Page 91 of Scion of Chaos

He dips his head to me when he lands. “Even I would not venture through those gates, Nemea. What my brother did was wrong, but I wish you would stay. We all wish you would stay.”

As if on cue, Asterius, Chrysaor, and Pan emerge quietly onto the platform from the staircase, all of them watchful and concerned. They don’t reach for me mentally, but I can sense their desperation through our bonds. What they don’t realize—or maybe they do—is that I’m every bit as desperate to be free as they are for me to stay.

Darkness descends around us, coasting gently against my skin as Erebus whispers in my mind,“I did not know he lied to you, Nemea. He will answer for it when he returns.”

I blink up at Alcides. “None of you knew what he did, did you? How he lied to me?”

“It was a lie of omission,” Typhon says.

I turn to him. “That doesn’t excuse it.”

“No, it doesn’t. But it does not mean he meant to force you to remain. It only means he didn’t want to make it easy for you to go. We all want you here. We allneedyou here, perhaps him the most. I was in his mind when he arrived with you. What he said was that if you changed your mind, he would not stand in your way if you chose to leave once you reclaimed your lost memories. He neglected to reveal that there is no exit to this place for most of us. You brought with you a possible way out, but he hid it away.”

“The globe,” I say, remembering it for the first time since I arrived. “Where is it?”

“Only Vesh knows. It’s beyond our reach now,”Erebus whispers in my mind.“But I saw it when he inspected it. It is not a way out, but a wayin. It was a security risk either way, and he was right to hide it.”

My heart sinks, but I remember what Chyrsaor told me when I was with him. I look at Alcides who still has an iron grip on me. “Butyoucan take me out, can’t you? You know how.”

His hold on me tightens, pulling me closer to his big, hard body, the scent of salty sweat and ozone filling my nose and sending a rush of adrenaline through me, but this time it’s from arousal, not fear. I blink rapidly and struggle to tamp it down. I don’t need another reminder of how I’m already tethered in some way to all the guards of Tartarus, even if I’m not yet bound to them. I can’t get distracted when I’m on the verge of being able to leave.

His clenched jaw and piercing gaze suggest he isn’t the least bit fazed by my closeness. He bares his teeth and shakes his head.

“Vesh saved me from myself when he brought me here. I have not left this place since I arrived, Nemea. What makes you think I would break my vow to serve Tartarus for the rest of my days?”

“Please,” I whisper, some of my earlier panic threatening to rise once more. The bridge shudders and I close my eyes, hoping I don’t lose the will to hold onto this immense build-up of power that’s threatening to boil over at any second.

“Take her and go, Alcides,” Typhon rumbles. “She needs to be free of this place or she’ll bring it down around us all. Ultimately that will serve Tartarus as well as her remaining. You are the only one of us who has a chance to hide her out there. I can continue diverting my brother’s attention. Erebus will help.”

Alcides shakes his head. “I won’t hide from him. I won’t betray him that way.”

My heart sinks, and the bridge lurches dangerously along with it.

Alcides tilts my chin up with his index finger. “Nemea. I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you. I will do whatever is right, come what may. Will you let me take you out of here and protect you?”

Startled by this unexpected turn, I gape for a moment before nodding.

He cranes his head back and bellows, “Vesh! What I do is not a reflection on my loyalty to you! You of all people should understand why I must do this. If you wish to talk, you know where to find us!”

He looks at me. “Are you ready to go?”

I take a shaky breath and peer past his shoulder at the audience waiting near the steps, at Typhon who looms over them a few yards to one side. The shadows around us coalesce into Erebus in all his black and spiny glory. They’re all here now, even Cerberus in his three-headed canine form, and Campe looking every bit the dragon goddess she is. Alcides shifts around me to face them, one arm still slung around my waist, holding tight. Where his grip felt constricting before, now it grounds me, giving me the courage to face the others.

“I’m sorry,” I say to them all. “It isn’t about you. Any of you. I hope you know that. And I wish…” My throat tightens and tears spring to my eyes. I can already feel my tethers to them pulling taut even though I haven’t left yet. “I wish I could take all of you with me. To finish what we started.”

Cerberus rises onto his hind feet. His three big canine heads merge as he shifts into a muscular man with dark hair shorn close to his scalp, as well as a short beard. Campe glances down at his naked hips and trio of thick dangling cocks. She rolls her eyes and shakes her head, then exhales a smoky breath that wraps around his hips, solidifying into a loincloth like the one Asterius wears.

Ignoring her, Cerberus tilts his chin toward Alcides. “You know I should stop you, brother.”

“Yes, but I know you won’t. None of you will.” Alcides stares at them each in turn.

“Damn straight,” Campe says. “Now go before he turns you into a prisoner like the rest of us.”

Erebus’ dark eyes fix on me. His voice slips into my mind, tickling my ears from the inside.“Leave us now, but know we are still part of you. We will never be far now that we are bound. And if you ever need me out there, I will come without hesitation.”

“Hold onto me,” Alcides whispers. Then without another warning, the floor drops out from beneath my feet and we’re hurtling through the air. Thunder cracks deafeningly around us and my stomach drops so fast I’m left breathless, but I hold on tight, hoping like hell that I didn’t just sentence myself to an even worse fate.

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