Sonah shuddered and tightened her grip on Fane.
Hissing sounded behind them and Sonah whipped her head around, eyes wild. Fane shoved her behind him as he spun, holding his sword ready.
“Melanos.”
The voice was otherworldly, sinking into Sonah like a stone and making her stomach drop. She shook from head to toe, pushing closer to Fane.
The water rippled and the serpent emerged, multifaceted green scales shifting as water sluiced off the magnificent creature. Sonah’s mouth dropped open and her heart stopped.
Melanos strode to stand in front of their small group, his large frame blocking out her view of Bethana. Fane took several steps back, pulling Sonah as well.
Peeking over his arm, she watched as the serpent lowered her head, her forked tongue flicking out as she regarded the god who was once her lover.
“Bethana,” Melanos said, his voice making tears spring to Sonah’s eyes. She squeezed Fane’s arm, her lips trembling as she watched Melanos drop to his knees before the former nymph.
Sonah felt Fane stiffen beneath her fingers and she dared a look up at him to see he, too, gawped at the prostrated god.
“Centuries I’ve waited for you to come,” Bethana hissed, slithering closer to Melanos who knelt before her with his head bowed. “Centuries in which I lost so much of myself.”
“I know.”
Sonah’s heart ached for the god who humbled himself now for the woman he loved. They all watched the scene and Sonah felt the need to turn away.
She tugged at Fane’s arm and when he looked down at her with a frown, she motioned with her head. His brow furrowed, glancing back at the god and his nymph before he gave her a curt nod.
Stepping slowly so as not to draw the serpent’s attention, they edged back far enough away to hide in the shadows of the corridor they’d come from.
“I was cursed too, my love,” Melanos was saying and Sonah craned her neck to see beyond Fane. “I could not leave the cave that wretch put me in. But not a day has gone by that I did not think of you.”
“The daughter of Ares said you were in a cave not far from here,” Bethana hissed, her head lowering to Melanos’s eye level.
“Aye, my love. And yet it was still too far.”
The serpent regarded him in silence for a long moment. Sonah squirmed to move around Fane so she could get a better look. Her foot caught on someone’s boot and she stumbled. Fane’s hand snaked out and grasped her wrist, but not before the tumble of loose stones broke the silence.
Bethana’s head snapped up and her tongue flicked out as she hissed long, low and mean. Everyone froze. Fane’s hand was a vice on her wrist.
Melanos lifted his head as Bethana moved around him, her focus on the interlopers.
“I smell her,” the serpent hissed, narrowing her slit eyes. “Come out, baby Ares.”
Fane’s grip tightened and Sonah winced. He shook his head slightly at her.
“It is not?—”
“Do not lie!” Bethana swung her head around before her attention was back on them. “It is her. I can smell her. The taint of Ares is all over her.”
“She is the younger daughter,” Melanos said in a soothing tone, his hands out to placate the serpent. “Both of these young gods are not like their father. They are unlike any of the Olympians?—”
“You dare defend them tome?” Bethana’s voice sharpened and Sonah felt her pulse thud in her eardrums.
“I am not defending them,” Melanos muttered, his hands splayed as he rose slowly. He was almost as tall as Bethana. “They broke my curse. I thought, perhaps, they could break yours too.”
“Where is the other?”
Sonah’s heart stuttered as Bethana continued to watch them in the dark. Although Sonah felt certain the shadows hid them, she was less certain Bethana’s eyesight was as bad as hers.
“I don’t know,” Melanos said, his voice hardening. “But Sonah is here, and she wants to help us. Help you.”
