Clawing at his mouth for breaths of air, the realization of where he was, what he had done set in. Across his own body, Thalia lay motionless—although that meant very little after thedesmós. It was customary that the person who initiated the ritual wake first, especially as an alpha. It would take time for his blood to course through her veins, to attach itself to her—in life and death. Unless the seer had been too far gone.
Unless he had not been fast enough.
No. He couldn’t think that way. Not now. Not after everything.
A figure stood towering above him. Black leathers hugged every crevice of their body and an intricate braid adorned their strawberry-tinted blonde hair. Black paint was smeared below her eyes, staining her skin like soot from a fireplace. Along her arms swirled black ink interspersed with characters of theElliniká Glóssa.She was villainous. Terrifying. Death incarnate. The woman moved closer, reaching out her hand and smacking him firm across the cheek.
“Are you up? You miserable rake! He should have never sent you here with her.” But the voice, it was lighter than the graze across his face.
Blinking, Dimitris tried to take the figure into focus, the features beyond the markings on her face, the tattoos that now inked her forearms.Ember.The princess. ThePrytan. He surely was dead if he was imagining this woman in the midst of the chaos. Hades had surely won.
“Blondie?” His voice was raw, ash burning Dimitris’s throat as he attempted to speak. “What—how are you here?” He wrapped his arms firmer around Thalia, shifting his body to shield the little whitedaimonthat lay next to him as well. If this was Hades—an illusion—he would not allow the Olympi to take them.
“Get yourself together, Prince, before your brother has seen what you have done!” Ember chastised, yet again.
“It is too late, Ember,” a man growled from behind her.
Was he going mad? Was this Aidesian? The passover he did not intend? Was he truly dead, unable to save not only himself, but those he loved? Not able to saveher?
“I will fucking kill him if he is not already dead.” No—that was absolutely his brother’s voice. Neither of them should be here and yet—was he so far gone the God of Death would torture him this way? “What did you do, Dimitris? What did you do to her?” His brother stared down at him, reaching out his hand and gripping the back of Dimitris’s neck.
Had there actually been a horn? The sound he heard right before he drifted off into the abyss sounded like the war call of Nexos. HadThe Nostossomehow found its way back to Skiatha? Had they caught wind of an attack despite the very people of Skiatha not seeing the attack coming themselves?
Thalia saw it—she had seen herself die.
“I did what was necessary,” he rasped, eyes closing once more as he inhaled a long strained breath.
“There is no way in Aidesian that Thalia would ever agree to this, Dimitris. You asinine fool!” Ander dropped to his knees beside the seer, moving her motionless body off of Dimitris. “Thedesmósis a sacred ritual, not something you can just throw around. Do you even know what this means? If she did not agree then she will die. You could have brought her to the healers tent. You could have done anything but this!”
Still adjusting to the fact that Ander was really here, Dimitris pushed himself up from where he lay to get a better look at the destruction that surrounded them. Thedaimonsin the sky had disappeared—dead or retreated, he did not know. How long had he been out? It felt like nothing more than moments, but the destruction before him told a different story. When he had slipped into the dreamless sleep, the fires had not made their way from the castle, but now flames blazed all around them, scorching the earthbeneath. From the edge of the shore to the mountains, undying fire raged as high as a grown man. It looked like the myths they read of Skiatha, a fiery isle ruled by an army of the dead.
“What do you have to say for yourself, Dimitris?” Again, his brother’s words were like a poison-laced knife carving into his heart. Because of course it was Dimitris’s fault that Thalia and Mykonos lay here on the brink of death.
“I already told you, brother, I did what was necessary. It has been well over a month since you have seen her; you know nothing about what she would have wanted. Besides, there is another way she would survive the ritual—if she was not able to agree,” Dimitris replied through grit teeth.
Squatting down next to him, Ember cocked her head to the side, from this close her hair looked different, a pale pink glow about it, and her normally amber eyes gave a darker hue. “What do you mean?” she asked, her voice strained, but not accusatory like his own brother.
“Thedesmósis not just a vow between two wolves before a marriage. Something you choose to accept.” Ander turned toward her, his face lacking all emotion. “The Fates can will it—the bond—whether you want it or not. If you are Fated, then nothing can prevent the ritual from working. It will bind two souls even in death if the path the Fates wove has always been there.”
“And you think…you think that you and Thalia are Fated?” Ember asked, her brows furrowing as her lips rolled in between her teeth.
Inhaling deeply, Dimitris caught a familiar scent. Had the Nexian spymaster finally allowed his emotions to have free reign? “Areyou asking for the seer’s safety, or are you asking if a wolf can truly be Fated to another outside their pack?”
The Prytan bristled, her chin shifting down and gaze turning toward the smoke in the distance. “For Thalia’s well-being, obviously,” she muttered, not a word of it sounding truthful—not with the vines, thorns, and an eagle inked up her arms.
“If you wish for people to believe you, blondie, it is best to cover up the inking of dedication you have seemed to have gotten while I was away. Like thedesmós, that is an ancient tradition my kind does not take lightly.”
Jaw tightening, Ember’s eyes went glassy. “You know nothing of what these markings mean…what they cost me.” Her voice turned bitter, hands coiling into fists.
Ander stepped beside her, resting his hand on her shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. “We must not dwell on these things. Right now, we need to get Thalia and Mykonos to the ships. Several of our Nexian fleet have already evacuated the Skiathan people. Only a few remain that will be transported onThe Nostosand theAphrodite.”
Something warm bloomed in Dimitris’s chest—she had made it. His ship was unharmed. Regaining his footing, Dimitris stepped back toward Thalia and herpsychí. Pulling a linen wrap out of the air, he crafted a carrier for Mykonos and slid his hands under Thalia to lift her up as he had done many times before.
“What do you think you are doing?” Ander snapped.
“Ithinkthat I am carrying Thalia and Mykonos to my ship.” Dimitris narrowed his eyes on his brother. “Do not make me challenge you, Alexander. You will not win,not on this.”
Ander cocked his head to the side and Dimitris could feel his brother’s claws latch onto his memories. Dimitris did not stop him, but instead let every moment spent with Thalia flood his mind, from the first time he laid eyes on her, to the attack in Aidesian, to the promise he made her and the kiss they’d shared. He finished with the desperation of seeing her broken body against the winged creature and how tormented he was to know he might not get to her in time.
