“Nick,” Skyla said at his back. “We need to go.”
Slowly, Cynna let go of him. But her eyes were red-rimmed and filled with tears when she lowered to her feet. And as Nick stepped back, he took a snapshot of her face and stored it in his mind. Because he knew no matter what happened, if he ever felt out of control or on the edge of insanity, all he had to do was focus on all the love swirling in her eyes at this moment, and he’d be saved.
The way she’d always been able to save him.
Cynna swiped the tears from her cheeks after Nick and Skyla flashed to Olympus. She had just enough time to pull in one shuddering breath before Orpheus screamed her name.
She grasped her sword and looked up to see three daemons charging right for them, their horns glinting in the moonlight, their fangs dripping something vile.
Orpheus stepped to the side, his weapon in his hand, urgency across his face. “Get the hell out of here. Get to the settlement like Nick wanted.”
Cynna’s mind was a sea of confusing thoughts as Orpheus hollered at the monsters and took off at a run, drawing them away from her. Yes, she needed to save Nick’s people. Needed to do for him what he’d done for her. But as her gaze swept out over the battle, over satyr after satyr and daemon after daemon swinging weapons and clashing with Argonauts, Argoleans, and anyone who was willing to stand up and fight, defeat washed through her.
She was one person. What could one person do in the middle of so much evil?
And then, in a rush, she knew.
Her gaze shot up to the hillsides, searching. He had to be close. He always liked to watch. And this—all this misery and death—this was everything he craved.
She spotted Hades on a hilltop high above the city, watching the battle from a cluster of trees, his dark eyes fixated on the bloodletting below, his massive arms crossed over his chest. Her heart rate spiked, and she searched all around him for any sign of Zagreus, but she couldn’t find him.
Panic gnawed at her spine as her gaze shot to the left of the battlefield, to the hills and trees on the opposite side of the small valley. He wasn’t there either. But she knew he had to be close. He had to be—
Her eyes locked on him. Standing behind a tree, half his face shadowed in darkness. Staring directly at her.
“What the hell are you looking for?” Orpheus yelled, slicing his blade through a satyr’s throat. “Get the fuck out of here!”
Cynna swallowed hard. Didn’t move. Terror swept through her, but she beat it back. Because Nick was worth the sacrifice.
Orpheus swiveled around to see what she was staring at, then muttered, “Fuck me.” He whirled back to face her. “Don’t even think about it, Cy—”
Cynna closed her eyes and flashed to the hillside.
Zagreus didn’t move a single muscle when she appeared. But he didn’t have to. She felt his fury raging across the distance between them.
“So the coward flees, and you finally decide to come back to me,” he sneered.
“Pull your army from this land.”
The muscles around his dead eyes contracted. “And why would I do that? We’re about to win.”
She took a step toward him, her heart pounding, her stomach swirling. “Because if you do, I’ll go back with you. Willingly.”
Interest and desire flared in his eyes, telling her exactly what she’d hoped. He still wanted her. More than he wanted to win this war.
“I won’t run,” she added. “I won’t run ever again.”
He was on her so fast, she didn’t even see him move. His hands closed around her arms, like metal cuffs snapping shut. “You won’t run again, because I own you.”
Pain spiraled down her spine, but she drew on every ounce of courage she had left. “You don’t own me. You never did. I was with you because I chose to be. And if you pull your armies from this land and agree not to return, I’ll choose to be with you again. But you’ll never break me. And you’ll never ever own me. Because my will is stronger than yours.”
He stared hard into her eyes. And she knew he was searching for a way to prove to her she was wrong. But she wasn’t. And she wasn’t backing down.
He released her and stepped back, a careless expression crossing his chiseled features. “I can’t stop what’s already begun.”
“Yes, you can.” Cynna stumbled but righted herself before she went down. Lifting her chin, she glared at him. “But know this. If those city walls are breached, this offer is rescinded. I’ll fight to the death and take as many satyrs as I can with me along the way. And you’ll never have me again. You’ll never have what I’m willingly giving you here and now.”
Fury filled his dead eyes, and he advanced on her once more. But she didn’t turn and run. She stood her ground. And hoped like hell this worked.