Page 17 of Left Hand of the Divine
“I don’t.” I narrowed my eyes at him, but the asshat just smiled wider. “Now if we’ve all quite finished catching up, perhaps we should return to Prometheus.”
“As you wish,” Erebus said as he started walking down the hallway, pulling me with him. “It’s this way to the exit.”
“Thank fuck,” Rayne growled.
I couldn’t agree more.
Chapter Six
Roux
“Why are there so many steps?” I groaned as we climbed yet another spiral staircase. We seemed to have been climbing forever, and my limbs were definitely on the cusp of giving up.
“It’s a test,” Erebus said as he led us to the surface.
“Of course it is,” I grumbled. Although a part of me was enjoying the view. It was shameful, but I was totally staring at Erebus’ ass as he climbed the stone stairway in front of me.
“Yes,” he replied, flicking an amused look at me over his shoulder as I ogled his ass. “The more you complain, the more steps you climb.”
“What the actual fuck?” Rafe shouted from the back of the line. “Whose idea was that?”
Erebus huffed a low laugh. “This place is designed to frustrate and confuse intruders, Hound. Were you expecting this to be a walk in the park?”
“No,” Rafe growled. “I’m not an idiot, and don’t call me ‘hound’.”
There was another chuckle from the man in front of me, and it gave me the impression that Erebus liked to provoke those around him. Perhaps it was a defence mechanism to protect him from whoever had hurt him in the past. I glanced over at Thane and wondered what his relationship had been like with Erebus before and how much it had changed now.
“Can’t you just make this place bend to your will?” Atticus asked, his voice curious.
“Unfortunately, not,” Erebus answered. “I might be Master down here, but this is my prison as much as it is my responsibility.”
“Well, that sucks,” I scoffed as I continued to trudge up the stone steps.
Erebus chuckled. “It does indeed suck.”
We continued to trudge up the never-ending staircase in silence, all of us too scared to mutter anything that might prolong the agony we were all feeling in our thighs. By the Gods, my legsburnt.I was also pretty sure my feet were numb. I wondered how many people had given up and whether we would ever reach the top or if we would be doomed to climb these stairs forever.
Erebus stopped abruptly in front of me, and I stumbled into his back. I grabbed his waist to break my fall, and his hands instantly found mine. His hands were rough and warm against mine, and he squeezed them gently before letting go. It was a gesture that was familiar and intimate, something shared between lovers or old friends. I didn’t know this man, but he touched me with a familiarity that spoke of decades of knowledge.
“Are you alright?” he asked. “I didn’t mean to stop so suddenly, but we’ve reached the top.”
Thank fuck. I peered over his shoulder and saw a large round door made of stone in front of us. There was a small stone ledge between the top of the stairs and the door and two floating flames on either side.
“Please tell me we’ve made it,” Atticus gasped as he heaved in some breaths.
“You do know that you don’t need to breathe anymore,” Thane said matter-of-factly, his golden brows pinched in confusion.
I snorted, because Thane was technically right. Atticus had been struck down in the forest outside the Mansion of Night, and to save him, Thane had bound Atticus’ life force to his death magic. It meant Atticus was dead and didn’t need to breathe anymore but the mind had a funny way of clinging to what felt familiar. I guess Atticus wasn’t quite ready to let go of that little bit of mortality yet.
“Fuck you,” Atticus said, but it lacked any real heat.
“How do we get out?” I asked Erebus as I stared over his shoulder at the massive stone door. There were no marks or any obvious handles that I could see, but it did look like the door we’d come through. That one merely opened with a lever, but this one didn’t even look like it opened. It looked like a solid mass of stone, and I had an inkling the thing was probably several feet thick. It was definitely designed to keep people in rather than let them out.
“With brute force,” Erebus replied, his red eyes sparking with excitement. It was a little unsettling how much he seemed to belooking forward to opening the door. “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time.”
“How can I help?” I stepped next to him, shoulder to shoulder, and the others stood at our backs. Their presence was comforting, and knowing that they all came down here for me, knowing the risks and doing it anyway, had my heart clenching with love. We were a team, a unit, afamily, and I was so grateful I had them in my life. My hope was that I could figure out what linked me to Erebus, and we could help him find a home in the Underworld.
Erebus’ mouth turned down in a grimace, and his lips almost pulled back in a snarl. “Just stay out of my way.”
