Tempted

  “Isadora’s voice. You heard Isadora.”

  “Yes,” Callia finished on a whisper. “Scared and alone and hurt. Casey, I’m starting to think I’m going crazy.”

  “Not crazy,” Casey said. “I heard her too. She was calling out to us.”

  “Where?” Theron asked, excitement reverberating in his words as he stepped up next to Casey. “Where is she?”

  They all knew this was the first real lead they’d had in over a week. Of course, Casey and Callia had tried repeatedly to use their link as the Horae to contact Isadora but nothing had happened, and the weaker they became the less likely they’d be any help. Now though, if there was a chance Isadora was reaching for them the way they were reaching for her…

  “I don’t know,” Callia said. “Before, when Atalanta had Max and we tried to find them, we had the Orb to direct our energy. And we were all three together. This time—”

  “This time we know more.” Casey squeezed Callia’s hands. “Touch and focus, remember? It’s how we each use our gifts. We direct that, and then we focus on Isadora.”

  “And if it backfires?”

  Callia was worried Atalanta would be able to see what they had planned again, like last time. The difference now was that they had nothing planned. They needed to find Isadora first. “Do we have another option?”

  Callia’s eyes held hers, darkened with understanding. “No.”

  “Thea,” Zander started, but his worried voice faded to nothing as Casey closed her eyes and homed in on Isadora.

  The Horae marking on her lower back began to pulse. The room spun and then she felt herself flying across space and time. Darkness pressed in, illuminated by tiny white lights all across the inky canvas like a thousand stars upon the heavens. She squeezed Callia’s hands tighter, felt her sister’s presence, and called out to Isadora with her mind. And was jolted by another sharp stab to the heart, this time stronger than the one that had propelled her out of bed.

  I thought you’d never hear me.

  Isadora. They’d reached her.

  The Fate said balance, but I didn’t really believe her. I’m just…I’m so happy I found you.

  Casey had no idea what Isadora was rambling about. She was just thankful her sister was still alive. We’ve been so worried, Isa.

  Are you all right? Callia asked. Where are you? Tell us how to get to you.

  I…I’m fine. Tired and weak but not hurt. I…I don’t know where I am. It’s cold here. And dark. And there are daemons everywhere. But neither of you can come for me. That’s what I needed most to tell you. Her voice hitched. It’s not about me anymore. Not even about us. It’s bigger than that. We can’t give Atalanta what she wants. Whatever you do, don’t follow Demetrius. Don’t let him bring you to me. He…

  The sob that caught in Isadora’s throat was too much for Casey. What did Demetrius do? Did he hurt you, Isa?

  Not physically, no. Isadora sniffled. He…he’s just not what everyone thinks.

  “Oh, gods, Gryphon was right,” Callia whispered.

  “Son of a bitch,” Theron muttered from somewhere close.

  Isa, think, Casey said. Has anyone said anything, anything at all, about where they’re holding you?

  No…nothing. I…I’m so sorry I’m not strong enough to get out of this on my own.

  We’ll find a way, Isa, Casey said, her own voice catching. Do you hear me? Whatever you do, don’t give up hope. We’ll—

  I have to go. Fear filled Isadora’s words. She’s looking for me. I don’t want her to know we’ve been in contact. I love you both. I wish we’d had more time. Remember what I said. Please don’t come for me.

  Isadora, wait. Callia’s fingers tightened against Casey’s.

  Isa?

  Silence.

  Casey’s lashes lifted and she looked into Callia’s worried eyes. But before she could turn and tell Theron what they’d discovered, the main door to their suite burst open and a member of the Executive Guard stumbled across the threshold.

  “What in Hades is the meaning of this?” Theron asked.

  “Sir.” The guard’s flustered eyes darted to Casey and Callia across the room. “My ladies, apologies.” His gaze swung back to Theron and excitement filled his voice when he said, “We’ve got him. He came across the portal not more than thirty minutes ago. We’ve got the bastard. And he was carrying this.”

  He opened his palm to reveal the earth element, a shining diamond marked with the Titan symbol, the likes of which Casey had never seen before.

  Callia gasped, and Zander moved in next to her for a better view. But what held Casey’s undivided attention wasn’t the gem or even the power she felt radiating from the guard’s hand. It was the knowledge Demetrius was back. And he was the only person in the world who could lead them to Isadora.

  ***

  “Where in the bloody hell is he?”

  Voices echoing down the dark staircase brought Demetrius’s head up. Slowly, he pushed up from where he’d been sitting on the cold floor, leaning back against the stone wall, every muscle in his body aching as he waited for freedom.

  The blackness inside rippled and rolled. When he got out of this blasted cell—after he found Isadora and brought her home—those fucking guards who’d tossed him in this hellhole were going to wish they’d never been born.

  Heavy boots clomped on the stairs. Keys jangled and an argument with several participants broke out. He strained to listen, but his ears were still ringing and the pounding in his head made it hard to concentrate. More than a week on that miserable island, without anything substantial to eat and no decent sleep, had taken its toll. He was weaker than he’d realized. He couldn’t call up a spell to spring the lock on these bars and he couldn’t even hold his own against four measly guards.

  Isadora. He had to get to Isadora. He had to keep it together long enough to find the others and…

  The cell door swung open. He looked up just in time to see Theron lunge for him.

  “You motherfucking son of a bitch!” Theron’s fist plowed into Demetrius’s jaw, slamming him against the wall.

  “Theron!” someone screamed.

  Stars fired off in Demetrius’s vision but he didn’t have time to defend himself. The leader of the Argonauts grabbed Demetrius by the arms as if he were nothing but a rag doll, pulled him forward, and slammed him back again. “Where is she?”

  “Theron, stop this right now!” Casey’s voice echoed in the room.

  Darkness edged Demetrius’s vision as Theron’s fingers dug into the meat of his arms, sending blinding pain ricocheting to his head.

  “Theron. Skata. He’s not going to tell you where she is if you kill him.”

  Demetrius’s gaze swung out and he saw Zander standing a good four feet back, looking as thin and weak as Demetrius felt. Then Casey, Theron’s bride, next to him, worry and fear awash on her face. Demetrius’s vision blurred but he shook his head to clear it, picked out Cerek and Phin behind her, and finally Titus standing outside the bars of the cell, watching the entire scene with a Man, you’re a dumbshit look in his hazel eyes.

  Two thoughts got through Demetrius’s fuzzy brain. One, Theron was ready to tear him to pieces. And two, no one was about to stop him.

  The guard’s superior voice echoed back through Demetrius’s mind and he realized in a rush they blamed him for Isadora’s disappearance. Hadn’t even once considered the fact there could be an alternate explanation.

  The blackness erupted inside him, bubbled up from the depths of his soul where he’d always known true evil lurked. These weren’t his friends, never really had been, and he’d been seriously mistaken if he thought they gave a rat’s ass about him. They’d never believe him if he told the truth. He could see that now in the deeply carved lines of Theron’s face, leaving Demetrius with an oh-so-fucking-clear picture of reality. His reality.

  “Where is she?” Theron asked again from between clenched teeth.

  Demetrius didn’t answer. Only stared at
the leader of the Argonauts and cleared his mind of everything. Everything they could use against him or twist into their own vile truths.

  “If you don’t tell me where she is right now—”

  “He’s not gonna tell you,” Titus said from outside the cell. “You’re wasting your time, Theron. He’s put up a block.”

  Fury erupted in Theron’s eyes. His fingers tightened around Demetrius’s arms. But it was Casey’s voice that stopped the guardian from ripping Demetrius’s limbs off.

  “Please, Demetrius,” she said in a weak voice. “Please just tell us where Isadora is.”

  His gaze strayed to Casey, and he saw then that the king’s half-breed daughter was pale and thin as well. As pale and thin as Isadora had been when he’d last seen her.

  “We saw where you live,” Theron said, dragging Demetrius’s attention back to his face. “We saw your little lookout room, you sick fuck. We know you’ve had this planned for a long-ass time. And thanks to what Gryphon told us about your materas, we now know why. If you want to live to ever see the sun again, you’d better tell us where she is right this minute.”

  They’d been to his flat. They’d seen his pictures. And they knew Atalanta was his mother. Oh yeah, they’d already tried and convicted him. He wasn’t getting out of this one.

  “Shit,” Titus muttered. “He knows where she is, but he’s not going to tell us.”

  Menace erupted over Theron’s face. “I ought to—”

  “Not if you ever want to see her again,” Demetrius finally said. Theron’s eyes went wide with rage, but Demetrius didn’t back down. “Now take your fucking hands off me.”

  The others must have read the fury on Theron’s face, because they each moved forward, ready to pull Theron back. But the leader of the Argonauts easily shook off their arms. He released his hold but he didn’t look away. “You sonofabitch no-good traitor. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

  Demetrius swiped at his bloody lip. “Not everything’s about you, Theron. The sooner you figure that out, the better off we’ll all be.” He looked at the others. “Titus is right. I do know where she is and I’m not going to tell you. I am, however, willing to make a deal.”

  “You’re not taking Acacia or Callia anywhere. And we don’t make deals with scumbag-sucking—”

  Demetrius shot Theron a scathing look. “I don’t need them. And you will deal if you want to save your soul mate’s life. I’m willing to take you to where Atalanta’s holding the princess, but once she’s free you’re going to do me a favor.”

  “You’re higher than a kite if you think we’re gonna release you after what you did.”

  “I don’t expect you to. I want something else.”

  Theron’s gaze jerked Titus’s way, but the other guardian shook his head. “I can’t read him. Your guess is as good as mine.”

  Theron’s gaze swung back to Demetrius. “And just what do you want?”

  “That, you’ll find out later.”

  Theron scoffed. “Why should we trust you? Not only are you a witch but you’re Atalanta’s son. And thanks to you, Gryphon’s gone. You could be leading us into a trap just like you did him.”

  Gone. Demetrius thought back to the way Gryphon had been on the island. Possessed. Which meant his soul was dead. Likely in Tartarus.

  Not his biggest problem now. He couldn’t do anything about it anyway. And considering everything else, the fact they knew he was part witch didn’t even matter. The only thing that mattered was getting to Isadora before it was too late. “I could be,” he answered with a shrug. “At this point, though, I’m the only option you’ve got. And contrary to what you think you know, things aren’t always what they seem.”

  Theron turned away in disgust, looked toward Casey. The half-breed’s eyes reflected worry, fear, and indecision. “Theron.”

  He glanced to the other Argonauts, none of whom seemed to know what the hell to do. And in the silence, Demetrius prayed they would take him up on his offer. He knew exactly where Atalanta was holding Isadora, and thanks to the vileness that lingered inside him he was the only one who could get to her.

  Theron turned to face him again and hatred brewed in his eyes when he said, “Fine. We’ll agree to your terms. But that’s where the hospitality ends. And you’d better pray we get to her in time, because if we don’t I’m going to enjoy ripping you apart with my bare hands. Titus?”

  “Yo.”

  “Get Orpheus over here. We’re gonna need him. And tell the SOB we found the traitor who got his brother killed. That ought to light a fire under his ass.”

  ***

  “It’s as cold as the fucking Arctic up here,” Phineus mumbled as he rubbed his hands together to ease the chill they all felt.

  “It pretty much is the Arctic, dumbass,” Titus said, shifting the toothpick in his mouth to the other side and stomping his boots in the thin layer of snow that covered the permafrost.

  From his spot on the other side of the old-growth trees they were all huddled under in the frigid forests of northern British Columbia, Demetrius watched the banter with keen eyes. Next to him, Cerek shot Phin and Titus a glare. “Stop your bitching. It’s better than Siberia any day of the damn week. Trust me, I know.”

  “Ladies,” Theron said as he studied the rough sketch of Atalanta’s compound that Max had put together for them. “If we’re done gossiping, I could use some focus here.”

  The boy had detailed the main lodge, the training yard, and the barracks with chilling accuracy, but luckily he hadn’t remembered just how to reach Atalanta’s stronghold. That, thankfully, had kept Demetrius in the loop and had made his presence necessary.

  They were half a mile away, hidden in the trees just outside the northern city of Fort Nelson. Moonlight cast looming shadows across the frozen forest floor. A slight breeze blew, rustling the evergreens in the dead of night. In addition to the Argonauts, Orpheus had agreed to join the raid, but he wasn’t listening to Theron or studying the schematics of the compound. No, his icy eyes were pinned on Demetrius and murder brewed in their dark depths.

  Get in line, shithead.

  Beneath the thin dark jacket he wore, that blackness inside Demetrius shifted. The closer they’d gotten to Atalanta and her daemons, the stronger it had grown, giving him the power and strength he’d been lacking. Until now it was all Demetrius could do to keep it at bay. But soon enough he’d let it free. If his plan went as he hoped, soon enough it would consume him. And Orpheus just might get that murder he so desperately sought.

  “Z?” Theron asked. “You ready?”

  Next to Demetrius, Zander scowled. “No. I’d rather kick some daemon ass.”

  Theron folded the map and stuck it in his back pocket. “Too bad. I’m not risking you in your condition.”

  “I can’t be—”

  “You can be hurt. And none of us have time to haul your ass out of there if things get rough, which I fully expect to happen.” His gaze swept each of the Argonauts and hovered on Orpheus. “Rescue mission only. We clear?”

  The guys nodded in agreement, all except Orpheus, who still had a death stare dialed in on Demetrius.

  Yeah, he deserved it, but a small space in Demetrius’s chest pinched with the realization he was now the outcast. Though he’d never truly fit in with the others, he’d been a part of something greater than himself for a short amount of time. Now? Now they all regarded him as the enemy. Which, ironically, he was.

  “O?” Theron asked.

  Orpheus tore his gaze from Demetrius and looked toward Theron. But something shimmered over his face before he turned, and for a split second his eyes shifted to a glowing green before hardening once more. “Yeah, I’m ready. Let’s do this.”

  The blackness inside Demetrius jumped to life, recognition sparking it into action. He hadn’t been sure before, but now he knew for certain. Orpheus was—

  “Zander,” Theron said, “you know what you have to do.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Zander mumbl
ed. “I’ve got it under control. He’s not going anywhere. Just don’t have too much fun without me.”

  Casting Demetrius a withering look, Theron turned and motioned the others to follow.

  The Argonauts disappeared into the trees, their path a circular loop in different directions around the property, out of sight of Atalanta’s sentries. Thanks to what Demetrius had told them and Max had confirmed, they were targeting the main house. But that wasn’t where Isadora was being held. Demetrius stared out over the barren brown field. Far off in the distance, he sensed Isadora was close to Atalanta, in her stronghold, where her powers were greatest and where no one could get to her but him.

  Zander shoved his hands into his pants pockets, jumped up and down a few times to ease the chill. “Fucking freezing out here.”

  The guardian was ticked he’d been relegated to baby-sitting detail, but Demetrius couldn’t have picked better. And even though Demetrius was cuffed and Theron had brought Delia in to cast some sort of spell on the cuffs before they’d left so Demetrius couldn’t use his magick to break free, he knew it was only a matter of time before opportunity presented itself. Now he just had to bide his time and wait.

  Footsteps pounded in the trees no more than thirty yards away, followed by muffled voices and grunts that definitely weren’t human. Or Argolean.

  “Skata.” Zander tugged Demetrius back into the darkness of the trees. With his hands bound behind him, Demetrius watched from the shadows as three daemons, obviously running patrol, emerged from the woods and crossed the barren field.

  Yes.

  “Fuckers,” Zander muttered when they were nearly across the field. “We’re lucky they didn’t see us.”

  Demetrius closed his eyes as a chant rose up in his mind. Calling on the magick that had been born into him, he reached out with an invisible limb, his power a dark mist curling along the ground until it reached the feet of the daemons, now more than a hundred yards away. Contact and pressure erupted in his hand. He imagined the mist wrapping around the ankle of the middle daemon and clamping down. Then he gathered his power and yanked.