She moved her arms so that she held him in a mother’s embrace. “I know you don’t feel like a weapon tonight. You’re shaken by the blows you’ve taken, and you feel as if one more will break you. But I know you, Urian. You are the phoenix on your shield. You will rise from these ashes, a stronger, greater warrior, and you will tear down your enemies.”
He leaned back against her and nodded. “Thank you, akra.”
She nodded grimly. “While you were gone, I found out about your Dark-Hunters.”
He turned to face her. “Why did she create them?”
“For control. No other reason. It’s a power play against her brother.”
“With no care for our lives?”
“If she cared for you lives, Urian, she’d have helped all of you when you were cursed.”
She was right and he knew it. Though Artemis was his aunt, he’d never met her or seen her. She was a goddess and she could have saved them, yet she’d done nothing to intervene on their behalf.
“But I do know their weaknesses.”
His heart skipped a beat with that. “What are they?”
“Mostly the same as yours. They cannot go out in the daylight. Though they are immortal and don’t have to feed on blood, they can be killed. Beheading. Daylight. Total dismemberment. And they have human helpers—shield-bearers who watch over them while they sleep. They do have to eat, so they are out and about, and they live in the human world, which makes them vulnerable. They can’t harm any Apollite or human. They can only slay Daimons.”
“If they break that code?”
“They will be killed.”
“So we can use humans against them?”
She inclined her head to him.
“Good … then it’s war.”
Apollymi smiled in approval. “And I designate you as my primary general.”
September 3, 7382 BC
Urian felt the power of an ancient being roll through the room like a tidal wave three seconds before the door to the inn opened. No one else seemed to notice, but it made every nerve ending on his body stand up.
And how could it not?
This creature, for lack of a better term, stood every bit as tall as his father, at six feet eight inches. With long jet-black hair that flowed past his shoulders, he was dressed as a barbarian in furs and black flowing robes and trousers. But what caught Urian’s attention even more than his godlike essence was the staff he carried.
The twisted wood was topped with Apollymi’s sun symbol, which was pierced by three lightning bolts.
Even Paris, who stood beside him, scowled as soon as he saw the emblem. “Is that …”
“It is.” Urian felt his arm heating up to an unbearable level. Especially when the man-creature turned a pair of swirling silver eyes toward him.
Paris sucked his breath in sharply.
“You should go.”
His brother hesitated. “What about you?”
“I won’t be far behind.”
Still Paris didn’t move.
Irritated, Urian pushed him toward Davyn. He projected his thoughts to both of them.Take your husband and get out of here. Now! Through the back door.
