“I don’t think so. I think Prometheus’s punishment was over, and I was supposed to get him out. I think that’s why we ended up as neighbors there, and I’m pretty sure the main trio of Gods approved the escape while we were on our way out.”
Just a blink floods my mind with their images again, power incarnate, all-encompassing, letting their blessing wash over me in the tunnel of light. In my life, I’ve experienced their benevolence, their manipulation, their help, and their punishment. My head spins with it. Frankly, it’s hard to know which foot to stand on with Olympians. All things considered, I think I’ll just stand where I want.
Griffin frowns deeply. “How did you get out?”
I flex my feathers, knowing I can fold them away inside me now whenever I want—and also get them back out. “A door made of lightning and these pretty new wings. I finally figured it all out.”
His eyebrows lift. “All of it?”
I make a face. “No, not all of it. But enough.”
He traces a finger over the arch of one wing. “I like the new colors.”
I smile. I thought he would.
“Was Kato with you?” he asks.
My smile crashes to the floor. “What? No. He had no reason to be”—punished—“in Tartarus.” I wrap my hand around my ice shard necklace, remembering the day Kato, Flynn, and Carver gave it to me. Barely able to push words past the wedge of sorrow in my throat, I ask, “Where did you bury him? Are you sure he had his coin?”
Griffin stares at me in confusion. “We couldn’t bury him. There was no body. He disappeared with you.”
My eyes widen. I knew he disappeared out from under me, but I never thought he disappeared entirely. “That’s not possible.”
Griffin shoves a hand through his hair, grating out a curse. His distress and bafflement seem to equal mine. “I swear to the Gods, Cat, we got everyone out. The soldiers. The dead. There were two people missing. You. And Kato. Not even Lycheron could pick up your scents.”
Shock immobilizes me, even though I already knew some of this from watching Ianthe. What I didn’t know is that Griffin and Lycheron had worked together, and that Kato had vanished without a trace.
“He…” I shake my head. “He must have been transported straight to the Underworld.” To the Elysian Fields, if the Gods are in any way just. Unfortunately, that’s wholly debatable. “There’s no way he would have gotten dropped in Tartarus. That was…”
Griffin’s eyes sharpen on me. “Punishment? For what you tried to do?”
I nod.
“What were you trying to do, exactly? Bring Kato back?” The question is quiet, without censure. And pitched like he thinks I could have done it.
I nod again. “I had to try. I couldn’t…not.”
His expression mirrors my heartbreak and shows no reproach, although he does say, “Is his fate something you should try to alter?”
I slice my hand through the air with sudden violence. “To the Underworld with shoulds and should nots! Frankly, I didn’t much care. And I still don’t. I’m not sorry. I wish to all the Gods and magic on Olympus it had worked. The fight was over. He didn’t need to die.” The bitterness in my voice sours the air between us.
“Cat…” Griffin pulls me into his arms again.
I go willingly, but I want answers now more than I want comfort or care. “I don’t understand. Even when we die, we leave a physical form here.”
Griffin shakes his head. “I don’t know any more than you do.”
What could have happened? This makes no sense!
But one thing does and always will. I press my hand against Griffin’s heart, needing that proof of life and vigor. “Home,” I say firmly.
He covers my hand with his. “Wherever you are, agapi mou.”
Despite our confusion over Kato’s missing body, certainty settles inside me like an anchor. I’ve been adrift for too long. “It’s time to finally finish this fight with Mother.”
Griffin tenses under my hand. “Are you ready for that?”
“We’re ready.” I lift my eyes to his. “Our army is ready. Thalyria is ready, too.”
“We won’t just fight, Cat. We’ll win.”
I nod. I believe him. We’ll go together, because we’re strongest that way. And I have a plan now—a plan that might not even require bloodshed.
“I know what to do.” It’s what I’ve wanted to do since the moment I realized it was possible.
“Tell me,” he says gruffly.
“Later.” I reach up and smooth back his hair. “Right now is for us.”
Griffin’s hands circle my waist. Our bodies gravitate closer together. “What do you need?” he asks. “A bath? Food? Sleep?”
“You. The only thing I need is you.” Tugging lightly, I bring his head down to mine and kiss him with all the sighs I built up in a dreary gray prison on a high-up shelf of rock. Their weight leaves me through our lips.
“S’agapo,” I whisper against his mouth.
Griffin lifts his head, recognition flaring in his eyes. For questions of the heart, Southerners have always honored the old words, the ones with power, even though their Hoi Polloi blood carries no magic through their veins.
“I love you, too.” He answers me like a Northerner. Plain. Simple. The truth.
“Forever,” I vow.
“Gia panta,” he echoes softly, and the exploding arrow straight to my chest proves that words are the most binding of all promises, especially in their oldest form.
Griffin’s eyes sear me. The love and passion I have for him must sear him right back. He swings me up into his arms, and I know he’ll sweep away the misery of Tartarus with his own healing touch.
CHAPTER 30
“We have all the aces in our hand,” I insist. “A ready fighting force. Lightning. Elemental Magic. Wings. I can fly right through her window. I can do it invisibly if I choose.”
Griffin’s eyes narrow. He knows as well as I do that I’m not a sneak in the dark who assassinates people from the shadows. “That’s not what I call going to war.”
“War’s not necessary. At least not yet. What we need is a show of force.”
His lips purse. He doesn’t look wholly convinced, but he does look ready to keep listening.
Alone together, we sit at a small table, what’s left of a light meal still between us. I’m clean, fed, and renewed. My loved ones are nearby, Little Bean is well, and I’m certain of what we need to do. But this is still Griffin’s and my decision. Together.
“Picture it, Griffin. We bring the army to her doorstep. We get Lycheron and the Ipotane to come. Beta Team commands the forces. Mother will look out her window and see the future of Thalyria. She’ll know it’s not her.”
“What you’re proposing requires a person who can be reasoned with. She’s megalomaniac to the core,” Griffin points out. “She might not see anything the way you want her to.”
“That’s true,” I admit. “But there’s precedent. I’ll control her with superior magic the same way Galen Tarva did. Now that I’m finally in full command of my power, I’ll show her I can beat her—just one-on-one.”
“And you’re sure your power outweighs hers?” Griffin asks.