Page 63 of Summer's Seduction
“She’s been missing all these years, proclaimed dead by Hypnos and your mother, and then you bring her right back here, asking for this?” With a bitter laugh, Egerius pulled the golden chain up from around his neck, exposing a heavy glass key dangling from the end.
“This has nothing to do with her,” I spoke through gritted teeth, feeling Larkspur’s spike of worry and confusion through the dimming connection our blood sharing had allowed. “Just hand me the key, and we’ll go. All of this can be a bad memory.”
Letting his eyes drop to the floor, Egerius shook his head and let the necklace return beneath the edge of his tunic. “You finally got there, didn’t you? Hypnos believed the incompetent persona you portrayed, but you were always clever. Top ranks in military strategy and war tactics. You only ever balked when ordered to kill.”
“Please,” I breathed, feeling my world collapsing. Because this meant everything had been a lie. The web of memories I’d built my life on—the intricate network of woven threads—had just been sliced through, leaving only tattered, frayed edges. They reached for each other, grasping for anything, but there was only the cold, answering darkness pressing in around me.
“Do you remember what I told you?” Egerius lifted his head, the look in his eyes resignation mixed with despair.
Swallowing down the lump in my throat, I held his gaze. “You said I needed to trust my orders and complete directives without hesitation.”
“Such a precocious child.” He nodded, proud tears gleaming in his eyes. “You always saw things others didn’t.”
“Please, don’t do this,” I breathed, voice breaking on the plea. I watched as the man who’d shown me more kindness and love than my own father reached for the hidden blade in his tunic.
“This is your final lesson, my son. Don’t trust anyone.”
MORPHEUS
Something in my chest cracked as the man I’d viewed as a father launched himself toward me with a blade raised and pointed at my heart. For a moment, I contemplated letting him sink the silver tip into my chest. Surely, it would be less painful than this.
It felt like time had slowed, forcing me to feel every minute of torment and betrayal as I spiraled. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t fight Egerius. He’d trained me and had taught me all I knew of battle. It would take every bit of concentration and skill I’d honed over the years to survive.
No. This couldn’t be happening. This had to be a dream, a nightmare, a hallucination, orsomething.
Larkspur’s panic cut through my despair, snapping me out of the paralysis of shock and into action. She was here. This wretched reality was real. And we were surrounded by an army of dark ones who’d just realized their lord had declared war.
Larkspur
“Blades,” Artemis called as Morpheus twisted to the right. His wings snapped close just as Egerius sliced through the air, narrowly avoiding contact.
“Gods,” I breathed, reaching for my daggers as Arete placed a quickly sobering Megara at my feet before forming a barrier with the others.
This was a trap. I felt the agony of betrayal sear through me as clearly as if it were my own. The woman in the red cloak, now nearly lifeless on the lounge, had been poisoned and then sent to Morpheus. Any jealousy I’d felt evaporated as thick clouds of fear permeated the space around us. She was going to die and would’ve unintentionally killed Morpheus as well if he’d drank from her.
“This is bad,” Megara said, her trembling hands gripping the dagger tight enough to blanch the skin.
Hebe dove into the fray at an unnatural speed, the glint of silver flashing through the crowd as bodies fell. Blood flowed, coating the once pristine ballroom in scarlet as feeders and guests fled for their lives.
The huntresses used the chaos to their advantage, Arete joining Hebe’s side as the two worked in tandem, pressing our momentary advantage. Cyrene and Camilla flanked Artemis as the goddess threw silver stars, each finding their mark in the necks of dark ones loyal to Egerius.
Megara lifted the dagger high as she ran to help Camilla and Cyrene, just as a dark one with blood streaking down his face hurled past me toward Morpheus and Egerius. I slashed with my dagger, rolling as I severed the ligaments behind his knees before he could reach Morpheus’s back.
Morpheus had already moved, locked in battle with Egerius. The two were flitting nearly too quickly for me to track, but that meant Morpheus was still alive.
“You bitch,” the writhing dark one growled, twisting toward me.
I jumped back, suffering only a light graze before I twisted and sliced. Warm blood coated my hand as I felt the give of fat and muscle beneath the blade. With another thrust, I jerked up, cutting through organs and tissue until the hilt protruded just below his ribs. There was a sick, gurgling sound, and then the anger in his eyes cooled as his life thread snapped.
“Larkspur, the key!” Artemis shouted. She flicked her wrist, recalling the silver stars embedded in flesh. The weapons heeded her call, slicing through new bodies on their way back to her hands. “There are too many of them.”
I snapped toward the blur of Morpheus and Egerius, realizing all of this would’ve been for nothing if we didn’t get what we came for. Grounding myself, I called forth my magic, feeling the power simmer beneath my palms before I raced toward them.
I had no chance of defeating Egerius, but if I could just graze his skin with mine, I’d be able to compel him to stop, or at least slow him down enough to grant Morpheus the upper hand.
Dozens of cuts were visible across Morpheus’s tunic, evidence of Egerius’s blade. The skin beneath was healed with no signs of poison, and Morpheus had managed to disarm Egerius and take the dagger for himself.
Morpheus parried a blow to the left before lashing out with a strike on the right. Egerius saw it coming, blocking the move before retaliating with a slash of his own.