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I bared my teeth, pointing my dagger at her.
"She's ours," Wane said in a low voice full of shadows and menace before I could speak that exact claim.
Phoebe smiled, back to her dreamy, sweet, wouldn’t hurt a fly persona.
My dagger burned in my hand; I literally itched to throw it at her face. I owed her my life, so she would walk out of here with hers intact. The next time we met? All bets were off.
"Yes," Phoebe agreed, drifting back a step, possibly because she couldn’t breach Wane’s shadows. "She is yours. Others who are yours are inside Cronus. Empty the prisons, and they will be saved, and you all might survive."
"And if we don't?" Wynvail challenged, catching my elbow to keep me close, probably sensing I was one false move away from unleashing all hell.
"Fate will find you and kill you." Phoebe looked over all of us, her eyes gleaming gold. "You may be archdemons, and descendants of gods and titans with Fury in your heart, but as long as Cronus has that power at his disposal, you will not survive."
I wanted to turn to look at Em, to see if he still meant what he said in the training room about wanting Cronus dead. I promised Kai and Harvey we were finished with battles and fate, but when I blinked, I saw Renna's face, and the double beat of my heart echoed two words over and over.
Kill him. Kill him.
CHAPTER 21
Iexpected an argument of epic proportions. Or maybe we'd all be civilised demon beings for once and we'd have a debate, a real conversation instead of shouting, snarling, and storming off in a sulky huff. I didn't expect Em to say we needed to get Renna out of the prison ASAP, and then we need the bastard dead even ASAP-er, and for everyone to agree. I didn’t know what alternate world we were living in, but even Harvey heaved a sigh and submitted. Kai glared daggers at us but muttered, "Fine," which was exceptionally calm for him.
I wasn’t the only one who trusted Wynvail, apparently. If he believed Phoebe was telling the truth, the rest of us did. And deep down we all wanted to make Cronus bleed and scream and suffer, and we had a way to make that happen. We didn’t have to fight him; we just had to empty the prisons.
Renna would do it for us. She came to fight for me in Olympus. Em was right; it was killing me to leave her there.
We were all gathered in the second living room now, deeper in the cottage1 where it was warmer and felt more protected. Bonus: there was no creepy, threatening prophetess waiting for us in this room. The décor here was as neutral as the rest of the house, but an exposed brick wall on the back was interrupted by a small window looking out on the forest instead of vulnerable double glass doors. I might have been delusional, but there was just something comforting about having walls made of actual brick. Plus, the room was full of fluffy rugs, throws, and cushions, and if I leaned just slightly, I could see the sheen of shadows and moonlight shielding the house.
Kai sat on top of me on the beige sofa, like a Great Dane convinced they were a lap dog, and Wane was equally entrenched in my personal space, his side flush to mine and shadows wrapped around my arm from wrist to shoulder. I tried to send an equal amount of comfort to all my mates, scared I'd neglect someone when they needed me, but cutting myself into five equal parts wasn’t the easiest thing to do. We were all freaked the fuck out by Cronus taking over Earth, and even more unsettled by the fact we were walking voluntarily into one of his prisons.
Or buffets as Phoebe called them. Phoebe the titan, as it turned out. Mother of Leto and Asteria, and grandmother of Apollo and Artemis. Even I'd heard of those gods, and it only made it more remarkable that we'd escaped our encounter with Phoebe unscathed.
I wasn't sure how to feel about a titan being the reason I was alive, or the creator of the prophecy I was marked with. If I thought about it too hard, my head would spin. I was a normal, run-of-the-mill demon, and yet my life was unfolding like I was living in a myth itself.
Harvey blew out a sigh, an insistent discomfort itching though his soul as he pushed out of the armchair he'd sat in and dropped to the floor in front of me. The sensation faded into relief when I ran my fingers through his shaggy brown hair, so I wrapped comfort and reassurance around his soul and hoped it didn't feel like a lie.
I’d meant it when I promised to never join a war again. We couldn't sit back and let Renna be murdered, tortured, or eaten—or all three. But voluntarily walking back into a place owned and controlled by Cronus felt a lot like walking back into the Damned House, and guilt bit into my stomach.
We were ringing the damn dinner bell; Cronus would come running and devour us. Devour me. Again.
I was relieved when Em strode into the living room, making my lips twitch into a smile when he sank into the chair Harvey just vacated and kicked off his shoes.
"You have a cute little hole in your sock," I pointed out.
He laughed tiredly. "If you find it cute, Hales, I'll leave it there. Not that I have much time for darning socks lately."
My chest warmed when he met and held my gaze, and I felt stronger for having him in sight, for having his eyes on me.
"So," I said, licking my dry lips. "We're racing back into danger."
"Armed to the teeth this time," Harvey pointed out, leaning his head into my hand when I forgot to keep stroking his hair. I resumed, and he released a long sigh. "Wynvail's bags of danger should make a difference. It's not like Cronus is actually going to be at the prison. He's busy running around the world, destroying cities and rebuilding them."
"Bags of danger," Wyn repeated with a low laugh, slumping into the room looking even more tired than Em. I needed more arms so I could hug all of them. It really wasn't fair that he had to cross the room and drop into the other chair, barely suppressing a groan. We'd been happy for a day, and now all the aches and weariness had returned. "Talking about my eye bags, are you?"
Harvey snorted. "Yeah, those things are massive. Have you ever thought about using makeup? You look like you lost a boxing match."
Wyn gave him the middle finger, but he was unable to hide his smile.
Surliness came from Kai's soul. He glowered, resting his head on my shoulder.
