Chapter 16
CORDELIA
There was a loud pop as I was blinded by bright, white light. My stomach dropped off the deep end—as if I were in a free-falling elevator, and nausea gripped me.
‘Oh, god,’ I groaned, barely steadying myself as my feet hit solid ground.
‘Gods, Cordelia. Gods.’ Si smiled smugly, and I resisted the urge to draw a blade and stab him in that huge cock.
I took a deep breath to chase away the nausea. The rich, woodsy, earthy smell of the surrounding forest, mingling with the crisp, salty scent of the distant ocean, filled my lungs with memories. Looking up at the stone mansion, my heart squeezed.
I hadn’t been here since I was a little girl—since my mother.
‘There will be guards,’ I whispered, and Hades merely shrugged, walking towards the main doors. Typical.
The tranquil garden was suddenly swallowed in a veil of poltergeist-white fog, which cocooned us like a shroud of clouds—it was so thick and dense, I could hardly see through it.
‘Just keeping prying eyes where they belong,’ Si murmured beside me, and I jumped.
‘Is that you?’ I squeaked, jogging to catch up before I lost sight of him.
‘I’m god of the sea, Little Red.’
‘The mist outside the motel… was that you too?’ I asked, eyes wide.
He gave me a sidelong glance and nodded. ‘A finer variety. Didn’t want you getting lost before you found me.’ I glared, and he smiled like the devil in a tailored suit.
Hades waved a hand, and the large doors swung open with a groan.
The three guards were consumed by shadows before they’d even had time to reach for their weapons, their muted voices falling silent as their bodies ceased moving.
With a flick of his wrist, the bodies disappeared along with Hades’ shadows, and I blinked a few times, shaking my head.
My neurons were boiling to mush with the sheer craziness of this whole situation.
We stepped into the mansion’s grand hallway, with tall ceilings, sun-soaked windows, and an elegant facade. A massive chandelier bathed the warm toffee browns of the wooden floor in golden light.
‘He’ll be in his office, I reckon,’ I whispered as I stepped deeper into the house, passing the enormous glass structure that enclosed the indoor pool. It looked like a goddamned rainforest—orchids and exotic plants spilled from every corner, wild and vibrant.
I glanced at the green oasis, and memories of my mother flooded in, a wave crashing through me. Her laughter. Her hands in the soil. My throat tightened painfully.
‘This way,’ I muttered in a strangled voice, averting my eyes and focusing on the oak door to Drakos’s office.
Si’s warm hand touched the small of my back—just a fleeting pressure—but it was enough to stop the spiralling ache in my chest for half a second. He didn’t say anything; he didn’t need to. The simple gesture said enough: I see you. You’re not alone.
His thumb brushed a slow, grounding circle against my spine before he withdrew, and the air he left behind felt colder for it. But for that moment, that heartbeat, I felt safe.
Just enough to breathe.
Another, flick of Hades’ wrist unlocked the door, and it swung open, revealing Drakos in a wingback chair, his head in his hands. Drakos’s head whipped up, his eyes growing wide as we strolled into the room. His gaze flicked from Hades to Si, eventually falling onto me.
‘Where’s Guinn, Drakos?’ I ground out, my voice like gravel. My fists clenched.
He looked older than I remembered. Gaunter… Defeated. He dragged a trembling hand down his face.
‘They took her,’ he said in a weary voice. ‘Most of my guards went after them… but I don’t know if—’
A rush of white-hot panic hit me like a freight train… I couldn’t breathe. My lungs refused to work. A sob clawed its way up my throat, but I swallowed it back down with blood and grit.
Frozen. I stood there, unable to move. I was failing her. Again.
I dug my nails into my palms until they bit deep, sharp enough to pierce skin. The pain sliced through the fog, dragging me back. I would not fall apart. Not now. Not with her in danger.
‘Took. Her?’ My voice fractured on the whisper, fear coiling around my throat, cold and choking.
‘Don’t worry, assassin.’ Hades’ velvety voice soothed my fragile nerves. ‘Thanatos and Perseus are in pursuit—’
Si interrupted, ‘And Erebus and Ajax are following by air.’ His hand, again, rested on the small of my back, firm and grounding. ‘We will get her back.’
‘How—’ Before I could finish Hades’ voice cut me off.
‘We are linked telepathically. We’ll rescue her.’ Then, his eyes, winter-cold, locked onto Drakos. Shadows oozed around him like slick, sentient smoke—alive and threatening.
Drakos paled.
‘But I’m afraid the convoy of guards sent after them… has been massacred.’
A sharp breath punched from my lungs. My knees nearly buckled.
Drakos looked ready to piss himself as he wiped a trembling hand across his clammy face.
‘Now,’ Hades intoned, and the room darkened with the weight of his power. ‘Tell us about Ixion. If you refuse, a brief visit to Tartarus will melt the resistance right out of you.’
Drakos’s voice rasped. ‘Y—you can’t do that.’
‘I think you’ll find we can do whatever we please, human.’ Si stepped forward with the grace of a jungle cat, his eyes shadowed by a tempest. ‘We are gods.’ His baritone voice brooked no argument.
Drakos gasped and grabbed his throat. ‘Start talking before I drown you in your own blood.’
Drakos choked, his body trembling under invisible pressure.
Si’s magic was wild and tumultuous, just like his ocean.
His thick, heady magic washed over me, and my stomach did worrying flips, causing my lady parts to tingle and flood with heat, dampening my panties.
The bite mark on my thigh pulsed in time with my throbbing pussy.
Si met my eyes, his dark and knowing, and a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. Godsdammit. He could smell my arousal. My glare sharpened.
Hades rolled his eyes like a bored teacher watching horny teenagers.
Shit. Can he smell it too? Where’s a hole in the ground when you need one?
Drakos wheezed as Si released him. He grabbed a decanter of amber liquid, pouring a glass with shaking fingers, then downed the liquor in one desperate gulp.
‘The office… Mayfair. The Pavilion Club. The company name was Cadmus.’ He sucked in a ragged breath. ‘I met with a woman… she called herself Basili—’
His words cut off as his eyes bulged. He clutched his throat, collapsing to the floor.
‘Shit!’ I dropped to my knees beside him as his body convulsed violently. Foam bubbled at the corner of his mouth, and by the time I reached him, he was gone.
I stared at his lifeless form, waiting for the grief to come, but it didn’t. All I felt was the sting of fury… and disappointment that I hadn’t killed the bastard myself.
‘Poisoned. Probably magical. Probably Ixion,’ Hades muttered, staring down at the dead man. ‘Unfortunate timing.’ He released a long breath.
‘Guinn. Is she safe?’ I demanded as I jumped up. Si nodded slowly.
‘Ajax is bringing her back right now. Don’t worry, little assassin.
’ I unclenched my fists as relief washed through me.
‘I’ll have a team scout the Pavilion Club and all Drakos’s known residences,’ he added.
‘Though I suspect the offices will be long abandoned. Does Drakos have more than this residence and the school in England?’ Si cocked his head, and I shook mine and raised a shoulder.
‘Probably. But none that I know of.’
‘Theseus will comb through his affairs. We will find them.’
I drew a steadying breath. ‘I want the school to continue… but not Scorpion House. They’re the assassin trainees. That ends now.’ I lifted my chin. ‘Guinn and I will return. I’ll take over as principal.’
‘No.’ The single word cracked like a whip. Si’s voice had the effect of snapping my back straight and sending a jolt of fear through me. The power in it was pure and godly. I met that commanding, authoritative gaze, and my jaw ached from clenching it so hard.
‘You don’t own me,’ I snapped. ‘No one controls me…You can go to hell.’
I sensed it was a rarity for anyone to disagree with the lumberjack of a god. He looked surprised, if an angry eye twitch counted as a reaction. Hades rolled his lips inwardly as a ghost of a smile touched his lips.
I turned to storm off, but Si moved so fast the wisps of hair around my face fluttered in the breeze he created, and the breath in my lungs stilled as his large hands cupped my cheeks.
‘Cordelia…’ His voice was lower now, urgent. ‘Ixion will assume I’ve killed you. That you’re no longer a threat. If you resurface, they’ll come for you—and your sister. Please… stay where you’re safest. Stay with me.’ I glanced at Hades, whose brows were almost touching his hairline.
‘Neither you nor Guinn will be safe otherwise, Little Red.’
My shoulders dropped. I hated how right he probably was.
‘Okay.’ Si’s grin lit his whole face, godlike and smug.
‘But…’ I pointed my finger at him. ‘I want Mrs Fitzpatrick to be put in charge of the school and do as I said. Close down Scorpion House.’ He nodded.
‘And give her funds for more teaching staff.’
‘As you wish, my lady.’ I suppressed a shiver as his warm breath ghosted over my cheek.
Then Hades spoke, his tone laced with suspicion. ‘One thing.’
We both turned to him.
‘If Ixion didn’t know Drakos had brought Guinn to his Greek stronghold’—he widened his arms, gesturing to our location—‘how did they find out so quickly?’
Both Si and I stiffened. ‘Maybe… they’re just checking all of his properties,’ I said, though even I didn’t believe it. Something dark gnawed at the pit of my stomach.
A leak? A spy? Or something worse?
Ixion was a snake in the dark—and Si was right; to protect Guinn, I’d stay by his side, even if it meant being close to this arrogant, gorgeous god. Because, despite his possessiveness and repeated attempts at dominating me… I trusted this god. I trusted Poseidon.
‘They are back. Come,’ Hades said coolly as he strode out, leaving Drakos’s body behind.
The front doors burst open, and Ajax appeared, scowling, with Guinn limping in behind him. A thousand champagne bubbles of joy exploded in my bloodstream.
‘Guinn!’ Sobs of relief wracked my body, and I ran to her, enveloping her in a fierce hug as she snivelled against my chest. ‘Baby…’ I hiccupped.
‘You’re safe now.’ I held her at arm’s length and looked at her tear-stained cheeks.
She had a few cuts and bruises, a swollen, bruised eye, and what appeared to be a sore leg. ‘Are you okay?’
She nodded, blinking back more tears. ‘I kicked one of them in the balls, and he slapped me. I think I twisted my knee when I fell. I broke another one’s nose, and he punched me.’ She grimaced as she gently touched her swollen eye. ‘Ouch.’
‘There were four of them,’ Ajax said to Poseidon. ‘All dead before we could question them, Majesty,’
Guinn’s gaze lifted and landed on the gods behind me. Her one good eye went wide.
‘Hades,’ I said as the god of the Underworld nodded curtly. ‘Poseidon’—a grin split his face as he regarded Guinn—‘This is my sister, Guinn.’
‘Holy fuck,’ Guinn breathed.
‘What did I tell you about swearing, Guinevere?’ I snapped.
‘You swear all the time!’
‘I’m the adult. Do as I say, not as I do.’
‘Hardly fair,’ she muttered.
I caught Si still grinning like the smug bastard he was, while Hades had returned to his default: unbothered and borderline bored.
‘Let’s go. I’ll run you a nice bath. Come on.’ I tugged Guinn’s hand, and she limped after me towards her bedroom.
I filled the tub with steaming water and aromatherapy bath salts while she undressed. As she lowered herself in with a soft moan, she closed her one functioning eye, and I knelt beside her and stroked her hair.
‘So which one are you sleeping with?’ she murmured without opening her eye. I almost choked on my spit.
‘Neither…’ I gasp-laughed.
She cracked one eye open, brow arched. ‘It’s Poseidon, isn’t it? He’s hot as hell. And the way he was looking at you… total heart-eyes.’
‘I’m not sleeping with him—’
‘Not yet,’ she cut me off. ‘Cordie, the chemistry between you two is raging. But seriously, he’s a god. How the fuck did you get tangled up with the actual pantheon?’
‘Next time you swear, I’ll give you a matching black eye.’ She rolled her eye so hard I’m pretty sure she saw her brain. ‘No swearing, missy.’ I glared at her, and she closed her eye again. ‘Anyway… It’s a long story.’
‘So tell me. All of it.’ She turned her face towards me, all teasing gone.
‘I know you’re the Black Dahlia, Cordie.
’ My breath froze as I stared at her. ‘I’m practically a dark web ninja,’ she added with a shrug.
‘It wasn’t hard to connect your "trips" with the Dahlia’s hits.’ I groaned and massaged my eyes as she turned away again.
‘Where is Papa, anyways?’ My hands fell from my face as my heart sank to my boots.
‘Let me start from the beginning,’ I said in a hoarse voice as her head snapped around, her face paling.
‘He’s dead, isn’t he?’ She swallowed and blinked fast. ‘He was an asshole.’ Her voice wobbled.
‘I knew this job was dangerous… most probably linked to Ixion, but when I questioned him, he lost his temper and beat me. I’m glad he didn’t get you killed, Cordie.
’ A single tear rolled down her cheek. ‘I’ve been so worried. ’
‘Oh, Guinn.’ I brushed away her tear with my thumb and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. As I gently washed her hair, I told her everything. From the contract on Si… to my failure… the chase… and how everything had spiralled since.
Everything, apart from giving Si head, and him eating my pussy, obviously.
Some things are best left unsaid, especially to a fifteen-year-old.