Paris scowled. “What do you mean?”
“Just what I said. With the destruction of one pantheon, the Chthonians are at each other’s throats on how to restore the balance of the universe and realign the gods and their territories. And while they fight, the gods are vying for power. Our scattered people haven’t found their footing and are being systematically slaughtered the instant they are identified.”
Urian glanced to his brothers as he digested that news and what it meant for all of them. “Is that why so many Apollites have bartered with all manner of fey and demons? To spawn races in an effort to try to circumvent Apollo’s curse?”
His father nodded. “I don’t know how that’ll play out in the coming years. But knowing the gods as I do, they usually put such races down like rabid beasts. Until we see how this goes, my suggestion is to lie low and give them time to kill each other off.”
Ophion bristled at those words. “You speak of cowardice at a time when we should be helping them?”
Their father backhanded Ophion for the insult. “I speak of sanity, idiot! The nail that stands out is hammered down. And I won’t see our people fall needlessly to feed anyone’s ego.”
“What of our mother?” Urian braced himself for an equally violent reaction from his father.
To his surprise, he handed him a small yellow sfora similar to the red one Stryker used to spy on the human realm. “I’ll entrust this to you. I gave her a means to summon us should she be attacked, as well as the option of returning here to live. She chose to stay among her own kind. Hellen made it clear that she doesn’t want to return to Kalosis.”
Those words stung his heart, but Urian wouldn’t fault her for them. It was wrong to make her live in darkness when she didn’t have to. His mother deserved to live in the light. “I will watch over her.”
Paris took Davyn’s hand. “Do we have a Chthonian who protects us, Solren?”
“Nay. They don’t care about us. Apollites are on their own as far as the gods are concerned. Apollymi is all we have. She alone cares.”
Ophion’s eyes darkened. “That’s not right.”
“Since when is life fair or just?” Urian laughed bitterly at his brother’s stupidity.
His father sighed. “Sadly, Urian’s right. This isn’t about fairness. It’s about survival. Fuck my father! I am not burying my sons or daughter because he’s an asshole who had to screw a cheap Greek whore. Let the world above burn to the ground and let them tear themselves apart. We’re safe here, and here we will stay.”
Paris cleared his throat again. Louder this time. “Um … Solren? There’s only one small problem.”
“And that is?”
“You’re already a Daimon and the rest of us aren’t far behind. So how are we to survive locked down here without the human souls we need to keep from becoming dust?”
Urian flinched at a very raw truth that could kill them all. A truth that filled him with absolute terror.
Urian?
He savored the sound of Xyn’s voice in his head. It was like a mental caress that never failed to warm him all the way through.
Desperate to see her, he found her next to her falls, near the orchard. “Greetings, my fairest lady.” He wrapped his arms around her long, warm neck and breathed in that sweet scent that was uniquely his dragon.
She lifted him up in her clawed hand to cradle him.What’s wrong?
Laughing, he eyed the razor talon that was only a few inches from his face. “Most would seethis.” He carefully tugged at it. “What kind of fool am I to lie here withthat,this close, and not have any fear?”
You know I’d never harm you.
“True.” Sighing, he tucked his hands behind his head and crossed his ankles while she carried him toward her cave. “I felt a god here earlier. Did you?”
She arched a spiny brow at that.Apollymi.
Irritated, he grimaced up at her. “I swear, if one more person says that to me, I will react violently. Not Apollymi. Someone else. Completely different power.”
Sarraxyn pressed her lips together as fear spread through her. Somehow, Urian must have sensed her father’s earlier visit when he’d dropped in again to press her to act against Apollymi and Urian. She’d told Helios not to come.
He didn’t listen. Part of being a god—they thought they knew best and were always up to speed. But if that were true, then Helios wouldn’t have been pushed aside so easily by the Olympians.
However, the last time she’d made the mistake of pointing that out to her father, he’d blasted her so hard that her brother Veles had been forced to intervene. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have survived the vicious assault.
