“How is… How does Keras fare?” She curled her fingers into fists at her sides, battling another bout of nerves as she stared at Marek’s broad back, waiting for him to tell her to ask his brother herself.
“I think he’s feeling the pressure now.” Marek paused halfway through folding a shirt and set it down, concern shining in his eyes as he looked over his shoulder at her. “He’s more distant than usual and he’s decided to remain in Paris rather than come to Tokyo with the rest of us.”
Fear arrowed through her.
He would be vulnerable alone.
“Ares—my brother Ares—he messaged to say he’s trying to change Keras’s mind but you know Keras.” Marek smiled solemnly. “He’s as stubborn as our father.”
She knew that all too well. “Speak to him. Try to convince him that moving to Tokyo is the wise thing to do. He will listen to you if you all work together. I know it.”
He sighed, a weary edge to it and his eyes as he scrubbed a hand over his hair. “I’ll try. We’ll try.”
He frowned and looked down, reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a device. The screen illuminated his face and then darkened, and he lifted his gaze to lock with hers.
“I have to go. Keras wants a meeting.”
Enyo tensed, stopping herself as an urge to ask to go with him whipped through her.
“I’ll speak to him,” Marek said.
She dipped her head and forced herself to leave, before she did something foolish like teleporting to Tokyo. She landed back on the small terrace, the scent of lilac swirling around her in the warm breeze. Her heart remained heavy as she stared at the distant shimmering gate, and she told herself she was doing the right thing. Her brother would be furious with her if he found her missing.
Her brother was right too—this wasn’t her fight. Joining the battle now would only result in her brother and Hades being furious with her.
She plucked a bloom from the ones that hung to her left, running down the column of the pergola to the wall. She lifted it to her nose as she thought about Keras, about how she had stood with him in this very spot once, seemingly a lifetime ago now.
It had been night, and the full moon had kissed the sea and the city, revealing all to her. The streets and houses had been dotted with the golden glow of torchlight, and the cool breeze had been heavy with the scent of flowers. Laughter had rung in the air, coming from all around her, loudest at her back where her brother had been hosting a grand party to celebrate Anthesteria, a festival focused on wine, and one which most of Olympus used as an excuse to get drunk for three days.
She had been taking a break from the merriment and had come to the secluded terrace, and Keras had joined her. She had lingered, enjoying his company, and he had spotted the first bloom of the lilac and plucked it for her. When he had tucked it behind her ear and told her the flower suited her, it had become her favourite.
They had spent the whole night talking, until the sun had broken the horizon and the sound of merriment had been replaced with snoring, among other wicked things, and she had grown tired.
She turned her back to the city and looked at the marble bench set in a leafy alcove opposite her.
The very same seat where she had fallen asleep with her head on Keras’s shoulder, his rich masculine scent overshadowing the subtler fragrance of the flowers, sending her into dreams of him.
Dreams she had hoped would become reality.
Enyo closed her eyes and shut out the past, switching her focus back to the future because if she didn’t do something, that dream she’d had would never become real.
Marek’s words troubled her.
Was Keras trying to lure the enemy out by remaining in Paris, or perhaps goad them? He was strong, but he wasn’t invulnerable. She had witnessed that plenty of times when they had sparred, or when he had fought in the festivities that often took place in the Underworld or Olympus, tests of strength in grand arenas.
It wasn’t like him to be so reckless.
She opened her eyes and stared at the bench.
She had to do something. Her heart screamed that at her.
For the second time in her life, she was truly afraid.
Last time, she had feared she would never see Keras again.
Now she was afraid of facing him.
Chapter 14
Cass walked to the couch, waving away Mari as she hurried to help her. She wasn’t an invalid. Her strength was already returning, steadily flowing back into her. She just needed a few moments off her feet.
Three of the brothers left, leaving Eva and Caterina, and Ares behind. Ares guided Megan to the couch and settled her beside Cass, a wealth of worry in his dark eyes as he looked her over.
Eva and Caterina fell into conversation in the middle of the room, drifting towards the dining table as they discussed the pros and cons of living in the Tokyo mansion with everyone else. The cons list was far longer than the pros.
Daimon remained where he was as Cal came to Mari, and they slumped onto the other couch together, facing the wall that separated the TV area from the corridor outside Cal’s room.
Cass looked down at Megan’s baby bump.
Tried to imagine herself pregnant.
She just couldn’t picture it, even when she knew it would happen sooner rather than later. She wasn’t really getting a choice about that. She had put things off for long enough and the coven was getting annoyed with her now. Her time was up.
Tradition was about to take the reins in her life and there wasn’t anything she could do about it.
She still wasn’t sure how she felt about it
