Griffin goes completely stiff, and I bite my tongue. I forgot. I still haven’t agreed to actually marry Griffin yet.
I reach for his hand beneath his cloak. “He didn’t take me seriously. I didn’t even reach his waist when I was thinking things like that.”
I stop there, not adding that at fifteen, when I left, my head just barely reached Thanos’s chest—or that I begged him to leave with me. I’d wanted us to stay together. Forever. Despite what I just told Griffin, I’d been half in love with Thanos for years, and if it had been up to me, it would have turned into more. But Thanos just set me on his gigantic knee like I was still a child and told me I’d be fine without him, and that once I was safely away from the castle, he had other things to do.
Other things to do!
I was devastated. He sent me on my way as if he hadn’t spent my entire life up to that point being my friend and protector.
“None of that matters now,” I say more easily than I feel, a time-dulled shard of hurt still alive inside of me. “We don’t see the path because it’s on the northern slope, which isn’t as steep. It only winds around to this side at the very top. Look—just below the cave. Do you see that darker line? It’s the end of the trail, coming around from the back.”
Griffin nods and squeezes my hand. He doesn’t let go as he angles his body into the wind and starts walking. There’s still a long way to go.
* * *
Dawn breaks over the Ice Plains, turning the icicles lining the mouth of the cave into a jagged row of fiery daggers. Around us, a landscape of white, gray, and glacial blue slowly emerges from the night like a cautious beast leaving the shadows—still, monumental, treacherous. In the silence of daybreak, Griffin takes steel to flint, lights one of our two torches, and then hands it to Kato.
I peer to my right. The glacial tunnel leading into the labyrinth is as dark as a Cyclops’s heart. Griffin hands me the second, unlit torch, and I slip it into a loosened dagger loop in my belt. Two blades are missing, both melted down by the Dragon’s Breath.
In return, I hand Griffin Ariadne’s Thread. He holds the silvery ball of twine while Carver ties the loose end around my wrist, tugging hard on the knot to make sure it’s secure.
Griffin rechecks it, twice, his expression grim. “Remember what the wizard said.”
“Only Kato and I go in. Beware Atalanta’s bow. Find the lyre before the three-headed beast. Heed the Goddess’s needs.”
His eyes bore into mine, dark and troubled. “I don’t like being separated.”
My chest aches. I lean into him. “I know.”
“Don’t you dare cut this thread. For any reason.” Griffin’s arms clamp around me, hard as rocks. “If you do, I swear to the Gods I’ll come in there, find you, and give you a spanking you’ll never forget.”
My shaky laugh is muffled by his cloak. “I find that a lot more tempting than I probably should.”
Griffin squeezes me. “Come back to me. Don’t do anything foolish.”
Me? “I’m never foolish.”
He grips me until my bones creak.
“I’ll be careful,” I promise, feeling my magic spark with the pledge.
Griffin eases his hold, pressing his lips to the top of my head and inhaling deeply. When he lets me go and offers his hand to Kato, the other man shakes it, absorbing Griffin’s long, hard look with a solemn nod. The silent communication has “protect her with your life and then some” written all over it. A few weeks ago, I would have dismissed it as a lot of overprotective male posturing. Now, I only wish I could convince them that dying for me is not an option.
As Kato and I enter the labyrinth, I have to convince myself to put one foot in front of the other. About thirty feet in, just before the tunnel curves to the right, I stop and look back even though every instinct tells me not to.
My heart seizes, tumbling painfully at the sight of Griffin. Ariadne’s Thread trails from his tightly fisted hand. His big frame is taut and still with the kind of coiled tension that hovers on the brink of explosion, as if he’s barely restraining himself from coming in after me.
Our eyes collide across the frost-blanketed entrance of the cave. “I swear I’ll cut this thread, drop it, and leave it behind me if any one of you steps past this point in the tunnel before we’re back.” The vow jolts through me, sealing itself in my skin, my blood, and my bones.
Griffin’s face twists. He curses violently.
Fighting the burning rawness inside me, I say, “You can take shelter in the cave’s entrance, but if you come after us, I’ll be physically compelled to cut the rope and not pick it up again.” The magical chain reaction will hit me no matter where I am, not leaving me any choice.
“I release you from your vow,” Griffin says.
“It’s not a vow to you; it’s a vow to myself. You can’t release me.”
“Cat. Be reasonable. What if—”
“Just wait for us,” I call. “We’ll be back.”
My pulse thuds wildly as I back away under Griffin’s livid stare. A muscle jerks in his cheek, ticking hard enough to send a ripple through his beard. His eyes blaze, and my heart wrenches as I turn away.
“Cat!” he roars.
I turn the corner without looking back. My eyes burn, and every shallow, quick breath shudders in my throat.
Kato waits until the light from the cave’s entrance fades entirely before asking gruffly, “Are you all right?”
I sniff and press my chilled fingertips to my stinging eyes, stemming the hot prickle of tears. “No.”
He doesn’t try to talk to me again, which is for the best.
With only the light of the torch and the dim glow from our cloaks, we wind our way deeper into the labyrinth, ducking pointy icicles and slipping on mirror-smooth patches of ice. When the tunnel splits into three branches, we peer into the darkness. Which reveals nothing. Because it’s dark.
“What do you think?” I ask, my voice rough from disuse and swallowing tears.
Kato lowers the torch, scanning the tunnel floor for footprints or signs of passage. There are none. The ice is even and unmarked underfoot, and so cold that the chill is already seeping through my thick-soled boots.
He shrugs. “Straight?”
After that, there are so many offshoots that we simply take turns deciding which way to go. Twice, we stumble back onto Ariadne’s Thread and know we’ve gone in circles. We’re debating whether or not to backtrack while picking up the thread when a dim light beckons us from a distant tunnel on the right.
Curious, cautious, we follow the light and find a cavern, bright and high-ceilinged—if you can call the enormous sheet of ice filtering in the sunlight from outside a ceiling. Far above our heads on the frozen roof, zigzagging patterns of windblown snow splash swirling shadows across the cavern floor.
Kato looks up, frowning. “How thick do you think that ice is?”
I scrunch my nose. “Thick enough?”
Voices carry differently in the cavern, amplified by the smooth walls and towering ceiling. When we’re not speaking, it’s quiet enough that I fancy I can hear my own heartbeat echoing back to me off the sheets of ice.
It’s quiet enough that there’s no mistaking the distinctive twang of a bowstring when it vibrates in my ears.
CHAPTER 17
We both duck on instinct, and the arrow slams into the milky-white stalagmite behind us, embedding itself deep into the mineral deposit.
Kato reaches for me, but another twang sends us diving in opposite directions. I scramble toward another stalagmite, slipping on the ice and skidding beyond my mark. The bowstring hums again, and my right foot gets punched out from under me.
I hit the ground hard on my side and slide. Grunting, I flip onto my stomach and then scrabble back over the ice until I crash into the back side of the mineral tower. Another arrow clatters ac
ross the ice just as I snatch in my trailing foot.
“Cat!” Kato is ten feet away, behind a stalagmite that’s not even as wide as his shoulders. “You’re hit!”
A colorfully fletched arrow sticks out from the heel of my boot. “It’s in the sole.” I yank it out and drop it next to me. “I’m fine.”
“Not for long,” a singsongy voice croons from a gallery of caves high up along the opposite wall of the cavern. “You’re oh-so-wrong.”
I take a quick look out from behind my shield, trying to discern the archer’s form. “Atalanta, I presume?”
There’s a pause. “She knows my name. That’s not part of the game.”
Twang. Crack!
She aimed high. I look up and see a huge, lethally sharp icicle speeding toward my head.
I jump out of the way, forced to forsake my shelter. Another arrow flies before I can take cover again and slams into my shoulder.
I gasp, staggering back. Then Kato has me. He shoves us both into the debris of the shattered icicle behind my stalagmite an instant before another arrow skids over the ice where I just stood.
Fuming, I grab the shaft and yank the arrow from my shoulder. Kato looks horrified.
“It hit a buckle. The armor blocked it.” Mostly. Under the tough leather, warm liquid dampens my tunic, making the material cling to the side of my breast.
His eyes close briefly in relief. Then, setting me behind him, he calls out, “We’re here on a mission from the Gods. We don’t want any trouble.”
Atalanta laughs. It’s a light, airy sound, like wind through trees. Preternaturally fast, she flits from cave to cave along the far wall. “So handsome. I think I’ll hold you for ransom.”
“What?” I say through gritted teeth.
Kato looks at me. The wariness in his cobalt eyes doesn’t color his arch tone. “Now she can rhyme.”
My jaw drops. “I can rhyme!”
“Live among bears, get covered in hairs!” Atalanta sings.
I roll my injured shoulder, testing it. It stings, but that’s all. “She makes no sense. She’s trying to kill us. We have to get past her.”
Drawing a Kobaloi knife, I rub my thumb over the sinew while I watch the way the archer’s silhouette moves. When I think I’ve nailed down the pattern, I throw the blade into an empty gallery, counting on her to flit through it at the same moment. She does, but she catches the knife, stopping it right in front of her armored chest before twirling back into the shadows.
I blink. Titos and now this? Those Kobaloi knives were the worst purchase of my life!
Atalanta pops into the next cave, flips my knife in her hand, and then throws it back. The blade sticks in a mini stalagmite an inch from my foot. I jerk back, thumping mad.
“It’s not with a knife that you’ll take my life.”
I pry my knife free and then sheathe the blade again.
Twang. Crack!
Kato yanks me against him and spins to the side as another icicle falls from the roof and smashes down next to us. Shattered ice blasts our legs and scatters in a chiming wave.
“Nock an arrow, hit the marrow,” Atalanta chants, letting another bolt fly.
Too late, I realize Kato isn’t entirely behind the stalagmite anymore. He slaps his hand over his neck, right at the base of his skull.
Fury gathers inside me like a storm as he moves us both closer to the mineral deposit again. I reach for his wrist. “Let me see.”
He lowers his red-stained fingers, and I rise to my toes, using the arm he still has around me for balance.
“It’s just a scratch.” But mini Titos’s forked tongue is lapping up the blood.
I pat Kato’s chest in what I hope is a reassuring way, trying to keep my eyes a normal size and my voice steady. “You’re fine.” Animated tattoos and vampiric snakes are not something he needs to worry about right now.
I pull my tunic from my pants, rip off the relatively clean hem, and then wrap the strip around Kato’s neck, securing the ends with a knot. “There. Good as new.”
He gives me a tight smile. “This stalagmite isn’t big enough for the two of us. I’ll go back to mine.”
“Don’t.” I grab his arm. “She’s too good. She’ll pin you in seconds.”
He hesitates and then gets behind me, pushing me right up against the frosty surface. Stuck, I can’t even give Atalanta the evil eye anymore.
“I can’t breathe,” I eventually protest.
“Good. Then you can’t move.”
“And that’s ever so helpful in a fight!”
“Atalanta!” Kato calls, not moving an inch. “Zeus and Athena sent us. We’re meant to bring a treasure to the Ipotane Alpha.”
I roll my eyes. “Fantastic. Just tell her we’re here to steal her treasure.”
“It might not be hers.”
“She might be guarding it,” I argue.
I feel him shrug behind me. “Or she could say she was expecting us.”
“Expecting to kill us,” I mutter.
Kato inhales sharply, moving enough for me to lean over and see what he sees. Atalanta has stepped out onto a ledge. Framed against the gallery of caves above, she’s magnificent. Wild and dark. Silky hair falls to her knees, spilling over her arms, hands, and lowered bow. Diaphanous skirts cover her long, shapely legs only to mid-thigh, and gleaming, golden upper-body armor illuminates the smooth, pale skin of her neck and face. Dark brows wing across her forehead, arching delicately. Her full mouth looks like it’s been stained by kalaberries, offering an exotic splash of color against her flawless, almost translucent complexion. She’s as cold and perfect as the ice crystals adorning the cavern.
Thick-lashed, elongated eyes send a shock through me. They mirror mine, glinting with the pure light-green of magic and the north.
She moves forward, her long hair swaying. “The Gods sent you to me that I might be free?”
Free? From what? “Yes!”
Kato gives me a warning squeeze, and I stick an elbow in his ribs.
Atalanta cocks her head in a perfectly savage way, reminding me of a wolf let loose in a field of sheep. “Please Artemis, and you may depart from this.”
Artemis is the Goddess? Heed the Goddess’s needs.
What does that mean?
“We don’t have an offering,” Kato whispers in my ear.
“I know!” I grate back.
Atalanta steps so close to the edge of her perch that the tips of her boots kiss empty air. “We’ll take the warrior to serve as courtier.”
My insides plummet. Is that why the Gods sent Kato in here?
“You can’t have him.” I search frantically for an alternate offering. “You can have a magic cloak.”
Atalanta laughs.
“Fine. Two magic cloaks.”
Kato grunts. I don’t think he wants to give his up.
“I’m not just handing you over!” I snap.
“Your worry can end, for we will not keep your friend.”
I look sharply at the other female. “Then what do you want from him? And for how long?”
She wets her berry-colored lips. Her hands curl at her sides. “Mistress and I, we’ve decided to try…”
Her words trail off, an intense, heated look coming over her face. I know that look. I look at Griffin that way all the time.
Scowling, I wiggle enough to turn around and face Kato. “She looks like a wild animal in heat. I have a good idea of what they have planned for you.”
“Me too.”
I smack his arm. “You don’t have to look so happy about it!”
Kato shrugs. “What’s not to like?”
“She shot me!”
“She shot me, too.”
Gah! Men! “Artemis is sworn to virginity. Her…disciple might be, too. You can’t touch them
.”
“Heed the Goddess’s needs.” Kato spreads his hands like he can’t help it if Artemis wants a man.
“That’s not a need, it’s a want! She can live without.”
“She’s immortal. That’s a long time to live without.”
“Maybe she is sick of her eternal virginity.” I would be. “But what if you’re wrong and Zeus strikes you down with a God Bolt for deflowering his daughter?”
Kato looks less keen about that. “This is part of what the wizard said. I have to go with her. What happens next…” He frowns. “I’ll figure it out.”
“It’s a test.” I start to panic. I don’t like it. “It’s a test to see if you’ll hold out, if you’ll keep the Goddess pure.”
“If the woman is brave,” Atalanta calls down, “she’ll find her man in the second large cave.”
“What second large cave?” I glance at Kato. “It took us hours just to find this one.”
“She thinks I’m your man,” Kato says, surprised.
“And yet she has no problem dragging you off for an Olympian orgy!”
“Two women is hardly an orgy,” he points out.
I glare.
Kato takes my shoulders and squeezes. “This is why it was me, Cat. Why they said only I could come into the caves with you.”
My eyebrows slam down. “What do you mean?”
“I’m the only one of us who can do this without damaging something. I’m the only one whose heart isn’t engaged.”
“What? Oh…” Griffin loves me. Jocasta is clearly something to Flynn, even if he’s not sure what. And Carver… Obviously Kato knows something about Carver that I don’t.
“There are always consequences,” I say darkly.
He shrugs. “Sometimes more. Sometimes less.”
My mouth flattens. I don’t like this. “Who is Carver pining for?” No wonder he’s been moody and a little solitary lately. Whoever she is, he had to leave her behind. “I can’t be the only one who doesn’t know.”
Kato smiles faintly, something sad edging into his eyes. “A ghost.”
I wince. Oh, Carver.
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