up behind her, closing the gap between them, and she sank backwards against his bare chest.
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