Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

WYNVAIL

I expected a fight from Verena when we took her to the palace in Iarlon where the whole building was surrounded by guards and protected by a hundred different kinds of magic. I waited for her eyes to fill with defiance, for outrage in the form of shouting. I didn't expect her to nod with easy acceptance.

"I wasn't any help in the prison," she said, her eyes downcast on the pale floor as riotous conversation came from the room beside us, where the vulnerable people of Hell crowded, safe from the oncoming shitshow. "I'll just get you guys hurt."

"For the record," I said, catching Verena's gaze, "I'm thrilled you're accepting your fate so easily; the thought of you being anywhere near Cronus again makes me want to kill someone."

"Kill Cronus," she suggested dryly, green eyes glinting.

"But," I went on, "we're not leaving you in Hell because you're incapable of fighting. We need you here because we can't handle you being in danger."

Haley walking headfirst into certain danger made me want to scream, my instincts howling at me to protect her even louder than usual. Verena being there too was unthinkable. "You were amazing on the island. You realised none of it was real, and you helped us break it apart. We only got out of that illusion because of you. So don't you dare think we're leaving you behind because you're weak."

She nodded, gnawing the inside of her lip. "Then why?"

"It's not going to be a simple fight, Verena. It's not Kai starting shit with a guard or breaking into a bar fight. A battlefield is no place for a teenager." I tugged a lock of her red hair, wanting to say something meaningful but uncertain if she'd even want to hear it. I wasn't her father, wasn't even her brother. But we were family now. "We need you safe. Okay?"

She made my whole body jolt in surprise when she threw her arms around me. "Don't die. I'll bring you back just to kill you all over again. So don't die."

I exhaled a rough breath, folding her into my arms, kicked in the gut by such a simple gesture as a hug. "I have no plans to die, Verena."

"Good," she muttered, and let go abruptly, glancing away so I didn't see the tears lining her emerald eyes. "I'll be fine here."

"I know you will." I gave her a genuine smile and turned away, but her hand shot out, curling around my wrist so tightly that her fingernails bit into my skin.

"Keep Haley safe. Protect her. Okay?"

"Of course I will," I promised, my instincts howling at me even louder, like a storm inside my chest.

"Don't let her out of your sight. Don't let anyone hurt her."

"Verena, you're scaring me now," I said, my voice tight. Dread dripped down my spine like ice water.

She bit her lip, casting a glance down the hallway like any of the demons rushing past with arms full of supplies would intervene to spare her. "I shouldn't tell you, it's obvious she doesn't want anyone to know. But she needs to be careful, and it's not right that she's running off to war like a crazy person when she should be in this palace, safe, with me."

"Verena," I said, my heart tripling. "Tell me."

"She's pregnant," Verena whispered, a wince tightening her round face. "And I know why she doesn't want you to know, you just lost Kaida, and it's obvious you're not dealing with it so great, and this is just going to fuck with your heads even more but … you need to know. You need to keep her safe."

Wind howled through my head like a scream.

"You're saying," I breathed as everything inside me ground to a halt, "my mate, who is standing on a battlefield as we speak, waiting for the command to march on Cronus, is pregnant."

Verena swallowed. Avoided my stare. Nodded.

I didn't have words, didn't even have a suitable curse. I flicked my tongue over my lip, my mouth suddenly dry. She was pregnant. It wouldn't just be her that perished fighting Cronus this time. Our baby. Fuck. We were having a baby, and Haley was to terrified to lose it, so wrecked with grief over Kaida, that she'd march into war.

"Go," Verena urged, but I was already running.

I slashed the corridor with a beam of magic and threw myself into it, white light flashing past me as I sprinted through it and out the other side. My feet skidded on tarmac, sending me forward three steps until the toe of my shoes caught on a chunk of shattered stone.

I lifted my head, a band of dread winding tighter around my chest. I swore when I saw the ruined city around me, and the black, glossy blades that thrust up from the ground in the place of older buildings. Cronus's new city, seething with dark magic. With Wane's stolen shadow. But none of these buildings felt anything like Wane's power; they oozed a warning, a low, hungry pulse.

I stumbled forward another step, scanning the crowd in front of me with a growl in the back of my throat. I was at the back of the army, miles from the front.

"Fuck!" I snarled and slashed another flare of light in front of me, leaping through it, then another, and another. I scanned every face, but none of them were familiar. This army was full of demons and gods, angels and immortals, and all of them were strangers.

Where was my mate? Where was she?

I sank deep into my bond with Haley and adjusted my course, jumping into another beam of light. I paused when a huge, furry red body caught my eye, and I leapt through another ray of magic, landing beside Tali.

"Where is Haley?" I shouted, my chest so fucking tight. Haley was carrying a baby, and she was here, in this melee of noise and violence.

A low beat went through the crowd in a ripple, distant and then closer, louder. Like a heartbeat. Like a war drum. It swallowed my yell, until Tali didn't even hear me.

"Where is she?" I screamed.

Renna raced towards me, a long gash down the side of her purple neck and shoulder. A souvenir from emptying Cronus's prisons, from taking that power from him. "Haley's at the front with the rest of your guys."

My pregnant mate was at the front of the army. The first in line to clash with Cronus.

The drums grew louder. I flinched with each one.

"Tell them to stop," I commanded gutturally.

Renna gave me a sympathetic look. "The drums mean it's already begun. Wane will already be bringing down the building."

I clenched my teeth, rage pouring through me like boiling acid. I hated the plan and hated that it would put Haley and Wane in the heart of the conflict. It had seemed dangerous before, but there'd been no convincing Haley to stay out of the fight, and it had seemed possible, survivable , if we were by her side.

Now the idea of pissing off Cronus by dismantling one of his shiny new buildings made me sick. We didn't even know if Wane could do it, but Cronus would be livid if we succeeded—and even more so when Wane replaced it with his own shadow creation. Nausea sloshed through me. My pregnant mate was down there, the very first place Cronus would strike in his rage.

He was a maniac with limitless power and endless reach. I'd lose them both.

"It's too late to stop," Renna said, seeming to realise the horror I was struggling to conceal. "I'm sorry, Wynvail."

Fuck that. Fuck it being too late. Until the breath stopped in my lungs, it wouldn't be too late.

I shook my head and tore away from her, plunging into another bright slash of magic, carrying myself further and further to the front.

When Cronus emerged, furious about Wane's show of power, the next part of Queen Lili's plan was simple; everyone would attack him to split his focus, and Haley would take her dagger and slice open Cronus's stomach, freeing all the gods he'd devoured.

My mate would be fighting a titan. My pregnant mate.

I raced faster through my moonlight magic, praying I could reach her in time, but knowing, as the drums roared louder, faster, I would be too late.