Shaking my head, I palmed his arm, hoping he could read my expression. He couldn’t give in to the overwhelming pull of our bond and leap into a fight against an enemy who was immune to his power. Because he was right. If we fought the gods like this, we’d never win. We needed a plan first. An army. We needed answers on how we could stop them for good.
But…I glanced down at the Mortal Blade. The gemstone glowed faintly. It was throbbing like a heartbeat, like it was trying to answer Orion’s call. My stomach dipped. It was a light in the darkness, giving away our position. And I hadn’t noticed the glow until now.
Fuck.
I wrapped the edge of my cloak around the gemstone, but it was too late. Orion’s boots hit the ground in front us, his wings gusting powerful fists of air. The bushes bent back to reveal our location, though the gemstone had already given us away.
Kalen punched the tip of his sword into the dirt and pushed to his feet. With a snarl, he levelled his weapon at the god now before us. But Orion only had eyes for me.
His pale hair danced across his forehead as he stalked toward me. His powerful body was clad in steel plates, much like the ones Perseus seemed to favor. His movements were smooth yet precise, like he was made of the wind itself.
“Give me Callisto back.” He curled back his lips, snarling like the predator he was.
“I can’t do that,” I said, finding my voice. “She’s dead.”
He stared at me. My heart thundered, and for a moment, I wondered if I’d said too much. Did he think I’d taken her alive rather than killing her with my blade? And now that he knew the truth, his rage would be unquenchable.
So when he tipped back his head and laughed, I started.
Kalen put an arm in front of me like a protective barrier. When he spoke, his voice was barely a whisper. “When I say run, run. Will you listen to me for once?”
I nodded.
He took a step back, and his arm put pressure on my stomach. I followed with a step of my own.
Orion’s laughter died. “Did you truly believe it would be that easy to kill us? We areimmortal gods. Give her back to me, Tessa. Pandora, too.”
I fought the urge to glance at Kalen. Who in the name of light was Pandora?
“I haven’t laid a finger on anyone named Pandora,” I countered. “I don’t even know who that is.”
He strode toward me, his eyes narrowing. “That’s because you’re too small of a creature, too focused on your own tiny life on your own tiny pocket of rotten land. Even when you hold the truth, you cannot see it.”
My hand tightened on the hilt of my dagger. I was starting to understand now, even if it made little sense. The gemstones I’d taken from Callisto’s ashes…somehow, they were her. And the one inside the Mortal Blade was whoever this Pandora was—another one of the gods, perhaps. Were the gemstones working as a prison that could hold the essence of them, like the onyx gemstone had been for Andromeda? Were these two godstrapped?
Had I done it without even realizing?
It felt too easy.
“Wait,” Kalen suddenly said, shielding his eyes as he gazed into the distance. “What’s that?”
Orion took the bait. He glanced over his shoulder, his hands fisting as if tensing for a fight. Kalen grabbed my hand and mouthed,Run!
We leapt from the bushes and ran through the trees. It only gave us seconds before Orion followed. His heavy footsteps pounded the ground behind us. My legs ached, and my lungs burned. I held tight to Kalen’s hand and ran with every ounce of speed I could conjure. I was just barely fast enough to keep up.
We dashed beyond the tree line and into the expanse of open field. The gently rolling hills vanished into the darkness, though I knew from our previous travels they went on for miles and miles. If we carried on, these fields would lead us to Itchen and then Endir. But we would never get there, not with Orion hot on our trail.
“We’ll have to fight him,” I puffed out between breaths. “And we have the blade.”
“I don’t want you that close to him,” Kalen said, casting a quick glance over his shoulder at the enemy. “He’s not like Callisto, who merely controls the beasts. He’s Famine, love. If he touches you, he could starve you to death.”
“There’s one of him and two of us. It’s the best odds we’ll ever have.”
I released his hand and stopped, whirling to face Orion. He was only a few steps behind us. If we hadn’t stopped, it would have only taken him seconds to catch up to our pace. Bending my knees, I lifted my hands and braced for impact.
But he slowed to a stop and raised his brow, clearly caught off guard by my sudden willingness to fight him. “You’ll hand over my sisters?”
“No. If you want them, you’ll have to take them from me.”
