Page 25

Loath to Wait

Jared

T his was, undoubtably, the hardest part of the plan.

The waiting.

Waiting for the shifters to return, waiting for the spell to be made, waiting while we made our plan, waiting while the goblin made his map, and most of all…

Waiting for Lerna and Koro to return back with my girl.

That was the hardest wait of all.

But that was all I was allowed to do. Because every single aspect of this plan had been gone through with a fine-tooth comb. It had been said over and over again, until there was no mistaking what had to happen.

As for how this plan started, the shifters had little trouble getting to the mountain, although Nero had no choice but to exhaust herself in getting through the sorcerer’s wards long enough to land.

As for the sorcerer himself, it was obvious the brothers didn’t like him.

But Vern had liked the way he had looked at Nero even less.

Apparently, she had impressed the sorcerer with the way she had been able to get past his wards. He said if she ever wanted to learn from him, that she was always welcome to stay. It was after this offer that Vern pulled his bow out and held a flaming arrow an inch from the sorcerer’s face.

Luckily, Nero already had the foresight to retrieve one of their scales, at the ready to do the deal.

And like she had suspected, it was one he was all too ready to make, and the sorcerer told her that she could help herself to anything in his garden.

So, she had gathered up what she needed and they had left without further incident.

Needless to say, by the end, all three brothers had been eager to leave the place and the creepy sorcerer to his mountain.

After that and upon their return, Nero wasted no time in getting to work on the spell, and I was left waiting yet again.

At least with this first hurdle out of the way it was on to the next…

and that was getting Lerna and Koro inside.

Which was where the Goblin came in. He had told me that in order for the hex to work, the person, which in this case, was King Geryon, needed to be there when this particular hex was cast.

Of course, no one knew by this time that the King had been switched and Clay, the actual king, was living life in the mortal realm.

But it didn’t matter, as all Garmr needed was what this imposter already had.

People to believe he was the King. Now when, exactly, this happened, no one knew, but it was believed it was before he stole Anástasi from me the first time…

And his new control over anyone with summoning powers would have led him to her.

The hex was all he needed, for it would then make everyone who had ever heard of the King think it was Garmr. But here was the kicker, and it was a big one that no one saw coming, or had fully put together yet. Knowledge that Geryon and Garmr were actually related.

Because once Garmr’s true heritage had come to light, it was then tied to Clay or should I say Geryon, who he was born as. Because he was the son of Callirrhoe, one of the daughters of Garmr’s mother, the Titaness, Tethys. Which meant that Garmr was actually Geryon’s uncle.

Hence why he had been chosen, as Garmr wanted to seek revenge on the Greek side of his family for casting him out. For not recognizing him as being one of their own. And whereas his nephew had received a castle and his own realm to rule over, Garmr had received nothing.

Something the goblin actually pieced together after what Garmr had told him about his heritage.

For some reason, Garmr, at the time, had felt the need to justify why he was doing this.

Which the goblin admitted, that as long as he had a trunk load of coin like he had been promised, he didn’t care.

Didn’t care if his mother was a hairy toed harpy and his father a legless Gorgon leech.

He would have done the job regardless. And it was a job he did.

These were the goblin’s words when explaining this to me over a tankard of ale. Because quite literally, there was fuck all else to do while waiting for the spell to be made, so with Lucius and Amelia getting ‘rest’, I was left with the goblin for company.

He then went on to tell me that in order for the original switch hex to work, that both men needed to be in the same room, and he needed the King’s blood. Something that Garmr said wouldn’t be a problem, seeing as he fully intended to slit Geyron’s throat in his sleep.

This was of course after first checking whether or not the king needed to be alive first, which, lucky for Garmr, he didn’t.

But it was also obvious that Garmr had never encountered his nephew before as he believed he had switched with that of his kin.

Not that it mattered, as Clay’s replacement had enough power over his summoners that it transferred over to Garmr as well.

After that, the goblin admitted that his only aim was to get the job done, get paid, and get the fuck out of there with his head still attached.

Seeing as the chest full of gold had once belonged to the king, Garmr admitted that he didn’t care what he took.

No, all he wanted was control over the realm and his army.

And since then, his army and power had grown significantly.

But the part of the story I had been most interested in and had been eager to get to, was how this tied into the castle of Thanatos or, more specifically, how the goblin knew the way inside.

Because we were not talking of the Realm of Fraud here, but that of the Underworld.

Which was why Clay couldn’t help us, as he had no prior knowledge of this castle.

In fact, the first time we had managed it, it had been from a map provided by a merchant.

Then the goblin, who still refused to give me his name, as apparently that was his policy when doing business with people, went on to tell me more. He said the only reason Garmr’s plan worked was because King Geryon had been invited to stay at the castle for the celebration of Genesia.

This was a festival of the dead, so to speak, where the Athenians would decorate graves, leave offerings and sacrifices in honor of their deceased ancestors. And seeing as Thanatos was the God of peaceful and non-violent deaths, it was in memory of these deaths in which he too celebrated.

This meant that Geryon would not be as protected as he might have been in his own realm. And it was in this particular castle where Garmr knew of a secret way inside.

It made sense now as to why he had taken over Thanatos’s castle, choosing it as his stronghold.

Because not only was it the best place for him to house an army in the Underworld due to its position being so close to the border of Helheim, but it was also his prior knowledge of the place that drew him back there.

And as for the way inside…

The goblin told me that there was an abandoned building just outside of the stronghold that held the entrance to a secret tunnel.

It was made as a precautionary measure as a way to smuggle supplies into the castle in case it was ever under siege or surrounded by the enemy.

Not many knew of its existence, nor was it obvious as its entrance had been boarded up to look like part of the wall.

Garmr told the goblin that he discovered it when using the old, unused building as a place to hide as he scoped out the castle for ways inside. As dumb luck would have it, since the building was damaged, a piece of the wall crumbled away and exposed the hidden door.

Now I had little doubt that Garmr had not had this entrance sealed up completely.

He was coward enough that he would have kept it as a means to escape himself, if ever the need arose.

Which meant this was the last puzzle piece to slot into place in getting Lerna and Koro inside.

After that, it was up to them to get her out by using the sleeping spell Nero had cast.

Which meant I was currently at the camp, waiting impatiently for them to get back from their mission.

Of course, thoughts of my brother plagued me, as I had been so tempted to have a second team go in and try and rescue him.

I had even tried to argue this point with the others in the war room when we had been planning this.

But before I could argue my point after the other kings had told me that it was too risky, it was only when Marcus intervened that I shut up.

All it took was for him to place a hand at my shoulder and shake his head slightly to tell me everything I needed to know.

To tell me that Fate would not be in our favor should I push this.

I had shrugged his hand off my shoulder and stormed out of the room in my anger and frustration.

Because, yes, of course I wanted my chosen one back, but not having my brother by my side was like losing a fucking limb!

The pain of knowing what he was most likely being put through was like swallowing hot coals.

Every single fiber of my being knew that he was still alive, he just had to be!

To be forced to do nothing to save him went against the grain.

Which brought me to now, after hours of pacing inside my tent like I was a wild animal that woke up to find themselves in a barbed cage.

“We will get him back,” Marcus said, because of course my fucker of a best friend couldn’t leave me alone to wallow in my own self-pity for too long. Just like my brother wouldn’t have, I thought bitterly.

“You don’t know that!” I snapped.

“I do know that the chances of success at getting Ella back are even less should you have tried to reclaim them both.”

I didn’t respond, but clearly the arsehole had a hard time taking the hint.

“I also know that Ella is the key here to winning this war and should she remain in that castle any longer, then that one in a million chance at winning this, knocks back down to zero.”

I finally stopped pacing and let my tensed shoulder drop.

“I know all this, Marcus.”

“Good, then perhaps you should focus on that part and let go of your guilt.”

“Easy for you to fucking say, you weren’t the reason he got his arse taken prisoner in the first place,” I barked back.

“No, he was the reason,” Marcus replied, making me growl and grit my teeth.

“How can you say that?!”

“Because he had a choice and he made it, you didn’t force him to save your arse.”

Again, my body was tensed so hard I thought bones would shatter under the muscle.

“Yes, and now I can’t save his, so how the fuck do you expect me to not feel guilty about that?!”

“Orth would be the first one to tell you not to risk it and you know it, J, he would say, save the girl, save the world, make the sacrifice, as he would do the same.”

I turned my head away in anger but it wasn’t directed at Marcus. But instead, at the fucking hand Fate had dealt me! It felt like I was picking one over the other, and despite knowing which I would choose, it was the pain of having the choice to begin with.

Because Marcus was right about what Orthrus would be telling me right now, that I had made the right decision, despite what it meant for his future.

And speaking of future, just before I could argue it further, my own future was being carried back into my life. Koro and Lerna entered my tent with literally my heart in their hands.

As quickly as what was physically possible, I rushed over to them and took Ella into my arms. And for what felt like the longest time, my soul once more felt…

Whole again.