“Sometimes penitence is a bitch.” Valen glanced at her, looking past Eva where the beautiful Italian assassin sat beside him, acting as his pillow as she cleaned a gun, their black fatigues making them blend together. “Maybe he’s chilling out in Hong Kong. Doesn’t want you seeing how fucked up he is and going on a bender.”
That wasn’t a comfort.
She glared at him.
Eva nudged him with her right arm and muttered, “Stronzo.”
“What?” He shifted left, so his head landed in her lap, and pulled an innocent and hurt face. “I was being helpful.”
“You were being a dick,” Cal put in, earning a glare from his brother.
Cass’s petting grew more frantic. Milos didn’t care. He just purred harder, lapping up the attention. For once, he wasn’t even bothered that Calistos was near him.
Her cat had strange tastes. He adored Valen and Esher, and hissed near-constantly at the rest of the brothers.
Of course, he loved every single one of the women.
The little lothario.
Someone stalked into the room to her right, striding from the corridor beside the kitchen.
Esher.
He ran an unsteady hand over his wild black hair, preening it over and over again as he hurried from the bathhouse. Or perhaps the cage. She studied him. Judging by the conflicting feelings his blue eyes held, it had been the cage. Esher had been firmly on edge since coming around, and had almost gone over it when the daemon had died.
After Daimon had left, Esher and Keras had argued.
Rain still poured down outside, creating a melody as it struck the roof of the mansion, a storm that didn’t look as if it was going to clear up any time soon.
Ares had tried to keep the peace between the brothers, but Esher was furious about what Keras had done, and Keras was unrepentant.
So the argument continued.
Keras strode in behind Esher, hot on his heels.
“We’re done,” Esher snarled, throwing a black look over his shoulder.
Keras looked as if he wanted to say differently, but Aiko ran around him, cutting him off, her pigtails and short black ruffled skirt bouncing with each rushed stride. She caught up with Esher and looped both of her arms around his right one.
The feral god slowed and looked down at her, gradually coming to a halt as his face crumpled. He gathered her into his arms and buried his face in her neck, his inky hair blending with hers as he clutched her to him. Aiko wrapped her arms around him and held him, stroked his back through his dark grey shirt and whispered words to him in Japanese.
“He didn’t need this shit,” Ares muttered as he brought up the rear. “I told you not to do anything.”
Keras shot him down with a glare, one that had darkness glittering in his green eyes.
Ares looked as if he was chewing a wasp as he stomped past him, heading for the couches.
“Have you seen Daimon?” She wasn’t sure who she aimed that question at as she stroked Milos harder, her nerves getting the better of her again.
Esher lifted his head and looked at her. “He’s not back?”
She shook her head.
“It’s been hours,” Ares muttered with a glance at the drenched garden.
“More like a day,” Esher said and straightened, a look crossing his face that had Keras placing a hand on his shoulder.
“You’re in no condition to step to Hong Kong.” Keras’s grip on his shoulder tightened briefly before loosening again when Marek pushed onto his feet on the other side of the low dining table.
“I’ll go.” The burly brunet glanced down at the pretty caramel-haired woman who paused at the keyboard of a laptop. “Back in a minute. Keep searching.”
Caterina nodded and went back to her work as Marek disappeared in a swirl of black smoke.
Cass’s gaze drifted to the garden beyond the walkway, focusing on Milos’s purring rather than the tense silence that descended as everyone waited.
She scratched Milos behind his ears, rubbed them and tickled his chin.
What was taking Marek so long? Was Daimon seriously hurt and needed his help?
She was on the verge of forming the spell to transport her to Hong Kong when Marek finally reappeared in the middle of the room.
“He’s not there.” Marek’s earthy brown eyes held a lot of concern as he looked at her and only her, his expression so grave that she froze.
Her breath hitched and heart lodged in her throat. “What do you mean he isn’t there?”
“He’s not there and there’s no sign he’s been there recently. Bed is made. Everything is clean. No blood. The place is immaculate.”
Cass threw a glance at his brothers. “Where can he be?”
Cal slowly stood, coming to face her, and she wanted to lash out at him when he murmured thoughtfully, “What if he never came back?”
“Not possible.” Esher was quick to speak before she could, his eyes darkening to navy as he turned on Cal. “Daimon went to pay penitence for me. Maybe it was more punishment than usual. Maybe he’s still there.”
“For twenty-four hours?” she bit out, her temper fraying as she hugged Milos to her chest.
“It’s possible,” Esher retorted.
The rest of his brothers looked as if it wasn’t. They looked as if they felt the same way as she did.
He was grasping at straws, clinging to hope that Cass couldn’t feel as she stared at the garden, as that unsettled feeling condensed inside her into full blown fear.
Something had happened to Daimon.
She looked at each of his brothers in turn.
Keras’s eyes verged on black as he twisted the silver band around his thumb, his jet eyebrows knitted hard and his lips compressed into a thin line.
Ares looked equally as troubled, sparks of gold and red lighting his brown irises.
Valen looked ready to rip someone apart.
“You think the enemy might
