Cynna looked from face to face, searching for someone familiar, finding nothing but strangers. “Who are all these people?”
“Refugees,” Delia answered, moving forward and pulling Cynna along with her. “The coven is helping to get them settled.”
“Refugees from where?”
“The human realm. They’re Misos. From the half-breed colony.” When Cynna’s brow dropped, Delia added, “Half-Argolean, half-human.”
“I know what half-breeds are,” Cynna said, trying to keep the irritation from her voice. “How did they get here?”
“The queen brought them.”
“What?” Cynna stopped and faced her mother’s oldest friend.
Delia’s expression turned sad. “Hades and his son attacked the Misos colony, and the queen and the Argonauts brought them here for safekeeping.”
“Here?” Cynna looked around, disbelief swirling in her chest. “To our home?”
“It wasn’t much of a home of late. You’ve been gone so long, you couldn’t know. The settlement has been empty and cold for years. Originally, the queen was housing the refugees in the castle in Tiyrns. But there were too many, and the Council… Well…” Delia sighed. “The Council made it clear they did not want the Misos wandering around the capital. She contacted me for advice. I suggested the Kyrenia settlement. So they were relocated here.”
Just the fact that Delia, of all people, would allow the queen to use their home as a prison flared the fires of Cynna’s anger right back to life.
“Banished, you mean,” Cynna ground out. Yeah, that made sense. Of course the queen would lock away anyone who was different so they didn’t infect her perfect Argolean society. But Cynna had no idea why she’d even bother to bring the Misos here from the human realm in the first place.
“Not banished,” Delia said, her sharp voice drawing Cynna’s gaze. “Saved. Did you not see the guards at the gates? Those were castle guards, pulled from the monarchy’s personal detail.”
“Yeah, I saw them. Chosen, obviously, to keep the Misos locked in.”
“No, Cynna. To keep the Council and their spies out.” Delia’s eyes narrowed. “Has your heart been hardened so much that you cannot see what’s right in front of you? Look around, child. Look at these people. Do they look like prisoners to you?”
Cynna glanced back over the faces. Smiling, laughing faces. And even though she didn’t want to believe it, even she could see these people seemed content. Not miserable as she and everyone else who’d lived in Zagreus’s realm had been. Not bitter and broken. Yes, some walked with crutches, others had ugly scars from what she knew were battles past, but no one seemed on edge. No one looked afraid. No one around her appeared anything but calm and relaxed and, yes, even happy.
Her skin grew cold and clammy. An odd tingle built in her chest. She glanced around again, only to realize…
She turned back to Delia. “You said they’re Misos? From which colony?”
“The one in Montana. Why?”
Nick’s colony. Cynna’s gaze skipped back over the faces even as her mind tumbled with visions of Nick standing in that burned and broken courtyard, seeing nothing but death around him. These were Nick’s people. Healthy. Whole. Alive.
That tingle turned to a warmth that flared all around her heart, making it beat faster. She needed to tell him. He thought everyone was dead. But as soon as the thought hit, reality slammed back into her.
He didn’t need her to tell him anything. The queen would undoubtedly fill him in on all he needed to know. Now that he was with his soul mate, there wasn’t a single thing he needed from Cynna.
That warmth died out, leaving behind cold, barren cinders, much like the ones she’d stared at in Zagreus’s massive fireplace. Only then, she’d been smart enough to protect her heart. At some point since then, she’d dropped her guard, and now she wasn’t just struggling with emotions she didn’t want to feel. Now she knew what it meant to truly be alone.
She swallowed hard, only that ache in her chest wouldn’t go away. And dammit, she didn’t need this now. Not when she didn’t have a clue what in the hell she was going to do next.
“Cynna?”
Delia’s voice wafted through the cool air, and Cynna glanced in her direction, only to realize she was still standing in the middle of the courtyard making a fool of herself. Giving her head a mental shake, she told herself to snap out of it. “I—I need somewhere to stay.”
Delia’s expression softened. “You’re always welcome with us, child. The coven has a house here in Kyrenia we use whenever one of us is visiting. Consider it yours. Call me selfish, but I’m hoping you’ll decide to stay permanently.”
Cynna wasn’t ready to commit to anything just yet, but a place where no one could find her sounded just about perfect at the moment. “Thank you. I appreciate it. I—”
“Cynna.”
The sound of Nick’s voice drew Cynna around, and her eyes flew wide as she watched him stalk in her direction across the courtyard. How in Hades had he found her? How had he gotten through the gates? She hadn’t even heard the damn things open. And why the hell was he here tormenting her?
She whipped back to Delia and wrapped her hand around the witch’s wrist. “Take me there. Now.”
“But—”
“Now.” When Delia’s gaze snapped to Nick, Cynna tightened her grip. “I don’t want to talk to him.”
Indecision crossed Delia’s face. Behind Cynna, someone said, “Nick? Oh my gods, is that…?”
“Look, everyone, it’s Nick!”
Voices drifted. Footsteps sounded. From the corner of her eye, Cynna saw a group suddenly swarming around Nick, slowing his pace. But his gaze was still locked on her, and though Cynna didn’t know what the heck he wanted from her, she didn’t care. She didn’t want to hear any more about his soul mate or talk about what had happened to her family or rehash what was obviously finished between them. She just wanted a moment of peace.
“Please,” she pleaded to Delia.
Delia’s eyes darkened. Then she nodded once. “Yes.”
Energy buzzed around Cynna as they flashed, and she felt herself flying. When she opened her eyes, she was standing on the porch of a two-story home that looked as if it had just been built.
“Come inside.” Delia released Cynna’s arm and pushed the front door open. “It’s cold out here.”
An entryway opened to a combo living-dining area. Stairs ran up to the second floor on the right, and a hallway led toward the back of the house. The room to her left was sparsely furnished with a couch, two side chairs, a fireplace, and an old wood dining table that looked like it sat at least six. There were no pictures hanging on the walls, no artwork, nothing to signify anyone lived here permanently.
Which was just fine with Cynna. She didn’t need anyone’s memories right now, including her own.
“Is it empty?” She moved into the living area and pressed her hand along the back of the soft brown couch. Exhaustion pulled at her, and she realized how tired she was after everything that had happened.
“Yes.” Delia headed down the hallway that opened to a kitchen, breakfast nook, and another gathering room. “I was here wrapping up a few things and was planning to go back to the coven tonight. But if you’re here, I might just stay. Are you hungry, child?”
Cynna’s stomach growled at just the mention of food, and she tried to remember the last time she’d had a meal. She hadn’t eaten that night she’d had dinner with Zagreus and Lykos. Hadn’t eaten anything when she’d been running in the jungle with Nick because she’d been injured. Hadn’t even looked for food at the colony. And then they’d come to Argolea and met Nick’s soul mate and…
That pressure returned to her chest all over again, and she forced herself to breathe through the pain. She wasn’t going to think about Nick and the queen. Wasn’t going to think about anything.
Her stomach rumbled again, and she tugged off her jacket and laid it over a chair, then pushed her legs
forward to follow Delia. “Yeah. I am. I—”
“Cynna.”
Shock rippled through her once more, and she whipped around at the sound of the familiar voice. Nick stood in the middle of the living room, staring at her with those hard, determined amber eyes.
Hunger was washed away on a wave of heartbreak that had no place inside her and was followed by a quick burst of anger. “Godsdammit!”
“We’re not done, female.”
“Oh, we’re way past done.” He’d obviously used his newfound powers not only to track her and flash through solid walls, but to seriously piss her off. She pointed toward the door at his back. “Just go back to your soul mate and leave me the hell alone.”
“Cynna?” Delia called. “For gods’ sake, who are you yelling at? I can hear you a—”
Delia drew to a stop in the hallway, her gaze resting on Nick. Cynna had no idea if the witch could tell who—or what—he really was, but her guess was yes. As one of the eldest in the coven, Delia had the ability to see more than others.
A little of Cynna’s anger ebbed. No way Delia would allow Krónos’s son anywhere in her home. She had powers. Strong ones. Stronger than Nick’s right now. She could banish him from the settlement and cast a spell to keep him out.
Cynna crossed her arms over her chest, feeling smug and, dammit, oddly depressed. Which was an asinine thing to feel for a man she’d tortured, abused, and who had no reason to want to be anywhere near her. Why the hell did she even care? His soul mate was—
“I suddenly remembered a meeting I’m due to attend,” Delia announced. She turned toward Cynna and pulled her in for a quick hug. In Cynna’s ear, she whispered, “You need to deal with this, child.”
Cynna’s mouth fell open. No. She had to have heard Delia wrong. She wasn’t just going to leave her with this. “But—”
“I’ll find you later.” The witch released her, and in a flash she was gone, her powers strong enough for her to flash through walls, just like Nick.
“Cynna.” Nick shot her a hard look. “We need to talk.”
All that anger, humiliation, and betrayal Cynna had felt in the castle when she’d faced Isadora came raging back. She had to get out. Had to get away before she said or did something she’d regret. She moved around Nick and marched for the door. “The hell we do.”
The lock flipped shut just as her hand closed around the door handle. Startled, she looked down, tried to unlock it, but the mechanism wouldn’t budge. Temper flaring, she turned for the window. The shutters snapped closed with a deafening clack, darkening the room.
She whirled on Nick, that anger flaring to full-on fury. “Stop using your damn god powers and let me out.”
“Not until you tell me what Isadora did to your family.”
His calm, even tone was so infuriating, it was all she could take. “You want to know what she did?” she snapped. “Nothing. She did nothing.”
“Then why—”
“She knew her father approved the Council’s attack on this settlement. She sat back while hundreds—no, thousands—of people were slaughtered because they were different. There weren’t just witches living here. There were all races, all types of people from all over the land who’d congregated here to avoid the Council’s persecution. And she watched while the Council’s soldiers not only murdered and raped, but razed this city to the ground. It might look different now. It might be rebuilt, but I remember. I remember my parents lying dead in the street. I remember the fires and the screams. I remember Delia grabbing me and making me run. I remember everything that your soul mate didn’t do to stop the massacre.”
His features softened, and he stepped toward her. “Cynna…”
She swatted his hand away before he could touch her and moved back. “No, don’t.”
Her skin was vibrating, her emotions raw and unguarded. And now that she’d spoken, she couldn’t get the images out of her head. Images that were a thousand times worse than those she’d seen at his colony, because they’d been of her people. Her family. But though she hurt, she relished the pain because it fed the rage inside her. The rage that kept her focused and reminded her…revenge was the only thing that mattered.
“Cynna.” His voice was calm—too calm—as he moved another step closer. “You don’t know what it was like for her. The hold her father had on her. She couldn’t have stopped it if she wanted to.”
“Oh, that’s bullshit.” Cynna moved back another step. “She could have stopped it. She could have stepped in. She chose to sit back and do nothing while people suffered.”
The way you sat back and watched Nick suffer?
A wave of heat washed over her, making her skin prickle. That was different, she told herself. What she’d done, she’d done for a reason. For restitution. For payback. For—
For your own personal gain. Just like her.
Her stomach tossed, and the air seemed to clog in her lungs. She wasn’t like Isadora. She couldn’t be. She—
“It was wrong,” Nick whispered, his warm breath fanning her cheek, making her blink several times. Somehow she’d backed herself against the wall, and he now stood only inches away, one hand braced near her head, the fingers of his other hand running softly down her cheek to make her tremble. “What the king and the Council did to your people was wrong. But it wasn’t her. She wasn’t in power then. She was timid, shy, not at all like she is now. No one would ever have listened to her. If she’d known what was happening here, she wouldn’t have been able to stop it.”
A hot ball formed in Cynna’s throat, one that made it hard to swallow. She glared up at him. “She’s your soul mate. Of course you’d take her side.”
Why was he standing so close? Why was he touching her? Why the hell was he even here when his soul mate was back at the castle, just waiting for him?
She shoved aside the jealousy and swiped his hand away. “Go back to her and leave me alone. I’m not the one you want, and we both know it.”
She twisted to get away from him, but he caught her around the waist and pushed her back against the wall. “That’s where you’re wrong. I don’t want her. I need you.”
Cynna stilled and knew he had to be lying because…no one needed her. No one ever had.
“You’re a fucking liar.”
“It’s not a lie.” His arm tightened around her waist, and his body pressed fully into hers—his chest grazing her breasts, his thigh pushing between both of hers, his erection—oh gods, his heavenly, hard erection—nestling against her hip. “You keep me centered. You have from the start. How do you think I got through every sick thing Zagreus subjected me to? Because you were there. Because no matter what was happening to me, I could look at you and think about you, and not focus on the pain. If not for you, I’d have lost it long ago. Zagreus would control me, Krónos would be free, the gods would be at war, and the human world would be consumed by the apocalypse. You stopped it all from happening. You give me the strength to fight back.”
Cynna’s heart pounded hard, and her skin tingled with a heat she couldn’t hold back. She braced her hands on his shoulders and tried to push him away, but he was an immovable force, and he wasn’t letting her go. “You lie.”
“Why would I lie? What do I get out of lying about this? I need you, Cynna, not her. I have for a long fucking time.”
Her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt, and her breaths came fast and shallow. But she was no longer sure if she was trying to push him away or pull him in closer. And her gift, the ability she’d always had to tell lie from truth, was screaming she was wrong. He believed what he was saying. Believed it as he believed nothing else.
She tried to be disgusted. Knew that was the logical reaction. But she wasn’t. She was intrigued. And, dammit, incredibly excited. “That’s…sick.”
“Not to me. To me it’s the only thing that feels right. You’re the only thing that feels right.”
His mouth was so close, his breath hot and minty, and everywhere he touched h
er, even through the fabric forming a barrier between them, her skin tingled. She needed to get away from him. Couldn’t think when he was close like this. But the thought of letting him go back to her…
Her fingers tightened even more in his shirt, and she dragged him an inch closer. Electricity arced between them, like a firecracker about to explode. “I don’t need you. I don’t even want you.”
“Now we both know who’s lying,” he whispered.
His head lowered to hers. She sucked in one breath and lifted to meet him. His lips parted at the first touch, and she licked into his mouth, their tongues tangling in a fiery kiss that rocketed through every cell. He pushed her harder into the wall while he devoured her mouth, while she devoured his right back. His erection stabbed into her belly. Desire roared in her veins. Wrapping her leg around his hip, desperate to feel the friction of his cock rubbing against her mound, she clawed at his shirt, needing skin. Needing heat. Needing him.
“Cynna…”
“Don’t talk.” She nipped at his bottom lip hard enough to make him wince. He drew his head back. She braced her hands against his chest and pushed hard. “Don’t say a word.”
He stumbled back a step and stared at her, his face flushed with arousal, his eyes as dark as she’d ever seen them. And somewhere in the back of her brain, a little voice screamed she needed to walk away, needed to run if she had any hope of saving herself. He might believe the things he’d said, might want her right now because of what had happened between them, but eventually, that soul mate bond would win out, and Cynna would end up heartbroken and alone.
But she didn’t listen. She couldn’t. Because every ounce of anger and longing and frustration and hurt was swirling inside her, making her see red, making her body tremble, making her want to prove to him—and maybe to her—that she was more real than his soul mate could ever be.