Fear.
Though right now, he couldn’t tell if it was because of him or the Argonauts surrounding her.
Indecision skipped through his mind and then fled. She might not need him, but he definitely needed her. And there was no way he was going to Argolea without sanity on his side.
He looked back at his brother. “Fine. I’ll go with you.” He nodded toward the female he had yet to release. “But she’s coming too.”
“What?” Cynna tugged hard on Nick’s grip. “No way in hell.”
Nick only held her tighter, pulling her up against his side. Demetrius’s eyes shifted her way, and though Nick’s gaze didn’t follow, judging from the increased beat of her pulse beneath his fingertips and the heat now rolling off her in waves where she pressed against him, he knew she was seething.
Too bad. He needed her to keep him from losing it for good. Especially now when he was heading back to the one place he swore he’d never visit again.
“Who is she?” Demetrius asked.
“I—”
“Just someone who helped me escape from Zagreus,” Nick answered, cutting her off.
“She’s Argolean,” Theron said cautiously at Nick’s back. “What was an Argolean doing with the Prince of Darkness?”
Nick huffed. “It’s a long story.”
“I’m right here,” Cynna growled from between clenched teeth. “I can answer my own da—”
Nick squeezed her elbow until she winced.
Theron stared at her a long beat, then finally glanced toward the other Argonauts. “Fine. She can cross with us. Z?”
“On it.” Zander brought his hands together so his pinkies touched. The portal between worlds popped and sizzled and opened with a sharp beam of light that illuminated the room.
A heavy weight pushed hard against Nick’s chest. At his side, every muscle in Cynna’s body contracted.
He leaned close to her ear while Gryphon and Maelea went through the portal, and whispered, “Don’t worry. We won’t stay long. And I meant what I said before. We still have unfinished business.”
“Fuck you,” she growled.
“Pretty sure you already did that.”
“Don’t remind me.” She yanked back on his grip once more, her eyes like daggers, but he only held her tighter, not letting her move away. “The second you release me, I’m gone.”
That pressure in his chest eased, if only for a moment. Because this, her feisty defiance, gave him something solid and real to focus on instead of the shit that was about to go down. And staying centered on her kept that poisonous darkness from bubbling to the surface. “Then I suggest you get used to my touch, female, because there’s no way I’m letting you go. And that means you’re gonna get a whole lot more of me real soon.”
Cynna was on the verge of hyperventilating. Not only were Nick’s fingers digging into her elbow, leaving bruises in their wake, but he’d dragged her through the portal and was now hauling her with him into the castle.
The Argolean castle.
Gods almighty. Gods al—fucking—mighty.
Perspiration dotted her forehead, collected along her back, and slid down her spine. His “soul mate” clearly knew the queen. Which meant there was a chance Cynna might run into the bitch in this horrid place. Anger and panic and disbelief tangled in her chest until she couldn’t breathe.
She focused on drawing air deep into her lungs, then pushing it out so she didn’t actually lose it. A gust of wind swept through the ginormous entryway, sending a shiver down her spine, and that was when she realized that not only was she in the middle of her own worst nightmare come true, she was wearing nothing but Nick’s thin T-shirt. No shoes, no pants, not even underwear beneath the soft black cotton that hit her midthigh. And thanks to the fact she’d bolted before she’d even had a chance to think about clothing, that meant she was probably still sporting that just-fucked look too.
“Son of a bitch,” she muttered.
“Stay close to me,” Nick whispered at her side.
Fury whipped through her with the force of a tornado. “Fuck y—”
“Cynna.” His gaze darted down to her while they walked behind the Argonauts. “This isn’t a game.”
She knew this wasn’t a game, dammit. For her, it was the furthest thing from a game. It was the last possible place she wanted to be. Her own private version of hell. A—
“I know you’re pissed,” he said, easing his hold on her elbow a touch. “But I’m asking you to please not make the situation worse. Fifteen minutes, then we’re gone. Trust me, I don’t want to be here any more than you do.”