by Amy Braun
Instead, malice filled her eyes. She took a step closer, then stopped. She looked at the ceiling, then all that contempt disappeared. Her shoulders sagged, and she had the gall to look at me with pity.
“I am sorry.”
Stones rolled and swallowed her whole. She vanished.
Gone.
The Berserker Rage churned within me, chiding me for not using it. I should have. I was exhausted.
“Liam,” Selena called. “Help me with Athena. She can get us up there.”
I hesitated, then glanced at Thea. She’d nestled next to Mason and hauled him into her arms, cradling him while he wept. She looked at me, saw the question in my eyes, then shook her head.
I understood. Even new goddesses had their limits. Bringing Corey back was one of them. And we needed one goddess on our side, anyway.
I closed my eyes and felt the blood bond. So long as it remained strong, I would know Derek was all right. And Selena was right––stone couldn’t hold back a war goddess.
I followed her to a patch of earth covered with small rocks and ringed with gold blood. Thea pressed her hands to it, ice creeping from her fingertips and spreading over the stone. The rock was loose, but I didn’t have any way of digging through it with magic. My hands would have to do the trick. I Adapted to make my arms work faster, forcing them to almost blur. Exhaustion crept in. I’d lost too much blood, taken too many hits, and fallen unconscious too many damned times. There would be little more I could do to help Derek.
Athena would have to save him.
And she would. I had to believe she would.
He’s still alive. He just needs to stay that way for a couple more minutes.
Please, please, stay alive.
Stone cracked. The rocks dipped inward, but Selena and I quickly heaved them out of the way. We uncovered Athena’s face; her eyes were closed and gold blood caked to her forehead and open wounds on her cheek.
I snuck a glance at Selena. Her jaw was clenched tight, her eyes stormy. Despite every wrong Athena had done, some care remained in her heir. At least, that’s how it looked. I couldn’t hope to unravel the emotions of their relationship.
We heaved Athena out of the hole, placing her back to the roughly shredded wall. Her head lolled, and I winced. I knew Zeus had dulled her powers as punishment, but I hadn’t expected her to seem so… human.
Selena pressed her hands to Athena’s temples. The goddess snapped awake—the motion was so abrupt that it threw our hands off. She looked between us.
“The Mind,” she croaked. “Where is it?”
“Thea moved it. She… She’s with Mason.”
My voice faded. I would never forget his scream.
Athena picked herself up from the debris. “Where is Artemis?”
“Up there,” Selena said, pointing to the ceiling with a shaking finger. “With the Furies. With Derek.” She looked at her foremother. “Please, Athena, let this be the last thing I ask of you. Please help me save him. I can’t… I can’t See him when I look forward.”
Her words chilled me. If Selena couldn’t See him in her future…
No. I wouldn’t believe it. I could still feel the bond. He was still alive. Athena was awake. Selena’s hex had to be fucking with her again, perhaps or her obvious panic was slipping in.
Athena turned to the door, filling her hands with flame. “He gave me his loyalty and you his heart,” she stated. “Of course, I will save him.”
She hurled the flame at the ceiling. As it careened closer, the ball grew in size, doubling, tripling, quadrupling––
It smashed through like a meteor.
I bolted for it, scanning for taller rocks I could climb––
The blood bond snapped.
Agony split through my mind, all but tearing it in half. This wasn’t a headache or a punch to the skull. This went deep as a blade, like a carving. Another snap of power slammed through my chest, flooding through me with a rush of adrenaline and power. My heart beat harder, faster. A trigger had been pulled inside of me, but I didn’t know what the bullet would be.
But I could only think about the stinging pain that came first. The breaking of something that couldn’t be fixed.
And the worst part was, I knew this feeling.
I’d only ever felt it once before, but I would never forget it.
And now…
I tripped, kicking past rock, fingers tearing on gouged stone. I leaped, my hands grasping the edge of the ceiling. I pulled myself up, bare chest scratching against concrete and rebar. I bled, and I didn’t care. I needed to find him, needed to be faster because there was still time, those split seconds in cardiac arrest were crucial, and I wouldn’t let him be––
I reached the factory floor and saw him. Crumpled on the ground, punctures all across his back. He was alone, not moving…
Selena’s tortured gasp barely registered in my ear. I could feel my heart beating too fast, but I couldn’t hear it.
Then I was running again, eyes burning, focused on getting to him—needing to save him. Skidding across the concrete, I scraped my knees bloody. Didn’t even feel the pain. I landed beside him, grabbed his shoulder and flipped him over––
My eyes refused it. Even when Selena screamed beside me, I didn’t believe it.
The fist-sized hole in his chest couldn’t be real. His heart had to still be attached to its arteries and veins. I couldn’t be staring at an empty space in his ribcage. Because this wasn’t real.
I clamped my hands over his chest. His body was still warm, the blood still sticky.
I poured my healing into him. But the wound didn’t close.
Selena sobbed next to me, her hands framing his face.
“Heal him,” I growled.
She didn’t hear me. She pressed her forehead to his, as her back trembled and her face flushed with harsh grief.
“Damn it, Selena, heal him!”
Nothing. She wasn’t listening to me. All she did was stroke my brother’s pale face, look into his glazed blue eyes. Her tears dripped onto his cheeks.
My gaze snapped to Athena. “Do something! You’re a goddess!”
The Olympian stared at Derek’s body with an emotion I couldn’t read. “I… resurrection is not within my grasp. I will––”
“He’s not dead! He just needs to be revived!”
In my mind, the two were different. Resurrection meant death. Revived meant near death. No one saw the difference the way I did.
Athena nodded slowly. “I will find Persephone.”
She vanished in a twist of flame.
Snarling at her abandonment, I kept pushing my magic into his chest, willing that wound to close. My face was wet. I didn’t know when I had started crying, but I would stop when it was over. When he was healed again.
Because he wasn’t… I wouldn’t let him…
This wasn’t real.
More gasps behind me. I looked over my shoulder. Thea stood there. Stood and looked at Derek’s broken and bloody body.
Stood and did nothing.
“Get the fuck over here and help me!”
My voice broke. I tasted salt at the corner of my lips.
Tears streamed down Thea’s cheeks. “Liam…”
“No,” I growled. “Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare say it.”
She didn’t speak and didn’t move.
I was the only one who worked to save my brother. It was only half an hour later, when my magic was completely gone, that I let myself feel it.
That I knew he couldn’t be saved. Not by me.
“We need to get him to Persephone.” I staggered back. My forearms were smeared with gore. Selena hadn’t moved from Derek’s side and hadn’t stopped crying.
I felt Thea next to me. She shook in my vision, because I was shaking so hard.
“We… We’ll get him to Persephone. She’s Queen of the Underworld. She brought him back before. She can fix this. She’ll fix this.”
Tears blurred my eyes.
“She has to fix this.”
Thea slowly reached out, as if afraid of what I would do. Her fingers grazed my shoulder, curled around it. Then she drew me in, closing her arms around me and holding me close.
I broke. The sight of him, the sound of Selena’s cries… It was too much.
I collapsed against her, unable to even return the embrace. Tears slipped from my eyes. My knees collapsed, and Thea slumped down with me. Either I was too heavy and she didn’t want to let me go, or the grief struck her just as hard.
The tears wouldn’t stop. I don’t know how long I knelt there, fighting sorrow that just grew, wrapped in Thea’s arms and knowing they couldn’t help.
When the energy shifted in the factory, I hardly noticed. Thea tensed, carefully helping me to my feet. I was glad. I didn’t trust my legs to hold me. I looked at Selena, desperate…
If I hadn’t already been gutted, the look in my pseudo-sister’s eyes would have done it. The brightness in her eyes had dulled, as though the life in her had been scooped out and solely replaced with grief.
Thunder crackled through the air. I hunched over Derek’s body, shielding it. A bolt of lightning struck the floor, and Zeus stepped through it with Persephone in tow. He strode with anger and purpose, dragging her with him as she lowered her head with defeat.
Both of them stopped at the sight of Derek lying cold on the floor.
I need to get him warmer. He can’t stay like this.
“This…” Zeus sounded uncertain. His eyes fixed on my brother, processing an outcome he hadn’t expected. My foremother stared at her distant grandson, shock embedded in her hazel-blue eyes.
“This is unexpected,” he settled on.
Unfulfilled Rage snapped to life inside me. I was glad for it. Something to erase the pain in my chest.
I wrenched away from Thea and stormed closer to Zeus. “That’s all you have to fucking say?” I bellowed. “My brother was just murdered, on your orders, and this is unexpected?”
Zeus’ pale eyes darkened. Static energy charged the air. “Be mindful of your tone, boy. You have not yet taken your mantle as god.”
His words stopped my breath. Your mantle as a god.
Because Artemis killed Ares. Derek, his heir, had been killed by the Furies.
Which meant the mantle of heir passed to the next in our bloodline.
Me.
That rush of power I’d felt… that had been my blood knowing it had opened a new path. One meant for gods. I didn’t feel different, physically. But emotionally, mentally…
Becoming a god didn’t matter to me. I only cared about Derek. And he was gone.
After the stunt Hades pulled, I would never get him back. Rivalries between gods lasted for eons, and Derek was a prize Hades would never give up.
Tears welled in my eyes. I couldn’t find my breath.
“His body will be given proper honors. A pyre shall—”
“No.” Zeus turned his head and scowled at Persephone. “I have granted you boons before, Niece. You would do well not to ask anymore.”
“He is my son. I will bury him in my tombs. I will keep him close to me, since I only shared days of his life.”
Zeus scowled, taking another breath to argue.
“The Helm of Hades is still missing,” she pointed out. “I intend to aid my youngest son and his friends in finding it. The matter of my eldest son should not be of importance to you.”
“It’s not missing,” Selena whispered. “Hades knew where his Helm was. He used it in a ritual. One that pulled magic from your heir.” Zeus’ eyes darkened at this, but Selena kept going. “Our friend... Corey Adastros... He took the Helm and teleported it somewhere. The secret died with him.”
Her voice broke and she wept again. Fresh grief pierced me.
I’d lost my brother and my best friend today. Not even a day apart.
“Hades will search for him,” Persephone informed. “I will do what I can to keep his servants from finding Corey Adastros, but my reach is not as long as my husband’s.”
“And so shall I.” Light seemed to fade within the room. Thunder rumbled in the distance. “Hades has crossed a line and will not be welcome in the Clouds again. And Ares...”
“Ares is dead. Shot by Artemis.”
Zeus stared at Athena, his rogue daughter. No emotion showed in his eyes, but sparks crackled off his knuckles and threaded through his white hair and beard. The crowds of red grew darker and the thunder grew louder.
He must have felt it. The moment Ares died. They all must have. It would have been a stab to the heart, a blow that changed everything. But he probably didn’t know who dealt the final blow.
Ares had been their family—killed by their family. That was a sin no god could forgive. Another of Zeus’ daughters betrayed him, and another god had died because of it.
So many people had died today, all because of the gods.
Fresh tears spilled from my eyes. The pain in my chest stretched wider, ripping through my heart.
Derek is dead.
“All of this has been a disaster,” Zeus decreed. “We are not meant to die, and yet three of us have perished. Those who have not have either sat idle or betrayed what we once were.”
Lightning flashed overhead, beyond the skylights.
“Things will change. There will be consequences for this.” The King of Olympus turned to Persephone. “But you cannot bring your son back. The fate of the wayfare scion will depend on the knowledge his spirit holds, but those slain by the Furies must atone for their crimes. That he killed one of them—”
“I am not asking to bring him back,” she countered. “I want to be near him. I am not ready to say goodbye.”
Her words twisted the shards in my heart. She was giving up. She was letting Derek stay dead even after she’d brought him back before.
“Very well. We will hold his body until you are prepared to dispose of it. But it will not be kept in your tombs.”
Persephone gawked. “What—?”
“You harbored two fugitives, one of whom you resurrected previously without our consent.”
Persephone paled.
“Oh yes. We know what you did to remove Ares curse from his heir. Hades felt it before he betrayed us. Were it any other mortal, the consequences would not be so severe. But the Bringer was dead, my niece. He was dead, and you brought him back. Such actions must have repercussions.” His pale gaze cut to us. “Worse still, we have two new gods to add to our ranks. We still have not found the replacement for Apollo.” He turned to Selena. “That is something you shall remedy, Farseer. You have much to repay us.”
Selena didn’t even look up. She held my brother’s face in her hands.
“Hades and Ares found Apollo in the Underworld,” defended Athena. “Apollo knew that’s where he was going to be, and he prepared for it. He made sure that all of this would happen. He has no intention of being replaced by an immortal heir.”
“True as that may be, mortals meddling in human affairs is never the right thing. And you in particular have meddled too many times.”
Static pulsed in the air again. Zeus’s tone was no joke.
“Father,” pleaded Athena. “All this hurt, the blame. Lay it on me. I started the defiance, I—”
“Oh, I do blame you, Athena.” She cringed at his words. The static grew stronger this time. “I blame you for it all. And I have plans for you. But first, you will help me escort these mortals back to the Council.”
“What about Derek?” My voice scratched raw with pain. “Corey.”
“My servants will bring their bodies.” Persephone muttered. “They will know where to take them.”
Zeus nodded, seemingly satisfied with her volunteering of resources.
I looked over my shoulder again. Selena curled around my brother, but Derek hadn’t moved. A small, stupid, and desperate part of me had hoped that he would. If he were alive, he would’ve found a way to sort this out. The Olympians had never really f
rightened him.
Maybe that had been the whole problem.
LIAM
THE MOMENT WE returned to the Council, we were separated.
Persephone’s mother, Demeter, swept into the chamber and embraced her daughter. She rocked her, kissed her cheeks, and muttered words too soft for me to hear.
Then again, I wasn’t really listening.
The Goddess of Harvest, Demeter wore a loose, red and gold-trimmed dress. A crown of wheat and flowers rested on the top of her head. Her hippie-mother appearance clashed with the angry words she shouted at Zeus.
“Why have you brought her here? She has done nothing wrong!”
“Your emotions are biased, Demeter, and will have no place in what remains of this Council.”
After Zeus’s snap at his sister, guards pulled Mason away from us.
“No,” Thea protested, “we go together, we need to—”
“Our lords have questions regarding the three adversaries working with Ares,” a guard declared. “Your statements are required.”
Mason didn’t resist. He hadn’t said a word since hearing that Persephone would look after Corey’s body.
He breathed and he walked, tears streaming down his face the whole time.
They came for Selena next.
I reached for her when the grabbed her arms, but she shook her head. She didn’t even look up.
Thea’s cool fingers wrapped around mine and squeezed. I didn’t know if she wanted to comfort me or hoped I would comfort her, but I welcomed the touch.
“She will not be harmed, so long as she remains useful.”
Thea and I turned at the voice. Hera appeared at our backs, draped in an elegant, one strap gown that clung to her body. A silver diadem spotted with sapphires gleamed on her forehead. Her honey-colored hair was elegantly and pristinely positioned, clashing with the rough, simmering anger in her eyes. The Queen of Olympus watched us as she sipped from the goblet of gold ambrosia.
Thea was not impressed. “She’s not a tool.”
Hera snickered. “All mortals are tools, child. You completed your Shift. You should know that by now.”
