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Deimos may have been keeping his charade of looking unbothered but looking down at his grip on the armrests of his throne, I could see the veins bulging from his clutches tightening.
"I appreciate your concern, dear brother, but what I do in my court is strictly my business. If father wishes to confirm for himself if I had broken any laws, he's free to summon me himself," Deimos said.
"Oh, I'm sure he'd love to hear what you have to say on the matter, but you and I both know he wouldn't like discovering your secret mistress. He may even remove you from your role as leader of this infernal court, wouldn't he? At least then, he'd realize the role should've gone to me all along. Hehe, what a predicament you're in, Deimos."
It happened too fast for me to process it. One minute, Orpheus was boasting about how much trouble Deimos would be in, and the next, thin tendrils of shadows sprout from the ground like vines of a deadly plant and wrap themselves around every limb of Orpheus until he was trapped in a cocoon of blackness. Leaving only his eyes visible.
Everyone gasped in shock, backing further away so as not to get caught in the crossfire should these two brothers go toe to toe with one another.
"What's happening?" Antonia asked in a panic.
"Deimos is trying to bind Orpheus," I called back just as Abaddon and Xaphan rushed over to our side.
"We should get her out of here while we still have a chance," Abaddon urged as more dark threads were added to the bindings, but a faint red glow coming from the ridges told me it wouldn't be long before Orpheus was set free.
"Abaddon, teleport yourself and Antonia out of here before it's too late," Helios ordered.
"But what about you guys?" Antonia's wide eyes moved to each of us in a panic. I didn't miss how she said you guys, meaning she wasn't just worried about Helios. She cared about the rest of us too.
"We'll be okay, just get go—" Helios' words were interrupted with a crimson explosion that knocked us all off our feet. Without thinking, I wrapped Antonia in my arms protectively and turned us so my back would take the impact of the wall rather than her. The obsidian stone cracked on impact, and I felt my spine snapping as we all fell to the ground. My back felt like it was on fire, but I tried ignoring the pain while I assessed everyone else.
"You okay?" I asked in a strained voice.
My hold on Antonia loosened as she pulled herself off me and looked up at my pain-stricken face. "You protected me," she stated matter-of-factly.
"I'm supposed to, remember?"
"Is everyone okay?" Helios asked, pushing himself up to a sitting position.
Abaddon and Xaphan managed to spring back up with minimal damage, which meant I was the only one hurt.
Lucky me.
"Are you hurt?" Antonia asked, one of her hands cupping my face while the other was on my shoulder as her eyes scanned me for any visible wounds.
"I'll be fine," I managed to get out. "Nothing serious, and my healing will have me back to full strength in a couple of minutes. What about you, are you injured?"
"No, I'm fine." She gasped. "Wait, what about Deimos?"
As answer to her question, the smoke began to clear revealing both Orpheus and Deimos standing in the exact same spots they were before. Not moving. Not taking their eyes off each other.
Orpheus gave a devilish grin as he moved a strand of his scarlet hair off his face and tucking it behind his pointed ears. "I take it I struck a nerve, didn't I?"
Deimos' response was a menacing growl, his pointed teeth bare, and his ruby eyes blazing with hellfire. "You'd be smart to remember that I don't take threats wisely. And if you want the infernal court that bad, you'll have to kill me for it."
"A tempting offer." Orpheus' eyes roamed to where we were, then glinted when he spotted Antonia. "Ah, is this the young human in question?"
Antonia froze where she knelt in place. I still couldn't move very well so Helios and Abaddon went to either side of her, ready to fight should Orpheus get too close.
"The girl is mine, Orpheus," Deimos warned.
Either Orpheus didn't listen to him, or voluntarily chose to ignore him. His head tilted to the side as his gaze remained glued to our witch, seeming to be fascinated with her. "Interesting."
In the blink of an eye, Orpheus was suddenly inches from our faces. Abaddon and Helios were about to attack, but Orpheus expelled a ripple of magic that sent them both flying in opposite directions. Antonia screamed in horror, while I forced myself to get up. I made to charge, but Orpheus reached out to grab my neck and squeezed to block my airway. I struggled to breathe as he lifted me off my feet like I weighed nothing. Xaphan had already shifted to his hellhound form, a monstrous beast with stone-like skin and glowing red veins like magma craters.
Orpheus looked as if he was about to grab him too, but Antonia pushed herself between him and Xaphan's hellhound.
"No!" she shouted, her arms stretched out to her sides to act as a wall for Xaphan. "Put him down!"
