Awakened (Eternal Guardians Book 8) (14 page)

Orpheus’s mother had been a witch, and he had a strong connection to Delia’s settlement. Luckily, most of the coven had escaped in time, and those who’d been killed hadn’t been civilians but part of their defense team. But that didn’t make it right, and Orpheus had been livid when he’d seen the carnage Athena’s Sirens had caused. The memory of it still made Max see red.

“He has a point,” Talisa said softly.

Max understood Orpheus’s point, but he glared his cousin’s way. She was supposed to be on his side with this.

“I know you kids are worried about Elysia,” Orpheus said, gentling his voice. “I get that. But immortal law states Zeus can choose any female he wants for his Sirens. I hate it as much as you both do, but he chose Elysia, and there’s nothing we can do to change that. The queen and her sisters have pooled their gifts to look into the present, and they’ve seen that Elysia made it through the tests on Pandora and that she’s already started the next phase of training. That’s a good sign.” He glanced at his mate, then back at Max and Talisa while the twins happily sucked on their candy, oblivious to the turmoil in their world. “She’ll be on Olympus for at least the next three years. She’s safe there. The best we can do is continue monitoring her progress and search for a solution that won’t result in all-out war. I know your instinct is to jump, Max, but as a future Argonaut, you have to start thinking about the bigger picture. You can’t just focus on your personal wants.”

That was rich coming from a guy who’d spent hundreds of years saying fuck you to the world and doing only what he wanted.

“You’re talking years,” Max said, fighting the rage that wanted to consume him. Didn’t they care? Didn’t they realize what it was like to be plucked from one life and thrown into another? What it was like to be forced to fight and kill for something you didn’t believe in?

He knew. He knew all too well. He could still feel the cold. Could still hear the screams. Sometimes, late at night, he could even feel his blade sinking deep into flesh as he watched the last bit of life bleed out of his victim.

Max didn’t want that for Elysia. He’d do anything to save her from the nightmares that still haunted him. It didn’t matter who the Sirens ordered her to kill. Once she let the darkness take her, it would never let go.

“Yeah, I am talking about years.” Orpheus’s gray eyes narrowed. “Years where Elysia is safe and no one else is killed because we acted rashly.”

Frustration, anger, disbelief coiled through Max, and he turned away, fighting the urge to shove his fist through the wall. He didn’t need a lecture from someone who’d only developed a conscience because of a female. Orpheus hadn’t bothered to clean up his treacherous ways until he’d fallen in love with Skyla.

“We’re just worried about Elysia,” Talisa said. “She’s not me or Max. Fighting, combat, and warfare do not come naturally to her. Her survival skills were strong enough to get her through the tests on Pandora, but she’s not a warrior. And when it comes to being a Siren and killing… She won’t be able to do that. Not unless they break her.”

“She’s Demetrius’s daughter,” Orpheus said. “She might not be a warrior, but she’s strong. She can get through the training.”

“Maybe.” Talisa’s voice softened. “But even the training will change her.”

“The girl is right.” Something in Skyla’s tone made Max turn. The former Siren looked toward her mate with haunted eyes.

“What do you mean?” Orpheus’s expression grew worried as his focus zeroed in on his mate.

“Elysia won’t be the same.” Something dark passed over Skyla’s eyes. Something that gave Max hope. “The Siren training
will
change her. Seduction, combat, the war strategy they drill into the recruits’ heads… I know I told the queen she’d be okay, but, Orpheus, Athena and Zeus wipe the recruits’ memories so they won’t question what they’re being taught. It’s reprogramming. By the time Elysia remembers who we all are, it’ll be too late. They’ll already have their killer.”

“But you made it through okay.”

Skyla shook her head. “I made it
back
because of you, and it took hundreds of years. Most Sirens are not that lucky. And even I’m not the same person I used to be before. You know that.”

Max held his breath as he looked between the two. Orpheus and Skyla’s love story didn’t span years, it spanned centuries. They’d known each other when Skyla had first joined the order and Orpheus had been a reckless youth with no regard for rules. It had taken death, reincarnation, and more than a little forgiveness to bring them back together. It had also taken a love that knew no bounds.

Orpheus’s expression grew grim as his gaze held Skyla’s, and in the silence, Max’s heart beat faster.

Skyla reached for her mate’s hand. “I know it’s wrong, but I wish…I wish someone would have come after me all those years ago. I wish I’d never been a Siren.”

Pain and regret swamped Orpheus’s features as his fingers closed tightly around his mate’s. “I’m an Argonaut now,” he said softly. “The queen’s already decided. I can’t be involved.”

“You wouldn’t have to be,” Max said quickly. “If anyone finds out, I’ll say I stole the invisibility cloak.”

Orpheus scowled Max’s way like that was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard.

“He stole the Orb of Krónos from the castle once,” Talisa pointed out. “That wouldn’t be a stretch.”

“I was a kid then.” Max sent his cousin a sideways glance at the mention of the magical disk that had the power to release the Titans from Tartarus. “And thanks so much for reminding everyone about that incident.”

“I’m just saying.” Talisa rolled her eyes. “Some people wouldn’t be surprised to hear you stole something else.”

“This is insanity.” Orpheus let go of Skyla’s hand and rubbed his forehead. “Forget about the fact you’d be putting your life on the line and could quite possibly get caught by any number of gods. Assuming you can find Elysia and get her out of Olympus, you can’t even bring her back here.” He dropped his hand. “If the Sirens found out she was in this realm, all hell would break loose. You’d have to go on the run in the human realm, and even then they’d hunt you like dogs. They’d never stop. ”

“We could take her to the half-breed colony.” Talisa looked up at Max, then at Orpheus. “There’s still therillium in the caverns beneath the colony. Once it’s glowing, the ore has the ability to cloak our location. We could stay hidden indefinitely. The colonists did so for years.”

Orpheus frowned. “And look how well that turned out. The colony’s in ruins today.”

“Because someone didn’t keep the ore lit,” Max said. “We’re smarter than that.”

“Insanity.” Orpheus looked toward the ceiling and shook his head.

Skyla reached for her mate’s arm. “They can do this, Orpheus. They could save her. It’s not a terrible plan. In fact, I think it could work.”

Worry lines creased Orpheus’s brow as his gaze met Skyla’s. “You really think it’s a good idea?”

“I do. Let them do for her what you couldn’t do for me.”

Orpheus closed his hand over Skyla’s against his arm, sighed, and looked between Max and Talisa. “You’re both willing to risk your futures for this?”

“Yes,” they answered simultaneously.

“And the Argonauts?” Orpheus zeroed in on Max. “Because if you do this, you’ll never serve with the guardians. It doesn’t matter how relieved Demetrius or Isadora are that Elysia is safe. You’d be disobeying a direct order from the queen. I might not always agree with everything Theron does as head of the Argonauts, but if he didn’t go after you for that, he’d be breaking the law. With the political climate the way it is now in Argolea, the Council would demand you be punished for insubordination. And I’m not talking about just kicking you out of the Argonauts. I’m talking about a sentence of death.”

Max knew full well what it meant to break the laws of the Argonauts. His father had been preparing him to join the guardians both mentally and physically since he was ten years old. Tradition was sacred in their land. But he also knew some things were more important than laws and traditions.
 

Max stood a little taller. “I’m fully prepared to face the consequences. If they can catch us.”

“And that’s a big if,” Talisa added.

Orpheus shook his head. “Stupid young fools. The whole world will be after you.”

Skyla let go of Orpheus’s hand, sidled up against him, and wrapped her arm around his waist. “If memory serves, the whole world was after you not all that long ago, daemon, and you managed to prove everyone wrong.”

Orpheus draped his arm over her shoulder and looked down at her. “I got lucky.”

“No, you just had someone who believed in you. Elysia needs someone to believe in her just as much. This is the right thing to do, Orpheus, and you know it.”

Orpheus’s grim expression said he wasn’t convinced, but when he looked back at Max, his eyes hardened. “I can’t guarantee the invisibility cloak will work more than a few hours. The thing’s ancient.”

Hope surged through Max’s veins. “A few hours are all we need.”

“No, you need a fucking lobotomy. And if you rat me out for helping you, I will kick your ass from here to Olympus myself. We clear?”

Max smiled for the first time in weeks. “We’re clear.”

Talisa exhaled a long breath. “Thank you. Thank you both.”

“Don’t thank either of us yet.” Orpheus glanced back at his mate. “Though you, Siren, can show me all kinds of thanks for going along with this asinine plan as soon as they’re gone.”

“Asimime plan!” Melita giggled and popped the lollipop back in her mouth.

“Ass-a-time!” Kyros laughed as he rolled onto his back on the couch, kicked his chubby little legs in the air, and waved his candy. “I want ass-a-time too!”

“That’s a good idea,” Orpheus leaned close and nipped at Skyla’s ear. “I could use some ass time myself.”

“Down, daemon.” Skyla smiled and pushed him away. “There are young in the room.”

“They’re four. They have no idea what we’re talking about.”

“No, but the other young do.”

“Oh yeah. I forgot about them.” Orpheus chuckled and kissed Skyla’s cheek.

Max frowned at Talisa, whose gaze darted anywhere but at Orpheus and Skyla. That familiar resentment burned inside him. The “adults” were treating him like a kid again. Someday soon he’d make everyone see he was as much a warrior as the rest of the Argonauts. Someday soon they’d all realize just what he was capable of.

“Now that we have that settled…” The former Siren turned toward Max and Talisa, her expression growing serious once more. “Let’s talk about what you’ll find when you get to Olympus.”

A
fter a month in the pit—which was exactly as it sounded, a hole in the ground beneath one of the buildings on the Siren compound—Damon was eager to rejoin the Sirens as an instructor. And way more than ready to see Elysia again.

He’d thought about her nonstop in the pit, and even though something in the back of his head warned this growing obsession for her could be trouble, he’d decided to ignore it. He’d spent the last twenty-five years on Olympus feeling no excitement, no emotion, nothing but disinterest. Something about Elysia brought him to life in a way nothing and no one had before. Something he needed to know more about.

He showered and changed in his room in the instructor wing, checked in with Athena to figure out where they were in the training cycle, then headed down to the mess hall for some food. After filling his plate, he took his tray to a table near the wide windows that overlooked the training field where recruits swung blades and shot arrows during their daily skills sessions.

Damon scanned the recruits until he found Elysia, and his pulse ticked up at just the sight of her. She stood on the far side of the field, a bow in her hand, aiming an arrow at a target set on a stump. Kastor, a mortal Damon had worked with in the past, walked around her, lifting her elbow, repositioning her grip on the bow, giving her tips on when to release the arrow.

Heat rushed through Damon’s body, condensed in his groin, and sent electrical spirals all through his limbs. She was dressed in the standard Siren fare—tight black tank, slim-fitting dark pants, and knee-high boots—but even from this distance, he could see that she’d changed. Muscles that hadn’t been there a month ago were now obvious in her arms and legs. And her skin, though still paler than most, was darker from hours outside in the sun.