Reader's Edyn: Blitz: Fury of the Gods (Areios Brothers #3) by Amy Braun + GIVEAWAY

**Fury of the Gods by Amy Braun**

Good Morning, Everyone! So thrilled to see you all today! We have another new-to-me author and book! Please allow me to feature on the blog Amy Braun and her latest release, FURY OF THE GODS … Plus, a GIVEAWAY! And 2 FULL chapters to read!

**AMY BRAUN**

**BIO**

Amy is a Canadian urban fantasy and horror author. Her work revolves around monsters, magic, mythology, and mayhem. She started writing in her early teens, and never stopped. She loves building unique worlds filled with fun characters and intense action.

When she isn’t writing, she’s reading, watching movies, taking photos, gaming, struggling with chocoholism and ice cream addiction, and diving headfirst into danger in Dungeons & Dragons campaigns.

To find out more about Ms. Braun, please visit:

**FURY OF THE GODS**

Publication date:

Series: Areios Brothers #3
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Adult

**BLURB**

Fate brings consequence.

Separated from his brother by curses and lies, Derek Areios is forced into hiding. With rogue goddesses on his side, he begins his search for the Mind of Cronus. But his plans come to a screeching halt when the Olympians send nightmarish warriors to hunt him. Creatures even the gods themselves fear.

Liam Areios, lost without his brother and trapped in service for the Olympians, continues the hunt for the Mind of Cronus. The remaining gods refuse to trust him—or any human—and Liam begins to see just how mad power has made them. Becoming entangled in the schemes of mortals and immortals, Liam will have to fight or lose everyone he loves.

Deadly monsters, betrayal, and pulse-pounding action fill the pages of the third novel in the AREIOS BROTHERS series.

**TEASERS**

**EXCERPT**

Chapter 1

DEREK

THINGS GO WRONG.

Sometimes it’s from a small crack that crumbles the foundations. Sometimes it’s just a string of bad luck that ties into a truly horrific end.

Today was definitely the latter.

I lay on my back and blinked rapidly against the rain pounding down on me and pooling in the crater beneath my spine. My left hand throbbed in agony, broken again. I curled my right hand around it and used my magic to heal the bones. I’d had to do that twice already in this fight alone.

I could hear Selena fighting the Crocotta on the hill above me—alone—after it kicked its cloven hooves into my chest and knocked me down a hill.

Getting close to a Crocotta was never a good idea, but I hadn’t been having many of those lately.

And bad habits were easy to fall into.

Get up, Derek, my internal voice demanded. Have an existential crisis later.

Exactly the kind of thing Liam would have said.

After clasping my wounded hand and swiftly healing it, I rolled onto my stomach. Water soaked through my armor. I grimaced as my bruises throbbed. This Crocotta had not wanted to be disturbed but would settle for us being a late-night snack.

Being devoured by a twisted stag/hyena hybrid was not how I intended to end my day. The cursed thing had imitated a man’s cry for help, and I ran into the Crocotta’s trap without thinking.

Now, my fingers clawed up the slope. The toes of my boots sank into the muck. I slipped my way up, clamping my lips shut so as not to swallow more mud and finally dragged myself to the hilltop.

Everything ached as I took a moment to catch my breath. A moment that ended as soon as I heard the Crocotta scream.

Instinct kicked in and I rolled through the mud as fast as I could. The hooves stabbed down inches from my head, splashing my back with muck.

I twisted to my feet and called Ki̱demónas back to me. The spear responded to my telepathic call and struck my hand a split second later. The monster twisted to face me.

The Crocotta was a ruddy brown stag with patchy fur and a knobby spine. It had a shaggy, lion-like mane and cloven hooves. Its beady black eyes glowered at me and my weapon. Saliva dripped from its frightfully wide mouth, filled with a jagged bone ridge instead of teeth.

It growled, a jagged hitching noise, like a hyena trying to cough. It was amazing—and horrifying—that the same animal could mimic a human voice and even call out names perfectly when they chose to hunt.

Which they did often.

It pounced and I Adapted, sidestepping to the left. I jabbed Ki̱demónas into its hind legs. The Crocotta screeched as the steel tip pierced its thick hide. It twisted, yanking Ki̱demónas from my hands, as its front hooves kicked out. I leaned back and watched the split in its hooves pass my chin.

The Crocotta’s rear leg buckled, causing it to stagger on its right side. Selena snuck out from behind the Crocotta and slashed her kukri along its flank once, twice, three times, doing as much damage as she could.

I couldn’t help but grin, my heart reveling at the graceful, effortless, and brutal way Selena moved.

The Crocotta roared and twisted, kicking at her. She nimbly jumped back and lifted her free hand. Flames spooled out from her palm and struck the Crocotta in the face. As it reared back from the intense heat, Selena darted forward and chopped at its foreleg. It howled and leaped again to catch up with her.

I ran straight for its back.

Selena hurled a blast of fire at the Crocotta. It hunched its shoulder and took the blast against its arm rather than its face. It swiped at her with its hoof. The kick missed her, but it bounded through the mud and rammed its head in her stomach. She toppled backward, striking a boulder before her head slammed hard against the stone. The Crocotta opened its sneering, sliced-open mouth, leaping at her slumped, dazed form––

I Adapted my weight a split second before I slammed into the Crocotta. I made myself heavier and swung into the beast like a wrecking ball. It jolted but I hooked my hand onto the stark ridges in its spine. It wasn’t going to dislodge me; I was ready to end this fight.

The Crocotta wrenched its head left and right, but my magically added weight kept me from rag-dolling against its body. I centered that weight while pressing my back against its rough hide. I jabbed Ki̱demónas into its ear, pushing deep. The Crocotta howled and thrashed, nearly throwing me off. I held on but my grip slipped from the spear. I cursed and filled my free hand with aether. Maybe I’d have luck with the second, more dangerous element.

I swung my aether-filled hand up toward the Crocotta’s face. My palm brushed its bony fangs, leaving a trail of black, corrosive smoke along its snout. The dark magic crawled up its face, the smoky edges digging in like hooks. It howled in agony, twisting guilt into my heart, but I couldn’t let it live. With our friends vanished, Selena and I were each other’s only backup.

The Crocotta roared again, its face now engulfed by the thick black smoke. I sent a command to Ki̱demónas. Burn.

The spear, still embedded in the Crocotta’s ear canal, exploded to life. My flames brushed harmlessly against me. With my free hand, I closed my fingers against the Crocotta’s throat and summoned aether––

My left hand, the one I was using to hold onto the monster, exploded with pain. Invisible glass shards splintered through my flesh. I hissed and let go reflexively. My right hand scrambled to get another hold on its spine, just as the Crocotta kicked me in the side. Pain exploded through my hip and ribs. Something cracked uncomfortably.

Clapping a hand to my side to at least set the rib, I sent another quick thought to Ki̱demónas. The spear tore from the creature’s ear and flipped end over end. Seven feet of bronze and steel stabbed through the monster’s leg. I reached for Ki̱demónas again and watched as the Crocotta closed its ridged, bone-filled mouth over my arm.

Ridged bone crunched down on my elbow, crushing the joint and breaking skin. Blood gushed from the wound. A little more pressure, a little more tearing, and the arm was coming off.

I didn’t think about what I was doing. I slipped my broken left hand up and set it inside the Crocotta’s mouth. I pushed a block of aether into its throat and hardened it in place, cutting off its air. Every push of magic sent waves of pain onto my shattered fingers, but I couldn’t lose my arm.

My left hand turned slippery from saliva and blood. The creature widened its jaws, freeing my right arm. I commanded Ki̱demónas and whip quick, it flipped from my hand and smashed through the Crocotta’s skull, puncturing deep. The monster’s coal-colored eyes rolled into the back of its head. I jumped away from the Crocotta as it collapsed.

I tucked my broken hand into my chest, trying not to think about the jagged pain within it as I looked at the monster. It had fallen on its side, its one undamaged eye glazed and lifeless, and its body entirely still. Even the rain seemed lighter now.

We survived, remained mostly unharmed, and were absolutely filthy. A winning outcome, all things considered.

Selena stumbled through the long grass toward me, one hand pressed against her skull. I covered my left hand with my right––wincing at the pull of raw cuts at the fold of my arm––and healed it again.

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” she muttered, wincing when she moved her hand. There didn’t seem to be any blood or swelling, which I was grateful for. She looked more angry than pained. Her eyes turned to me, noting the blood on my arm. “Gods.”

“Looks worse than it feels,” I half-lied.

She hurried over to me and pressed her fingers to my arm just below the wound. It stung, but my arm swiftly filled with soothing, healing magic.

“Thanks. Didn’t expect a Crocotta to be here.” Though to be fair, we’d wandered into the wilds of Yosemite National Park. Artemis’s region. A huge risk for anyone, given how many creatures roamed free in that verdant territory, but more so for me, since Artemis likely wanted me dead for a crime I hadn’t––

My hand splintered again. I hissed.

Finished with my arm, Selena wrapped her fingers around my hand and healed it again. Her eyes flitted to the creature.

I tilted forward slightly to peer into her face, seeing the shadows on it. Her ponytail, soaked and caked in mud, rested heavily against her back. Her pale face glistened under the coat of rainwater, and her silver-blue eyes were just as stormy as the clouds above us. She’d dropped her kukris somewhere and didn’t seem to care about the smears of mud and grime on her neck, chin, and leather combat uniform.

“It’s not here,” she finally muttered. “All of this, crossing paths with a Crocotta that nearly concussed me and almost maimed you, and it’s not godsdamned here.”

It being the Helm of Darkness—the last of the three Trinity Weapons we had been tasked to find by the Olympians. There were still two more Cronus Shards to find, but we figured that finding the Helm took priority. Recovering the last key to Tartarus was the best way to ensure that the mad Titan himself, Cronus, couldn’t escape his prison.

Not that we needed to look anymore, to be honest. I was on the outs with the Olympians. They believed I murdered two of their own: Poseidon and Apollo. Sneaking into Artemis’s territory had been a huge risk—if we were caught, she would have my head on a spike.

Never mind that my forefather had lied to her—possibly even mentioned I was the Bringer of Shadow and Fire, the leader of an army bent on destroying the world when the Titans were released.

Olympians only saw things their way. Half their legends were born from their stubbornness and pettiness. The myths had been true.

But I couldn’t say these things out loud. I could barely think them, because Ares had hexed me. Every time I tried to speak the truth, my left hand would break.

At first, it didn’t seem like a debilitating curse. Painful? Absolutely. I’d had more than a few broken bones in my twenty-five years of life, so I was accustomed to pain and could use magic to heal.

But the hex was changing. My hand would break on its own at completely random times, and that sharp explosion of pain would drastically hinder me in combat. I was ambidextrous, but the pain caused a split second of distraction and hesitation. A split second meant the difference between surviving and maiming. The hex was becoming slow poison putting mine and Selena’s lives in danger.

And I wasn’t the only one who’d been cursed.

Selena had endured a two-thousand-year-old curse because she did not want to bed Apollo. At the time, Selena had been known as Cassandra, Princess of Troy. Not only were her visions doomed to never be believed, but he cursed her with immortality. Everything she Saw became muddled and skewed. It led us into situations like these, where she was certain she had Seen the Helm’s hiding spot, only to be greeted by a hungry Crocotta instead.

Selena blamed herself for the position we found ourselves in, but I never had. How could I, after the choices I had made?

“We’ll find it,” I promised her. We had to, because what else were we going to do? We couldn’t get our friends back, and there was no way to exonerate me, even if I had an extremely powerful Farseer and two goddesses on my side. Zeus’ decrees were law and he would never admit to making a mistake.

Selena’s gaze stayed on my hand, our intertwined fingers. My broken bones were long since healed. I wondered at her thoughts. Before I could ask, she sighed.

“We should go.”

I didn’t argue with her. Since learning about her past and how Athena tricked and betrayed her, Selena had become closed off. It didn’t help that her friends––and mine––were missing. We trusted and cared for each other, but I told her the truth about my feelings. Namely, that I loved her.

We hadn’t spoken about it, and neither of us seemed keen to. We talked as friends, and we didn’t touch unless we had to. When we needed healing or brushed against each other quickly turning around a corridor. I wouldn’t push for anything, either. Finding a way to clear my name and help my captive friends mattered more than finding a girlfriend.

But my memory so often betrayed me, and I thought about those moments back when things had been normal and Selena lived with Liam and me. We’d watched movies until she fell asleep against my chest. She’d curled her fingers around my arms or chest when I stood in the way of something she wanted to reach. She grinned as we sparred, eyes bright with challenge and ambition.

She kissed me to save my life.

I wanted to go back to those things, to feel her comfortable against me, curling my arms around her so we could be closer. I wanted to use my height to tease her until I could kiss her frustration away. I wanted to make her laugh and kiss her for the sake of it, not just because I was charmed or dying.

One day, we’d have to face this question. And if she wanted to remain friends, I would step back.

Right now, I just missed normality. Things were different now between us, distant and unsure, but I could no sooner change my feelings than I could tell the Olympians that Ares was manipulating them.

“Yeah,” I conceded, glancing at my blood- and mud-soaked body. “I’m ready for a shower.”

Selena just nodded and followed me as we trod through the forest, saying little.

It had been this way for three months, both of us silent and moving straight forward, trying not to think about the four people missing from our lives.

The nervous transporter. The wealthy and flirtatious heir to Zeus. The ex-con-turned-sea-goddess. The sharp-witted, loyal little brother.

We hadn’t heard anything about them, making these past three months agonizing. Even my blood bond with Liam remained silent. I only heard updates through Athena’s spies in the Zeus region.

They were alive. But they were with the Council of Clouds.

If anything, they were in more danger than we were.

Fighting monsters was one thing. Fighting gods…?

It would take a miracle to win. And the Olympians rarely traded in miracles.

Chapter 2

LIAM

THIS WAS NOT how I wanted to spend my Saturday: standing on temple steps and staring down an angry mob.

The four of us stood together, dressed in shiny new silver armor, looking glamorous and awkward while hundreds of voices shouted at us.

And it was our job to keep these angry people from getting angrier.

The good news? Mason was a good-looking scion with a lot of money and cred. He literally owned the largest power company in Néo Vasíleio. Talking his way into and out of deals must be a cakewalk for him.

The bad? Literally everything else.

Ever since the peaceful Union of Seas festival ended with a brawl between much of the pantheon and Apollo, things became rocky between mortals and gods. Olympians and their subordinates had spent the last three months erasing all evidence of what really happened by destroying video footage and altering minds.

The gods placed sole blame on my brother.

I tried not to think about it. My memory was fuzzy but it didn’t seem like something Derek would do. He’d only killed one person before this, and it ripped him apart, even five years later.

But I couldn’t deny that since becoming the heir of Ares, inheriting two elements instead of one, and taking on this whole insane mission, he had changed. He was still my brother and I still loved him, but things were different now.

And knowing the gods had erased memories filled me with doubt (I didn’t feel different, but would I have known my memories were changed?) but I couldn’t un-see the image in my head: Derek stabbing Poseidon and smashing a stone version of Apollo like they were nothing.

“How can you defend them?” someone shouted.

Mason gripped the podium set up for him and looking slick as hell in a crisp, wine-purple suit that complimented his dark skin and black leather gloves hiding his scarred hands. He let his deep voice carry over the heads of hundreds of angry and terrified people.

“I’m not saying the situation is ideal. It isn’t. But I was there. The Olympians reacted in the best way they could. Apollo went on a rampage. It grieved the gods, but he needed to be hunted.”

“That’s a lie!” cried another voice. “Apollo was always good to me! He healed my son when he was sick!”

I winced. It was hard to argue that point, but one good deed didn’t erase two thousand years worth of assholery. My friend Selena had been a testament to that.

Had been. Until Apollo murdered her.

I remembered watching Apollo plunge his sword into Selena’s chest. Her body too still in such a chaotic fight. That was the one memory I hoped had been altered. The thought of Selena dying at the hands of her centuries old tormentor, in front of my brother… it was too much.

I looked at my feet. Shuffled them, fighting the pain. It would’ve been enough to make Derek snap. We had all loved Selena, but Derek… he worshipped her. The thought of him out there, alone, heartbroken, enraged, and guilty… I worried what he would do to himself or to anyone foolish enough to cross him.

I didn’t understand what happened that night. But I did know I needed to hear it from his lips before I decided to do… whatever I was going to do.

“Apollo’s mind became damaged by a magical item,” Mason said. “The Olympians have forbidden me from––”

“Of course, they forbid you,” someone snapped. “They forbid all of us from doing anything! All we do is worship them while they use us as prisoners and playthings.”

“They broke our minds!” a third voice shouted.

I hung my head in shame. With Apollo dead and his first heir, Darius, slain by the gods, the second heir had gone into hiding soon after. Either they believed their life was at risk or they didn’t want to be involved in Olympian affairs.

Both scenarios seemed likely, but it hadn’t stopped the Olympians from scouring Apollo’s region, seeking the heir, and erasing the minds of anyone who stepped in front of them and demanded answers.

I even heard rumors that the gods went so far as to damage the Sight most light scions were born with.

If those were the lengths they went to keep their hold on civilians, standing in their way didn’t seem wise.

The crowd was too angry to see otherwise.

“We’re not here to talk about the laws,” Mason tried, raising his voice to be heard.

“Why not?” another voice shouted. “I heard they were adding new taxes and reforms to pay for all the damage and to keep us in line. Gods don’t need money, so why are they stealing ours?”

The crowd roared again, louder than ever.

I snuck a glance at Thea. She stood rigid, more statue than human, her turquoise eyes snapping from one face to the next. That look had become familiar to me in the last few months. She worried about losing control of her new, god-tier powers. The last thing we needed to happen right here at this particular event. Even without the Trident of Poseidon in her grip––she had chosen to leave it well-guarded in the Clouds, not trusting herself with it––she carried enormous power. The water scions I could pick out from the crowd glared at her with contempt. She rose to what they saw as power and prestige while they suffered a major attack from a rival Olympian.

I turned to Corey and whispered in his ear. “We might need to leave here fast. Be ready.”

Corey blinked his bright green eyes at me. “You think this will end badly?”

“They’re talking about taxes. Of course, it’s going to end badly.”

Corey bit his lower lip and glanced worriedly at Mason, who stood as the mouthpiece of the gods and the voice the crowd looked eager to silence.

Not going to let that happen. I’d already lost my brother and watched a friend die. I was not going to lose anyone else.

“There is no validity to those rumors,” Mason shouted over the angry crowd. “I am here to explain what happened on Pacific Beach three months ago, nothing more, nothing less––”

“What happened is some war scion went crazy and killed two gods!”

Mason hesitated at the podium. The rest of us went still. I felt Thea’s and Corey’s eyes dart to me.

It sounded surreal whenever I heard it. That Derek, who jumped at the chance to protect people and not kill them, murdered not one, but two Olympians. We still could barely comprehend that he had the power to do so. He’d always been powerful, even before his aether manifested. Now he seemed limitless.

What the hell were you thinking, Derek?

“Why haven’t you caught him yet?” someone shouted.

“Why are we being punished for what he did?” came another cry.

“The gods need to leave California.”

I winced. Oh boy. I leaned over to Corey again when another voice yelled.

“And take her with you!”

I whipped my head back to the crowd. The woman pointed at Thea.

“She’s one of them now! What the hell will she demand from us?”

“I heard she was in the Cetea Clan and she turned on them!”

“A criminal and a traitor,” barked a voice that boomed louder than the rest. A voice I knew.

My eyes followed it.

There stood a middle-aged man wearing a leather jacket and dark jeans. He sported graying red hair and hateful green eyes.

Thea sucked in a breath beside me.

Kallis Faidon. Her former foster father. The man who watched his children die and blamed us for it.

“How?” Corey gasped.

Exactly what the fuck I wanted to know.

A cruel smile curled his lips. “Sounds like she’ll fit in with the Olympians after all.”

Thea sucked in a breath. Her fingers started shaking, and she quickly balled them into fists. I could still see the frost of her water magic peeking out from her skin.

I tenderly wrapped my fingers around her wrist. She jumped at my touch and looked at me. Her black hair was styled to spill down her shoulders. Brilliant turquoise eyes met mine. She looked scared, and not because of what the crowd was saying.

“Breathe, Thea,” I whispered to her. “Just take a breath.”

She tried. She really was trying. I rubbed my thumb in gentle circles along her wrist. Her skin was ice cold from her magic, her aura pulsing outwardly so heavily that I would be breathing out frost soon. But I didn’t let go of her hand, didn’t stop whispering meaningless words to calm her down, didn’t––

“And that kid is related to Thomas Areios,” Kallis cried out. “He looks just like him.”

The crowd murmured louder. Shit.

Both meant bad news for me.

I turned again. “Corey––”

“Your father was a murderer,” he shouted. “Your brother is the Godslayer. You stand with the traitor who did nothing while my children were slaughtered.” Genuine pain filled his voice.

I could’ve let this go. I knew when words were words.

But his presence and accusation were the scissors that cut Thea’s control.

Cold frost snaked out of her hands and up her arms. Her aura pulsed in a violent wind. It stabbed into my hand and I reflexively backed away. Mason and Corey took ten steps. The crowd began backing away as Thea’s cold, godly energy pushed toward them. Nervous cries echoed from the crowd. People at the edges of began to disperse and scatter across the street.

Thea squeezed her eyes shut, trying to contain it, to draw the magic back into herself and calm down. I Adapted and warmed my body, then took a step forward––

An arrow of frost shot toward us, fired by Kallis. Instinct kicked in. I grabbed Thea’s icy wrist and yanked her away. Another frosty bolt zipped through her hair, grazing her ear. Thea’s eyes snapped open.

Fury flared in her turquoise eyes.

Thea wrenched from my grip and whirled on the crowd.

“No!” But she didn’t hear my scream.

Thea raised her hands. Frosty magic spiraled up from her palms and melted into flowing tendrils of water—doubling, tripling in size, growing taller than her. Thea whipped her hands, sending the tendrils out into the crowd. The magical water smashed into the first people she saw.

The water hit at least a dozen people and knocked them to their knees. They scrambled away, but the whips lashed around their ankles, torsos, arms before hurling them into the air. The crowd broke into a panic and started to run, jostling and shoving to get away from the goddess.

Thea acted on their confusion.

She twisted her wrists, and the tendrils of water hardened into giant shards of ice. A blustery wind of frost and snow pulled from Thea’s fingertips. She manipulated her element without actually touching it. Not even Derek could do that.

But Thea isn’t just a scion anymore.

The giant shards creaked, and with a burst of power, the edges exploded, sending thousands of shards and thin spikes shooting out from the sides.

The alarmed cries became screams of fear.

I launched myself at Thea. She saw me coming and whipped a hand at me. I ducked and my eyes grew wide at the bolt of ice that skimmed the air above my head. I kept running, watching Mason run for her back. We could catch her in the middle.

Thea was too quick for that.

She kicked Mason in the stomach and stopped him dead in his tracks. She raised her fist, another spike of ice formed in it while I hooked her arm and yanked it behind her back. Thea screamed with rage, thrashing wildly. I wrapped one arm around Thea’s middle, clamping her arms to her sides, and coiled the other around her neck.

“Thea, stop!”

She snarled and snapped her head back. I Adapted my skin and hardened it just as her skull cracked against my face. The hit dazed me slightly, but I kept my grip.

I pressed my hand to the back of her neck and pushed a sleeping spell into her. Thea growled and struggled but started going limp. Powerful as she was, she remained human enough for my magic to take effect. She slumped in my grip as I quickly Adapted my strength to scoop her into my arms.

I glanced at Mason. “You okay?”

He rubbed his stomach and nodded. “Just give my lungs a second to rearrange,” he wheezed.

I turned to Corey. “Get us out of here.”

At that moment, I didn’t care about the crowds, the press, or anyone else around us. Our PR campaign had been royally fucked and we needed a fast exit.

Corey’s specialty.

Body becoming a blur, he zipped over to us. A lean arm wrapped around my back and gripped Thea. His free hand closed around Mason’s. The world tilted, condensed, and then we were gone.

* * *

Staying in the Clouds offered some cold comforts. A notable perk was Corey gaining permission from his forefather, Hermes, to teleport us in and out of the Clouds with next to no hassle. The gods would instantly be aware of our return, but it was impossible to break into the Clouds’ wards and barriers without permission.

Didn’t keep us safe from the gods, though.

We landed on pristine white marble. I stumbled, my head spinning from the teleportation and Thea’s weight heavy in my arms. I glanced around the corridor. The Clouds, sometimes called the Council of Clouds and referred to as the new home of the Olympians, was a palace with hundreds of rooms and thousands of corridors. Many of these corridors had lounging areas or marble benches to rest on.

Corey had shifted us to a seating area in a vast space filled with white marble pillars. So vast, I literally could not see the walls or the ceiling. It was just a pale gray space that spanned the length of the sky. The only furniture was a small gray daybed.

I set Thea down on it and placed my hand on her head. Her eyelids fluttered at my magic, and she took a breath before opening her eyes again. They’d turned back to their regular sea-green and white. I offered a tentative smile.

“Hey.”

She looked at me for a long second. Gods, she was beautiful—

I pushed away from her, heat filling my cheeks.

Then she gazed at her surroundings and reality crashed back into her. She pressed her head into the cushions and covered her eyes. “Shit.”

“We’re safe,” I soothed. “It’s all right.”

“It’s not,” she muttered. “You fucking know it’s not.”

“So, it’s true,” Corey said anxiously. “He got free.”

We’d all heard rumors that Kallis escaped shortly after the water scions came to transport him to prison. This was the first time he’d made a public move.

“He knows everything about me, about you, and your brother, and soon he’ll know everything about Mason and Corey, too.” Thea turned her sharp, bright eyes to us. “Trust me when I say he’ll spread all those secrets like wildfire.”

I huffed and shoved a hand through my hair. Great. Fan-fucking-tastic. A revenge-crazed mobster was going to start telling everyone that I was the son of a murdering psychopath who tried to end the world and that my older brother was a man who killed gods. Maybe Kallis would even whisper that I ate kittens for breakfast and puppies for lunch.

“We can put out a search party for him,” Mason offered. “The Olympians will want him stopped.”

“He knows how to ghost,” Thea disagreed. “If he doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be.” Another sigh heaved out of her as she stood up. “I’ll meet you guys later. I need some time alone.” Her eyes slipped down to mine. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I just…”

I waved my hand like her silence hadn’t mattered. “It’s okay. I’m not mad.”

She frowned, not believing me, and swiftly left down the hall.

Thea had been learning to control her new powers with help from the gods. Heirs were the result of two Olympians sleeping together, and one bloodline becoming more prominent in the resulting child. Thea’s bloodline belonged to Poseidon and Amphitrite, and since she was the only surviving member of her family, she had been selected to replace Poseidon after his death.

But heirs were never supposed to be needed. After defeating and locking away the Titans two thousand years ago, the Olympians had exhausted their powers and fell into a slumber. They awoke again just over thirty years ago to a world that no longer believed in them. All that lack of belief had weakened them, so they created contingencies: heirs.

Along with the Olympians and ancient beasts rising to power in the Re-Emergence, anyone descended from a god or goddess found themselves capable of elemental magic. Heirs were among the most powerful of all. And now that an heir was about to take the place of a god… the Olympians were a little conflicted.

The gods, ever paranoid, did not want to give more power than she needed. Hell, they hadn’t even selected an heir to take Apollo’s place yet. They were the last of their generation, and they were not ready to accept someone new into their ranks.

So, Thea contended with wild powers alone. I could calm her, but it didn’t always work. We were running out of options on how to help her.

“Well,” Mason exhaled, breaking the silence, “here’s hoping we’re off the table for more damage control. Clearly, I’ve lost my touch.”

He tried to make light of the situation, and I appreciated it, but we weren’t fooled. The Olympians used humans as tools, whether for a specific purpose or as a way to pass the time.

“Yeah,” I agreed, “can’t say it was fun.” I dropped onto the chaise Thea had abandoned. “Wonder what’s next.”

Corey and Mason didn’t offer suggestions. They didn’t want answers any more than I did.

I wanted to find Derek. He could handle himself in a fight, but without me or Selena or our friends to ground him, he might slip.

What worried me was that the Olympians hadn’t asked for me to find him yet. They’d barely mentioned him, but Artemis’s cold, furious stare assured me that my big brother was still very much on their minds.

I couldn’t help but think they were planning something for Derek. Something horrible.

“I can try to reach out to my family,” Mason offered quietly.

I lifted my head. His eyes were warm and concerned. “They have a pretty far reach and owe me some favors.”

I looked at Mason, and realized I knew nothing about his family. I knew came from a powerful family and had spotted him in gossip columns a couple times, but he’d never spoken about those relationships.

I had not been a good friend to him or to Corey.

“I can’t ask you to do that…”

Mason shook his head. “Consider it a favor. You can be mine and Corey’s bodyguards.” He frowned a bit. “My aunt and uncle can get a little conniving at times.”

“What about your parents and siblings?”

“Parents died when I was a toddler, and I’m an only child. Grandparents raised me.”

He said all of this with indifference, as though it were a footnote in his life. I didn’t know if I believed him.

I thought back to what he said.

“Yours and Corey’s?” I looked between them, watching Corey’s cheeks and ears flush. “Wait, are you guys…?”

Mason grinned. “Yup. Little over a month ago.” He lifted a shoulder. “Figured it was time to try something steady for a change.”

His words were suave as ever, but I saw the way he looked at Corey.

With everything that had happened… Gods, I hadn’t even noticed that their flirting became something more.

I put on a bright smile for them. “I’m happy for you guys. That’s amazing.”

Mason slid to the left and wrapped an arm around Corey’s shoulder. “It has been. I definitely made a good choice.”

He kissed the side of Corey’s face, and my friend turned beet red.

But he looked happy. They both did. It seemed like forever since something truly good happened to us—something not attached to the Olympians or this task they’d placed at our feet.

It made me determined to protect them. If they were our ray of hope, I would not let it be snuffed out.

“I can play bodyguard,” I assured him. I leaned back on the chaise and swept my arms up and down my body. “I got all this muscle, so I might as well do something with it.”

Mason laughed and Corey smiled, since a newly turned nineteen-year-old with a mop of brown hair and blue eyes didn’t exactly scream menacing warrior.

Most of my enemies thought that before I laid down the hurt.

The couple decided to leave, and I promised to catch up with them later. Much later, as Mason suggested with a wink.

Once they left, I exhaled and slumped on the daybed.

Not for the first time, I thought about using the blood bond and reaching out to Derek. It only stretched about a hundred feet, but maybe, just maybe, he would be somewhere nearby.

It was a stupid thing to hope for, but I missed him. I worried about him. We’d been at each other’s sides for eighteen years, separated only when we were at school or forced apart in combat.

I wondered how he was holding together—if he even was. Derek was stubborn and slow to change, and a sudden shift like this would do him no favors. And if he slipped up, if someone arrested him for killing two gods…

I didn’t want to think about how that would end. It would only bring me more grief.

“You shouldn’t let your guard down in here.”

I jumped to my feet, hands twitching for magic or a blade. I did not appreciate it when people snuck up on me.

My eyes scanned the room and stopped when a woman slipped from behind one of the dozens of pillars lining the corridor ahead of me. I fought to hold in my fear.

Unfathomably beautiful but not relying on glamorous baubles or clothes, she wore a dark brown leather jacket, a gray tank top, green cargo pants, and steel-toed boots. A camouflage scarf draped her neck. Her thick chestnut hair lay braided along her back, resting beside the ornate silver bow and full quiver of arrows along her spine. Blazing silver eyes studied and judged me.

Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, could have been any woman walking down the street, able to blend in anywhere at any time to catch her prey.

Right now, her prey was my brother.

I reacted quickly, bowing deep. “Forgive me, my lady.” When in doubt, ask the gods for forgiveness.

“Stand up.”

I obeyed. She narrowed her eyes. Artemis was the goddess I did my best to avoid. Derek had hurt her dearly, and she wanted to punish him. Hurting me would get his attention faster than anything else, but Zeus forbade it—probably why I remained alive. I wanted to stay that way, so I kept myself as far from her path as I could.

“Follow me,” Artemis said after a moment.

I didn’t ask where or why—just did as I was told. We walked through the halls, our footsteps muted against the marble floor and the vast expanse of the hall.

“You attacked Poseidon’s replacement,” she finally stated, blunt as a hammer to the face.

I stopped my frown, because I didn’t want Artemis to know she’d baited me. Thea was more than a goddess.

“I didn’t want her to hurt anyone,” I explained. “And I knew she wouldn’t want that, either.”

“Assuming again. As though you have any prerogative to declare what she would have wanted to do.”

“With all due respect, Lady Artemis, I knew Thea when she was still an heir. She wants to help people, not hurt them.”

Artemis rounded on me, halting me in my tracks and forcing me to look up. She was taller than me—broader and stronger. She may not be a goddess of combat like Ares or Athena, but no one would mistake her for being weak or useless in a fight.

“You keep making the same mistake and do not even realize it.” The hall seemed to darken—shadows swept across her face until only those burning silver eyes remained. “Your friend will become a goddess. She will be beyond you in every way. Forcing her to maintain her humanity will drive her mad, at worst. At best, she will kill you and enjoy it.” A cruel smile lit up the shadows on her face at the thought.

Artemis watched her words sink in. I tried not to show any emotion, but it was hard to hear the confidence in her voice.

I could have argued. I should have argued. Despite her loss of control, I still believed Thea would stay the girl I knew, the same one I was falling for. But power changed people. It had changed Derek and turned him into the Godslayer. Its claws were digging deeper into Thea.

I couldn’t pry Derek from the compulsion of his powers. I wasn’t sure I could do the same for Thea.

Maybe she doesn’t even want help. Maybe she wants to fight this herself.

I hadn’t asked, and suddenly felt a pull of shame in my chest. I didn’t want to see her hurt, but it also wasn’t my choice.

Whatever Artemis read on my face seemed to satisfy her. She leaned back, a smug look remained as the shadows peeled away from her skin. She stepped aside, and suddenly I was standing before a set of bright gold doors held in a thick oak frame. The doors were lavishly decorated with depictions of the gods bearing their weapons.

“Step inside,” Artemis murmured. “They’re waiting for you.”

I didn’t ask who. I didn’t ask why. I just pushed on the cold, golden handles and stepped inside.