“Who gives a damn what she wants? She isn’t here!”
With a roar, Cyrus tackled Evander, pinning him to the ground and wrapping his hands around his throat. “You piece of shit,” he growled, pressing his thumbs into Evander’s throat. “You think this isn’t killing me? You think I don’t already feel helpless?”
Evander’s hips bucked, jolting Cyrus enough that he loosened his grip on Evander’s throat.
“You have… the power of… the Titans,” Evander wheezed, shoving Cyrus off him and massaging his neck. “You’re the… king of… the Underworld. And you’re doingnothing.”
“I’m trying to be smart about this,” Cyrus said, wiping sweat from his brow. “If we go into another realm and start ripping apart villages in search of them, we’ll be exposed. The Titans will know exactly where we are and they’ll easily pick us apart. We will lose any advantage we have.”
“And sitting here in the Underworld gives us the advantage?”
“It gives us the element of surprise. With me as king, I have the magic of the Underworld on my side. The Titans know that. It’s why they didn’t destroy us in the Undead Wilds as soon as Apollo died. But they also know we are scrambling and we are desperate. They areexpectingus to do something foolish and reckless. Don’t play into their hands, Evander.”
Evander’s throat bobbed as he swallowed hard, then dropped his gaze. There was a fire in him that Cyrus hadn’t seen before. It was making him more unhinged every day.
“Wewillfind them,” Cyrus said, putting a hand on Evander’s shoulder.
Evander jerked out of his grasp and bared his teeth. “Don’t console me. I haven’t been able tobreathesince that day. They should be here with us.Sheshould be here. I can’t—I don’t—” He broke off with a snarl, then ran a hand through his sweaty hair.
“Evander,” Cyrus said gently, his brow furrowing. “It’s all right. We can?—”
“I saiddon’t console me,” Evander snarled.
Cyrus lifted his palms. “Fine. I won’t. But you need to talk to me. Ever since Prue and Mona were taken, you’ve been… unwell.”
“No shit,” Evander snapped. “I wonder why.”
“Brother,talk to me.You can’t continue with this manic behavior. What happened to them was not your fault, and Mona wouldn’t want you to think that way.”
Evander shook his head violently, then spread his pearly wings. “I’m not doing this with you. Good luck with your useless schemes.”
He shot upward into the air, his translucent wings beating furiously as he flew away from the castle and out of sight. Cyrus watched his brother leave, his chest tightening with unease.
It was like this every day. Evander was unwell, but whenever Cyrus tried to talk to him about it, his brotherfled.
Cyrus knew how it felt to feel frustrated and panicked without the one he loved. But this ran deeper than that.
Evander blamed himself. Cyrus could see it in the haunted look on his brother’s face.
But no amount of self-loathing would bring Prue and Mona back. If Evander was unwilling to think clearly, then Cyrus would have to be the levelheaded one.
How strange that their roles were now reversed. Ordinarily, Cyrus was more hotheaded and Evander was calm and collected.
But everything in the realms had changed.Cyrushad changed. And even if he could go back to who he was, he wasn’t sure he wanted to.
“Cyrus,” said a voice.
He turned to find Lagos standing at the entrance to the training yard. Cyrus strode toward him, hope and urgency pulsing within him. With the head of a bull, Lagos’s expressions were impossible to read. But there was something about the stiff set of his shoulders that told Cyrus something had happened.
“What is it?” Cyrus asked, his chest thrumming with anticipation.
Lagos took a shaky breath. “We found it.”
Lagos led Cyrus into the castle, up the stairs, and to the throne room. Cyrus let his gaze drift to the massive throneon the dais, his mind returning to that moment when he’d taken Prue right here in the throne room…
Despair twisted in his gut, but he forced it down.She isn’t dead. There is still hope.
In the center of the throne room was a long table where two other demons sat—Theo, a dark-skinned demon with a long, serpentine tail, and Maleck, a massive demon with pale skin and a single blue eye. Sitting next to Maleck, his tongue lolling happily, was Cerberus the dog. Eons ago, Cyrus’s father, Aidoneus had spread rumors of a terrifying three-headed beast, hoping to frighten enemies away from the realm. But in truth, Cerberus was just an ordinary black dog. Somehow, the canine had survived the destruction of the realm—likely because he possessed no magic and was therefore no threat to Pandora’s darkness. The creature had taken a liking to the demons, particularly Maleck, who was scratching behind the dog’s ears.
