The soldiers around them shifted, and Sonah flinched when Rydon’s grip tightened. The soft hiss of several swords leaving their scabbards filled the room. Hermes moved away from Daris to retake his seat on the Heylisian throne.
Daris did not move.
Sonah bucked against Rydon, frantic as the men approached Ren.
“Hush,” he said. “If you keep quiet, he won’t put those on you as well.”
Two men behind them grabbed hold of Daris as another soldier moved toward Terena with manacles that glowed faintly, a sickly yellow color that smelled, if the look on Terena’s face was anything to go by.
Daris struggled against the men who held him in place as he screamed at Hermes, obscenities she’d never heard him utter before. Terena lost all color and dropped to the ground when the manacles were in place. One soldier bent and lifted her over his shoulder, the heavy metal chains thudding and dragging on the ground as they left.
“Stay close to me, Sonah,” Rydon whispered. “The first chance I get, I’ll get those fucking shackles off her and get you two away.”
Sonah panted, her struggles against Rydon exhausting her and she slumped against him, grateful for the strength of his arms and the quiet words he whispered to her. She knew Rydon was only doing what Hermes, as his liege lord or whatever, told him to. She also knew that as her eudaemon, he would not let hercome to harm. But she was still frustrated they were so helpless against Hermes.
Daris surged forward, intent on getting to Terena but Hermes did something with his hand and Daris froze again in the same manner as Leander. Her eyes shot to the shifter who remained standing in the exact spot he’d been in since Terena arrived.
“Ren!” Daris shouted and Hermes whipped his head around, surprised. “Ren! I’ll get you out! I love you, Ren! Hold on! Hold?—”
Hermes backhanded Daris. The commander fell to the ground and Sonah cried out. He was so still, she feared Hermes had killed him.
The god moved back to the throne and sat, a gold staff as tall as Melanos forming in his hand, two snakes winding around as wings emerged at the top.
“Please don’t let him do this,” Sonah begged Rydon, her throat clogging with emotion. “Please, Rydon.”
“There’s nothing we can do right now, Sonah,” Rydon said gruffly, his grip easing as he glared at Hermes. “The time will come when we fight back. But not now.”
Chapter 49
METILAI
Terena’s eyes remained closed even as the scrape of boots sounded outside of her cell.
The heaviness of the adamantine shackles went beyond the strange metal, its energy seeping deep into her bones. The suppression of her powers felt as if her very blood was slowly draining from her body, and it took her a long time to lift her heavy lids to face Hermes as he stopped in front of the iron bars.
Confusion furrowed her brows as she stared out the stranger standing there.
Not Hermes, but she knew the man was a god. Now that she’d ascended, she could feel his otherness like an itch she couldn’t reach.
In silence, she watched him as he in turn gazed at her, sable brows furrowed and lips puckered as if watching a curiosity in one of the traveling circuses of Osta.
He took a step closer, wrapping long, elegant fingers around one of the bars as he peered down at her.
“You submitted to him for your sister,” the god said in a voice that rumbled through the quiet. Terena winced, moving to adjust against the damp wall at her back.
When she did not respond, the god tilted his head and frowned. “How far would you go to protect her, I wonder.”
Despite the cuffs draining her power Terena’s adrenaline kicked in and she surged forward, snarling at this stranger who dared question her loyalty to Sonah.
“Let me out and I’ll show you.”
The man nodded and dropped slowly to his haunches. The light was fickle, moving unnaturally so that his face remained hidden in shadows. The only thing she could see was the glitter of his dark eyes and the strange silver snaking across his pupils, like Hermes’s eyes. She could barely see the square cut of his jaw as he lifted his chin.
“You can let yourself out,” the god said after an uncomfortable silence. “Those shackles were not meant for you. Or your sister.”
Terena snorted. Lifting her arms as high as she could she shook them at the god. “They seem to be holding onto me just fine.”
The man’s gaze shifted from the shackles to her face and he frowned. “Have you tried?”
