“It wouldn’t be for anyone if you were smart.”
“I’ve been known to have stupid ideas before.”
“Patrick.”
“They have my grandmother, Ashanti. She has a generational access to the nexus under Salem. I can’t let Ethan do to her what he did to my mom and sister. We can’t let him have that power. He won’t need sacrifices and souls to turn himself into a god if he can mainline a fucking nexus to power his spell.”
“Some sacrifices must be made to win a war.”
Patrick swallowed against the dryness in his throat. “Not on his terms.”
“You give Ethan a path to everything he wants if you give him that bit of the Morrígan’s staff, because you will be handing yourself over to him as well. This isn’t how I taught you to weigh costs.”
The Morrígan’s staff was made to raise the dead but the almost-sentient power that lived inside that horrific weapon wasn’t one Ethan could channel, not without godly sacrifices. He had no gods save those from the hells who’d made whatever bargains they could to fight with him instead of die for him. Removing the nexus beneath Salem from Ethan’s control would deny him power for the altar he was building up New York City to be.
“No, but you taught me to be a weapon. This is me wielding myself. If I take Eloise’s place, I have a better chance at keeping Ethan from the nexus.”
“We need you here to find him, not out of reach in Salem.”
Patrick blinked rain out of his eyes, licking it off his lips. “I promised to bleed for you, and I will. But I need to do this first.”
“You are blood kin to both Eloise and Ethan. His magic will walk right through yours.”
“Maybe. But I have a soulbond. Jono might be enough to help me keep Ethan at bay.”
“If your wolf is to come after you, he best leave soon. Manhattan will soon be impassable.”
Patrick hesitated, wishing his phone worked to pass on that warning. “Jono needs to stay here. Sage is hurt, and the rest of the packs and our allies need guidance. Gerard’s in town. If Jono can’t leave New York to come after me, Gerard will.”
“Cú Chulainn is needed on the front lines where he belongs.”
Patrick narrowed his eyes at her. “Did you always know who he was?”
“What do you think?”
He should’ve been angry about that, but he’d already lost Setsuna, and regret was still a bitter taste in his mouth even these many days later. Being angry at Ashanti wasn’t worth it now, not with what they were facing down.
“I think the gods all hate what you taught me.”
To question; to fight; to survive. Patrick had lost a lot in his life, but he was still standing, and his foundation wasn’t laid at Persephone’s feet, but Ashanti’s and Setsuna’s in ways he was only recently beginning to recognize.
Ashanti stepped closer, tilting her head back a little so she could look him in the eye. The incline on the pedestrian pathway wasn’t so steep that she stood above him, but Patrick hadn’t felt so small beneath a person’s gaze in a long, long while.
Then Ashanti smiled, a hard curve of her mouth, and the laugh she let out was stolen by the wind. “The end has always started with a sacrifice. Let it be yours then, and let us win this war.”
Patrick swallowed, throat dry, and hoped he wasn’t making a mistake. “I need to find Hades. If you know where he is, can you take me to him?”
“She can’t, but I can, Pattycakes,” Hermes said from behind him.
Patrick jerked around, coming face-to-face with the Greek messenger god. The immortal’s aura was cracked open and burned Patrick’s vision, causing him to squint. Hermes was unbothered by the storm, dry beneath the rain due to magic. His dyed blue curls were faded, dark roots showing when he raked a hand through them, grinning at Patrick with a light in his gold-brown eyes that made him look manic.
“Where’s Hades?” Patrick asked.
“Not in the Underworld, so lucky you, there’s no payment involved for this trip,” Hermes said.
“Shows what you know. I’ll need you to take me to him after our first stop.”
“And why should I do that?” Hermes pointed at the iron box, smile disappearing from his face. “This doesn’t belong to him, to any of them. Giving it up is not how you pay what you owe us.”
