“And what do the rest of us do?” Harrison asked.
“Help the injured,” Hades said. “Check for remaining blood elves. The attack is over, but we still need to evacuate these people. Zamek, Antonio, and Leonardo need to continue with their work. There’s a city full of terrified people here, and all of them need to be reassured that they’ll be safe. The blood elves came from the ruins and tunnels under the city. They’ve gone as quickly as they arrived. Causing panic and destruction was their aim. I’ve asked Caitlin if I can bring my people here to help, and she’s currently working with Rebecca and your guardians to allow them through.”
“We could use all the help we can get,” Harrison said. “Never thought I’d be saying that.”
“And getting Nate,” Selene said. “They came to get him, too.”
Hades nodded.
“The Fates said that Nate would become a monster,” Morgan said. “Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Elaine said the prophecy was a fake,” Mordred said. “But until she can regain her memories, I have no idea in what way.”
“I tried to take a look at her mind back in the cavern,” Morgan said. “But someone’s put in some serious magical blocks. I shouldn’t tamper with them since I don’t honestly know what they do.”
“I can ask around. Hopefully we’ll find something.”
“It’s fake,” Elaine said from the corner of the room. She looked over at Mordred.
“I know,” Mordred said. “But we don’t know how. And I don’t want you to hurt yourself trying to find out.”
Elaine screamed in pain and dropped to her knees, clawing at the floor in front of her as Fiona and Alan rushed to her side.
“Stop it,” Fiona said. “You can’t force the memories through.”
“Can . . . and . . . will,” Elaine almost shouted. “Ares.”
She stopped screaming and looked at Mordred. “Ares and Hera. Oh, Mordred, what did you do?”
Everyone looked at Mordred.
“I have no idea,” he said slowly.
“You helped create the Fates, yes?” Elaine said with a sad sigh.
Mordred nodded, his expression one of regret. “Centuries ago I helped create a new set of Fates. I didn’t exactly go about it in a nice way.”
“You had all of them at Mars Warfare when you worked for Ares and Hera, yes?” Elaine asked.
Mordred nodded again, wishing to be done with the conversation, but he knew he would be reminded of his past atrocities for a long time. He deserved to be reminded. “You’re not exactly going through my greatest hits.”
“Ares and Deimos tampered with their minds under order from Hera. I found someone who worked at Mars Warfare and had him tell me all about it. They knew you still hated Nate but also knew you hadn’t spent time going after him for a while. They wanted to change that, to make you think that it was either you or him so that you’d hopefully kill each other.”
“Ares and Deimos altered their visions?” Mordred asked. “That’s not possible.”
“Turns out it is. Enough blood magic from the sorcerers there, and you can do a lot. Unfortunately for Hera and her allies, they escaped before the work could be completed, but the vision acted like some sort of time delay. That’s why they saw no future without you killing Nate. That never happens. They always see futures with different endings, but all of them ended up with you killing him to save everyone. No matter how badly you were lost, you always wanted to be thought of as the hero. You always thought you were doing the right thing to help the world.”
“They set me up?” Mordred asked.
“The Fates aren’t even aware. The visions might have gone by now—I don’t know.”
Mordred slumped into the nearest chair. “The prophecy was a lie. I spent years trying to stop it, and the whole thing was just bullshit?”
“Hera, Ares, and Deimos playing games. Hera always hated you and Nate. Always.”
“Why didn’t they just kill you?” Fiona asked.
Elaine paused and then screamed once again, dropping to the floor as sweat covered her face. She shook her head. “Can’t . . . I just can’t get through.”
“You’ll get there,” Morgan said. “Go do what you need to do, Mordred.”
Mordred and Hades left the room and walked back up into the palace and down into the dungeons. “We thought they would be safest in here,” Hades said as they reached a large wooden cell door. “This is an interrogation room. They’re all inside, with their hands tied behind their backs.”
“We check every thirty seconds,” one of the eight guards outside said. “And there are four guards in the room. They’re not going anywhere, but some of the guards have tried to kill the blood elves.”
“How many blood elves in total do we have?” Mordred asked.
“Five alive. Two tried to cut out their own tongues. They’ve been taken elsewhere to see if we can get anything from them.”
“You think you can get information from them?” Hades asked. “I tried to pull the spirit from one, but it’s a mess. I could have probably gotten information from it, but I suspect Abaddon had screwed around with it.”
“Irkalla tried that and got snared.”
“I never met Abaddon in person, although I did meet some of the other devils. Reportedly, Abaddon was powerful, cruel, and vindictive. Judging from what I’ve heard, I can’t imagine her being someone who works well with others. I wonder how many blood elves she infected with those damn snares.”
“All of them,” Mordred said. “Would be my guess. She’s doesn’t strike me as a job-half-done kind of person.” He opened the door and stepped into the cell, motioning for the four guards to leave him alone with the three blood-elf prisoners. Each of them had their hands tied behind their backs, to the chairs they were sitting on.
“This one will never get us to talk,” the blood elf closest to Mordred said in their language.
“When I am free, I will have my way with his corpse. He looks tasty,” the middle one continued in the blood-elf language.
“If you’re going to threaten me, you should do it in a language I can’t understand,” Mordred said in perfect blood elvish, enjoying the shock on the faces of the prisoners. “I’ll name you One, Two, and Three. One, you’re the one who says I’ll never get you to talk. I guess we’ll see about that. And Two, you want to defile me. You’ll need to buy me flowers first. I’m not against a good defiling, but I expect to be treated right.”
“I’m going to eat your face,” Two said.
“Raw and without condiments, or with a little salt and pepper?” Mordred asked. “I think a face should be marinated for a while. Raw face just sounds a bit bland.”
The blood elf’s expression showed his confusion.
“I get that you’re blood elves,” Mordred continued. “I get that you’re used to people being scared of you, that your lives are filled with pain and suffering. That torture simply won’t work on you. So, I’m not going to torture you for answers. I’m going to ask you where Merlin took Nate. And where Arthur is.”