Chapter 14

Orion planned on becoming the Conduit. Hades wasn't the only one who had that bright idea.

I didn't know what the male muses were up to, or where Balthazar might be, but that was one benefit of being locked up in Orion's room. For the time being, they couldn't find me.

That means they couldn't hurt me.

No matter how far gone Orion might be, he had tried to tend to my wounds and seemed to be keeping me safe. I wasn't in immediate danger.

And that meant no one could make things any worse, for now.

I had thwarted all their plans by locking Lucifer up in a prison that even he couldn't escape. At least not for a while. Calamity had accounted for that, though, and it had apparently broken itself up and infected Orion further than I'd realized.

"Are you the Conduit?" I asked tentatively, wondering how Calamity had gained so much power that it was now talking in his head. "Is that why it's talking to you?"

Orion thrummed his fingers over the table. He'd sat me at a small dining area near a mirror. It didn't seem to want to reflect his image, though. Instead of his perfect physique, all I could make out on the shiny surface was a dark form and our plates.

Orion had set the table himself. Lucifer's territory was well established by now. There would be all sorts of staff who could have attended to us. Apparently, no one could be trusted.

I wondered if anyone other than the twins even knew I was here. The Virtues I'd left behind in Cole's hideout would connect the dots. Hendrik's spell could have only sent me to one place. I just hoped they weren't stupid enough to try to stage a rescue. That would only make things worse.

"What do you mean?" Orion asked innocently as he took a champagne bottle and poured me a drink.

"Noctis," I stated, and he slipped, sending a few droplets of the golden liquid splattering onto the table.

"I forgot my logs were in there," he replied coolly as he used his napkin to dab at the moisture. "No, I'm not the Conduit," he said finally as if that was some great travesty. "There's only a fragment of Calamity inside of me, not enough to give me its full power."

That had me listening. If it was only a fragment, maybe I was strong enough to push it out, if I could find a way to overwhelm it.

"The only reason that this fragment, that Noctis can talk to me, is a combination of two things." He held out my fluted glass and waited for me to pinch the elegant stem. When his fingers brushed mine, an echo of desire thrummed through me.

I immediately stuffed it down.

He smirked as if he'd seen my reaction. "The first reason Noctis can talk to me is because the Echoes have progressed enough for him to start waking up."

Waking up?

"Two," he continued as he poured himself a drink next, "you're still the Champion and I'm still your Virtue. He wants us to help him. It has always been Noctis's intention that the Champion and the Conduit work together, not against one another. We've been given time together to finally make that happen so that you can release Lucifer and make me the Conduit. We're going to start slow, but eventually you'll see Calamity's side of things and come around."

What the hell?

Why does everyone want to become the Conduit?

Orion had officially gone insane. I glanced down at my drink, wondering if it had some sort of mind-bending drugs in it to explain his word garbage.

"Are we celebrating something?" I asked, flicking my gaze up at him.

He hummed in agreement, then held out his glass to clink mine. "Of course, my star. We're going to save the world together."

I pinched my lips and waited for him to take a sip of the champagne, then I forced myself to taste mine, too.

He wanted to save the world? I fully agreed.

I'd go along with this twisted little game Calamity wanted to play. Because we were going to save the world my way.

I just had to remind Orion of that.

Hopefully sooner rather than later.

It was frighteningly easy to fall into a routine with Orion. My human body was so tired and the gash on my head took far too long to heal. I found myself sleeping most of the day, and through the night, too.

Although, I suspected it was tiring me out to keep Orion's sunlight all bottled up. After our initial encounter, I made sure never to let it out again.

And that was becoming more difficult every day. It felt like my skin was on fire just underneath the surface and if I didn't do something soon, I'd wake up as a little pile of Lily-shaped ash.

Orion must have taken a different room to sleep in, because I always woke up alone. Luckily, in one piece.

But he was there with breakfast and with a soft smile that made me want to kiss him.

I never did. I was afraid of what Calamity would do to me if I accidentally tried to give him back his sunlight again. And that was growing harder by the day to hold back.

He seemed to understand my hesitation and didn't press the issue. If we ever touched, it was only a gentle brush of fingers or a soft hand on my lower back when guiding me to the table for another meal. I managed to keep the sunlight under my skin in check, but only because every touch was so brief it was over before it had begun.

He never made a move on me or forced himself on me. He was still in there, patient and kind, only offering me an encouraging hand squeeze and even averting his eyes when I decided to change outfits in front of him.

I wanted to see if I could lure him out. My demigod of sex and sunlight was encased by Calamity and I needed to find a chink in his dark armor.

I needed him to shine for me again.

When he would leave during the day, I sorted through his logs and tried to learn as much as I could about what Calamity had brainwashed him to believe.

His notes became jumbled and obsessive the closer I reached to the present date. Sometimes he wrote his accounts, seemingly out of habit, while I watched over his shoulder.

The documentation of my other Virtues was nowhere to be found. I strongly doubted they hadn't tried to find me by now, but Orion wasn't divulging that information. He didn't document any news about the Incubus King, Ares, or Hades, or anything that might have been vital to Calamity's battle plans. Either he had stopped making logs of those activities, or he was secretly documenting them in his new room where he'd been staying.

What he did let me read were the details of his discussions with the twins. He had stopped torturing them and had been trying a different method to get them to come around.

When I read his latest remarks, my eyes went wide.

"You moved them to one of the guest rooms?" I asked as I fixed the strap of my dress over my shoulder. Like most days, I had a selection of outfits to pick from that I could never have worn with wings.

An intricate layer of lace fabric stretched over my shoulder blades while the front dipped low in an attractive neckline.

Orion raised a golden brow, not hiding his interest before glancing back up at me again. "Yes. They're just a few doors down."

"Why?" I blurted, regretting the stupid question the moment I uttered it. I shuffled on my uncomfortable heels that had seemed like a good idea before I tried wearing them all day. At least most of my time was spent sitting. "I mean, have they said anything that you decided should be rewarded?"

I had been careful of how I referred to the twins when discussing them with Orion.

My plan had been to get him to let me see them under the guise that I could "convert" them.

Which meant convincing Orion that he had converted me, something I had yet to accomplish. Despite my efforts to seduce him by wearing the most attractive outfits he supplied me, he seemed to know where I really stood.

Which was wobbly, at best, on my heels that accentuated my already long legs.

He knew me too well. He saw how I tensed around him and the subtle faces I made when he spoke about his grand plans with Calamity.

I just couldn't get on board with it.

The death or turning of humans, and the chaos that ensued, was not my idea of saving the world.

"You're the one I wish to reward," he said with an unfiltered smile. There wasn't any sunlight behind it, but his pleasure at my expression seemed to have a little light of its own. He also liked to match his outfits to mine, choosing to wear an expensive silk shirt and custom-fitted dress pants. He looked like a billionaire as well as a god of sex. "You've been such a good girl, my star," he purred, making my stomach weak with the praise. "I know you miss them. It's not my intention to separate you from your Virtues. You will eventually be reunited with all of them, but I have to be careful to not undo all our hard work."

I shifted my weight on my feet, suddenly wishing I was sitting down. And it wasn't just because of the uncomfortable shoes.

Orion seemed to read my desire and pushed out his chair. He opened his arms, giving me the invitation I could take or decline.

My heart jumped in my throat, and even though I knew it was dangerous, I gave in. I climbed into his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck as my dress stretched over my cleavage. The sunlight flared inside me and I tamped it down hard.

He didn't seem to notice my struggle. Instead, he sighed with relief while I cuddled against him as if I belonged there. Whatever trembling had overtaken my body, he might have mistaken it for something else.

Desire curled in my stomach as he rested one hand on my thigh where my dress had ridden up, every inch of skin he touched immediately feeling like it was set on fire. He threaded his fingers from his other hand through my hair and softly massaged my scalp. My toes curled in my shoes as I bit back a moan and tried to keep the sunlight in.

"I'm sorry," I said on a shaky breath, lowering my eyelashes.

I'm running out of time. I need to fix this before I fuck it up.

His lips lingered over my cheek as if he wanted to kiss me. "You have nothing to be sorry for," he assured me, then seemed to lose whatever internal battle he was fighting as he secured his fingers into the dip of my neck. It was one of his claiming motions, one that made me tighten my thighs in response.

I turned my head to face him, forgetting why I was fighting this, too, as I gently brushed his lips with mine. "But I do," I insisted, flicking out my tongue to taste him.

His flavor was like the aftermath of a fire, the pleasant warmth of a flame that had just gone out. I wanted to ignite it again.

"And what do you have to be sorry for?" he asked, mimicking my little flicks with his own. His fingers dug into my thigh, pressing me against his growing erection that prodded my hip. The thin layers of clothing between us did little to hide it. "If you don't want to go any further, I can wait, little star. You can have all the time you need." He kissed me tenderly, then hesitated as if seeing how I'd react.

I opened my mouth to him and moved closer into his chest. He groaned as his tongue delved into my mouth for a forbidden taste.

"I'm sorry for this," I whispered, then grabbed him hard and kissed him.

I opened the door holding the sunlight in. I let it shine out, blasting it into him without warning.

He grunted against the impact as he tore me off his lap, but I had given him a powerful dose, one I couldn't hold on to any longer.

He couldn't pull away from our kiss. Instead, he shoved me against a wall, breaking the furniture in our way as my back slammed against the hard surface. It hurt, but my need to give him more of this power overrode the pain. My legs grappled for him, wrapping around his hips as he pressed against my core.

He ground his hard length along my center, seeking friction as I whimpered at the explosion of pleasure that bloomed between my legs.

"Turn it off, little star," he growled against my mouth. His fingers clawed at the straps of my dress, yanking it down.

I reached between us, desperately wanting to be closer. My skin burned, my body was feverish, and my muscles trembled with the need to get it out.

"I can't," I whispered, the air shimmering with heat as I finally found the button to his pants and ripped it off.

He grabbed my wrist to stop me from tugging down the zipper. Instead, he rocked his hips, grinding against me as I panted, every breath filled with searing heat.

"I know it's a lot to ask of you to hold on to my sunlight," he said. He gripped the roots of my hair and yanked, making me look up at him. "But you're going to have to, little star. I can't take it back. Not until Calamity learns how to use it."

I blinked at him as tears burned in my eyes. "Why are you helping Calamity?" I asked, my voice weaker than I would have liked it. "Why can't you just come back to me, Orion?"

He ran his tongue over my lower lip, catching some of the heat that had gathered there. I spotted golden droplets on his tongue. He was taking some of it in despite himself. Or maybe that was how he planned on helping Calamity learn how to use it. Perhaps Calamity's confidence that a fragment of itself could handle divine power would be its downfall.

His entire body trembled as two of his freckles flared to life.

I watched, mesmerized, as his expression changed. "Tell me what would make this easier for you, Lily."

My eyes rounded.

That was the first time he had called me "Lily" since all of this had begun.

"Take this sunlight, Orion. Get it out of me. Take it back," I begged as I rolled my hips, grinding myself on his erection.

If he gave me what I wanted, he would finally open up. I could save him. I could stop Calamity from twisting his mind beyond recognition and—

A beep sounded, startling me as I realized that Orion had tugged a device from his pocket. It was flashing and I stared at it.

"Orion?" I asked.

He tossed it across the room. "I just let the twins out. They'll be here in—"

A sword sliced between us, stopping at Orion's throat as I screamed.

Sam was holding the hilt, steadily pressing the weapon against the demigod's skin. "Let her go," he said with quiet lethality.

Azra waltzed into the room. He looked like he'd just come from a shower and had a towel hung loosely around his hips.

Sam was already dressed, wearing a silky shirt and black pants. His white wings looked perfectly healthy and magnificent as they drifted behind him; apparently his suit was made to accommodate the wings.

"She's human," Orion informed them as his throat bobbed against the sword. I whimpered when black blood drizzled over his collarbone.

His blood shouldn't be that color.

"We're aware," Azra said as a light flashed, then a whip appeared in his hand.

The Sword of Justice.

And the Whip of Penance.

Purgatory's angels had come out to play.

Orion growled in response. "It was a mistake to give her my sunlight. A human body isn't meant to hold it. I need you two to take it from her."

Sam gave the demigod a raised brow. "Wouldn't the logical thing be for you to take back your own damn sunlight?"

Orion pressed his lips into a thin line. His fingers dug into my hip before he answered. "I can't. And if you don't obey me, we're all going to be thrown into the dungeon. No matter what side you're on, Hades is arriving in the morning, and if I'm not as he expects me to be, he's going to have all our asses."

That explained why Orion was taking chances. Calamity was in his ear and it thought it had a trump card. None of us could stand up against a male muse.

Unless…

An idea sprang into my mind, but it was going to be hell to execute. Samael's blade sizzled with power as Orion bled, and the heat rioting in my core swirled, demanding that it come out.

"You need to release the sunlight you're holding on to, little star," Orion pressed.

"Into the twins?" I asked.

"We're not going to—" Sam began, but Orion cut him off.

"Yes," Orion growled.

I locked on to Sam's gaze, then looked at Azra. My devious angel was threading the whip through his fingers, seeming to be waiting for the moment to use it.

Right now Orion was still pressed between my thighs, digging his fingers into my hip. Samael held the blade against his throat with steady precision.

Whatever I said next would determine how this would go, but it meant trusting Orion, something I had a hard time doing at the moment.

"Promise you'll stay with me," I told Orion. That was a vital part of my plan.

He seemed to think about it, then nodded. "Of course."

I licked my lips. "T-then I need one of them to kiss me… while you… Fuck. Please, Orion, please fuck me."

Orion's eyes went dark as a feral grin stretched across his face. "You only have to ask, little star." He gave Samael a challenging glance. "I'll need you to remove that sword of yours, and decide which one of you is going to take the first dose. It's going to burn."

Sam glanced at his brother and the two seemed to have a silent conversation, then the sword vanished.

Only for Azrael's whip to wrap around Orion's throat. The angel leaned in and growled in his ear. "If you hurt her, I'm going to snap your neck, so be careful, demigod. If she so much as cries, I'm taking it out on you."

"Hmm," Orion conceded as he unzipped his pants, then pushed aside my underwear. "Then for my sake, Samael, you had better swallow her screams."