Ink of Copper

56. In Which the Morning Comes with Icy Fingers Reaching

Chapter 56

In Which the Morning Comes with Icy Fingers Reaching

La Palazza Stellarum in the Hills of Asteria

E llie.

Her name sounded like the sweetest music, bringing a grin to his lips as he headed to the sitting room to await her return. Evander had awoken an hour after she left and fought the urge to find her. He wanted to touch her, hold her, bury his nose in her hair again. Unable to sleep after their rounds of lovemaking, he settled on watching her. His hand rhythmically rubbed her bare back, the sheet covering her hips. She frowned in her sleep, the corners of those soft, pink lips turning down in her dreams. She wrapped herself around him during the night, and he delighted in cradling her in his arms. Her hair lay wild around her head; her light-colored eyelashes fanned against her round cheeks, fist curled under her chin. Those images played in his head alongside the ones of her rising under him, responding to his touch, his kiss, his words, matching his eagerness with her own. He hadn’t wanted to sleep for fear that the morning would prove it was all a dream.

But it wasn’t.

This morning, she had been just as enthusiastic as the night before, just as real. He was waiting in the sitting room, thinking of her atop him, her fingers spread on his chest, her hips filling his hands. The breakfast meal had come and gone without Camulos or Ellie, and while he was eager to be with her, he respected her time with Camulos. Plus, Cam had made it known if he interrupted them, Evander would regret it. So, he waited impatiently for her return. He was absentmindedly thumbing through a book he wanted her to read when Camulos entered the room.

“Morning,” he said with a nod of his head. His brow was sweaty, his cheeks a bright shade of red. Dew soaked his cloak inches up the hem. Dirt and grass covered his arms and legs. Evander snapped the book closed and peered around Camulos, expecting to see her. He frowned.

“Where’s Ellie?”

Stopping at the side table, eyeing a pastry, Cam took his time choosing one to place on his plate. “I assume, still in bed. Or should I say, in your bed?”

He grinned as he finally decided, raising the cherry-covered, frosted delight and taking a bite. White frosting smeared across his upper lip, and Camulos licked it away hurriedly.

“In my bed? Why would you assume . . .” Evander paused as Camulos smirked and tilted his head. He raised a finger to his temple and tapped it.

Damn him and his abilities.

Looking a little guilty, he cleared his throat. “She left early this morning to train with you.”

Camulos frowned and set down his treat. “She never came to see me this morning. I figured she was too—tired and chose not to rise at dawn.” His all-knowing smirk returned.

“Never came? Are you sure? She told me she was going to the training room.”

“I waited in the training room for over an hour, and when she didn’t show, I ran drills on The Maiden. I haven’t seen her all morning. Maybe Maximus found her first.”

Evander tossed the book onto a side table and marched towards the great room. The men weaved through the corridors, silence stretching between them. As they entered under the stone archway, he spied Maximus hunched over several maps rolled out on a table.

“Where is she?” Evander’s voice boomed in the quiet room, causing Max to jerk his head. He hadn’t meant to sound so forceful, but fear tugged at him.

“Who?”

“ Who? Ellie.” He snorted through his nose. “She was supposed to meet with Camulos in the training room this morning, but never showed.”

“Where is she?” Liam stormed into the room; his eyes wild. He looked as though someone had jolted him awake.

“Who?” Maximus repeated. His gaze bounced between the two warriors and then to Camulos.

“Syren,” Liam snapped. “She isn’t here.”

“Syren is missing?” Turning his worry to Liam, he studied his friend’s frantic expression. He was disheveled, his face rigid, his eyes wide and panicked, darting between each man in the room.

“Wait, slow down,” Maximus said as he rounded the table and approached them. “Ellie and Syren are both missing?”

“Syren left my room early this morning, but she isn’t here.”

“Ellie left”—Evander paused. Ah, fuck it —“She left my chamber early this morning, before daybreak.”

Liam paced, panting like a caged animal. Watching him, Camulos frowned; worry creased his face.

“She left your room?” Maximus began, his lips thinned into a tight line. “Evander—”

“Save the lecture, Max.” He sliced his hand through the air.

“Have you looked in the alcove?” Camulos said, watching Liam clench and unclench his fists.

“Right. The alcove.”

The two rushed down the corridor, Liam matching him stride for stride. How many times had he looked up from training and seen Ellie and Syren sitting in the window seat talking? How often had he rounded the corner to see her feet in Syren’s lap, the two laughing, her crochet abandoned? She couldn’t be gone. His chest clenched as panic gripped his heart when they rounded the corner in unison to find the seat empty. Something was very wrong; he could feel it, and by the look on Liam’s face, he felt it too. Liam whirled and headed back down the corridor.

“Where are you going?”

“To check Ellie’s room,” Liam called over his shoulder.

Trying to calm himself, desperate to keep the coursing dread at bay, Evander rushed behind his friend. When they reached the door to her chamber, he paused, deciding if he should knock. Instead, he ripped the door open. The room was dark and quiet, the fireplace cold, candles unlit. He swept in and headed for her bed, even though he could see she wasn’t there. The covers remained made by the maids from the day before. He walked over to where her dress hung, the one they had given her, her battle dress. He slipped the tooled leather strips of the skirting through two fingers, sliding them down to the end. Everything remained untouched. The only thing missing was a dress lying on his floor. Evander took a shaky breath, fear pumping in his veins. His gaze darted around the room for his shirt, the one she’d worn this morning. If Ellie made it back to her chamber, it should be here. Looking down at the dressing table, his heart skipped when he saw her tin of dominoes lying atop a book he had left for her. He turned to face the men standing just inside her darkened door.

“Everything is just as it was yesterday.”

“Isn’t that good?” Maximus asked, looking around her chamber.

Evander gritted his teeth. “No. Nothing has been moved. Nothing is out of order. Which means Ellie never made it to her room this morning.” He picked up the tin of dominoes and ran his thumb over the cool metal.

“Where are they?” Liam roared, then hissed as if struck, curling into himself.

The trio shared looks, but Maximus spoke first.

“Liam, what is the matter with you?”

He was trembling, sweating, his fists clenched into his stomach. When he looked up, his eyes glowed gold before he sprinted towards his chambers. He burst into Syren’s room seconds before the rest crossed the threshold. Frantically, he searched to no avail. Standing in the middle, Evander noticed the chamber wasn’t just empty of its occupant; the chamber was empty of her—no little bottles of perfume on her dressing table. No clothing hung up behind the dressing screen. The tightly made bed suggested she hadn’t slept in it at all. The chamber looked as orderly as the day they arrived. His chest tightened as he faced Liam.

“There’s nothing here.”

Liam was pacing, his hands shaking as he took long strides throughout the room, snorting and huffing like an animal.

“Nothing’s here, Liam,” Evander repeated.

“I am aware.”

“Why is there nothing here?”

His expression grim, he answered, “Because she’s gone.”

Camulos and Maximus shared a look between them, having entered on the heels of the other two.

“Where did she go?” Evander asked.

“I—I don’t know. I don’t know. She’s gone. I knew it this morning, the moment I awoke, I felt she was gone.”

Storming back into the hallway, Liam was panting as if in pain. Evander paced the small sitting room between the two chambers. He was trying to think and calm himself; he couldn’t lose control—ice formed along the windows, the fireplace, the walls. Evander scrubbed a hand through his hair.

“Where are they, Camulos?” His wild gaze snapped to the oldest member. “I know you know. Where the hell are they?”

Camulos shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Try,” Liam growled.

Evander ground his teeth, the cold sinking into his palms. Terror gripped him, sinking its icy fingers into his chest. He knew where she was before the answer came. Camulos closed his eyes, quiet for a minute, their rapid breathing the only sound. Evander’s throat constricted with each passing second, his heart thumping in his ears, his hands shaking with the strength it took to keep his powers at bay. The blood left his fingertips and then his palms, cooling its way up his arm, a sure sign that he was losing his restraint. Camulos’ eyes snapped open wide, his mouth agape.

“Valerius.”

Ice formed through his veins. He stumbled, clutching the wall for support as the ice reached his heart. The last shred of restraint he had snapped, and Evander roared. Deep and low at first, but as it gathered, it shook the walls, rattling the windowpanes. Liam’s roar joined the crescendo, which was higher pitched, but just as powerful. Ice covered the floor, the walls, the furniture, crawling up every surface as the two men let loose their inner warriors. The monsters Athena made of men. His fists clenched at his sides as the sound tore from him, his wings snapping open. Maximus and Camulos were shouting over the unified, supernatural sound. Liam’s wings unfurled, spreading wide and creating a wall of feathers. He was just as frantic, just as angry, just as out of control. Valerius had the women.

Their women .

“This wasn’t the—We’ll get them back,” Maximus said. “We’ll get them back.”

Spinning around to face Max, Evander’s face darkened. “How did Valerius get his hands on them?”

No one answered.

“How did he know we were here? Camulos put us under protection when we arrived. I asked him to. No one should have been able to enter.”

“It’s still in place, Evander. I haven’t recalled the protection.”

“How did Valerius get in?” He shifted his gaze from warrior to warrior.

“How would he have breached the protection without us knowing?” Maximus asked aloud to no one in particular. “Camulos would have felt it. Hell, I would have. If the protection is still in place, how did Valerius kidnap the women?”

It was a legitimate question he was already racing to solve. He had asked Camulos to protect so she could use her magic without the gods feeling it. They had implemented safeguards to protect both women, particularly because humans weren’t permitted on Olympus. How could Valerius breach them? He didn’t understand. If the protection was still in place, no one on Olympus could have entered without them knowing.

“How did Valerius get his hands on Ellie and Syren—” Evander stopped pacing—the answer obvious the minute he said it.

The color drained from Liam’s face.

“Syren.” He spit her name out like a curse.

Liam’s wings extended, and he pulled himself up, straightening his spine.

“Syren?” Camulos’ voice sounded far off as the two friends stared, both knowing the answer.

“Fuck, Zeus!” Evander spat out. “ Syren . Gods, why didn’t we see it? Syren . Syren!”

“Syren?” Maximus looked at the two warriors, poised to explode. “Syren is kidnapped as well.”

“Is she?” Evander raised an eyebrow, his wings spreading wide. The air in the room chilled, and their breath came out in puffs.

“Yes,” Liam growled the words at Evander as he widened his stance, one foot back. Shadows lengthened from under the warrior, stretching towards the corners of the room.

“Syren.” Evander enunciated the word slowly. “She isn’t missing, is she Liam? She is gone. Not missing. Gone .”

Stepping to the side, he circled him like a caged bull. Liam stepped with him, keeping his circle tight, ready to strike. He shook his brandy-colored wings and cracked his neck, unwilling to stand down.

“You don’t think it’s a little convenient that she is nowhere to be found this morning? Her clothes are missing. Her room is empty. She’s gone. No one took her; she left. She left with Ellie. That’s how Valerius got her. It was Syren.” He shoved Liam, throwing him off balance.

Regaining himself, Liam said nothing, but his glare spoke volumes. His hazel eyes glowed gold, fierce and dangerous.

“Do not speak of my lady,” he snarled, clenching his fists.

Evander pushed him again; this time, Liam shoved back, knocking him back on his heel.

“She comes out of nowhere.” He snorted. “Latches on to you and forces herself in with us. We let her stay here. We protected her, and now Valerius has Ellie. Ellie, whose blood opens the prison doors.”

Camulos stepped between the two.

“Move, Cam,” Evander barked between clenched teeth.

“No. She has to be human, Evander,” Camulos said, opening his wings and blocking Liam from retaliating. “She’s human. Max and I would know if she wasn’t. That monster has her. He has both of them.” He held up his hands as Evander continued circling. Liam didn’t back down, looking just as deadly and fierce.

“Come take me, mate,” Liam challenged.

The two growled at each other, Camulos in the middle like a ringmaster. From the start, he had suspected her and kept pushing his intuition down, wanting to believe she had good intentions. Of course, Valerius would use a human; they would have instantly trusted her. They trusted her. He should have known. This was his fault; he suspected her and chose not to act. Berating himself for his failure to protect Ellie, his anger channeled at Liam. Valerius could do anything to her, and he wouldn’t be there to stop him. He should have gotten out of bed and walked Ellie to her door. Should have gone with her to the training room. Saw to it she was safe. Safe from the human that betrayed them. She had trusted him last night, and he failed her this morning. He should have been there to protect her from Syren—

Evander stormed past Camulos, shoving him with such force that he flew head over wing over the couch. He stopped inches from Liam’s nose.

“Syren,” he spat out, spittle flying as he cursed her name. “Shit fucking Christ. Syren .”

Liam swung, his fist connecting with Evander’s jaw, making a sickening sound. “Don’t you say her name like that,” he growled.

Slicing the air with his fist, he connected with Liam’s chest, his knuckles hitting sternum.

“ Syren . She’s a fucking siren . You brought a siren into our company. Fuck, Zeus! Why the hell didn’t I see it? She’s a siren, and she has Ellie. Valerius has the Serathena because of you!”

Evander flew backward, Liam plowing into his middle, knocking him off his feet and sending him to the ground with a crack. Ice covering the carpet made it slick when Evander hit, and the two went skidding across the room. The room darkened into blackness.

“Fuck you, Evander. You fucked us, not me, mate.” Liam was wild. His fists rained blows down on Evander, who fought back with the same vigor. Grunts and punches filled the room as Camulos and Maximus shouted, adding to the chaos of anger and disbelief.

“Enough!” A female voice stopped them in their tracks. “Where is she?”

All four turned. Athena stood in the hallway, dressed in a short chiton with a leather breastplate strapped to her. Her helmet was on, its copper plumage bristling in a row off the top. Holding her shield, the head of Medusa prominently in the center, she pointed her spear at them.

She had come for battle.

Behind her stood three of her warriors, their armor on, their weapons drawn. Behind them stood several warriors dressed in white tunics with shields and spears. Shadows slithered along the floor, covering the frosted carpet.

The Chthonian.