Page 50 of Summer’s Seduction (Sinful Seasons #2)
LARKSPUR
M orpheus flew south, battling through the snow ravaging The Echoing Mountains until the worst of the clouds broke. My stomach fluttered as a vast pine forest stretched out beneath us. The valley was shrouded in a heavy layer of mist, the combination of the two awakening feelings of comfort… almost like I was coming home.
Despite being unable to see the forest floor, I knew there was a freshwater river beyond that clump of rocks peering up among the mist. Just as I knew, if you walked south for another twenty minutes, you’d come to a massive den along a rocky cavern where the largest family of chimeras slept.
“The Nightmare Kingdom,” Morpheus said. I had no doubt he felt the torrent of emotions whirling within me. “And The Scarlet Palace.”
My attention snapped up, and I focused on the grey ruins. Glints of ruby stones were beneath the thick coating, almost as if a heavy layer of dust had settled.
“Is that snow?” I asked, already knowing it wasn’t but unable to figure out what it could be.
“No, little monster,” Morpheus said, his voice soft. “My parents burned every being who was loyal to The Strix family. You’re seeing what remains of their ashes.”
Bile burned the back of my throat as I took in how large the palace was. Entire walls had been leveled, and more than one tower had fallen, but it must have taken tens of thousands of dark ones to leave a stain that large.
I’m sorry. Morpheus’s unspoken words flitted through my mind, more feeling than anything, but he wasn’t the one who’d committed this atrocity.
“There,” Psyche said, pointing to the southern end along the slope of the hill. Her voice still held the same musical quality, but the pitch had shifted a little, returning closer to how I remember her. She’d always been a little different, able to see things others couldn’t, but this Psyche was almost dream-like.
Morpheus flew us closer toward the stirring mist and clash of steel. It was difficult to make out who was who. The wind blew, shifting a cloud in the night sky to allow for the moon to cast light on the carnage below.
Souls battled one another along the clearing that had once been the castle grounds. Bodies clashed as each sought to heed their lord’s call to war.
An orange glow stood out among the mist. Horses that looked to be crafted from fire pulled a steel chariot containing The God of War. Ares hurled his spear, the gilded tip glinting in the starlight before skewering his next victim. The impact split the chest cavity wide open as it spliced through the body before sticking in the ground. With a feral war cry, he plucked the bloodthirsty spear from the earth as the horses circled, readying for his next throw.
An army of souls was at his back, most of whom looked as if they crawled here through the ice and snow. I narrowed my eyes, seeing blacked fingers among the broken and bleeding bodies. Ares led an army of traitors, who probably had transversed The Underworld from Cocytus at his command. Their wails pierced the sky, feet worn to the point of bone, and still, they moved, forced under the thrall of The God of War.
Souls containing a faint golden shimmer met their strikes—the spirits of Elysium. And there, leading the charge on a chariot of gossamer pulled by skeletal horses shrouded in shadows, was Hades. The ground beneath him was streaked in black as he wielded death magic like an avenging whip, snapping the moaning souls under Ares’s control in half with a single blow.
“The portal,” Morpheus said, angling toward the patch of wavering sky hovering feet over the edge of a cliff. “Only a few can pass safely at a time. If we position ourselves on the ledge, we can cut off any others from joining Ares.”
“It’s too late,” Psyche warned.
I opened my mouth to protest but promptly closed it as Hermes flickered into being with The Caduceus in hand. She met my narrowed gaze from across the way, offering a mischievous grin in return before tapping The Caduceus to the wavering air.
It began to shimmer, silver light swirling until it formed a smooth plane.
“Until next time,” Hermes said, slipping into the silver mirror as Morpheus circled, looking for a place to land.
“No,” Psyche said, the grip on Morpheus’s tunic tightening. “We can’t land.”
A human screamed pierced the night air as they dropped from the portal hovering a few feet from the mountainside, narrowly missing the ledge. Their body hit the side of the mountain with a sickening crunch as it fell, tumbling against jagged rocks and leaving a crimson trail of gore until it sank beneath the snow.
Another followed, and another—hundreds of them flooding through the portal in a torrent of flesh and blood. Those who made the jump turned down a narrow path, flooding the mountainside as they rushed to reach the battle.
“We need to land along the tree line between the armies,” Psyche said as Morpheus angled toward Hades.
He glanced down at me, but I only shrugged in a ‘she’s been right so far’ way. Mouth set in a grim line, he dove, landing exactly where she’d asked us to.Snow and ash crunched under my boots, the air heavy with the scent of death.
“Larkspur!” Persephone’s voice cut through the chaos of war. I whipped around, searching the trees for her bright red hair. “Use your compulsion.”
My gaze locked on The Queen of The Underworld a few paces away and the army of gorgons at her throat. Their scaled bodies glinted in the fading moonlight, impenetrable by blade or arrow. They swiped at those nearest them with great, brass talons, shredding flesh bone as if they were nothing more than cumbersome webs.
I ran toward them, trusting Morpheus to keep Psyche safe. Persephone wielded vines as snares, slowing some down long enough for our warriors to take them out.
“The only weak point we’ve found is through the eyes,” Persephone panted, her eyes ringed in light as she called on more of her magic. Vines burst from the snow, ensnaring a gorgon as a soul from Elysium rushed forward, thrusting a knife through the gorgon’s eye socket. Her body bowed as she gasped for air, letting the bands of leaves fall away as the body dropped. “But I can only hold so many at a time.”
I nodded, understanding what she needed from me. Turning to face the snarling gorgons fighting through the trees, I lifted my hands, eyes locked on the nearest one, and spoke.
“Stop!”
The air vibrated with the force of the command, magic pricking, as I forced their bodies to slow and then freeze. All those in my line of vision stopped, the souls making quick work of taking them down, but others rose from the trees, replacing and outnumbering the ones we’d only just disposed of.
“Again,” Persephone said, brow knit with sweat as her arms wove new traps.
How long had she been here, keeping the threat from reaching Hades’s back? Her arms shook as her chest heaved, but her eyes showed resolute determination. Persephone intended to defeat Hypnos today or to die trying.
Trepidation and anger simmered through me, stemming from Morpheus. Sparing a glance for him, I found him braced with his sword raised and eyes trained on the sky.
He stepped before Psyche as a swarm of dark ones flew in from the east.
She stepped to the side, raising her hand, and waved. “Over here!” she called, face bright as if drawing out enemies toward us was exactly what she wanted to do. And there, at the head of the charge, was Lucius.
Swallowing down the wave of panic as the chaos swirled around us, I focused on what I could do, telling myself that no matter the odds or the outcome, even one life spared was important.
Here, on the grounds of my murdered family, coated in the ashes of my slaughtered people, I looked for the next thing I could control—concentrated on my next breath.If this were my last day, I’d be sure to take as many of my enemies as I could with me.
Lifting my hands toward the gorgons, I drew on my magic, feeling the familiar surge of power, the thrill of compulsion, and let it out.