Daris waited for him to go on. Behind him, conversation broke out once more.
“I didn’t expect you’d take Sonah,” the god said, and Daris stiffened. “I was… very put out when only Terena showed up. But after a while I had to concede it was the smart move.”
Daris’s eye widened. “Are you… are you the northern king? The one called ‘King of Olympus’?”
Several men chuckled. The blond man’s face transformed with a crooked grin. “The very same.”
“You are not Zeus.”
Daris regretted his words when the god’s smile vanished.
“I am not.”
Daris narrowed his eye. “Where is Terena?”
“Where is Sonah?” the god countered.
“I—”
“Don’t bother,” he said with a dramatic sigh as he continued to regard Daris. “My men brought word of her escape. It wasn’t her I was after, either way.”
“Lord—”
“Hermes.”
Daris felt heat stain his cheeks before the blood rushed down his body to pool like a stone in his gut. His mouth slackened.
“As I said,” the god brought his forefinger to his lips before pointing at Daris. “It was you I was looking for.”
“Me, lord?”
“Indeed,” Hermes sighed. “And I couldn’t do that until after Terena found me. Rules.” He leaned forward, smiling thinly. “I admit, I am impressed the girl gave you the slip. She’s not at all as I was led to believe. Neither is Terena, for that matter.”
“Where is she?”
“Who?”
The look on Hermes’s face made it clear he toyed with Daris. Daris’s hands clenched in his lap. “Terena.”
“Ah,” the god sighed again as he leaned back, looking up at the timber lining the tavern ceiling. “Terena. Terena, Terena, Terena. Whereisthe beauteous Terena?” He smiled coyly as Daris felt the heat climb up his neck. “I sent her to Ovenno.”
“What?” Daris exploded. “Why?”
Hermes’s face closed up. “Are you not listening? I wanted to find you.”
“And why was it you needed to send her to Ovenno to make that happen?”
Hermes remained silent as he stared at Daris. His lips tilted up slow as his smile widened. “Because by the time we meet up with her again, she’ll have reached her majority.”
Daris felt something icy slide down his spine. “She’ll have her powers, then.”
“Not only that, Commander,” Hermes purred as he lifted his tankard and saluted Daris. “You’ll no longer be immortal.”
Chapter 16
IBROS
Sonah pulled up her knees and rubbed her sore wrists against her breeches. She glared over at the soldiers sitting around the fire they’d built a few minutes ago while she’d been trying to loosen her bindings.
