Athanatos battles were not to be taken lightly. The Aeras, whose protective instincts were so acute, could not even contemplate that.
Still. "We saved your village," I said softly. "We destroyed the Gi and their Queen." Didn't that count for something?
"And the Aeras are grateful." But not grateful enough to go against the might of Pyrkagia. "May Aetheros be with you," Hip said, but this time Theo did not offer the automatic response.
We both remained silent, Theo's arms wrapping tighter around my frame, my eyes closing in complete defeat. Then the bright white haze of Aeras lightning, that ozone rich scent on the air, and the sizzle of electricity through our veins, as Hip sent us home.
I couldn't feel Theo anymore. I couldn't feel the cool night air of high altitude at Machu Picchu. I couldn't hear or see or smell. Only white, bright light, that really was nothing, and then a rush of sound and a crush of limbs wrapped around my body, and the hard impact of a marble floor beneath our feet.
I panted for breath, strained to acclimatise to our new location, my vision blurring and dimming, as shooting electric pains hit every single nerve ending in my body. It wasn't enough to be summoned back to the Pyrkagia Rigas, we had to appear before him in his Court... compromised.
Theo righted himself first, gold already blazing from his eyes. I could have chosen Gi, but I wanted to, perhaps futilely, make an impression. So called on my own Pyrkagia, adding my yellow glow to his.
An eerie quiet met our arrival, but we were by no means alone. I struggled upright, my hand clutched in Theo's, our eyes blazing in a final act of defiance. The Rigas may have called us home, but we'd stand tall against whatever warped reason this man had.
I scanned the room for Isadora, knowing she had to be here somewhere, but coming up blank. Councillors, who I recognised from when I spied on a Council meeting with Nico, were present with their King, and one other I was momentarily surprised to see.
Aktor.
I stared at him, confused, but he didn't return my gaze. An uneasy feeling centred in the pit of my stomach.
"Ah," the Rigas murmured. "The prodigal son and his Alchemist whore return."
That uneasy feeling in my stomach became a rock.
Pyrkagia swelled in warning from Theo, a low, feral growl emitting from the back of his throat.
"What?" the Rigas demanded. "You don't still consider this being to be your Thisavros, do you Theodoros? We have been informed she is an Alchemist creation, sent here to infiltrate and undermine. Do you deny it?" His golden eyes bore into mine.
"Yes," I squeaked, well aware I may have been lying. I didn't subscribe to the notion that my grandfather had a hand in creating me, but I couldn't ignore either, the conversation Noah had with his Alchemist cohort through that fire in the Amazon.
But how had the Pyrkagia Rigas worked it out when I hadn't?
I scanned the room again for Isadora. The cowardly traitor couldn't even be present when she brought me down.
"This is ridiculous!" Theo boomed, in that voice he'd used that matched the Gi Basilissa's. "Casey is not an Alchemist."
"Then what do you think she is?" the King asked reasonably.
Theo opened his mouth. Shut it. Opened it again. And slammed it closed. He didn't want to tell his father that I was Aether.
"What are your plans, Pateras?" Theo asked instead.
"What do you think they are, Theodoros?"
A strangled sound escaped Theo's lips. Pained. Incredulous. Scared.
"I can't let you," he announced.
"Then your fate is entwined with hers."
"So be it."
The room made a hushed sound; whispers of disquiet. Theo may have been their exiled prince, but he was still their prince regardless.
My eyes flicked between father and son, King and Prince, but other than recognising the horror that graced Theo's face, and the greedy anticipation that twisted the Rigas', I had no idea what exactly was to come.
But when the King turned his hungry and cruel attention to me, memories flickered through my mind; the paving outside of Theo's house on Mountain Road buckling under an onslaught of my Gi Stoicheio; Theo lifting me up and hurling me inside his home, slamming the door closed on the destruction I was causing his landscaping; his words, as he'd stared at me in that hallway, the Earth quietened on my command, but threatening to rise again should I need it.
"What the fuck are you?" he'd demanded, and when I couldn't offer a reply he'd said, "I can't hide this sort of information from the Rigas for long, Oraia. But if I tell him, he will surely order your immediate death or worse."
"Worse?" I'd asked.
"He will want to study you, find out how they did it. Tell me now, Casey. Are you one of the Alchemists?"
Study me. The King of the Pyrkagia would want to study me. Dissect me. Pull me apart and find out what makes me tick.
That rock in my stomach became a bubbling pool of molten lava. I'd thought it then, I was envisioning it now. A mad scientist's lab, the Rigas cackling like a fiend, sharp utensils in his hand.
My eyes flicked to his and I saw a sort of madness there, similar to the Gi Queen's. Oh, dear freaking God. We'd traded one majestic battle for another. One powerful royal opponent for, perhaps, an even more powerful one. As the Gi Queen had been full of rot. But the Pyrkagia King, I was thinking, was just insane.
Crazy is dangerous. Crazy can be cunning. Crazy is just a fine line between intelligence and insanity.
I suddenly and bizarrely wanted the Basilissa back.
"Is that your last word?" the Rigas asked his son, my Thisavros, their prince.
I lifted my stunned face up to Theo's, his eyes weren't on his father's but instead on Aktor's. Maybe he'd just spotted his butler here. Maybe he'd been too shocked, too riled, too scared to notice we had an ally in our midst. But from the taut features on Theo's face, and the rigid stance he'd adopted, he wasn't naively accepting Aktor's presence either.
The molten pit of lava in my belly rose part way up my throat.
"Who betrayed us?" Theo asked, voice level and devoid of any emotion.
The King smiled. It was quite savage and entirely too knowing.
Bile reached my mouth.
Aktor stepped forward, from the line of witnesses he'd been among, and said, "I did, sir."
No. No! It was meant to be Isadora. I knew it was Isadora. It had to be Isadora.
"Why?" Theo managed to say on a pain filled gasp.
Oh, God. The agony in that one word. The weight of betrayal, of trust given and lost after centuries of friendship. I felt it as keenly as the rest of the room. Responding gasps sounding out around the periphery.
Theo was falling apart and there was nothing I could do to stop this.
But Aktor didn't get to answer his master. The Rigas stepped forward, eyes shining a beautiful, yet frightening jewel-like yellow-gold, and shouted, "Because she is a threat! Because your servant defends Pyrkagia better than you! Because I will not allow my son to bring this kingdom down!"
He turned to the Councillors, his arms raised above his head in supplication.
"Should Athanatos bow down to human Alchemists?"
"No!" they shouted back, as Theo made a sound of wretched torment that cleaved my heart in two. His eyes were still on the old butler's.
On his closest confidant and most trusted friend.
"Aktor," he said, his words lost to the din of riled voices the Rigas was commanding. "My old friend."
But Aktor heard him, or simply read his lips. He paled, a small tear tracked down his cheek. And then he lifted his chin, blazed gold from his eyes, and shot Theo right through the chest with an indifferent and cold smile.
Oh, Aktor. How could you?
Betrayal sank its barbed hooks into my Thisavros, his face tortured, his body trembling in utter incredulity. The sound when he spoke was a slice right through my very soul.
"Et tu, Brute?" The rasped words, said in a voice so pained I was sure even his cold hearte
d father would have felt it, met silence in the room.
"Yes," the King replied, coolly. "Now take them to the cells!"
Chaos.
Pandemonium.
My head spun at what I'd just witnessed, at what I was seeing now. My heart thundered erratically in my chest, and my mind screamed an outright, No!
Pyrkagia Stoicheio filled the air. The Council members, whose skills outshone mine, wielded their Element with finesse and brutal force.
But those words. That one sentence. That one admission. It rattled around inside my head, piercing through my mind, setting up an ache so deep in my heart I was in danger of getting lost in it.
I flicked a glance at Theo over my shoulder. I couldn't see his face, but I felt his pain at his trusted friend's treachery. I felt it as though it was mine. Such betrayal. Such an unexpected and awful turn of events.
Fire burned a hole in my sleeve. I spun back and dodged another flame from a woman Councillor, ducked under one from a Rigas Guard, and rolled to the side to avoid the searing heat from an assailant I couldn't even identify.
Instantly Theo responded with his own Pyrkagia, deftly defending our lone spot in the centre of the room. But there was no shelter here. We were out numbered, surrounded by the enemy.
His people. His father. His Pyrkagia Council.
Oh, dear Lord, I was too tired for this. Too heartsick.
Strike, swerve, duck, dive. The smell of burning flesh filled the air. Ours and those who continued to attack us. Burnt clothing, melted rubber soles of shoes. The acrid stench of hair catching on fire. I patted the flames out and my skin blistered on my palms. It started healing immediately. But the agony just added to the ache in my chest and in my mind.
I reached frantically for my Gi, used it to strengthen my Pyrkagia, entwined my Elements with Theo's own Fire, and focused on getting us the hell out of here.
And yet, in my bruised and battered heart, I already knew it would not end well.
Fire rose on superheated flames, shouts and commands were ringing out in the room. Theo angled his body in front of mine, his movements fluid, even if his heart was cracked in two by Aktor's betrayal.
An impressive Athanatos protecting his Thisavros. And aware that our time was running out.
But he would have known, that back to back defence was our best shot at survival. Despite that knowledge he chose instead to protect me. No longer attacking, purely acting as a shield.
We were losing, but still we kept on fighting.
The crackle of flames and the hissing of fire filled the heated air. The odd bit of furniture in the room erupting in a volcano of sparks, pops and bangs accompanying it. Smoke drifted around us, providing a modicum of shelter. But it was a thin veil. Temperamental. Twirling and twisting, rising higher and higher up to the ceiling. Choking our lungs but never fully covering our bodies from sight.
Theo fought on. Such stamina. Such strength. Such devotion to my protection.
But I could see the pain in every crease that marred his beautiful features. I could feel the agony he felt at his old friend's betrayal. Our hearts bled, as our bodies were pounded unmercifully, in a second majestic battle of the day.
We'd beaten the Gi Queen at Machu Picchu. But she was one, and here were dozens.
We were tired.
Exhausted.
Physically and emotionally and mentally worn out.
Had we been fresh perhaps it would have gone on longer. Perhaps, if Aetheros had been watching, protecting, we could have escaped. But he wasn't watching. And we weren't fresh.
A fist hurtled through the air towards Theo's face. He pulled back, swiped an arm up and around in front of his body, deflecting the Guard's strike with apparent ease. A reflex action honed from centuries of being an immortal Scout.
Our attackers closed in. Even dropping their Elemental powers in favour of a more physical and hands-on approach.
They knew. They had us.
But still Theo fought on. Still I battled to aid him. Desperation leaving a foul taste in my mouth that the smoke and charred furnishings only intensified.
My vision wavered. Theo staggered.
And then...
Aktor stepped forward. Through the flickering yellow of flames and the haze of dense smoke, the once kind old butler lifted his hand in a simple move, and a single line of Fire shot out.
Oh, God. Aktor.
Without conscious thought Theo and I hesitated, something the butler would have frowned upon in a previous life.
"Aim for the neck, Cassandra. Sever the head before they sever yours. Do you understand?"
Aktor's words were the last thing I heard before Pyrkagia consumed me. My cry of anguish at his harsh betrayal smothered in the crackle of flames and the heat of Fire.
He hadn't aimed for our necks.
But he'd aimed for us.
And despite Theo's centuries of training. And despite Aktor's words of wisdom to me all those months ago. We froze. We didn't fight back.
Betrayal is a hard edged sword. We should know. We felt its keen slice as it broke through the meat of our hearts. We felt its bitter taste as blood pooled on our tongues. We smelled its pungent odour as smoke engulfed us.
The world turning black, our lungs heavy. Our hearts even more so.
Aktor.
Et tu, Brute?
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Look out for book three in the Elemental Awakening Series: The Chilling Change of Air. Coming soon!
Read on for the first chapter in Kindred (Kindred, Book 1) in the Kindred Series by Nicola Claire:
Chapter 1
Night, Night, Sweetie
I knew things weren't quite going according to plan when his fist connected with my jaw. The pain sent a sharp stab up through my skull, making me grit my teeth, hear bells ringing in my head and my vision begin to blur. But, for the life of me, I could not understand why. Never one to dwell too long on the morose, I decided the best course of action was to come out guns blazing. As I don't actually own a gun, I settled on a taunt instead.
“Is that the best you've got?” I managed to squeeze out between my still clenched teeth. I shouldn't really be antagonising the nasty stinking creep in front of me, especially as I was still down on all fours spitting blood out of the side of my mouth, but I just can't help it. Call me a sucker for punishment, it's just how I work. Never let them see fear, that's my motto. So far, it's kind of worked.
Not so sure about that today though.
“Oh sweet Hunter, you think your witty repartee will distract me?”
Huh? Why do all the bad guys sound so freakishly prim and proper all of a sudden. Where's the good old, take that you bitch gone? I don't know about you, but I kind of like the simplicity of an evil bad guy dropping his h's and missing his t's. It just goes with the territory, ya know wot' I mean, luv?
And here comes the foot again, straight into my rib cage. I heard the crack this time, it sounded like a gun shot in the alley we were in. It reverberated around the brick walls on either side, or was that just inside my head? I couldn't tell, but breathing was suddenly a challenge. Oh God though, it hurt. And how did this upstart get the drop on me? I mean it all seemed so easy.
There he was, down the far end of the dark alley, against a dirty brick wall, like all good evil vampires should be, with his arm casually about the blonde's shoulders, looking into her eyes and mind fucking her, fangs down and glow on. It should have been a walk in the park, he was distracted, about to get his fill, no where to run, but somehow here I am on the ground struggl
ing to inhale and there he is with a cocky grimace and the upper hand. What the?
“They told me you were stronger than this, more clever too. Hmm, I guess they were wrong, my sweet. You are nothing but a little girl, playing Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Where is the big bad Hunter I have heard so much about, hmm? Where indeed.”
Where indeed sweetie? That's just what I was thinking. Not trying to be egotistical or anything, but usually my hunts go a hell of a lot better than this. And usually I don't have to battle more than one blood thirsty vampire in a night. This, however, is the third numbskull vamp to cross my path trying to feed off the innocent. I'd have to ask Michel about this influx of careless vampires, eating in such a public way, disregarding all of his rules when entering his city.
That's if I could get out of this little encounter alive. So far, the jury was still out on that one.
I rolled onto my back, feeling the wet muck of the alley seeping in through my light chiffon blouse. The stars were out tonight, no clouds in the sky from the earlier downpour, almost a Full Moon, but not quite. Old evil face was slowly stalking closer, if you could call it stalking. It's always more of a glide with the older vamps and this one was about 150 years, judging by the power level oozing off him like thick syrup. I could almost reach out and touch it, so thick and sweetly smelling. With a hint of rot underneath.
I had to stall him, get back on my feet. He had disarmed me as soon as I had approached; a simple flick of his wrist, a magical brush against my fingers and the stake was gone. It was now down the far end of the alley, by the entrance, where all of a sudden not a single soul was walking by. Go figure. Not that I'd want a Norm to get involved in this, but I did kind of feel alone right now. Even just the sound of late night “clubbers” would have been welcome, but no such luck.
Still, I haven't honed my skills over the past two years without arming myself with more than one weapon. I shifted slightly to my right, casually slipping my left arm into my belt at the top of my skirt, all the while making full eye contact with fang-face.
The Soothing Scent Of Earth (Elemental Awakening, Book 2) Page 28
