Enslaved (40 page)

“Oh, gods,” Maelea whispered again, growing tense against his back.

Unease made Gryphon looking over his shoulder. “Tell me what? What’s going on here?”

Guilt rushed over Maelea’s face.

“What’s going on here,” Persephone answered, drawing his attention her way again, “is that I’ve come for the Orb. I’ll take it now, darling daughter.”

“The
what
?” Gryphon’s eyes shot to Maelea.

“I…I don’t have it,” Maelea sputtered, looking past him toward her mother.

His brow lowered. “Why would she think you would?”

“Because…” Her eyes darted around like a cornered animal, searching for an escape. And in the silence that followed, that tickle in the back of Gryphon’s throat grew to a roaring vibration that echoed all through his skin.

“Because,” Persephone said when Maelea wouldn’t go on, “we made a deal. She gets the Argonaut to trust her, gets him to take her to Argolea, gets the Orb for me, then I get her into Olympus. You gave him the elixir, did you not, daughter? That’s why he’s so besotted with you, right? So where is it? I grow tired of this delay.”

Maelea’s gaze darted to his. And fear erupted in her eyes. A fear that said she knew exactly what Persephone was talking about. Because she’d made that deal.

I
would
do
anything
to
get
to
Olympus.

Her words from the beach house ricocheted through his mind. Stole his breath. Words she’d spoken with conviction. Words he thought meant nothing after their week together. But now he knew that had just been an act. The
anything
she’d needed to say and do to get her here. To Argolea. To the castle. To the Orb.

Holy
Hades
. He thought back to how groggy he’d been after using his gifts at the motel. Way groggier than he should have been. To that drugged-out feeling on the boat. To being hornier than hell. And now he knew why. Because she’d fucking drugged him with some potion her mother had given her.

Fury erupted inside him. Obviously, screwing him blind and professing undying love was no big deal to her. After all, she’d tried to kill Orpheus to get to Olympus months ago. And thievery…well, that was way easier than going after Zagreus, Hades’s son, as she’d told him she’d planned to try next. All this time he’d been telling himself she was different from any other female he’d ever met. And now he knew why. Because she was the daughter of the Queen of the Underworld. The most conniving, backstabbing, and licentious goddess ever to walk the planet. And obviously, she was just like her mother.

His heart shattered at his feet. Leaving behind a black, gaping hole, as deep as the darkness that lived in his soul, all thanks to Krónos and Atalanta.

Skata
. Could he be more fucking gullible? He’d left her alone in the castle. Others probably had as well. Could she have found the Orb so quickly? Knowing her and her desperation to get to Olympus, yeah, she probably had.

“Where is it?” he asked in a low voice, fighting back the darkness bubbling up from the depths of his soul.

“Gryphon.” She stepped toward him. “I didn’t take it. I promise. I didn’t make that deal. I wouldn’t use you like that. She offered, but I didn’t agree to it. I only used the potion because I needed you to cooperate so we could get away from those daemons. You weren’t listening to me and I needed your help. I didn’t…What are you doing?”

His hands landed on her shoulders. Harder than necessary, but he just couldn’t seem to be gentle as he patted her down all the way to her feet, ignoring the curves at her waist, the softness of her breasts, fighting back—even now—the desire building inside when he touched her.

Dammit, he was such a fucking idiot!

He didn’t find the Orb. Which only inflamed his anger. As he pushed to his feet, Persephone chuckled at his back. “Where did you hide it, daughter? Tell me and we’ll be on our way.”

“Go back to hell!” Maelea yelled at her mother. “I didn’t take it!” She looked at Gryphon, heartache and panic alive in her eyes. “Now do you believe me?”

He wanted to. Needed her to be telling the truth. Prayed he wasn’t the fool he suddenly felt.

A beeping sound echoed around him. Gryphon looked right and left, then realized it was coming from him. He pulled the high-tech gadget that Orpheus had given him from his pocket and pressed a button. Orpheus’s voice boomed through the clearing. “Gryphon, shit, where are you?”

All kinds of chaos could be heard on Orpheus’s end of the line. Voices and footsteps and the beep of several machines. “Why? What’s going on?”

“What’s going on? I’ll tell you what’s going on. The Orb is fucking missing. They think you took it, you dumbass. Please tell me you didn’t touch the damn thing. Because if you did—”

Gryphon didn’t hear the rest of his brother’s words. Because rage and anger and darkness erupted as he stared at Maelea’s guilt-ridden and now very panicked face.

He’d been so naïve to think there was any kind of happily-ever-after for him. She was his soul mate, after all. And like all the Argonauts, he’d been cursed by Hera because of her hatred for Heracles—the first guardian. Fated to be drawn forever to the one woman who would torment his existence. That right there was a great big red warning flag he should have paid attention to.

“Gryphon,” she whispered. “Just listen to me. Please. I—”

“Maelea has it,” he said to Orpheus. Her face blanched, but he didn’t care. He suddenly didn’t care about anything anymore. Anything except revenge.

“What?” Orpheus said in a shocked voice.

“She took it. Was planning to give it to Persephone in exchange for entrance to Olympus. I just found out. We’re standing outside the tunnel that runs from the undercroft. Get here now.”

Persephone swore at his back.

He clicked the end button before Orpheus could ask anything else. And in the silence, tears filled Maelea’s eyes as she stared at him. Tears that only enraged him more.

“I trusted you,” he said with more calm than he expected, though inside, retribution cut through him like a hot, sharp knife. “I should have known better than to put my faith in a female whose soul is as black as mine.”

“Gryphon—”

“Thanks to your mother, I realized what you really are before it’s too late. I can’t believe I nearly got killed protecting you from Hades’s hellhounds.”

At his back, Persephone hissed. And he felt, rather than saw, the goddess dissipate into nothing but her own fit of rage.

Beside him, Orpheus materialized. “Gryphon, what the hell—”

Tears ran down Maelea’s cheeks as she stepped forward. “Just let me explain—”

Gryphon flinched out of her grip and stepped far, far away from her. “No, I’ve wasted way too much time on you as it is. You’re good, female. I have to admit that much. But like I said before, you’re not irresistible. Thank your mother for reminding me what really matters in this life.”

Orpheus called out to him, but he was already flashing, flying over land and water and reappearing at the gatehouse, where the portal that led into the human realm was housed.

The two executive guards on duty lurched to their feet, but the darkness inside had all but consumed him, and Gryphon moved faster than both, disarming them and leaving them in a tangle of limbs on the floor before either could draw a weapon. “Stay fucking down,” he growled as he kicked their weapons aside. “If you know what’s good for you, you won’t follow.”

He moved for the portal, hesitated at the edge, and closed his eyes to listen for the voice.

Now that he was away from Maelea, he could hear it. Could feel the pull in the center of his chest, calling him back. All he had to do was follow it. As he let it guide him, he let go of all those silly fantasies he’d had the last few days and refocused on what was important.

Freedom.

Not from the Argonauts or the Council or the half-breed colony, but from Atalanta. From the voice and darkness. From the threat of the Underworld lingering over him like a black cloud. A threat he should have been thinking about all along.

***

“I didn’t take it,” Maelea said in a frantic voice to Orpheus. A voice she couldn’t control.

“What the hell is going on?” Orpheus asked.

Beside him, three more Argonauts appeared—Theron, Demetrius, and Zander—all sporting the same pissed-off expressions. But Maelea didn’t shrivel into the background the way she normally would when faced with four gigantic warriors. She stood her ground and focused on Orpheus. “Persephone appeared to me in that motel when Gryphon stepped outside, and she offered me a deal. She wanted me to get her the Orb. To convince Gryphon to bring me here so I could take it. But I didn’t. I didn’t agree to anything, I swear it. I didn’t even plan to come here. You and Titus and Skyla brought us here. I haven’t even been alone. Callia or Skyla have been with me the whole time. Orpheus, I’m not lying to you. I wasn’t lying to Gryphon, but he…”

Oh, gods. Her heart contracted so hard, the pain stole her breath. She covered her mouth with her hand to hold back the sob. He thought she’d betrayed him. That she’d used him. And why wouldn’t he? Look at her parents. Lies and betrayal and thievery ruled all the gods. Genetics weren’t on her side. And then there was her own admitted obsession with Olympus. And his abuse at the hands of another god, Atalanta.

Her stomach rolled. Tears burned her eyes. Dammit, she never should have used that elixir her mother had given her. She hadn’t been trying to seduce him as Persephone wanted. She’d simply been trying to get him to cooperate so she could save their lives.

Orpheus gripped her upper arms. “Focus, Maelea. Where did Gryphon go? He said something about thanking Persephone for reminding him what matters most.”

She blinked back the tears. Told herself to keep it together. She had to make this right. She had to find a way. “He…he’s been planning to go after Atalanta all along. It’s why he left the colony. He was getting ready to leave me at the beach house and do just that when you and Skyla and Titus showed up. It’s her voice he hears in his head. When he was in the Underworld, Krónos bound them together. She’s been calling to him. He thinks the only way he’s going to be free of her is to kill her.”

“
Skata
,” Theron said at Orpheus’s side. “Did he say where she is?”

“No.” Maelea shook her head. “He never said, and I don’t think he knows. But he can find her, just by listening to the voice. By giving in to the pull. Krónos gave them six months to find the Orb or he’ll drag them both back to the Underworld, and he’s running out of time.”

“
Skata
,” Theron said again, glancing toward Zander. “That fucking Orb. We’ll never find him.”

“I gave him Titus’s fancy transmitter,” Orpheus said, letting go of Maelea and pulling his out of his pocket.

“It’ll only work if he’s still in Argolea,” Theron said.

“Does he have the Orb on him?” Zander asked as Orpheus tried to contact Gryphon.

“I don’t think so,” Maelea answered. “I didn’t sense it. But I can only sense the Orb if it’s being used, and it—oh, my gods.”

She gripped Orpheus’s arm, swayed on her feet.

He reached out to steady her. “Maelea? What’s wrong?”

Energy whipped through her. An energy with power like no other. A power that was definitely being used.

“The Orb,” she managed in a shaky voice. “Someone just used it to open a portal to the human realm.”

“Gryphon?” Orpheus asked.

She swallowed hard. Shook her head. Turned toward Zander, because the face she saw now in her mind was one she’d seen at the half-breed colony. “No,” she whispered. “Your son.”

***

Max wasn’t sure where to open the portal, so he picked the woods surrounding the old half-breed colony in Oregon. He knew patrols still ran in that area, looking for half-breeds who’d yet to move over to the new location. Hoped he’d run into one today.

Rustling in the trees at his back caught his attention and he whipped that way, only to freeze when the god stepped out of the darkness, heading right for him, a smirk across his menacing face.

Max moved back a step. He didn’t know who the god was, but he sensed his power. And a whole lot of darkness—darkness like Atalanta’s.

“You proved to be quite the Argonaut, boy. And completely predictable. Now I’ll take the Orb and we can both be on our way.”

Max’s mind spun. Then his eyes caught sight of the mark of the Underworld peeking out from under the collar of the god’s shirt.

Hades.

Max swallowed hard. And fear burst in his chest. What was Hades doing here? How did he know Max had the Orb? How did he…?

Lachesis.

Oh, shit.

He hadn’t once thought to question the Fate in the woods outside Tiyrns. He’d been too upset. But thinking back now, he realized the eyes were different from the last time he’d spoken to the Fate. The eyes, he realized now, were dead black shards of coal like those in Hades’s head.