Ascension (25 page)

Chapter Twenty-nine

A
s the sentinels inched forward, Geoffrey and Ryker moved to stand in front of Kyana. She wanted to push around them and face her punishment with her head held high, but her feet were rooted to the wooden planks of the cellar floor. Geoffrey gripped her elbow, pinning her in place behind him.

The guards who’d stepped forward halted when Ryker held up his hand. “You didn’t need to do this. She won’t run.”

Ares’s cold stare settled briefly on Kyana before returning to his son. “Because you would prevent it or because she wouldn’t do as you told her?”

The God of War smirked. He knew the answer. There was no father-son love here. Ryker’s defense of Kyana would likely do her more harm than good. She didn’t even want to consider what it would do to him. Kyana straightened her back and glared at Ares. “He was bringing me in when you interrupted.”

“Do not speak again.” Ares never looked at her, his attention locked on his son. “Step aside, Ryker.”

She wouldn’t fight. She wouldn’t run. She didn’t want Ryker or Geoff to suffer for what she had done. She tried to step toward the two guards who moved to restrain her, but they flew backward against the wall before she could reach them.

Ryker grabbed her arm. His body shook with barely suppressed rage. He was prepared to fight Ares and his entire guard to protect her. She rested her hand on his arm. “It’s okay, I’ll go with him.” To Ares, she added, “But you should know, bringing me in right now shouldn’t be your priority. We know who snuck into the Underworld. He was here. I had him and he—”

“A Half-Breed telling me of my duties?” A silver brow shot upward into Ares’s hairline. “Will you never learn your place, Kyana?”

“She’s right,” Ryker said. “The one who tried to murder Haven—”

“Ah, but she wasn’t murdered, was she? The Half-Breed made sure of that. It is
that
crime that I’m eager to see punished today. Artemis will send her tracers after the others.”

Kyana opened her mouth to demand he let her go hunt Marcus, but snapped her jaw shut before she could make a sound. What good would her release do now? With his Illusion Charm, Marcus would be impossible for any but Artie to find. His scent, his pheromones. All of it would be concealed as completely as his body. And since he was retired from the Order, the gods wouldn’t be able to use his beacon to locate him either. Marcus was the perfect puppet for Cronos to play with.

“If you insist on taking her in now, I’ll escort her,” Ryker said.

“You can’t—” Ares shook his head, disgust clearly visible in his chiseled features. He looked toward one of his guards. “You accompany them.”

“Don’t worry, Kyana. I’ll get Haven to safety. She’ll be fine . . .” Geoffrey fell silent as he descended the last few stairs into the cellar. “Fuck me, she’s gone.”

Kyana pivoted and stared in horror at the sight of the empty corner where Haven had lain unconscious. There was no sign of her. No broken window, no sign of struggle. She’d vanished, and the only thing she’d left behind was the smell of her fear.

Or not. Ignoring Ares’s demand that she stop moving, Kyana rushed to the corner. Panic ripped through her as she bent and scooped up the glimmering bauble that had caught her eye. Haven’s beacon, interlaced with a charm.

“Where the hell did she go?” Geoff stared up at the ceiling as though he expected to see Haven dangling from the rafters.

Kyana shot her gaze across the cellar, searching the shadows and corners for any sign of Haven or anyone else. There was nothing. No one.

“Marcus,” she whispered, recalling the faint brush of her arm on the stairs. “He’s cloaked them both.”

Even though she didn’t breathe, Kyana was very close to hyperventilating. Her eyes burned as she struggled to keep her fear in check. She was going to have to run, going to have to accept a death sentence without fight when they finally captured her again, but no way in hell was she letting Ares take her in while Haven was in danger. Save Haven, then face her own fate.

Pushing off on the balls of her feet, she shot straight up and wrapped her fingers around the rafters. Curses exploded beneath her as she monkey-barred her way across the cellar and over the heads of her pursuers. When she reached the stairs, she kicked out, catching a sentinel in the head, then landed on his body, cushioning her fall. She took the steps three at a time and made it to the door before a hand grabbed the back of her head and slammed it into the jamb.

“Take her,” Ares said. And when Kyana struggled against the five sets of hands trying to rip her away from the steps, something hard struck her in the back of her skull. Everything went black.

I
n the corner of her cell, Kyana slid to the floor and rested her tender head on her bent knees. Since waking ten minutes ago, she’d screamed herself hoarse; demanding to see Ryker or Geoffrey, or anyone for that matter, but no one had answered her calls. Her head pounded from where Ares had knocked her unconscious with the hilt of his sword to bring her in, and her frustration and panic only intensified the pain.

Marcus had Haven, and Haven was going to die if they weren’t found soon. Kyana was the best tracer they had, but even she wasn’t sure she’d be able to find her friend in time. Without Artemis to see through the illusion, there was really no way to discover where Marcus might have taken Haven.

Kyana had never felt more hopeless or helpless in her life, and it was her own damned fault.

The reality of what she’d done hit her like a fist in the gut, bringing with it another wave of nausea. She pulled Haven’s beacon from her pocket and ran her fingers over the smooth cold stone. If Haven had just held on to the beacon, they might have been able to use it to find her. But she hadn’t. She’d dropped it, and now Kyana had it, locked inside a prison where it would do no one any good. If Kyana had listened to Ryker, Haven would be lost to them completely. Turning her without consent might have been against the law, but at least Haven lived. Now it might have been for nothing. Haven might die anyway.

But why? Surely Marcus had sensed that Haven had been changed when he’d seen her. Why bother killing her now, when there was no way the Fates would allow Haven to remain Artemis’s Chosen? Taking her, killing her, would be useless.

So many questions swirled in Kyana’s head, making her dizzy, and none of them mattered anymore. She might be executed before ever discovering Haven’s fate. She’d die alone, afraid for Haven, and pissed off to all hell. And what about the key? Without it, the world Above would never be safe, never be restored.

A sound pulled Kyana from her thoughts. Standing, she moved as close to the barrier as possible and peered toward the opening, hoping to see Geoff or Ryker returning with news of Haven.

Kyana’s blood simmered as Ares glared at her from the darkness.

A shock zinged from Kyana’s fingertips to her throat, making her feel as though her veins were going to explode. It took her a moment to realize she’d pressed her hand against the invisible barrier. She jerked back to see blisters coating her palm and wrist.

“Careful, Kyana,” Ares cooed, pacing the small path in front of Kyana’s cell. “Wouldn’t want you to die even sooner than expected, would we?”

There was a pantherlike quality about the god. A white panther perhaps. White, wavy hair reaching his shoulders. He looked ancient, yet fit; confident, yet ready to pounce.

“Fine, kill me,” she said, cupping her injured hand to her chest. “But please, find Marcus. Now. Find him and get Haven. She’s still a Chosen until the Fates appoint a new one. If you stand by and let her die—”

“You dare to tell me of my duties
again
?” Ares’s face reddened, the vein above his brow bulging, giving Kyana her first glimpse of the father-son similarity with Ryker.

“What have I done to make you hate me so much that you would risk a Chosen’s life to see me punished?”

He watched her, silently pacing, stalking, preying. “Foolish Half-Breed. You needed only to have been reborn with the tainted blood you possess.”

“Your son is a Half-Breed. Is that why you loathe him as well?”

Venomous eyes pierced her flesh, making her suddenly grateful for the magically charged barrier between them. “You know nothing of me or my son.”

Well, maybe there was love lost there after all.

“So it’s just Vampyre you despise. Or Lychen, maybe?” She cocked her head, studying him. “Is that why you won’t go after Haven? Because she has my blood now? Maybe she’s not worth saving any longer, Chosen or not?”

He looked like he’d enjoy nothing more than ripping off her head and shoving his massive sword down her throat.

“You pretend you’re not ready to piss yourself at my presence, Kyana. We both know the truth, though, don’t we?” He stopped his stalking and pressed a large, bronzed hand to the invisible panel. Nothing happened. His nostrils flared. “You stink of my son. You tainted a demigod with your filthy body. You should burn.”

Kyana flinched, completely caught off-guard that he knew that she and Ryker had slept together. She had no intention of discussing her personal business with Ares, however, and forced herself to return his glare. If he intended to kill her before her sentencing was handed down, she wouldn’t go cowering at his feet.

“Why are you here, Ares? Is this to be my execution . . . you taunting me to death?”

His dark gaze roamed over her body, leaving Kyana feeling naked and exposed. “What you are should not have been. Your Sire was the only one of his kind. We let him live because of his vow to never create another. The hunt began the instant you were turned.”

At the mention of her Sire, Kyana’s heart twisted. “Henry wasn’t with the Order. How—”

“The Order was created to maintain a balance between the human world and ours. Dark Breeds were allowed to walk freely as long as they obeyed our laws, despite their lack of loyalty to the Ancients. The instant he stole your human existence, he signed his death warrant.”

Henry hadn’t stolen anything. He’d
rescued
her from her human existence.

“You’re wrong. Henry was killed by a wannabe Vampyre hunter. I was there.”

She’d held his body as he lay dying, promised him retribution as he’d died for the second time in his life.

“And who do you think hired him? I made certain Henry was sent to Tartarus where he belonged.”

“Why?” she seethed. “Because he was a Half-Breed? If that’s the case, then why was I allowed to join the Order?”

“Because Artemis saw something in you. An unwise decision on her part, as you’ve proven today.” His teeth flashed white beneath the fine hairs of his silver beard. “I will watch you die today, Kyana, as you should have died that day with your Sire.”

She made the mistake of reaching out for him and crashing smack into the pulsating barrier. Electrical charges slashed through her body, dropping her to her knees as they paralyzed her. Ares reached through and shoved her backward before the electricity could kill her. Kyana curled into a ball, cradling her singed hands to her belly as she fought against the blackness and to control the tremors racing through her body as she heard Ares’s footsteps fade away.

A hand touched her shoulder. Kyana nearly jumped out of her skin. The need to fight, to protect herself, kicked in, and she swung blindly.

“It’s me, Ky.” Ryker sat beside her, gently eased her to his side and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

Kyana threw her arms around his neck, grateful he’d finally come. She took his silent offer of strength and rested her head on his chest, breathing in his sweet scent. “Where have you been? Did you find Marcus? Haven? What’s going on?”

“I would have come sooner but Ares forbade anyone to see you.” He cupped her chin and sighed. “I tried, Ky. I tried to find Marcus and Haven but they’ve disappeared. Geoff is still looking, but I—I had to come make sure you were okay.”

She stood, pointing at the exit. “You have to go back out there and look—”

“I’m not a tracer. Trust Geoffrey and the others. He’ll find her.”

“She could be dead.” Kyana fought back the panic that was making her brain feel muddled again.

He sank his hand into Kyana’s hair, holding her tightly to his chest as if to absorb her pain. “It’s not been that long.”

“How long does it take to kill someone? How do we know she’s—”

“She has your blood now. Killing her won’t be that easy. Especially for a Mystic. She could easily overpower him.”

She wanted to imagine Haven happily cutting her way through Marcus, but the only image that floated through her mind was that of Haven being slaughtered. Even if she did overpower Marcus, Haven could flee, let the Dark Breed inside her feast. Either way, Haven was lost to them all. Maybe forever.

Tears clogged Kyana’s throat and she struggled to hold them back. She failed miserably and sank to her knees. Ryker followed her to the ground, refusing to give up his hold on her.

When she finally calmed long enough to speak, she leaned her head against his chest and whispered, “Do you think—”

“Stop thinking. Just for a little while.”

He was right. There was nothing she could do. At least not this minute. All she could do was try to calm herself so she could manage the array of thoughts racing through her brain and make sense of them. Clear her head. Calm down.