She was on some kind of balcony. Her gaze skipped over the lake beyond, then dropped to a stone courtyard far below. Large black patches marred the stones. Gray ash swirled along the ground. And in the middle of what was clearly the remains of some kind of fire, facing away from her, stood Nick.
His hands were perched on his lean hips. His head was bowed so she couldn’t see his face. But the muscles in his back were tight and bunched beneath the thin black T-shirt he’d changed into, as if he carried the weight of the world there. And unease pressed down on her chest as she watched him look around the courtyard, lift one large hand and rake it through his shaggy blond hair. He dropped his arm to his side, hunched his shoulders, and knelt to the ground, lowering his head as if in defeat.
Cynna glanced across the empty balcony, then over the lake again, taking in every bit of destruction as if seeing it in a new light.
The half-breed colony. Her stomach pitched with the realization of where they were. She’d heard rumors of its existence when she’d been a child in Argolea. Her parents had even considered relocating to the colony instead of the Aegis Mountains with the witches. And she knew from her time with Zagreus that Hades, especially, had been searching for the colony for years because he suspected Maelea—the female he termed “the stain”—might be hiding out there.
This was Nick’s colony. His home. His people. And she knew without even asking that it hadn’t looked like this the last time he’d been here.
Emotions and her own gnarled memories of a scene much like this rolled through her chest, making her heart beat faster, making panic spread through her limbs. She turned quickly from the railing, found the stairs, and hurried to get down to the courtyard before he left. She was panting by the time she found a broken set of heavy wooden doors lying askew against a stone archway. Spotting Nick still kneeling in the middle of the blackened courtyard, she drew a breath of relief and stilled her feet to gather herself.
When she felt steady, she slowly made her way toward him. But her nerves kicked up again with every step. This hadn’t been just a fire. She could sense the remnants of souls still scattered in the wind. This was all that remained of a mass cremation.
She stopped feet from him. He had to have heard her but didn’t turn. Glancing around the blackened stones, she tried to think of something to say.
“Nick…” Condolences lingered on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t get them out. Not because she wasn’t sorry for what he’d lost, but because she knew no words could ease his suffering. Because they’d never eased hers.
“Three of my men took down a daemon there.” He nodded toward the corner of the courtyard where a charred section of rock stood out against the gray stones. “Five satyrs cornered them before they could get away.” He glanced to the right, where another blackened patch stained the ground, his shoulders tight, his eyes shadowed, a raspy tone to his voice. “Two daemons ripped apart a female trying to escape there. She had a child with her. I don’t know what happened to the boy.”
Oh gods… A fresh wave of trepidation washed over Cynna. “You…see them?”
“No, I feel them.”
She glanced around the empty courtyard again, and an eerie shiver rippled down her spine as visions swam in front of her eyes. People running in every direction. Satyrs and daemons bearing down with blades and maces and vile-looking weapons intended only to kill. Bone-chilling screams floating on the breeze. The clank of sword cracking against sword ricocheting off the stones as Nick’s men fought to battle them back. The crimson splatter of blood along the ground. And everywhere, fire and smoke. The night alive with angry red flames licking the sky under the dark shadows of Hades and Zagreus, watching from the hillside across the lake.
The vision cleared, and Cynna gasped and stumbled back. Sweat beaded her brow as she looked toward Nick with wide eyes. Over the months, she’d known he was growing stronger—Zagreus had sensed Nick’s powers were growing too, which was why he’d been so anxious to break him sooner rather than later—but until this moment, she hadn’t realized just how strong those powers had become. Whether or not he’d intended to show her that, he had. Every gruesome, horrific moment.
“They were my people. And I left them when I should have stayed and fought. I chose one life over…hundreds.” His voice dropped. “I left them to die.”
The anguish she heard, the misery… It cut to the heart of her. Because she knew what it was like to make that choice. To choose to live instead of fighting for those you loved. Knew because the same guilt still churned in the pit of her soul, every damn day.
Hand shaking, she took a step closer and gently touched his shoulder. “You didn’t know.”
He pushed to his feet and whirled on her. Surprised, she jerked her hand back. And saw then that his eyes weren’t just pained. They were enraged. And blazing with a vicious darkness she’d never seen before, not even when Zagreus had taunted and beaten and tortured him in his dungeon of horrors.