Enslaved (39 page)

His body stiffened against her, and she eased back, watched his eyes narrow and focus over her shoulder.

She turned to look behind her. Skyla eased off the bed, a smug expression on her face.

Gryphon tried to push her behind him, but Maelea wasn’t having any of that. “It’s okay, Gryphon. Skyla knows.”

His gaze dropped to her with surprise. “You told her?”

“I told her everything.”

His eyes widened. “Everything?”

Maelea’s lips curled, because she knew he was thinking back to that boat. And the stairs at her beach house. And the beach. And the kitchen table. And the sofa… “Well, not
every
thing.”

Heat flared in his eyes. He leaned down and kissed her. “Don’t tease me. Not yet.” Before she could answer, he looked back to Skyla. “I’m taking her with me.”

“I figured you might,” Skyla said.

“Don’t try to stop me.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. How did you get away from the Argonauts?”

“Orpheus.”

Surprise flashed in her green eyes, followed by approval. “Well, I’ll be.”

“The Council’s already looking for me. They’ll be down here soon enough.”

“The Council?” Skyla’s gaze shifted to Maelea. “Shit. You two need to get out of here now, then.” She moved to the door, opened it, and peeked out. “Coast is clear.”

Maelea lifted the cardigan someone had brought for her from the bed, tugged it on. “Where are we going?”

“As far from Tiyrns as we can,” Gryphon said, nudging her toward the door.

“Gryphon, wait.” Skyla stopped him at the door. “Don’t take her back to the human realm. She’s safer here. Even with the Council.”

“Don’t worry. They won’t get their hands on her.”

A smile spread across Skyla’s face. “It’s good to see you looking…human.”

A slow smile turned Gryphon’s lips. “It’s good not to need your singing, Siren.”

Skyla chuckled as she pulled the door open, then sobered. “Go. Before it’s too late. And good luck. To both of you.”

Gryphon looked right and left, pulled Maelea out into the wide hall with him. “What was that about?” Maelea whispered as they headed for a back set of stairs.

“What?”

“The ‘singing’ comment?”

“Skyla has a way of taming…things…with her voice. It’s how she and Orpheus got me out of the Underworld when I was freaking out.”

Maelea’s heart bumped as they headed for a steel door. Thank the Fates for Skyla, too.

Gryphon typed numbers into a keypad and the door hissed open. A small, dimly lit set of circular stairs looked as if they led down into the bowels of the realm. They moved inside. The door closed behind them. They seemed to descend forever. When they reached the bottom step, Gryphon dragged her toward a wooden door, illuminated only by the dim yellow lights in the ceiling.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“The undercroft. It’s where we store extra weapons.”

He typed another code into yet another access panel. The door swung open. Inside sat racks and racks of weapons—knives, swords, throwing stars, things with serrated teeth she didn’t know how to define.

He grabbed a multitude of weapons. Strapped on a scabbard, which he slung over his head so it cut across his back. Slipped others into pockets she didn’t know he had. He handed her a dagger.

Her stomach rolled at the thought of having to use the weapons. Obviously, he expected someone to come after them. The Argonauts? This so-called Council? Would they really try to kill them? For the first time she realized everything he was leaving behind by being with her. “Gryphon—”

He grasped her hand, pulled her back out of the room. “Come on, we don’t have a lot of time.”

The door closed and locked behind them. He led her down a long narrow tunnel through a maze of twists and turns that made her thankful he was with her. And then finally they came to a third access panel. He typed in more numbers. The door hissed open. Nothing but darkness beckoned.

Trepidation rushed over her spine as she stared into the black abyss. “Gryphon, maybe we should rethink this.”

“Rethink what? This tunnel leads out into the mountains.”

She turned to face him. “Rethink leaving. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“I’m not.”

“You are. You’re walking away from your kin, from your order. From your life. I don’t want to be responsible for that. I—”

“
Sotiria.”
His hands framed her face, forced her to look up. Heat rushed over her spine when she saw the soft, needy look in his eyes. “Don’t you know that I would give up anything for you?”

“Oh, Gryphon.” Tears filled her eyes, and love wrapped around her heart, squeezed tight as a vise, making words nearly impossible to get out. “Ditto” was all she could manage in a rough whisper.

She melted when he eased down and kissed her. When his body brushed up against hers. When his tongue slid into her mouth and his heart beat so close to hers she could feel it inside her chest.

He nipped her bottom lip. “I will keep you safe,
sotiria
. Trust in me.”

She had no idea where they were heading or what would happen when they got there, but she trusted him more than she’d ever trusted anyone before. Her fingers gripped the denim at his hips. “I do.”

A ghost of a smile splayed across his face as he let go of her, as his hand closed over hers and he pulled her into the darkness of the tunnel. “Good. Because I won’t let you down.”

The door snapped closed behind them. At her side, Gryphon flicked on a flashlight. “In a few minutes we’ll be home free.”

Home free. Maelea closed her hand around his and hoped he was right. But something in the back of her head warned there was no such thing as home free for her.

***

Gryphon was gone.

Word had spread through the castle quickly. The Executive Guard and the Argonauts were already searching for him. The Council was in an uproar. It was like a repeat of what had happened at the half-breed colony, except this time Max was thankful for the distraction. His parents were too busy with other things to pay any attention to what he was doing.

He stood outside the queen’s chamber and breathed slowly to settle his nerves. And had a flashback of standing outside Atalanta’s chamber, doing almost the same thing.

The difference now was, he knew exactly what came next. Thanks to Lachesis.

Something in the back of his head said Lachesis would never encourage him to get the Orb, but he ignored it. Because he knew its strength. And he knew that with it, he could do what needed to be done. He could finally prove to everyone he was as strong as the Argonauts.

He turned the knob, was relieved when he found the door unlocked. He stepped inside, shut the door softly at his back. The queen’s personal suite consisted of several rooms with high ceilings and arching windows that looked out at a view of the Aegis Mountains. But the view wasn’t what he’d come for. He closed his eyes, focused on the energy swirling in the room. Tried to locate it.

There.

Power seeped into his veins. Now that he knew how to consciously use his gift of transference, he could feel the power radiating through his skin. Could feel every ounce of strength settle in his limbs.

He opened his eyes, crossed the sitting room toward the wall of bookshelves on the far side. The energy was stronger here. He scanned the leather tomes and trinkets on the shelves. Paused when his eyes locked on a wooden box marked with nothing more than the winged omega symbol.

He lifted it from the shelf, set it on the desk to his left. Flipped the latch on the front.

But the top didn’t budge. It was protected by some kind of magic.

Frustration welled inside him. He’d take the box, but he sensed whatever spell kept the lid latched likely also kept the box confined to this room. And now that he could sense the spell, he could also sense another, near the doorway, preventing any sort of magic from entering the room. The queen’s mate was part witch. He’d obviously set up a host of spells in an attempt to keep the thing safe.

Damn Demetrius. Max ground his teeth. Ran though options in his head. Nothing would work. Nothing—

The door opened in the antechamber. Max’s heart rate shot up. He let go of the box and dove under the bed. If he got caught in here, his father would skin him alive.

His pulse roared in his ears as he peered out from under the bedskirt. Heavy boots clomped across the floor. Then stopped near the desk. “
Skata
. What the hell is this?”

Demetrius. Oh, shit. Demetrius.

Every muscle in Max’s body froze.

He definitely didn’t want to get caught by Demetrius. Not only was he the biggest of the Argonauts, he was Atalanta’s son.

Max held his breath while Demetrius’s boots turned a full circle. He knew the Argonaut was searching the room, looking for anything else out of the ordinary. If he looked under the bed…

Demetrius’s witch powers hit Max square in the chest, the force so strong, it drew a gasp from Max’s lips. He slapped a hand over his mouth, held his breath. But power was seeping into his veins. Power and spells he’d never known before. All without consciously pulling them forward.

Demetrius’s boots echoed across the floor. Stopped in front of the bookshelf, then retreated toward the door. Max stayed still as stone until the door closed and silence settled back over the room. Only when he’d counted to twenty and he was sure he was alone did he crawl out from under the bed.

He crossed quickly to the bookshelf. Took the box down again. And used the powers and witchcraft he’d pulled from Demetrius to open the latch. Inside sat nothing but a gold bracelet. Disappointment trickled through him, but he lifted it out of the box anyway. Then realized it wasn’t a bracelet at all. It was only enchanted to look like a bracelet.

A wide smile spread across his face. And revenge—a revenge he’d been plotting since he’d escaped Atalanta’s clutches—reformed in his mind all over again.

Chapter Twenty-one

Gryphon’s heart hammered against his ribs as he led Maelea through the dark tunnel. Things had gone more smoothly than he’d expected. More smoothly than they should have. In a matter of minutes they’d be in the mountains beyond the walls of Tiyrns. He tried to shake the tickle in the back of his throat, the one that warned something would inevitably go wrong—but couldn’t.

He gripped Maelea’s hand tighter. Tried to calm the nerves radiating from her skin. When they reached the far side of the long tunnel, he shined his light over another access panel and typed in the same code he’d used before.

The steel door opened with a hiss. Sunlight burned his eyes as they stepped from darkness into light. As seasons in Argolea mirrored those in the human realm, it was late spring in the Aegis Mountains, and the trees rising around them swayed in the light breeze, the leaves rustling with their movement.

He closed the door behind Maelea. While she blinked several times, he took his first good look at her in the daylight. Someone had brought her fresh clothes. She was dressed in slim jeans, a white fitted T-shirt, and a cardigan. But the bandage on her forehead near her temple stood out in stark relief against her dark hair, and the stress of the day’s activities showed heavily in her eyes.

“Hey, come here.” He wrapped his arm around her waist, drew her close. Loved the way her hands felt against his biceps and her head tipped up to his. And when he kissed her, his own worry over what lay ahead slowly dissipated into the high mountain air.

“It’s all going to be okay,” he said when he eased back, trying to reassure her.

“You do too much for me.”

“I would do more if I could. I love you.”

Her eyes darkened as she brushed soft fingertips over his cheek. “I love you, too, Gryphon. So much more than I expected. So much more than I can even explain. This…it’s sudden and crazy, but…for the first time in my life, everything feels right. Being with you feels…like home.”

She eased up on her toes and kissed him again. Wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held on tight. And in her kiss he tasted relief and desperation and hunger. The same things he’d been feeling the whole damn day.

“What an attractive couple you make.”

Gryphon pulled back from Maelea’s mouth and whipped around. Only to falter when he came face-to-face with Persephone.

“Oh, gods,” Maelea muttered at his side.

Oh, gods was right. Not only was the goddess Hades’s wife, she was also Maelea’s mother. What the hell was she doing in Argolea?

Gryphon pushed Maelea behind him. Reached back for his blade, but as soon as he pulled it from his scabbard, some sort of power latched on and yanked. The weapon flew through the air and landed in the trees to his right.

Persephone lowered her arm and grinned. “You won’t be needing that.”

“What are you—?” Gryphon started.

“Doing here?” Persephone finished for him, stalking across the forest floor in a long, black gown, her jet-black hair so much like Maelea’s tumbling down her back, like a river of onyx silk. She looked past Gryphon toward Maelea. “Should I tell him, darling, or do you want to?”