by Eliza Raine
The Immortality Trials
Skies of Olympus: Books 1, 2 & 3, Tides of Olympus: Books 4, 5 & 6
Eliza Raine
Contents
Book One
Hera
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Quote
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Quote
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Quote
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Book Two
Athena
Chapter 1
Quote
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Quote
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Book Three
Artemis
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Quote
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Quote
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Tides Of Olympus
Book Four
Apollo
Chapter 1
Quote
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Quote
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Book Five
Dionysus
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Quote
Chapter 8
Quote
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Book Six
Hephaestus
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Quote
Chapter 8
Quote
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Thank you
Copyright © 2018 by Eliza Raine
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Editors: Leonora Bulbeck, Anna Bowles
Cover: The Write Wrapping
For my husband. It’s my magnificent octopus!
Hera
Skies of Olympus
Book One
1
A silence fell over the crowded cargo deck as the last side of the wooden crate was crowbarred loose. Not a comfortable silence, or an amazed silence, but an unpleasant silence. The type that is never followed by anything good. Captain Lyssa of the Alastor stared, tight-lipped, as a being she had never seen before swam gently in wide circles around the tank that had been inside the crate.
It was the same size as a human, with a torso and head that was humanoid. It had no legs though, and Lyssa frowned at the tail-like limb that was there instead. The whole body and face were covered in iridescent white scales that glistened pale purple when the thin shafts of light fell on them. A brisk cough snapped her attention to the woman stood beyond the tank, the Lady Lamia.
‘I’m sorry, my lady. Can we just have a minute alone?’ Epizon said, stepping forward. The covered head he had addressed nodded curtly in response. Epizon turned and marched towards the maze of stacked crates filling the back of the ship’s hull. Lyssa walked quickly to keep up with him, his stride much longer than hers. As soon as they were out of earshot, she spoke.
‘Epizon, I know what you’re going to say, and it’s too late. We can’t afford to upset these people.’
Epizon spun to face her, his dark face set and angry. ‘Captain, our code isn’t much, but we’re not slavers!’ His deep voice rose as he spoke, and she glared at him. He looked down, taking a long breath, visibly containing his emotion. ‘Captain, we did not know there was a being in the cargo. We will not sell beings.’
‘She’s already here, with six Cyclops guards and the money. What exactly do you propose we do?’ Lyssa gestured back towards where the Lady Lamia stood, surrounded by the ugly beings. They were large, stupid creatures with one amber eye in the centre of their forehead, and sharp protrusions erupting all over their hairless skulls. A nervous-looking human boy stood behind her, holding an open box of silver drachmas.
‘You know exactly what I think we should do,’ he said, urgency in his low voice. ‘You can’t seriously be suggesting we hand this creature over to her. You’ve heard the rumours.’
Lyssa clenched her fists and looked back towards the Lady Lamia. The daughter of a god, and clearly not all human, she was famous in Olympus for her cruelty. Some of the rumours said she only ate living flesh. Lyssa’s nose scrunched up in revulsion at the thought. Her eyes flicked to the tank, and her stomach lurched. The creature’s huge green eyes were fixed on her. Even from a distance, they were piercing enough to unsettle her. This thing had been alone in the dark for weeks in the hull of the Alastor. Lyssa looked back at Epizon. Any moral turmoil she felt was magnified plainly on her first mate’s face. He looked at her beseechingly.
‘Of course not,’ she breathed, and Epizon’s tense stance relaxed. ‘But we really can’t afford to fight her. That’s why we to
ok this bloody job in the first place; she was paying well,’ Lyssa muttered. Her ‘ask no questions’ attitude suited the captain of a smugglers ship, but this wasn’t the first time it had landed her somewhere she didn’t want to be.
‘Don’t worry, Captain,’ her first mate said, his huge frame filling out as he stood taller. ‘Maybe we can reason with her.’
Lyssa snorted. ‘Ever the diplomat,’ she said, rolling her eyes. ‘The woman is rumoured to be a vampire demigod. The chances of getting out of this with no damage are slim to none.’
Epizon shrugged. ‘Cost of doing the right thing, Captain.’
‘If that cost ends up being our lives, it’s on you,’ she said, turning back towards the tank.
‘I can live with that. Besides, we’ve taken on worse things than her and her Cyclopes,’ he answered, starting towards the lady.
‘I’m more worried about the thing in the tank,’ Lyssa muttered, and followed after him.
Lyssa knew she didn’t look like much of a threat, a slightly shorter-than-average human woman whose only standout feature was her mass of flame-red hair. Epizon, on the other hand, was well over six foot, built like a Minotaur and had skin the colour of onyx. Remarkably, he was human too, though Lyssa was sure there must be some giant in his ancestry somewhere.
She shot another sideways glance at the tank being as they passed it. Its unnerving gaze was now, like everyone else’s on the deck, on Epizon. Their intention showed in the tension of Epizon’s walk, the way he seemed to grow as he approached. The guards simultaneously moved closer to the lady, protecting her on all sides.
‘Lady Lamia,’ Lyssa addressed her guest formally as they reached the tank.
‘Do we have a problem?’ The lady’s silky-smooth voice came from behind a dense black veil. The red shine of her eyes and lips was all that could be seen behind it. Her headdress and long gown glittered with gems and metals that were intricately woven into a blue fabric that looked like liquid when it moved. If you believed the rumours, the expensive and demure outfit was hiding a form nobody had ever laid eyes on. Lyssa wondered what kind of being she was. She couldn’t even tell how many limbs she had.
‘Yes, I’m afraid we do. You are aware, I think, that it is against code to trade in living beings. We were unaware of what was in the crate, and now that we do know, we’re not going to be able to complete this job.’ She tried to make eye contact through the veil and prayed that the rumours were exaggerated.
After a pause, the lady replied. ‘We’ve already paid you half of the fee. An exceptionally generous fee.’
‘Obviously, we will return the money.’
‘But wouldn’t you be out of pocket? You have been all the way to Leo and back.’
There was a movement under the gown, and the nervous boy stepped forward, holding out the box of silver. Now Lyssa could see him, she realised he was older than she had first thought. He was strong and fit, muscle packed across a lithe frame, and not at all bad to look at if she ignored the filthy shirt and torn black trousers. Light-brown hair was pushed back from a face that looked weather-worn, and his warm eyes sparkled with a defiance that belied his hesitant motions.
The lady spoke again, and Lyssa snapped her attention back to her. ‘A ship of this poor condition would benefit from all these drachmas, would it not?’ she asked softly.
The adrenaline Lyssa could feel flowing through her spiked, and she tensed involuntarily. She had felt Epizon do the same beside her. This was not going to end peacefully. Insulting a captain’s ship was a sure way of indicating that. The lady moved forward. She seemed to glide rather than step. The ugly guards all moved with her.
‘We will not trade with you, Lady Lamia,’ Lyssa repeated, holding her ground. She’d meant what she’d said to Epizon about not wanting a fight, but now it was coming, she couldn’t stop the excitement trickling through her body.
‘Captain Lyssa,’ the lady said quietly. ‘Relax. This is not a being as you or I know it. It requires nothing to live and cannot communicate. It is barely sentient. Think of it as purely decorative.’
Epizon growled almost imperceptibly beside her. The lady had touched a nerve. Lyssa looked over at the creature’s unsettlingly piercing green eyes, fixed on the blue-robed Lady Lamia. There was no way it was barely sentient.
‘All the same, it is against the code. We can’t help you.’ Lyssa’s voice betrayed her growing disgust.
The Lady Lamia let out a bark of laughter and glided back to where she had stood. This time her guards moved away from her, towards Lyssa and Epizon.
‘You really don’t have any choice, young lady. I am already here, as is my quarry. You cannot afford to fight this fight.’ Her voice was getting louder as she continued to glide backwards. The guards advanced. ‘I’m surprised you can afford anything, to be honest,’ she continued. Lyssa took a deep breath, trying to concentrate. ‘In fact,’ Lady Lamia said, now a safe distance from the imminent violence, ‘how do you afford this monster of a man?’ She gestured at Epizon. ‘How much do you want for him?’ She laughed again.
Epizon growled loudly this time and widened his stance. Lyssa moved a few feet away from him. Her skin was beginning to throb with energy, the muscles in her face and neck twitching as she tried to keep control of herself a little longer.
‘Do you know what lyssa means in the ancient language?’ she called out to the lady as she focused on the two guards now slowly turning in her direction. The other four continued on towards Epizon. Lyssa smiled and closed her eyes.
‘Of course I do. Though I don’t see the relevance,’ the lady replied dismissively.
‘It means “rage”,’ Lyssa said quietly, and let the coursing energy overcome her as she opened her eyes.
The throbbing in her skin became a steady flow of power that she could feel surging through every part of her body. As the first Cyclops put his head down to charge at her, she dropped to a crouch. The second he was within her reach, she launched herself upwards, her fist catching the creature in its low, bent cheek. A sickening thud preceded the creature’s wail, and he flew up and backwards into the air. Lyssa was aware of a roar from Epizon as she began to run towards the second guard. She found the confusion and indecision on his face grimly satisfying. He chose to stand his ground too late and had no time to brace himself for the kick she planted squarely under his chin. His face crumpled, and he sank slowly to the floor. Lyssa’s momentum took her over the top of his prostrate body, and she stumbled onto her hands and knees. She looked towards Lady Lamia and jumped to her feet when she couldn’t see her.
‘Lady Lamia’s back on her ship,’ a voice sounded in her head.
‘How the hell did she get there?’ Lyssa shouted, turning to the tank to check the being was still there.
‘Don’t know; don’t care. They’ve got serious weapons, Cap. Time to run,’ replied the voice.
The tank creature was hovering, showing no emotion, staring at Epizon. Lyssa followed its stare and was relieved to see that three of the Cyclopes lay dead or unconscious behind where he stood. The last danced around Epizon, head down, moving backwards and forwards jerkily, like a boxer. It had clearly reached its goal a few times with its sharp horns, as bright trickles of blood stood out on Epizon’s dark bare arms. He held them both out wide, goading the creature. It snarled and there was a loud pop. The beast crumpled to the floor, and a small whooping cheer came from high up somewhere in the shadows of the mass of stacked crates.
‘About bloody time!’ yelled Epizon. He turned to Lyssa. ‘We need to get out of here,’ he said.
‘I’m not taking these ugly brutes with me,’ Lyssa grunted, kicking one of the fallen guards.
‘Easy, Captain,’ said Epizon, his calm returning faster than hers. ‘Len, get off those boxes and get up on deck.’
The ship shook violently and they both fell. Lyssa cursed loudly as her leg scraped down one of the dead Cyclopes’ head spikes.
‘Shouldn’t have kicked it,’ called Epizon, al
ready back on his feet and running for the hauler at the back of the deck. The ship jerked sharply again, and there was another yell from the boxes.
