Dare started for him.
Fury bared his teeth. “Bring it, you little punk bastard! Let’s go! C’mon, you and me. Here and now! I’m ready to pick your fur out of my teeth! C’mon!”
Vane caught Fury and pushed him back toward Max. “Did you by chance bring a leash? Or a muzzle?”
“No, but I’m thinking I should have.”
Just as Dare broke loose to run at Fury, who was still taunting him and questioning his parentage, a bright flash lit the room, causing him to pull up short. All movement stopped as Cadegan and Thorn appeared near Savitar. Both bleeding and in bad physical shape. Barely alive they lay in a tangled heap at Savitar’s feet.
Thorn had his arms around Cadegan as if he’d barely gotten them out of a nasty situation right before they’d been torn apart. The paleness of his bruised features added further testimony to that assumption.
Stunned, Max didn’t move. As the sons of a powerful demon, they were both seasoned warriors and had once been medieval knights. Thorn was actually even older than that and had been born an ancient warlord, and had thousands of years of heavy combat experience against the damned and cruel.
One thing those two knew how to do…
Fight. Especially anything fanged, clawed, winged, and preternatural.
His breathing ragged, Thorn cupped Cadegan’s face in a strangely tender gesture. “You still with me, little brother?”
“Ach, aye, boyo, but only because me Jo would kick me arse if I came home dead to her.”
Analise Romano, who was the Arcadian Regis for the snow leopards and a doctor, rushed from her seat to Cadegan to check on him.
Thorn carefully ceded his brother’s care over to her before he stood and wiped the blood from his lips. He looked first to Fang, then Savitar. “Remember that situation I mentioned?”
“Blew up a bit?” Savitar asked sarcastically.
“Like your temper on Olympus during a full moon party. Needless to say, we have a massive problem. And our names are engraved all over that apple of fun.” Thorn moved to drape one arm over Styxx’s shoulder and the other over Acheron’s. “Checked on Mom lately?”
Acheron visibly cringed. “Ah God, what’s she done now?”
“Well,” Thorn tightened his arm around both their necks, “I’ve just got to know… whose bright idea was it to surrender Apollo’s custody to her?”
Styxx made the same grimace Acheron had worn a moment ago. “That idiot would be me. Why? What did I do?”
Thorn released Acheron to playfully slap Styxx on the face and squish his cheeks together. “Mama Apollymi found him a new playmate,” he said in the same falsetto people used when talking to small children. “She fed his ass to Kessar, and aren’t we happy he has a new friend, boys and girls?”
“Oh dear gods.” Zakar repeated Acheron’s words and stumbled back. “Please tell me she didn’t.”
With a sarcastic, hysterical laugh, Thorn released Styxx, stepped back, and clapped his hands together. “No, wait! It gets so much better! You haven’t even heard the good part yet. No! Yeah… she decided it would be a great idea to turn Apollo into a blood-bitch like you were, Z. Yes… yes, she did.”
Groaning, Zakar covered his face.
Thorn nodded and clapped the Sumerian god on the back. “At least you see the train wreck coming.”
Acheron glared at him. “Enlighten those of us who don’t.”
Thorn stepped away to continue. “Long story short, Kessar fed from the god, and they made a pact to combine their fun-loving natures and kind spirits. As a result, Apollo attacked Olympus.”
“No.” Acheron shook his head. “I was there. That was Kessar who attacked Olympus.”
“No, punkin.’ That was Apollo leading those demons. It’s how they got in. Three guesses what he wanted. And world peace is definitely not one of them.”
“Revenge.”
Thorn shook his head at Dante and made a sarcastic buzzer sound. “Too easy, and a given. Guess again.”
Sick to his stomach, Max exchanged a panicked stare with Illarion.
Thorn applauded. “Oh look, I think the dragons got it. And why shouldn’t they? Illarion, being the son of Ares, ought to know exactly what he wants.”
He’s after the Spartoi.
“Yes. Yes, he is.”
Fury scowled. “What’s the Spartoi? Is that like a plastic model of the 300 characters? Gods, someone, please tell me that it’s an action figure and not what I fear it might be…”
Seraphina grimaced. “No. It’s your fear, I’m sure. They’re a rather nasty and invincible branch of Ares’s army. It’s said that when a Drakone of Ares sows them into the earth, they sprout full-grown, ready to battle and destroy at the command of whoever planted them.”