by Desiree Holt
Once inside the castle, he paused outside of the dining hall, steeling himself for an unpleasant reunion.
Free Deimos, the command repeated, spiking through his veins.
His shoulders fell and he backed away from the cheerful gathering. “Aye, I bloody well heard you the first time, nymph.” He stole through the castle, down to the dungeon, and past the unconscious guards to Deimos’s cell. Ekho’s doing?
Not again. He grimaced at his hand unlocking the door. Deimos was the second enemy he’d freed, but one would be enough to hang Petraeus for treason.
Two? He’d be lucky to receive the noose.
More likely some ancient ceremony of tortuous dismemberment.
The male cracked his neck and cast Petraeus a whistling smirk as he strolled from the cell. “I’ll be sure to give your regards to the nymph.”
His fists cramped at his sides. If Ekho hadn’t prevented him, this fiend would be lying upon the ground and Petraeus’s fist would be anything but impotent.
Here they were, back to before they’d met in person. He shook his head and scurried through the dungeon corridors like the bilge rat he was.
“Happy now, Aura?” he growled into the emptiness, yet no answer came. Odd, since she usually delighted in manipulating his actions.
* * *
Ekho frowned at her hands as she twisted them in her lap. This prison cell was as gloomy as ever, yet she didn’t care.
She didn’t care about anything anymore.
Because she no longer felt.
No emotions, no pain or longing.
Only numbness. Her mind functioned, but her memories blurred like distant dreams.
She was here for some purpose, though. Ekho bit her lip, scowling at her surroundings. Why am I here?
Chiming laughter sounded from the cell to her right. The guards returned another nymph to the prison. They kept them all behind bars, like animals. Or weapons.
“Come now, Ekho. The Master has a new task for you.” One burly guard unlocked her cell and ushered her forward.
She proceeded into a somber Great Hall and paused before the throne. A tall, slender female with ashen hair and ice-cold blue eyes sat beside a male with rodent-like features. A King and Queen?
A vial of glowing blue liquid rested in the female’s lap. She clasped the cylinder, uncorked it, and brought the rim to her mouth, drinking deeply of the gleaming contents. A haughty smirk on her lips, she leaned forward and pressed her fingers to her mouth, murmuring. A blue mist swirled from her breath, in the same manner Ekho’s did. “You foolish nymphs. Granted such great powers and not the wisdom to employ them.” She chortled low.
Ekho swallowed thickly. This. This was what they were doing to the nymphs. King Philaeus, his new Queen, Lavra, and…someone else. Stealing their powers and bottling them. White hot fury should have blasted through her veins, yet she couldn’t summon any righteous ire. Why not? And how could she have forgotten such treachery?
Philaeus nodded to the guard beside him. “Bring them in.”
A striking male bearing a sinister grin strode into the chamber, towing a lithe female behind him. Her long, silvery blue locks swung back and forth while her pale sapphire eyes scanned the chamber. She must be a nymph.
He wrenched on the chain binding her wrists and she tumbled forward, onto her knees. The two males cackled. His malicious chortle pinged in her ears. Deimos.
“Now, Nysa. We have a task for you.” Deimos cast his malevolent sneer at Ekho.
The guard behind her prodded his spear into her back, urging her forward. She complied numbly, the tiniest squeak of resistance in her mind.
“Go ahead.” Deimos waved a dagger in front of Nysa’s face, taunting her.
With what?
Nysa glowered at Deimos but gripped the knife he handed her. Instead of wielding the dagger against Ekho, or her captors, Nysa sliced the blade across her wrist.
Deimos roared. “Bloody wench, what are you doing?” Before he could stop her, the nymph’s blood spurted forth as clear, crystalline water, and pooled around her.
“I’ll come back for you.” Silver orbs sparkled at Ekho as the nymph vanished.
She freed herself. Ekho’s lips parted and for an instant, her mind cleared. This wasn’t right, not anything about her being in this place. She’d forgotten her mission. What was it?
She drew her brows together. The centaur brothers. Oh, gods, no. She hadn’t completed the command.
“Hector must follow Delia.” A blue mist swirled from her lips as she blew the persuasion to Petraeus. A flash of unusual green-and-gold-flecked grey eyes flickered in her mind before a pang stung her cheek and knocked her to the floor. She blinked, glancing up.
Deimos had struck her; his hand hovered above her head. “And you, you whore. What did you just do?”
She lifted her chin to him in defiance. “Finished my mission.”
Chapter Five
Hector must follow Delia.
Petraeus slumped against the door to his father’s castle, cringing while his ears rang with Ekho’s command. He’d made it so close to retreating from this blasted place before she could force him to commit yet another act of treason.
Although her words hummed in his ears, they didn’t compel his body. Odd. Had she lost her powers—again?
He longed to quit this place, to ignore her persuasion, but what would happen if he did? Sighing, he gazed at Great Meteoron’s alabaster stones, painted a soft yellow in the midday sun. His brother Hector would be inside—he always was. What would it hurt to pass along a simple message? Truly, encouraging his brother to follow his wife couldn’t be so bad, could it?
After heaving in several deep pants, he scrambled up the staircase inside the palace to Hector’s room. He rapped once and Hector opened the door.
“Petraeus?” His brother’s sharp perusal scanned him. “You look…unwell.”
“Aye, but I’m fine.” He tugged a hand across the back of his neck. “Ah, you should follow Delia.” Before Hector could question him, he spun on his heel and stormed down the corridor.
That was one conversation he’d avoid at all costs.
His stomach churned, so he dashed for the nearest window and expelled its contents. Liquor. Hunching over, he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. The nymph would be the death of him.
Sooner rather than later.
How had Thereus survived five years without his mate? He’d not make it five months.
He slumped back to his chamber and collapsed upon his bed. His skin burned with fever and his mind hazed. He slept fitfully for hours, mayhap days. Neither drinking nor eating, lost in the prison of his own making.
“Petraeus?” Oreius’s booming timbre called from the other side of the door.
Petraeus peeled open one heavy eyelid, squinted into bright sunlight, and slammed his eye shut again. No. Just, no. Yet the door swung open, heavy footsteps thudding like drums in his ears. Grimacing, he waved his brother away, but stubborn Oreius strode to his side.
“What’s been eating at you, lad? You’ve not responded to any of my messages. You missed Agrius’s wedding, and you haven’t even met my mate.”
Aye, all true.
He planted his face in his pillow, praying for the meddlesome centaur to leave him be.
So he might crawl beneath the nearest rock and rot away.
“Is this him?” a honeyed voice chimed behind Oreius.
Petraeus groaned, resigned. Just because he’d scorned his mate didn’t mean he could behave the same toward his brother’s. Collecting himself, he dragged his weighted body to sit, combed his fingers through his locks, and straightened his twisted clothes. He dipped his head to the azure-haired female. “A pleasure, milady.”
“Yes, indeed.” She peered at him, through him. “I’m Nysa.”
Damn. He clenched a fist at his side.
“Who is she?” Her finely arched brow indicated his secrets weren’t hidden from her.
“Doesn�
��t matter. We’re on different paths.”
“Ah.” Nysa frowned. “That is sad.”
He scoffed and hopped off the bed to stomp toward the balcony. “Well, she’d rather be a prisoner than my mate, so there you have it.”
“Prisoner?” The high pitch of her tone indicated more than shock. “Where?”
Slowly, he twisted around and cautiously uttered, “King Philaeus’s castle.”
The nymph’s sapphire eyes widened. “Does she have lovely lavender locks and striking green eyes?”
He froze. “How do you know that?”
“Because I saw her. Oh.” Her pixie nose scrunched. “She’s not well, Petraeus. Deimos has poisoned her with my waters.”
Poison. That must be what countered her powers. Their last conversation slammed into his mind and he swallowed hard. “Aye, I know. It was her choice.” His shoulders dropped in defeat while he regarded the horizon.
Nysa laid a gentle hand on his arm. “You don’t understand. She didn’t choose this. She can’t choose anything anymore. My waters numbed her.”
“Nay, lass. ’Tis you who doesn’t understand. She chose to be poisoned.”
“Oh.” Nysa perched on the balcony railing. “That is most unfortunate indeed. If it’s any consolation, she won’t be there much longer. I’ve had word from the leader of my people. The nymphs will be freed.”
“Nymphs?”
“Yes. King Philaeus has enslaved hundreds of them, but the Amazon Kyme has assembled her warriors. They’re going to strike the castle and free the nymphs.”
“What?” He straightened, shock pulsing through him. Could this be why Ekho refused to quit the castle, her prison? Because she wouldn’t leave her people behind?
“I have to go to her.” Urgency pulsed through his veins, commanding his body. Not Ekho’s doing, but his own will. She may be a thousand things, but she would always be his mate.
Perhaps one small act might begin to atone for his mistreatment of her.
“Nay, you’ll not be going anywhere like that.” Oreius sent him a pointed stare, tracing his scrutiny across Petraeus’s disheveled clothes. “Gods know, I’ve no right to judge, but if she truly is your mate, she deserves far better than this beastly mess.”
Petraeus opened his mouth to counter, but closed it again as he surveyed his state. Aye, Oreius was correct. A quick bath and change of clothes was in order.
He stepped forward toward his wardrobe, but Nysa snared his arm. “One more thing. She may have consumed too much of my waters, but Deimos no longer has control of my well. If anything can restore her, I’m certain her true mate can. Luck be with you, centaur.”
“Thank you.” He patted her hand and she released her grip, seizing Oreius’s hand instead as the two of them left his chamber.
“I’m coming for you, Ekho,” he whispered from his balcony. “I know you can hear me. Hold steady, Aura. I’ll be there soon.”
* * *
Ekho whipped her head toward the window of her cell. A masculine voice carried to her on the breeze, his promise cutting through the numbness for an instant to fill her instead with a sense of dread. The last thing she wished for was to be rescued, though she wasn’t certain why.
She clutched her temples, rubbing them as she struggled to recall what she’d forgotten. Glancing to the side, she spotted several lines etched into the stone wall. A count?
Of what, days? Months?
She nibbled her bottom lip. No. Something else. The truth fluttered in the recesses of her mind, beyond her reach.
As though she’d forgotten far more than her mission because of those waters.
Something infinitely important.
She counted the marks, then paced her cell. Eight hundred and fifty-seven…what?
Dusk fell, scattering beams of fading light across the stone floor, and she continued to pad from one end of her cage to the other. Blast it. She had to escape this prison and seek out the truth.
She sank to her knees in front of the lock and squinted. The wards were too powerful for her to break by transforming into a breeze, so she would have to escape physically first. What could she use to pick the lock? She had no hairpin, or needle, or—
“May I offer my services?” a suave voice murmured from the other side of the iron bars.
She narrowed her eyes. “No, thank you.”
“Are you certain? Because from where I’m standing, you’re trying—rather unsuccessfully—to escape.”
She lifted her chin to the strange male. His eyes sparkled at her, glints of green and gold swirling in those stormy depths. “Who are you?” He wasn’t a guard. Too tall and brawny for a Lapith.
“You don’t know me?” Pain flickered across his features. “I, ah, I’m a friend.”
Friend. She peered harder. “Wait, I do know you.” A flush of heat swept through her body as an image of being in his arms burst into her mind, pinching her chest and warming her core.
Petraeus. She’d shared his bed, well, no, not a bed. The vision of his strong fingers pleasuring her, their bodies slick while water from the pool flowed around them, caused flames to flare across her cheeks.
He cast her a lopsided grin. “Knew I wasn’t that forgettable.”
“Or that useful.” She huffed, focusing on the lock. “I’m still a prisoner.”
“Allow me to remedy that.” He bent to the lock and several clicks clacked before the door swung wide.
She cast him a glower and marched in the opposite direction he indicated with a sweep of his arm.
“Ekho, the exit is this way.”
“Then you’re welcome to it.” She treaded down the gloomy corridor, past empty cells. Why were they empty? Had they once been occupied?
Her mind scrambled, grasping for memories she ought to recall, yet they stretched beyond her recollection.
“Wait, listen.” Puffing, he dashed to her side. “The Amazons are planning a rescue, but I think we should depart this place as soon as we can.”
Amazons? Rescue? The words pinged in her mind with a familiar meaning. Yes, she was part of the rescue. “Did you pass by any other cells? Were my people inside?”
“Nay, lass. These cells used to be occupied, but you’re the only nymph I’ve come across this time. The others must be somewhere else.”
She steeled her shoulders. “I’m not leaving without them.”
“I feared you wouldn’t.” He tossed back his head. “Well, so long as we’re together, we’d best go about opening some cages.”
* * *
Petraeus dangled a set of lock picks in front of Ekho and she bobbed her head in acquiescence. Though he hadn’t the damnedest clue where to begin, the only way to ensure her safety would be to free her people first.
Can’t fault her for that.
Selfless acts weren’t his forte, yet he owed her this.
He followed her down the dim corridor to the wooden door at the end and cracked open the lock. They stepped inside the chamber.
“Empty.” Frustration coated her tone.
“It leads nowhere,” he added, scanning the circular chamber. “Where should we check next?”
“Do you think it’s possible the Amazons have already come?” She spun to him, flashing those vulnerable eyes.
“I know not, but, there’s no one here. We should leave as well.” Before the bastard King discovered them.
And they wound up worse than mere prisoners.
She furrowed her brow. “How did you—”
The stench of sweating males crossed his nostrils. “Shh.” He whipped out one hand and clasped it across her mouth, snaring her waist with his other and dragging her into the shadows. Footsteps followed the pungent scent. He held in his breath, not daring to make a single noise while the door cracked open.
“Where is she? How did she escape?” one male guard barked to another.
“I’ve no idea, but the other is still here. She’ll come back for her.” He rubbed his hands together, poked his head into t
he room, and shrugged.
“You’d better be right, or the Master will have both our heads,” the first guard grumbled and the two slammed the door behind them.
“Were they speaking about me?” Ekho whispered.
“Aye, I think so.” He released her.
Her thin brows knitted together. “Who is ‘her’?”
Petraeus blinked at her. “You’re the one who should know, not me.”
“I don’t.”
“Then we’ve no choice but to flee.” He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “If the Amazons have already come, perhaps they know.”
She nodded and they crept from the chamber, down the passage he’d taken to enter the castle. The narrow stone staircase wound upward and, through a tiny window, a beam of morning sunlight shone.
“Continue, centaur. I’ll meet you behind the moat.” Without a second glance at him, she wisped into thin air and vanished.
Fancy trick. A shame she didn’t transport him with her. Instead, he employed his centaur stealth to snake through the castle’s underbelly, finally slipping out a trench and fitting the grate back in behind him.
“About time.” Ekho dusted her nails on her sleeve as she propped against the stones of the castle’s outer wall.
“We don’t all have the ability to puff into a cloud.” He stalked forward, the sudden awareness that he was at last alone with his mate pulsing through him. This was Ekho, but not the same as the nymph who’d seduced him. He missed the fire in her eyes. The spark that sizzled between them. Against every vow he’d ever made, he was falling in love with her.
And by the gods, he wanted her back. “The nymph whose waters you consumed is the mate of my brother Oreius. Her name is Nysa and she told me the enchantment may be reversed. I can help you regain your memory.”
She straightened, mouth parting. “Truly? How?”
“Aye.” He quirked his lips. This was the best part. “Well, we are mates, Ekho. I believe I can,” he closed the distance between them and leaned in, purring, “draw your memories forth.”
She clasped his head and claimed his mouth, no hint of hesitation. After all, she was a nymph. Born and bred for seduction.
