by Lazu, Sotia
No. The female that stood almost as tall as him was a goddess he didn’t recognize, though her blue eyes were familiar.
The goddess caught him looking and smiled. “Aphrodite. But you can call me Magda.” As the last word left her lips, she spun, her right leg executing a graceful arch that ended with her heel smashing one of Kottos’ faces. Eros blinked on the Hecatoncheiras’ other side, grown to the size of a Titan, and sliced through his ribs with a sword made of light.
Maybe their odds were improving.
Said odds got even better when the sea daimons brought down two more of the Cyclopes, and Nikoleta sent a freaking spear made of lava through another’s heart. She was a fast learner. Always had been. Though this version of her might be a bit more ruthless, judging by the fierce grin that stretched her lips.
“We’re doing this,” she yelled from the other side of where Kronos and Prometheus where pummeling each other into a pulp.
Then a rock as big as a house hit the side of her head, and Coeus saw blood splash across her beautiful face, before she fell backward.
No.
Could she be hurt? Not really. Not by a rock. Not if she had her Titaness constitution back, other than her powers. There was no reason to panic or overreact.
He called slabs of rock and chunks of wood to his hand, shaping them into a scythe. Swinging his weapon from side to side, he cleared a path to the Cyclops who’d hurt her, and decapitated the fucking son of Poseidon. To Coeus’ immense relief, Nikoleta was sitting up before the headless body hit the ground.
“Are you all right?” He helped her to her feet. The wound on her head was already healing.
She nodded and winced, gingerly patting her temple. Winced some more when her fingers came away bloody. “I’ll live, but ouch.”
He held her gaze a moment longer, to ensure she was steady, and then handed her his makeshift scythe. “Let’s show these fuckers they shouldn’t mess with bonded Titans.”
“Or Titanesses.” She smirked and twirled the scythe. It slipped from her grasp and flew through the air, to pierce the ground twenty meters away, where Magda was keeping two Cyclopes at arm’s length with bolts of magic. “Oops.” Nikoleta blinked to the scythe, freed it from the dirt, and lifted it in the air for Coeus to see.
“Now,” Magda barked and disappeared, as Nikoleta swung the scythe, beheading one of the Cyclopes. The other rushed her, but Magda materialized in front of him and used his force and a hand on his throat to topple him over her and onto his head with a sickening crack. Prometheus finished him off with his bare hands, while Magda pumped her fist in the air. “Martial arts since I was six, baby,” she said.
Atlas’ female grasped Rhea by the throat and managed her an uppercut that sent her head rolling back. She raised her fist for another blow, but Rhea grabbed her by the curls and pulled, stretching her neck. Pleione—Coeus didn’t know what she was called now—let out a frustrated growl and dug her elbow in Rhea’s stomach, forcing her to release her grip. Rhea kicked her in the stomach, and Pleione retaliated with three quick punches to the face. Good girl.
Something weighed down Coeus’ shoulder and tugged on his ear. Eros, back in human size, hair matted to his head and chest covered in scratches.
He pointed at Kronos, who’d closed his eyes and stood perfectly still.
“He’s going to blink,” Coeus called out.
“No, he’s not.” Circe splayed her hands, and the air simmered from them in waves, to form a dome around Kronos. “Don’t know how long it can hold him, though.”
Coeus called to the magma Nikoleta had used, and sent it to cover Kronos, but it cooled as soon as it touched Kronos’ skin and broke away in pieces of blackened earth.
“Keep blasting him,” Prometheus thought at Coeus. A quick glance showed he and the others were making quick work of the remaining Cyclopes.
Pherusa joined Pleione against Rhea, but it was obvious she held her punches.
It wasn’t long—and yet took forever—till Kronos stood alone. Under Pleione’s watchful gaze, Rhea shrunk to human size, and Circe gripped her wrist, a blue shield shimmering around the witch’s hand.
The Cyclopes were dead, and Coeus’ side had incurred no losses.
“It’s over,” Epimetheus said in Ancient Greek. In his hand, Pandora—Elpida—stirred and held on to his thumb to sit up. She climbed over the edge of his palm and hopped down, growing to Titaness size before her feet hit the ground. Coeus felt his brother’s joy through their familial bond, as Epimetheus squeezed her to his side.
They’d all get their happy ending.
Kronos hummed. “It’s over for you. For all of you.”
“I beg to differ,” Eros replied from way down, near Coeus’ feet. He was sparkling clean again, his blond curls bouncing around his head and making him look way too harmless for someone who’d helped decimate Kronos’ forces. “Arithmetic was discovered after you were put in stasis, but”—he counted heads—“sixteen of us trump two of you.”
“And how do you plan on ending this, little man?” Kronos boomed. “You can’t kill me. Come closer, and I’ll prove it.”
Eros seemed to consider it. “Nah. I’ll pass.”
Stretching his arms over his head, Kronos gathered clouds above him, then shooed them away with a wave of his fingers. “Nothing of this earth can harm me. I’m the god of gods. I will rule this world.”
Nikoleta snorted.
Kronos tilted his head at her and lowered his voice to a menacing whisper. “Stand down, and I will allow you to seek refuge in Vythos. Refuse, and I will destroy Earth before I let you have it.”
“You can’t.” Magda’s voice was calm and melodic, as if she was discussing linen options, and not the fate of the world. “If you do, you’ll die too.”
Rhea pushed out her chest, pride evident in her gaze. “We won’t. I can protect us.”
Kronos’ smirk was pure evil. “Try me, brothers. I will crush this ball of dirt and everything on it.”
Chapter Seventeen
ICE SLID DOWN NIKOLETA’S spine at Kronos’ threat. He’d do it. She saw his determination in the feverish gleam of his golden eyes, and remembered the ease with which he’d devoured his own children, ignoring Rhea’s pleas, to keep his throne. He wouldn’t balk at snuffing out all life on the planet.
“Do it,” Rhea hissed. Her eyes shone too, with madness. She’d always been blind to his faults, until Zeus was born. Kronos’ desire to eat her youngest had finally snapped her out of her love-induced stupor, and she’d fought against him in the Titanomachy.
Rhea started honest-to-God cackling, and Nikoleta couldn’t help herself—she blinked to her in human form and backhanded her across the face. “Stop urging him on. What’s wrong with you?” she hissed.
Rhea kept talking, as if her lip wasn’t bleeding where Nikoleta’s knuckles broke the skin. “End it all, and then we can start over. We can rebirth the universe. Do it right. Have our children back.”
She was doing this for her children. Didn’t she realize Kronos would never let her have them back, even if that were somehow possible? Nikoleta almost felt sorry for hitting her.
Kronos laughed so hard, his shoulders shook. The sound echoed off the invisible barrier Hyperion and Epimetheus had created around the battleground, to rattle in Nikoleta’s bones. “There will be no children. No one to challenge my rule. Ever.” He looked at Rhea. “You and I will be the absolute power, for eternity.”
“But you promised.” Tears shone in Rhea’s eyes, the crazed bloodlust fading from her gaze. “All those centuries, in my head. Always in my head. Pleading. Threatening. Crying. Begging me to find you. Screaming for release. If I did everything you asked, you promised I’d have my son back. You promised.”
He glowered, and thunder sounded overhead. “I lied. I had to help you over your silly love for humans. Don’t you see? Once you stopped caring about them, you did what needed to be done, to free me. Now you can return to my side, where you belong.”
“I w
ant Zeus back. I became a monster for you, because you said I would have him.” Rhea’s cries were those of a grieving mother, and Nikoleta couldn’t help the sympathy clawing at her heart.
“Get over it, female. I’m promising you the world, and you’re clinging to the memory of that usurper.” Disdain dripped from Kronos’ voice. He turned his face to the darkening sky, the conversation obviously over, as far as he was concerned.
Rhea broke free of Circe’s hold, something gleaming in her hands as she turned toward the witch.
“Watch out,” Nikoleta screamed, but Rhea made no move to attack.
Instead, she leaned to whisper something in Circe’s ear, and the witch gave an almost imperceptible nod.
“So what will it be, brothers?” Kronos bellowed. “Do you yield, or will my ending existence be the last thing you see?”
What happened next might have been in slow motion, with how clearly it was etched in Nikoleta’s mind. Circe blinked to Eros and passed him the gleaming metal chain Rhea had handed her. No, not gleaming, glowing, with power Nikoleta knew without a doubt would sizzle her skin if she touched it.
Circe blinked back to Rhea’s side, and Eros flew straight at Kronos’ raised arms. The chain—manacle—elongated in his hands, and he wrapped it around one of Kronos’ wrists. Kronos swung at him with his free hand. Swatted at him, like he would at a fly. Eros avoided the first slash of Kronos’ hand but wasn’t careful. Kronos tried again, and this time, fingers ending in sharp talons ripped halfway through Eros’ torso.
Circe cried out, her face pale and her eyes wild with horror, but she didn’t move to help him. Why wasn’t she helping him?
“Let him go,” Magda yelled, shooting balls of white fire at Kronos’ torso.
Kronos ignored her. He curled his fist around Eros’ body and squeezed, and Nikoleta heard bones snapping. And nobody was trying to help.
Fuck this. She’d do something.
“Don’t,” Rhea said in her head. “Wait.”
For what? And why was she listening? Rhea wasn’t on their side.
Nikoleta caught Circe giving Magda a pointed look, before she turned back to see Kronos close his second hand over Eros’ head. No. He’d tear him in two. Could Eros survive that?
In a move faster than she thought possible with half his guts hanging out of his belly, Eros managed to secure the open end of the manacle around the Titan’s second wrist, before blinking a few meters away. Something told Nikoleta he didn’t have the strength to go any farther.
Magda blinked to him, shrinking as she dropped to her knees beside his still form. She pulled his head to her lap, her palms tracing his wound, as she whispered frantically.
“Put me in stasis now,” Rhea screeched. “I’m willing, and without Zeus’ conditions to the spell, my bond to Kronos will—”
Circe didn’t let her finish. She touched her index and middle fingers to Rhea’s temple and muttered something unintelligible.
“NO.” Kronos’ wrath made Nikoleta snap her head back toward him. The rocks at his feet crumbled to dust, and a couple of trees that had miraculously survived the second Titanomachy tore from their roots and splintered.
He took one step toward them, and terror replaced the fury in his expression, as the skin on his feet began paling.
It wasn’t skin. It was marble, replacing his flesh from the bottom up. His cry still echoed in Nikoleta’s ears after his furrowed brow had been frozen in place. Hopefully for eternity this time.
Nikoleta looked at Rhea. She was cast in stone too, but her expression was peaceful.
“How?” Nikoleta muttered, as Pherusa whispered, “What happened?”
Ignoring them, Circe blinked to Eros’ side. Magda allowed her to gather him in her arms, and then witch and god were gone.
The world kicked into gear again, as Coeus crossed the distance to Nikoleta. She let her body grow, and when he opened his arms, burrowed into them, trying to make sense of what happened. Rhea had turned against Kronos when she realized he’d duped her, but how did the rest of it work?
Pherusa was practically climbing all over Prometheus, Atlas was busy with this era’s reincarnation of Pleione, and Epimetheus was checking every square centimeter of Pandora-Two-Point-Oh—who wasn’t even a Titaness, so how was this possible?—to make sure she was all right. The sea daimons, returned to their human forms, looked as lost as Nikoleta felt.
The last of the Titanesses threw herself in Hyperion’s arms. Theia. She gave him a long kiss, and then took him by the hand and approached Nikoleta and Coeus. “The witch can’t force stasis on an immortal, unless the immortal is willing.” She smacked Hyperion’s chest. “This one almost had her do it to him, but I saved his cute ass.”
Coeus turned Nikoleta in his arms, so her back was flush against him, and tangled their fingers together over her stomach. “But Kronos didn’t want this.”
“The bond,” Nikoleta whispered. “That’s what Rhea meant. What happens to one bonded half spreads to the other. Only reason we—Titanesses—didn’t go into stasis when Zeus cursed the Titans was that he used a different curse on us.”
“Sneaky bastard,” Coeus grumbled, before kissing her neck.
“Gone bastard.” Prometheus waggled his eyelids. “Pherusa and I will take these two to Vythos. Make sure they’re never disturbed again.” He held out his hand to the daimons. “Are you coming?” In lieu of an answer, they each clasped one of his fingers. Prometheus nodded and touched Kronos’ statue, as Pherusa picked up Rhea’s smaller one. In the blink of an eye, all nine of them had disappeared.
Magda rubbed her eyes with her palms, spreading soot and dirt down her cheeks. She huffed and snapped her fingers, and she was impeccable. As if she hadn’t just been in a fight. As if she hadn’t just had her son’s blood all over her.
Shit.
“Eros... Will he be okay?” Nikoleta bit back an, I’m sorry. He wasn’t dead.
“He will be. Circe will make sure of it,” the Titaness formerly known as Pandora said with conviction.
Magda gave her a watery smile. “Thank you. Can someone take me to Nerites? I’ve pushed my luck enough with blinking today.”
“Sure.” Theia—Nikoleta had to ask her new name—gently took her arm. “I’ll be back,” she said in a pretty decent Arnie voice, before blinking away with Magda.
Nikoleta leaned into Coeus and raised her face to nuzzle his cheek. “Is it over?” she asked.
“The war is, my love. Our work here isn’t.”
Chapter Eighteen
COEUS MET ATLAS’ GAZE. “We did it,” he said. “We’re free, and the world is safe.”
Atlas tugged his soulmate after him, as he approached. “Once you pulled your head out of your ass long enough to bond with your soulmate.” He winked at Nikoleta, and Coeus waited for a rush of jealous rage to suffuse him, but he only felt glee filling his heart. He and Atlas clasped forearms and pulled each other into a bear hug.
“Good things take time,” Coeus said.
Nikoleta squeezed his fingers, before letting go and stepping outside the circle of his arms. “Totally my fault, but I snapped out of it in time.” She held out her hand to Atlas’ female. “I’m Nikoleta. Used to be Phoebe.”
The female ignored Nikoleta’s proffered hand, hugging her instead. “Iphigenia. This time around.” She let go and grinned up at Coeus. “I’m glad you’re with us.”
Epimetheus joined them too, arm wrapped around his woman’s waist. “Is it me, or was this too easy?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows. The corners of his eyes crinkled with an unformed smile.
Coeus glared, but he had to fight back a grin of his own. For centuries, he’d believed Epimetheus was really dead, not just in stasis, like the rest of them. “It’s you. Maybe because you didn’t do any actual fighting.”
“You fucker, Hyperion and I did the hard part. Know how hard it is to keep all the mortals at bay and still manage to land a few hits? There were news crews and even a couple helicopters, and we m
ade sure nobody caught a whiff of what was really happening. Plus, we have the blueprints for rebuilding right here.” He tapped his temple with his index finger.
“If you boys are done measuring your dicks”—Epimetheus’ mate waved at Coeus and Nikoleta—“I’m Elpida. Pandora.”
Nikoleta hugged her too. “How is it possible? I didn’t realize you were one of us.”
“Nobody did. Long story, for another time.” Elpida rolled her shoulders, and Coeus winced at the memory of Kronos’ snapping her neck.
“Are you all right?” Nikoleta asked before he could.
Elpida nodded vigorously. “Better now. I’d seen it happen. Foreseen it.”
“Of course, she’d thought I was the Titan who’d do it.” Epimetheus’ eyes went even darker than their usual coal black.
Rising to her tiptoes, Elpida laid a kiss on his jaw, where a muscle ticked. “And yet I still chose to be with you.” Love shone in her eyes, and Coeus was so happy for his brother. For all his brothers. They were loved. They had eternity back, and nobody could wrestle it from their hands this time. He pulled Nikoleta to him and crushed their lips together. She let out a surprised squeal that turned into a moan as she melted into his kiss.
Hyperion grumbled as he made his way to them. “If you don’t drop the PDA, I swear, as soon as Olivia is back...” He let the threat hanging.
Nikoleta broke the kiss, dark red tinting her cheeks and traveling to her neckline.
“As soon as I’m back, what?”
Coeus turned toward the woman’s voice.
Olivia’s form had barely solidified, when Hyperion grabbed her ass with both hands and lifted her to him.
Olivia wrapped her legs around his hips and devoured his mouth.
“Is that what we looked like?” Nikoleta whispered.
“Yup.” Atlas chuckled. “Not that I blame you, after all this time.”
Olivia climbed down Hyperion’s body and waved giddily at Nikoleta. “We need to catch up, sister,” she said, cheeks flushed and gaze not really focused.
