East of Ecstasy (Hearts of the Anemo)
Megan glanced up at Owen. After a moment, her expression dropped into concern, then fear. “They show bad stuff happening. Don’t they?”
“Yes,” Aeolus said, gently. “We are at war.” A sort of communal grief hung over them, as if it was the air they all breathed. Boreas’s death was too fresh for any of them to contemplate losing someone else. Yet both Laney’s last vision and Anna’s painting depicted something happening to at least one of them.
Owen wrapped his arms around Megan and pulled her back against his chest. He kissed her cheek and wished he could make all this go away for her.
Just then Laney touched her fingers to the corner of the top canvas, sucked in a sharp breath, and her blue eyes went glassy, distant. Aw, Hades. Not again. Not more.
Chrys was at her side in an instant. Thirty seconds passed. A minute. More. Owen hadn’t yet spent that much time with Laney, but in the time he had he’d never seen a vision go on this long. She staggered and Chrys caught her against his chest.
“Are you okay, Laney?” Chrys asked, gold light flaring from behind concerned eyes.
Forehead against Chrys’s sternum, she nodded, her shoulders rising and falling in a deep breath. “It was, um, confusing. Like a battle, but in the sky?” She looked up at Chrys and her voice gained strength. “All of you were there and you were fighting…some kind of horrible black creatures.” She turned toward Zephyros. “And Devlin threw Zeph through the sky.”
“Fucking hell, I knew it,” Zeph said, gathering Ella into his arms and glaring at Aeolus.
Megan gasped and Owen’s gut dropped to the floor. “Put that together with Laney’s earlier vision and the, uh, painting and it doesn’t look good. But…something’s not adding up here.” His instincts had been leaning hard in favor of Devlin’s trustworthiness. But then what did this vision mean?
Chrys rubbed Laney’s shoulders. “Anything else?”
She shook her head. “It was all a jumble.”
Arms crossed, scowl on his face, Seth positioned himself next to Chrys and Laney as if anything that came at them would have to go through him. What’s up with Laney’s friend? Owen asked the other gods.
Chrys met Owen’s gaze. He’s always been very protective of Laney, but it’s escalated since he arrived in the Realm of the Gods. Aeolus thinks it’s because he’s got a griffin somewhere way back in his bloodlines and being here is bringing out the protective qualities even more. It’s cool.
Owen hoped he was right, because they so did not need something else to worry about.
Wait. A griffin…as in head of an eagle, body of a lion? That kind of griffin? Zeph asked, exchanging glances with Owen. Chrys gave a single nod, and Zeph scrubbed his hands over his face. Day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.
Amen to that, brother, Chrys said.
Why not just take him home at this point? Owen asked. The only reason Tabitha hadn’t been sent home was that they’d decided the location, right next to Owen’s house where the battle had raged, was way too hot. And they didn’t want to put her in the position of having to answer questions from the authorities. None of that was an issue for Seth, however, because he and Laney lived several hours from Owen on the eastern shore of Maryland.
Laney asked if he could stay ’til this was over, Chrys said. Besides, right now I don’t mind having someone else looking out for her, you know?
Owen gave a subtle nod and pressed a kiss to Megan’s hair. He understood that perfectly.
He’s nice, Ella added, reminding Owen that her divinity made her able to communicate telepathically, too. He’d first met her as a human, and she’d only been a goddess for six months. Sometimes Owen still forgot. You just have to get to know him.
Megan turned in Owen’s arms and frowned. “You guys are doing that thing again, aren’t you? I really hate being excluded from your conversations. I need to know what’s going on with all this”—she waved her hand to indicate the paintings and the group—“as much as all of you. Laney, too.” She nodded toward the black-haired woman.
Regret and concern kicked Owen in the butt. “Aw, I’m sorry, angel,” he said, rubbing her arms. His gaze dropped to her rounded belly between them. “Just don’t want to upset you.”
The anger ebbed from her blue eyes. “It’s more upsetting to be in the dark. Okay?” Owen nodded. “So, what are the other paintings?”
Aeolus ticked off a description of each of the seven images on his fingers. Sadness filled the room when he mentioned the painting of Boreas’s death, and the tension got even heavier when he described that one indicated the injury of one of the dark-haired men among them.
No one spoke for a long moment, and then Laney quietly said, “I’d like to meet Anna if I could. Some of our visions seem to be different pieces of the same picture. Maybe if she and I put our heads together, we could figure out more about what some of my visions and her paintings mean.”
“She and Devlin will be here tomorrow,” Aeolus said.
“Wait. What?” Ella said, concern furrowing her brow. “Devlin’s coming here? When he poses a potential threat to Zeph?”
“Don’t worry, love,” Zeph said. “Nothing’s going to happen while we’re all together here. Okay?”
“I don’t like it, Zeph. If he is really on his father’s side…” Her gaze dropped to the floor.
Aeolus held out a hand demanding silence. He tilted his head as if listening to something they couldn’t hear. “We’ve got company. And maybe a little good news, too. Iris is here. Zephyros,” Aeolus said as he nodded for Zeph to join him. They broke from the group and walked toward a dais at the front of the room.
Owen took Megan by the hand and pressed her knuckles to his lips. “I’m sorry, angel.”
“It’s okay. I didn’t mean to overreact.”
He laced his fingers between hers and squeezed. “You didn’t. At all. You have every right to know what’s going on.”
The group gathered to the side of the dais while Aeolus and Zephyros waited in front of the steps. Owen sensed the energy enter Aeolus’s house one moment, and the next a woman with long pale-blond hair with soft blue highlights appeared in front of them. She wore a shimmery gown that changed colors, and sparkles of light glittered around her when she moved.
She bent in a graceful curtsy to Aeolus. “My lords,” she said, her voice almost musical.
“Iris, welcome,” Aeolus said.
Iris rose and smiled. “Zephyros,” she said. “It’s very nice to see you. You look well.”
“Iris,” Zeph said with a nod, and waved Ella over. “That’s because of this woman. I’d like you to meet my wife, Ella. Ella, this is Iris.”
Owen braced for awkwardness, but he needn’t have. From what Owen knew, Ella was aware of Zeph’s prior relationships and, anyway, they were all eons ago. And Iris was all big smiles and warm congratulations on their marriage. Aeolus introduced everyone else, ending with Owen and Megan.
Iris bowed her head. “I congratulate you on ascending to Cardinal Anemoi of the North Wind, Owen, and extend my deepest sympathies for your father’s loss.”
“Thank you,” Owen said, putting his arm around Megan. “This is my wife, Megan.”
Smiling, Iris glanced from Megan’s face to her belly. “And your newest son or daughter, too. Very pleased to meet you, Megan.” Suddenly, Iris frowned and peered around behind her. “I’m sorry, but I keep having the weirdest feeling…”
“That’s why I asked if we could meet. Come see,” Zephyros said, nodding her in the direction of the stack of paintings. “We seem to have stumbled onto a descendant of yours. A woman.”
Iris’s breath caught and she slowed as she approached the canvases. Her sky-blue eyes went wide and she reached out a hand. She whirled on Zeph, a shower of colored sparkles flying off in the wake of her movement. “Is she here?”
“No, but she will be tomorrow.”
Iris covered her hand with her mouth and her eyes went glassy. She appeared completely overwhelmed by thi
s news. Owen exchanged a glance with Megan and then Chrys, and their expressions reflected the same curiosity and anticipation he felt.
“I’ve met her, though,” Zeph said, waving a hand. “Several of us have. And we watched her paint the one on top. That’s how I knew she was yours.” Zeph smiled. “She has your energy and she looks like you.”
“I want to meet her,” she whispered.
“Of course,” Aeolus said, stepping closer. “And we were hoping you might be able to tell us who else’s divine energy she possesses. There was another present, but none of us recognized it.”
It was as if shutters dropped down over her expression. A careful, practiced neutral mask that gave nothing away. Her reticence shot wariness through Owen’s blood. What wasn’t she telling them? And why?
Iris turned to Aeolus. “When will she arrive tomorrow?”
“In the afternoon,” Aeolus said.
“I’ll return then.” With a bow of her head, she disappeared in a ripple of multicolored light.
“Well, that was…interesting,” Chrys said to a round of murmured agreements.
“Who could it be that would make her so leery of telling?” Zeph asked. “And how worried should we be about what powers Anna might possess until we get it out of her?” The question hung in the air. Just one more thing for them to worry about.
Fifteen minutes later, Owen and Megan had checked in on a sleeping Teddy and crawled into bed. Megan laid her head on Owen’s shoulder and wrapped her arm across his chest. “Owen?”
“Yeah, angel?” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, loving the way she felt snuggled against him.
Her head shifted, like she was looking up at his face. “What if that painting depicts you?” Her voice cracked. “What if you’re the one—”
“Hey, shh. No.” He shifted to look her straight in the eye. “I’m not going anywhere. This is going to end soon. And we’re going to find a new house for our two beautiful children. Everything will be fine. Okay?”
Tears spilled from the corners of her eyes. “Promise?”
Owen kissed her, a slow, gentle slide of lips. “Yes,” he said. “I promise.”
And though a niggle of fear planted itself in the back of his brain, Owen refused to believe anything else. Nothing was taking him away from Megan. Ever.
…
Devlin had stayed in the shower long enough that when he came out, Anna had already fallen asleep. Light on and book in limp hand, it appeared she’d tried to wait for him, but it was better this way. Because he was walking a very fine line around her—between wanting her and rejecting her out of fear, between claiming her and protecting her from everything, including himself. He felt like a man straddling an ever-widening chasm. Pretty soon he was going to have to pick a side or risk falling down into the pitch-black abyss. But her being asleep gave him a reprieve, some time to get his head on straight where she was concerned. Assuming such a thing was even possible.
Carefully, he eased the book from her grip and laid it on the nightstand, then pulled the blanket up to cover her. Glancing across the bed, he noticed that the covers had been turned down, as if…as if she’d planned to invite him to sleep there. Devlin blinked, and sure enough he wasn’t imagining things. They hadn’t even gotten as far as talking about sleeping arrangements. But it didn’t matter. That wasn’t why he was here tonight, anyway.
He was here to protect her, defend her, make sure she stayed safe.
’Bout damn time he remembered that and focused on the job at hand.
Devlin clicked off the lamp, but something made him stay close to her another moment. Gods, he was in so much trouble with this little human, wasn’t he? Giving in to the urge, he leaned down and lightly pressed his lips to her forehead. And then he flashed into the elements and went outside to see exactly who Aeolus had sent to guard them.
This should be fun. No doubt these gods were thrilled to be guarding Devlin.
Outside, he immediately sensed six energy signatures forming a periphery around the property. He flew toward the strongest among them, and knew this wouldn’t be a walk in the park for a whole host of reasons.
Skiron, he said, addressing the Ordinal Anemoi of the Northwest Wind. The god had reasons to hate the East thrice over. First, because Skiron had been passed over as Zephyros’s successor because of Eurus’s demand back in the spring that Alastor be so named. Second, because Skiron was Zephyros’s most loyal servant. And third, because Skiron had also served the North Wind, whom Devlin’s father had just murdered.
Devlin, he replied, his icy tone communicating pretty much what Devlin expected.
Yeah, this was going to be real fun. Thank you for being here, Devlin said, trying to make nice.
Just doing what I’m told.
Right. Message received. Zephyros send you here to keep an eye on me?
Skiron chuffed out a grudging half laugh. Pretty much.
Devlin scanned a 360 around them. Clouds were rolling in, covering the moon and casting the nighttime world in shadows. His survey identified the positions of the Southwest Wind’s Livos, the Northeast Wind’s Kaikias, and the Southeast Wind’s Phoenicias—newly installed several days ago after Apheliotes’s death, also Eurus’s fault. A little more distant, and throwing off correspondingly weaker energy signatures, were the Inter-Ordinal Anemoi of the South-Southeast and North-Northeast.
I thank all of you for being here, Devlin projected to the group. This woman is not only important to me, she’s important to defeating my father. I know most of you don’t trust me, and I get it. But I’m on your side. I only ask for a chance. If that is not something you can freely give, so be it. I will let my actions speak louder than my words.
A preternatural wind whipped up all around Anna’s house, a physical manifestation of the reaction of the Anemoi.
Your actions…you mean like leading your father to the Rock of Gibraltar and then standing by while he and the Harpies nearly killed Boreas and Chrysander? came Livos’s voice.
This again. Red-hot rage boiled up within Devlin. Lightning rolled through the sky in a series of connected bolts. As if it wasn’t bad enough to have to apologize for the misfortune of being Eurus’s son. As if it didn’t gut Devlin to have to grovel for the acceptance of a group of gods who were supposed to have cared for and protected him, but hadn’t. Now, to have his actions questioned so blatantly. And to have to reveal the shame and humiliation of Eurus’s abuse to have the slightest chance of earning their belief.
Hold it together, Devlin. He looked toward Anna’s bedroom window, pictured her sleeping so peacefully there, and reined the worst of his anger in. For now.
For the last time, I did not lead him there. And I will say this only once. I did not stand idly by. I was chained in place by Eurus’s will and the standing threat of the death of my brother should I resist. Afterward, he let me go purposely, so that it would color your opinion of my trustworthiness and loyalty. The wind whipped through the trees. You all think you know him. You think you know what he’s capable of. And I tell you, you do not. Your knowledge is superficial at best. And it doesn’t begin to compare to my lifetime of standing witness to it, and being struck down any time—every time—I stood up to him.
When no one responded, Devlin unleashed a gust of wind strong enough to bend the branches of every tree within sight.
Whatever, he said, turning toward Anna’s. Same old, fucking same old.
What he says is true, came another voice. Kaikias? God of the Northeast Wind.
Devlin mentally frowned. Why would a god who’d been such good friends with the murdered Southeast Wind say anything in Devlin’s defense? It made Devlin suspicious. Surely there was some trick at play.
Apheliotes and I had many occasions to see Eurus’s abuse ourselves. And we, too, were threatened with the death of loved ones if we spoke out or interceded. You’ll recall that Apheliotes ascended to the Southeast around the time that Eurus’s son Farren died.
Kaikias’s unexpected me
ntion of his youngest brother’s name was like an ice-cold lance through Devlin’s soul.
That was because his predecessor witnessed the murder and intended to report it to Aeolus, the lesser god continued. But at the edge of the Eastern Realm, he was captured in a trap. Eurus tortured him for forty days and nights before executing him in cold blood. Eurus intended that as an example to me and to Apheliotes, just in case we had any thoughts of resisting his will.
Minutes passed as Devlin tried to make sense of the words. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get them to sink in. Or maybe it was that he couldn’t get his brain to believe that he’d actually heard these words in this order in the first place. Because if he had, then he seemed to have just heard an Anemoi defend him, vouch for him, and say that, once upon a time, someone had tried to stand up for him and his brothers.
Electricity prickled over Devlin’s entire being. Could this be true? The fallen Southeast Wind…tried to…help us? he said, trying the idea out in his own brain.
Yes, Kaikias said. And you should know…every wind associated with the East has been ordered to shun you, Devlin. Eurus threatened retribution toward every one of us should we be seen as befriending, helping, or obeying you in any way. Pause. Isn’t that right, Euronotos? Olympias?
The gods of the South-Southeast and North-Northeast winds, respectively. Both called out in the affirmative.
But with the Olympians forcing the Cardinal Anemoi to finally subdue Eurus, it’s time to end our silence and reveal Eurus for who he really is, Kaikias said. I’m only sorry I didn’t do it sooner.
Devlin was well aware that the Olympians had handed down a death warrant on his father’s head after he’d killed Zeph’s then-human mate, but the sentence mattered little while none of the Anemoi were strong enough to bring Eurus down. And it wasn’t as if the Olympians were interested in dirtying their hands with such things. Gods forbid.
Kaikias’s words rattled around in Devlin’s consciousness. Shell-shocked didn’t begin to describe Devlin’s reaction. He just…couldn’t wrap his head around what he was hearing. A steady rain began to pour, a release of energy that helped expel the pressure building inside Devlin’s psyche.