Laughing, Paris staggered away.
But Paris’s amusement and Urian’s irritation were cut short as a scream rang out.
“Dear gods, what now?” Stryker sighed heavily.
Until he realized it was Telamon’s wife, Natassa, they heard. Then he teleported to their home.
Urian stood paralyzed in their practice arena as he felt pain piercing his chest. It was unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. Without being told, he knew his brother was dead. He didn’t know how, but he did.
Rage blinded him as he went running through the dark streets of Kalosis. He was so blinded by it that he didn’t even think to use his powers to flash himself to his brother’s home.
Instead, he dodged the curious onlookers who were heading toward the screams to see what was happening. By the time he got to Telamon’s house, Urian was breathless and panting. Shaking and sweating.
Terrified, he pushed his way through the crowd, into the house to where his family was gathered, in hysterics and tears.
If Urian lived for eternity, he would never forget the sight of his father kneeling on the floor of Telly’s room by his brother’s side. Holding Telamon’s hand, their father wept as if his very soul had been shattered. Urian hadn’t even known that his father was capable of such gut-wrenching tears. Never mind the racking sobs that shook a warrior so fierce. So proud.
His father clutched at Telamon’s lifeless body as if it were a rag doll. All around him, his brothers were on their knees, every bit as shaken.
Those communal wails rumbled through Urian’s body like a second heartbeat and shook him to the core of his foundation. Only Apollites left a corpse to bury. Daimons disintegrated upon death. Were his father to die, there would be nothing left of his body for them to mourn. Within minutes of death, all six feet, eight inches of their father’s massively muscled warrior’s body would be nothing more than a fine golden powder that would flitter away, forever lost in the breeze.
A faint memory.
But Telamon was still an Apollite.
His body remained intact. And their father refused to release him.
His brother looked as if he were simply sleeping. As if he’d awaken any moment and insult Urian. Or call him out for some imagined slight.
In that instant of his own grief, Urian felt his entire being heating up again. Felt the same electrical charge stirring that had gone through him when his brothers had attacked him earlier. It was bitter and tasted like acid in his mouth. Those peculiar markings on his flesh returned. Only brighter this time. From shoulder to fingertip, his arm glowed.
Before he realized what he was doing, he moved across the floor to where his brother lay in his father’s arms and splayed his hand against the center of Telamon’s chest.
The instant he touched him, a bright flash shot from his fingertips and into Telamon. Urian felt the jolt charging through his entire body, radiating through his cells and flowing into his brother’s chest.
Telamon’s back arched. He vibrated all over as if he were being electrocuted. Then after a few minutes, he went stone still.
Everyone turned toward Urian. They glared at him accusingly. His father rose slowly to his feet.
Urian didn’t move. Nor did he let go of Telamon’s chest or arm. It was as if they were bonded together. As if were he to let go, it would kill him for sure. He didn’t know why he thought that, but he did.
Gasping, his brother opened his eyes to stare up at him.
Then cursed Urian.
Their father’s jaw fell open. He eyed Urian as if he were Zeus himself, come down from the theocropolis of Olympus to meet them. “What did you do?”
Stunned, Urian shook his head, every bit as dumbfounded as they were. He looked down at his glowing arm and hand. They continued to throb with a power of some primal energy he couldn’t even begin to describe or comprehend.
Not until Apollymi appeared in the room in her Destroyer incarnation.
Her black hair whipped out around her while her red eyes swirled. An unseen wind caused her hair and gown to twist about her lithe body like ribbons in a hurricane. “Who dared to summon a Source god into my domain!”
His father moved to shield him so that the Destroyer couldn’t see Urian’s glowing arm or anything else. “No one, akra.”
Those actions only made him love his father more. The fact that he’d seek to protect him was the ultimate act of loyalty, but Urian wasn’t a fool.
No one could hidethisfrom Apollymi. It would be suicide to try. And she’d kill them both for the lie.
