Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
Orpheus
The first thing I realize is that Talos is not mortal.
I know it the second my fist connects with his jaw, and the impact doesn’t cave bone the way it should. Instead, the air cracks. Power snaps back at me like I’ve punched something that punches back.
We collide again, bodies slamming into the center of the dance floor, sending patrons screaming in every direction. Tables shatter. Glass rains down. Music cuts out mid-beat.
Good.
Clear the field.
Talos grins through blood that isn’t quite blood, eyes bright with molten heat. Divine fire crawls under his skin, lighting his veins.
“Still playing king,” he taunts. “Still pretending you rule alone.”
I grab him by the throat and drive him backward through a column. Stone explodes. Dust fills the air.
“I don’t pretend.” I snarl, my voice vibrating, authority. “I am king here.”
He laughs, hoarse and delighted, and drives a blade into my side.
It burns.
Not silver. Not iron.
Something older. Something made by hands that knew how to hurt gods. It only takes me a second to realize that this blade was made by Hephaestus. It can hurt me, but not kill me.
I roar and rip it free, tossing it aside before slamming my forehead into his face. He staggers but recovers fast, too fast, swinging with a hammer-fist that catches my ribs and sends me skidding across the floor.
Pain blooms, sharp and real.
I haven’t felt this in centuries.
I push up slowly, blood dripping from my mouth, and smile. No fight has been as exhilarating.
“So,” I say. “Hephaestus finally fucked something he couldn’t fix. It’s been a while since I’ve faced another bastard.”
His grin turns feral. “Bastard doesn’t mean weak.”
“No,” I agree. “It means angry.”
We clash again, power against power, the air warping around us.
I stop holding back.
The room darkens as my power floods outward. The ground trembles. Shadows stretch and bend toward me like they recognize their master.
The dead listen when I speak.
Talos stumbles, surprise flashing across his face as gravity turns traitor beneath his feet.
“Oh,” he breathes, “there it is.”
I move faster than Talos, slamming him into the wall, then the ceiling, then the floor. Each impact sends cracks spiderwebbing through stone.
He gets his licks in. A blow to my shoulder that numbs my arm. A knee to my gut that steals breath. A blade of divine heat that scorches my chest and leaves a smoking wound.
It hurts.
It feels fucking incredible.
The fight is intense, and there are a few times Talos has me on the ropes, but he’s not fighting for what I’m fighting for.
This fight is not for my life, it’s for Cassia.
My mate. My love. The heart that beats inside me.
The woman I refuse to lose. Finally, when I get the upper hand, I ready myself for the killing blow.
The hesitation is new. If this were any other time, I’d have dismembered him by now, but Cassia’s earlier words ring in my head.
“Mercy,” Talos croaks. He’s giving up, and I’m in the position to give him the mercy he asks for.
I grab him by the collar and lift him until his feet dangle.
“Stay away from her,” I growl. “Swear it.”
Talos coughs, blood spilling down his chin. His eyes flick past me.
Toward Cassia.
I turn just enough to see her standing frozen at the edge of the destruction, fear and fury warring in her eyes.
Talos laughs.
“Too late,” he says.
I slam him into the ground and press my foot into his chest until the floor caves.
“Swear,” I repeat. “Or I end you here.”
He wheezes, body cracking under the pressure. “Fine,” he spits. “I’ll leave her alone.”
I lean closer. “Forever.”
“Forever.” He snarls. “But she’s already gone from you. You don’t know it yet.”
I throw him.
He crashes through the far wall and disappears into the night, retreating on scorched air and wounded pride.
I turn to Cassia.
She’s already moving toward me, hands shaking, eyes scanning my injuries.
“You’re bleeding,” she says. “Sit down. You need to sit down.”
I shove her hands away.
“How do you know him,” I snap.
She freezes.
“How do you know what he is?” I demand. “How do you know about gods, Cassia. Don’t lie to me.”
Her mouth opens. Closes.
I see it then. The instinct. The old habits. The way she shields truth like it’s muscle memory.
That fucking hurts worse than the blade.
“Answer me,” I bark.
“I was trying to keep you from it. Keep you from my problems,” she says, voice breaking. “You don’t get to interrogate me like I’m the enemy.”
“I just fought a god for you,” I roar. “You don’t get to keep secrets from me.”
Her eyes flash. “I didn’t ask you to.”
The words enrage me even more simply because they are true.
I lose my temper.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t be here,” I snap. “Maybe you should stop pretending you’re some innocent little human who stumbled into this world by accident.”
Her face goes white.
That’s when I know I fucked up.
She steps back.
Then she turns and runs.
I don’t chase her even though I know this moment will haunt me.
Hours pass. The club empties. Damage is assessed. Blood is cleaned. Still, I feel like I’m at war, this time with myself. I know I should go for Cassia, but I can’t shake this feeling of being betrayed.
I sit in my office, wounds knitting slowly, fury curdling into something worse.
Regret.
The door opens without announcement.
Aphrodite steps inside.
The room changes instantly.
The air thickens. Light bends toward her. Every instinct in my body screams a warning.
She’s smiling. Her beauty is astounding, but it’s not new. I’ve been in her presence before. That smile never comes with good news.
“Oh, Orpheus,” she says sweetly. “You absolute fucking idiot.”
I blink at her a few times, startled by her straight-to-the-point words. Standing, I say. “You don’t belong here.”
She waves a hand. “Neither did that bastard with the dagger fetish, but here we are.”
She circles my desk, eyes sharp and knowing.
She puts a hand on my cheek, and my cock gets hard. It’s not my choice, it’s just one of her gifts. Lust and desire. Even though my body could probably fuck her through a wall right now, I’m not in the least bit interested. All I can think about is how Cassia looked as she ran away.
With a sigh, the Goddess of Love speaks. “I thought you’d recognize a hand-wrapped gift,” she continues. “But no. You had to yell at her instead.”
My chest tightens. “What are you talking about?”
She stops in front of me.
“Cassia is the daughter of my favorite handmaiden,” she says. “Raised around gods. Trained to survive them. Loved like a daughter.”
My world tilts.
“She was meant for you,” Aphrodite continues. “Balance. Anchor. A reminder you’re not just a crown and a grave.”
I swallow hard.
“You fucked it up,” she adds cheerfully. “Fix it before it’s too late, Orpheus. Before you lose her forever.”
Oh, by the gods, what have I done? All this time, I spent denying what I was feeling for her when she was fated for me. She’s mine. It doesn’t matter what she’s done or who else wants her. She’s mine.
I need to go to her. Aphrodite doesn’t have to spell it out for me anymore. I’ll make this right.
I glance back up to where Aphrodite was just sitting, but only find a bloomed rose on my desk. She’s gone just as quickly as she came.
It doesn’t matter to me. I don’t need her for what I have to do.
The moment I take a step toward the exit, the door slams open.
Priam staggers in, blood soaking his shirt.
“My King,” he gasps. “The gray-haired vampire. He ambushed her. She was coming back to the club.”
Everything goes cold.
“Cassia,” I whisper, but I already know what he’s going to say.
Priam looks at me, eyes full of failure.
“He took her.”
The world ends.
I will burn it down to get her back.