TWISTED (Eternal Guardians Book 7)

  Blood splattered across her cheek. She shoved the blade deeper, making the monster howl. “I’ve already learned my lesson. And I’m not your mistress. Not anymore.”

  The satyr fell back onto the ground and coughed up blood. Nick kicked the weapon away from the beast and stalked toward Cynna. Grasping her around the waist while the battle raged on the other side of the small hill, he pulled her close and kissed her hard. “I couldn’t see you. Don’t scare me like that again.”

  She sagged when he released her. “I didn’t exactly have a choice. This fucker was about to gut a kid who has no business being out here.”

  Nick knew exactly who she was talking about. A youngling, no more than twelve, who’d been thrown into the battle by some asshole Nick wished he could find and throttle.

  “You won’t win this,” the satyr rasped from the ground.

  Nick glanced down. Blood seeped from the satyr’s wounds, pooled at the corners of his mouth, and stained his grotesque body.

  “They haven’t even started yet.” The beast coughed, and even more blood sputtered from his mouth. Then the motherfucker looked at Nick and grinned. “You’ll never be as strong as Zagreus. He’ll break you yet. And every single soul in this realm. He and Hades won’t be happy with just you. They’ll win. Wait and see.”

  The dark energy surged to the surface, coloring Nick’s vision red, and he lurched toward the satyr, but Cynna grasped his arm and pulled him back.

  “Don’t. He’s not worth it. Look.” She nodded toward the satyr, who sputtered one more time, then went still, his lifeless eyes staring up at the stars.

  But Nick didn’t care that the beast was dead. All he could focus on was the fact that the satyr was right. They were outnumbered, outmaneuvered, and as soon as those city gates gave, they wouldn’t be able to stop Hades’s and Zagreus’s armies from sweeping over the land.

  Cynna grasped Nick’s arms and turned him to face her. “He’s wrong. Do you hear me? You’re stronger than Zagreus; you always were. I know it. Hades knows it. Even Zagreus knows it. That’s why he hates you so much. Because you conquered the darkness, which is something he could never do.” Her hands tightened around his arms. “This isn’t over. We won’t let it be.”

  The clouds parted above, spilling moonlight over her face. And as Nick stared down at her, awe and love swept through him. She always knew exactly what he needed, sometimes even before he did, and he would forever draw courage from that. But she was wrong this time. This battle would be over in a matter of minutes the way it was heading.

  She picked up her blade and motioned him to follow her up the hill. Reluctantly, he did, but as they climbed to the top of the small ridge, part of him wished he could just give in to all the darkness so his people could use it to their advantage.

  They stopped at the crest, and his gaze swept over the battlefield. Bodies littered the ground. Blood and dirt stained hands and arms and legs and clothing. The clash of weapon against weapon echoed through the darkness. As did grunts, growls, and cries of agony. Of pain. Of death.

  “Look.” Cynna pointed toward Orpheus, swinging out with his blade, taking down a daemon, then a satyr, and finally another daemon as if they were nothing but paper dolls. “See? This isn’t finished.”

  No, but as Nick took it all in, he suddenly knew how it could be.

  A surge of energy, of hope rushed through him. “I can stop this.”

  Cynna looked over. “How?”

  “I need to find Skyla.” He scanned the battle once more, his feet already dragging him down the hill.

  “Nick. Wait.”

  He spotted the Siren, fifteen yards from Orpheus, lifting her bow and releasing an arrow dead center into a satyr’s chest. A daemon bared its fangs and lunged for her. Skyla lowered the bow with her left hand, reached for the dagger from her hip, and whirled, her blonde hair flying as she sliced the monster across the jugular.

  “Skyla!” Nick shoved a satyr to the ground, stabbed him through the heart with his sword, stepped over him and sliced out again, taking down another charging from his right. It was like swimming through a sea of bodies. Every time he’d get by one, another would appear. When he finally reached her, Skyla was as breathless as him. She kicked a dead satyr to the ground and swiped her bloody forearm across her brow.

  “I need you to get me to Olympus,” Nick told her.

  “Why?”

  “Because Zeus will know how to unleash my powers. I can’t do it on my own.”

  “What?” Cynna’s voice lifted at Nick’s back. Nick turned to her. Damp hair stuck to her temples, droplets of sweat slid down her neck, and her jacket was ripped at the shoulder and shredded along one side. But her eyes were wide and frightened. More scared than he’d ever seen them. “No.”

  “I have to go, Cynna. It’s the only way we stand a chance. We don’t have enough manpower. You said so yourself.”

  “What about Krónos?” Skyla asked. “If you release your powers, won’t that free him?”

  In theory, yeah. But Nick knew deep inside that wasn’t going to happen. Not this time. Because this was his choice. It wasn’t being forced upon him. He wasn’t breaking, he was accepting. “I can control it.”

  Skyla stared at him several seconds, her green eyes searching his features as if looking for truth. Abruptly, she swiveled away. “Orpheus!”

  Orpheus kicked the last of a group of daemons he’d been fighting. The beast growled and lunged forward. Ducking under the monster’s arm, Orpheus whirled around and stabbed the daemon through the back. The beast dropped to the ground. Orpheus glared down at the limp body. “I told you to stay down, motherfucker.”

  “Orpheus!” Skyla fought her way to her mate. Nick and Cynna followed. Orpheus looked up at the sound of Skyla’s voice, his expression instantly morphing to concern.

  He met her halfway, in a section of ground littered with bodies. The battle raged behind them, but they’d beaten back most of the monsters in this small area, and for the moment they could breathe.

  Orpheus grabbed Skyla by the forearm as soon as he reached her. “What’s wrong? What happened? Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Her fingers slid along his arm. “I’m taking Nick to Olympus.”

  “What?” Orpheus’s eyes widened, mimicking Cynna’s reaction. “No.”

  “He’s right,” Skyla told her mate. “It’s the only way. Nick has the power to stop this. He just has to be able to release it.”

  Orpheus’s gaze shot past Skyla and locked on Nick. “I’ll take him.”

  “No,” Skyla said.

  “I know the way as well as you, Siren. Zeus and Athena are still pissed you left the Siren order. You’re not safe on Olympus.”

  “Fuck Zeus,” Skyla snapped. “There’s no guarantee he’ll even help Nick, and if he doesn’t, we still need more fighters. Athena hates Zagreus more than she hates me right now. His satyrs have been screwing with the Sirens for years. I can rally my sisters, you can’t. Athena will agree to it. She won’t be able to pass up the opportunity to destroy Zagreus’s army, but only if I convince her.”

  Indecision crossed Orpheus’s face. Seconds ticked by in agonizing silence. Then his eyes darkened, and he grasped Skyla hard, pulling her against his chest. “You better fucking come back. Do you hear me? I’m not losing you to the gods again.”

  “I’ll be back.” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “I promise. I promise,” she said stronger.

  “This is a stupid plan,” Cynna said at Nick’s side. “Zeus will try to take your powers for himself.”

  “Well, he can’t have them.” He turned to her. “You were right. I can control it. I can control it, because you showed me how.”

  Her eyes softened. “I won’t let him break you.”

  “No, you won’t.” He sheathed his sword at his back. “Because you’re not going.”

  “What? Why not? You’ll need me there more than ev—”

  “You were right about something else, Cynna
.” Nick reached for her arms. “I am a leader, whether I want to be one or not. It’s who I am. I should have been with my people tonight instead of here, but I couldn’t go because I brought this nightmare to them. And because of that, I have to be the one to stop it. But I can’t be in two places at once. They still need someone strong to lead them. Someone who understands strategy and how the gods think. And I need it to be someone who’s not going to quit on them. No matter what. I need it to be you.”

  “I…” Her gaze darted around, then shot back to his face. “I’m not a half-breed.”

  “Race doesn’t matter. You know that. The measure of a person’s strength isn’t what they were born into but what they become. And you, Cynna. You’re the strongest person I know. You understand what it means to be a refugee. To be alone. That’s the definition of my people. That’s us.”

  She stared up at him in the moonlight. And slowly, tears filled her eyes. Tears he felt in his own eyes. “You’re not coming back, are you?”

  “I don’t know.” His heart squeezed so hard, pain echoed everywhere. “I don’t know what Zeus will do. But I have to try. I can’t stand back and watch everyone die because of me.”

  She rose to her toes and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, burying her face in his neck. And as he held her close, he knew in the pit of his soul that no matter how horrendous his time in Zagreus’s prison had been, he was thankful for all those months. Because if he hadn’t been there, if he hadn’t suffered, he wouldn’t have realized what he could become. And he never would have found her.

  “I love you,” she whispered against him. “I’ll love you across the ages. No matter where you go or what you do, I’ll love you always.”

  His heart swelled. He tipped her chin up, captured her lips, and kissed her with everything he had in him. “Only you, Cynna. I have only ever loved you. I will only love you.”

  “Nick,” Skyla said at his back. “We need to go.”

  Slowly, Cynna let go of him. But her eyes were red-rimmed and filled with tears when she lowered to her feet. And as Nick stepped back, he took a snapshot of her face and stored it in his mind. Because he knew no matter what happened, if he ever felt out of control or on the edge of insanity, all he had to do was focus on all the love swirling in her eyes at this moment, and he’d be saved.

  The way she’d always been able to save him.

  Cynna swiped the tears from her cheeks after Nick and Skyla flashed to Olympus. She had just enough time to pull in one shuddering breath before Orpheus screamed her name.

  She grasped her sword and looked up to see three daemons charging right for them, their horns glinting in the moonlight, their fangs dripping something vile.

  Orpheus stepped to the side, his weapon in his hand, urgency across his face. “Get the hell out of here. Get to the settlement like Nick wanted.”

  Cynna’s mind was a sea of confusing thoughts as Orpheus hollered at the monsters and took off at a run, drawing them away from her. Yes, she needed to save Nick’s people. Needed to do for him what he’d done for her. But as her gaze swept out over the battle, over satyr after satyr and daemon after daemon swinging weapons and clashing with Argonauts, Argoleans, and anyone who was willing to stand up and fight, defeat washed through her.

  She was one person. What could one person do in the middle of so much evil?

  And then, in a rush, she knew.

  Her gaze shot up to the hillsides, searching. He had to be close. He always liked to watch. And this—all this misery and death—this was everything he craved.

  She spotted Hades on a hilltop high above the city, watching the battle from a cluster of trees, his dark eyes fixated on the bloodletting below, his massive arms crossed over his chest. Her heart rate spiked, and she searched all around him for any sign of Zagreus, but she couldn’t find him.

  Panic gnawed at her spine as her gaze shot to the left of the battlefield, to the hills and trees on the opposite side of the small valley. He wasn’t there either. But she knew he had to be close. He had to be—

  Her eyes locked on him. Standing behind a tree, half his face shadowed in darkness. Staring directly at her.

  “What the hell are you looking for?” Orpheus yelled, slicing his blade through a satyr’s throat. “Get the fuck out of here!”

  Cynna swallowed hard. Didn’t move. Terror swept through her, but she beat it back. Because Nick was worth the sacrifice.

  Orpheus swiveled around to see what she was staring at, then muttered, “Fuck me.” He whirled back to face her. “Don’t even think about it, Cy—”

  Cynna closed her eyes and flashed to the hillside.

  Zagreus didn’t move a single muscle when she appeared. But he didn’t have to. She felt his fury raging across the distance between them.

  “So the coward flees, and you finally decide to come back to me,” he sneered.

  “Pull your army from this land.”

  The muscles around his dead eyes contracted. “And why would I do that? We’re about to win.”

  She took a step toward him, her heart pounding, her stomach swirling. “Because if you do, I’ll go back with you. Willingly.”

  Interest and desire flared in his eyes, telling her exactly what she’d hoped. He still wanted her. More than he wanted to win this war.

  “I won’t run,” she added. “I won’t run ever again.”

  He was on her so fast, she didn’t even see him move. His hands closed around her arms, like metal cuffs snapping shut. “You won’t run again, because I own you.”

  Pain spiraled down her spine, but she drew on every ounce of courage she had left. “You don’t own me. You never did. I was with you because I chose to be. And if you pull your armies from this land and agree not to return, I’ll choose to be with you again. But you’ll never break me. And you’ll never ever own me. Because my will is stronger than yours.”

  He stared hard into her eyes. And she knew he was searching for a way to prove to her she was wrong. But she wasn’t. And she wasn’t backing down.

  He released her and stepped back, a careless expression crossing his chiseled features. “I can’t stop what’s already begun.”

  “Yes, you can.” Cynna stumbled but righted herself before she went down. Lifting her chin, she glared at him. “But know this. If those city walls are breached, this offer is rescinded. I’ll fight to the death and take as many satyrs as I can with me along the way. And you’ll never have me again. You’ll never have what I’m willingly giving you here and now.”

  Fury filled his dead eyes, and he advanced on her once more. But she didn’t turn and run. She stood her ground. And hoped like hell this worked.

  Skyla grasped Nick’s arm, stopping him in the massive hallway of Zeus’s temple on Olympus. “Wait. What about Isadora?”

  Nick’s mind skipped back to his soul mate in Argolea being ushered into the caves with his people. That pull to her he always felt tugged on something in his chest, but he knew in the center of his soul that Isadora would tell him to do this if she were here. She loved her family, but she was a leader, like him. And though she might not have been able to sleep with him to save herself, she’d be the first to put her life on the line for her country.

  “I don’t know. I have to hope that Callia and everyone else were wrong and that she won’t die when this happens. But I do know if I don’t try, everyone dies.”

  Skyla’s gaze held his, then she nodded and released his arm. “Good luck.”

  “Good luck to you.”

  They parted ways. She heading to plead with Athena for the Sirens’ help in the battle, he to find Zeus and demand he become a god.

  Holy…fuck. There was something he never thought he’d want. Ever.

  He stopped in front of a set of massive gold double doors with Zeus’s legendary lightning bolt carved into the sleek surface. Drawing one deep breath, he braced his hands against the cool metal, pushed both doors open, and stepped inside a circular room with a marble dome, columns that ros
e to an elaborately painted ceiling, and gold-plated everything.

  A god he instantly recognized as Poseidon lounged on a plush purple sofa with gold trim in the middle of the room, his surfer-blond hair falling in his eyes, his massive body stretched out across the piece of furniture, making it look tiny. Across the room, where he stood with his hands clasped behind his back as he stared out at the view far below, Zeus turned his head.

  “Nikomedes,” Zeus said in a low, commanding voice. But then, being the King of the Gods, of course he was commanding. He was the big shit here and everywhere. “I see you brought the traitor with you.”

  Nick’s spine stiffened at the use of his full given name. “Skyla’s no traitor. She just didn’t want to be part of all this anymore. Free will. Isn’t that why you’re so fascinated with humanity?”

  Zeus turned to fully face him. “She left the Sirens and betrayed me.”

  “She left for love. You, of all people, should be able to understand that choice. You fall in love every other damn day.”

  “Ah, he’s got you there,” Poseidon quipped from the couch.

  Zeus didn’t respond. Just clenched his jaw, moved to a desk across the room, and leaned back against the white marble surface. “So you want me to unleash your god powers so you can save your people.”

  Of course he already knew. He was Zeus, the king of fucking everything.

  “Yes,” Nick said.

  “Pretty ballsy,” Poseidon muttered. “What’s stopping us from smiting you and just taking those pretty powers?”

  Nick glanced to his right toward the god—his brother.

  And wow, wasn’t that just totally fucking wicked?

  “Because you can’t.” Strength and understanding surged in Nick’s veins. Of course they couldn’t take them. If they could, they’d have tried long ago. Hades and his son had just been too stupid and greedy to accept reality. “I’m as strong as both of you. Maybe more, because what I have came directly from our father. And because I’ve already learned how to control it.”

  Poseidon glanced toward Zeus. The two exchanged silent words, then Zeus focused on Nick once more. “It wasn’t the act of becoming a god that killed the soul mates of the three Argonauts I offered immortality. It was their selfish choice for power. That desire tipped the scales away from the balance between the heart and the soul. Everything in our world is about balance, but something tells me you already know that. Your coming here to Olympus for selfless reasons proves your worthiness. We’ll help you unleash your immortality to defeat Hades and Zagreus, but if we do so, you owe us a favor.”