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What in the world?
TWENTY
Obligations can kiss my ass
ORCUS
There are only three people brave enough to venture up to my cave. My father, my mother, and my best friend. Everyone else stays away. That’s the way I like it. That’s the way I intended to keep it. If I had it my way, my father would never come, but he doesn’t take kindly to being told no.
I skid to a stop at the entrance of the cave, catching Maddox before he can come inside. “What are you doing here?” I hiss.
“Miss me?” He’s covered in a light sheen of sweat. If he came from the castle in the valley to the north, it would’ve been quite a hike.
My brow creases. “What do you want?”
“What makes you think I want anything?” He arches an eyebrow at me. Maddox is an ogre as well, but shorter and a little thinner. He’s still incredibly powerful and together we trained to be the strongest warriors. As far as lying goes, he’s horrible at it. I simply look at him and wait for him to break.
“Okay, fine,” he says after a moment. “The King sent me.”
“I already told him I wanted nothing to do with the—”
“It’s not about that. There’s been an incident with the vampires.”
The vampires and monsters haven’t had issues since the Twelve Nights of Blood. That was over two hundred years ago. There’s no reason for conflict… unless. My father. Leave it to him to not only piss off the furies but start a conflict with the blood suckers after centuries of peace.
“What’s he done now?”
Maddox grimaces. “The vampires attacked first. Apparently, the furies aren’t just targeting monsters.”
“Is anyone hurt?”
“About twenty dead,” he says with a grimace. “I only agreed to come get you because you’re the best warrior we have and I can’t do this without you.”
If he’s going up against the vampires, he’ll need all the help he can get. They’re vicious. One would think that given our size, it would be an easy fight. One would be wrong. Very wrong. They’re hard to kill and incredibly fast. Echidna made her monsters vicious and brutal. Hecate, never one to be outdone, made her creatures cunning and lethal. Deadly.
Daisy’s curiosity hits me moments before she says my name. “Orcus?”
Maddox’s attention drops to Daisy and his eyes widen. He sweeps his gaze over her. Nope. I step in front of her and cross my arms over my chest, releasing a low growl that has Maddox giving me a curious look.
“So it’s true. You do have a mate. What’s your name?”
“None of your business,” I answer for her. I don’t need him wondering about her, let alone my family.
He searches my face. “So valiant, protecting your mate. Will you help or not?”
Daisy’s small hand rests against my calf, but she stays behind me. The small act of trust makes my chest swell with pride. If this conflict with the vampires isn’t resolved, they could slip into our territory and they could hurt her. While I’m fairly confident in my ability to fight, Daisy is too fragile. She has that fatal sarcasm disease—I still don’t know if the antidote worked—and she’s tiny. They’d kill her in a matter of seconds and bleed her dry.
I won’t let that danger come to our cave and I can’t bring her to court, no matter what Zyla thinks Hecate told her. Daisy will be safer here, with Prometheus and anonymity. I hate that she’ll be alone. The attack though. There were so many needless deaths. All because of my father. No. I can’t send her to court. I won’t let him taint her.
“I’ll help.” I nod at Maddox.
His gaze drops to my legs, but Daisy is tucked behind my much larger form. “Settle things here,” he says, knowing my intentions without me needing to say it. “He’s expecting you by sundown.”
TWENTY-ONE
I hate being alone
DAISY
