Page 34 of The Fifth Gate

Morevna might be an ally, at least in that she feels she owes me something for returning her Garden to her, but death gods can also be sticklers for the rules. I’m not risking losing Janie at this point, just because Morevna decides to enforce the whole ‘death only goes in one direction’ thing.

Adonis shivers as my lips ghost over the shell of his ear. But before he can say anything, or I can give into the moderately inappropriate urge to bite, the ice on the pond behind me shatters, and a massive, dark figure emerges.

The world around me blurs as Adonis hauls me around and dumps me on my feet behind him. His sword is out before I have a chance to shake my head clear. Adonis has fallen into a defensive stance, determined to face down the God of War who is just now stepping out of the gate.

Morevna doesn’t even straighten up, though she does look mildly interested.

I probably should have remembered to give them a heads up.

“It’s okay.” I grab hold of Adonis’s arm with both hands, pulling back to keep him from charging forward. I don’t know how the grandson of a dragon would hold up in combat against Ares, but I’m also not willing to find out. Adonis doesn’t budge though, even with me hauling against him. His muscles feel like they’ve been carved out of marble.

“Let him come,” Ares rumbles, and there’s a sword inhishand too, now. He looks anticipatory, almost eager. He probably hasn’t had a decent battle since he got stuck in the Underworld.

Well, too bad. I scoot around to stand between them, dodging when Adonis lunges after me like he’s going to drag me to safety. “You arenotgoing to fight each other.” I give Ares a look over my shoulder, warning him to back off.

He just lifts a brow, looking all stubborn and mulish and broody in his dark leathers. I roll my eyes at him.

I just sprung him from Hell. Is it really too much to ask that he not try to hack apart people I care about?

Adonis looks between me and Ares, his face pulled into tight lines. There’s confusion in his eyes when he turns to me, his protective stance never dropping. “Penelope. What’s going on?”

Morevna slumps back into her throne with a gusty, put-upon kind of sigh. “Fight, if you’re going to fight. Just don’t damage my throne room. I only just got it back in one piece.”

“No,” I say hastily. “No fighting.”

Ares doesn’t look convinced.

I turn back to Adonis, the more reasonable of the two. Except, at the moment, he doesn’t look reasonable. He’s glaring over my shoulder at Ares like he wants to rip him apart. It’s startling enough that it stuns me for a second. I’ve never seen Adonis look so vicious. It’s like a stranger is wearing his face.

I shrug it off though, because I’ve got seconds here before they waste a lot of time trying to beat the crap out of each other.

“Ares is not here to hurt me,” I assure Adonis. “He isn’t going to do anything. He just wants to leave with us. We can all walk out of here.”

The face Adonis turns towards me is incredulous. “Penelope? Hekilledyour sister! He stole her soul to lure you here, so he could kill you!”

“I’m well aware,” I start, nodding. “But all of that has changed.” And I don’t have time to explain the hows and whys of it at the moment.

“Why has it changed?” Adonis insists.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ares’s face go carefully blank.

“Ares was trapped, in a terrible position, and didn’t have many good options. He’s not in that place anymore, and we’re working it out.”

It’s a terrible explanation. I owe Adonis more than this, on several levels. But I’m on a bit of a time crunch at the moment, so the heartfelt stuff might just have to wait a little while longer. Adonis searches my face, and finally, grudgingly, relaxes. He slips his sword back into its sheath with a metallic hiss, and his eyes lock onto Ares with a frightening intensity.

“If you hurt her,” he says, tone cool and almost polite. “I will find a way to kill you.”

Ares opens his mouth like he’s going to say something, but closes it again with a click of teeth. He nods to Adonis.

What the hell was that? I mean, at least they aren’t circling each other like street dogs about to fight, so I guess that’s something. I guess I’ll just have to take what I can get here, and get the whole tangled mess sorted out later. Preferably in the mortal world.

At that, the relics all shiver against my skin. It’s like a gong going off, but only inside my skull. My breath catches, muscles all going stiff.

It’s a warning. I know that, right down to my bones. I can’t explain how I know, but that doesn’t make it one ounce less true. My time is running out.

“We have to go,” I gasp. Panic is a drumbeat inside me, flooding adrenaline into my blood. “We have to go,now.”

Morevna stands, all idleness gone. She raises her arms, and a sudden wind slams into the throne room, whipping her pale hair and blue embroidered coat around her ankles.

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