Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 54625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
It was only a matter of time.
Nox turned back to me at the edge of the woods, her eyes unsure but giving me a wobbly smile.
“You got this, shadow girl,” I called, fighting with my wings as they tried to shoot dramatically out.
Nox sucked in a deep breath, then brought her shadows around herself and disappeared.
I waited until I saw the door slip open, then rushed out of the woods myself, not wanting her in there without some sort of support system, someone making sure she was okay.
True, the gods had proven that I was practically powerless against them. Or, at least, against that damn Oizys—who did all that mental whammy shit. I was pretty sure that if I wasn’t chained, I might have been able to do some damage to the other siblings. But that mental torture was something I had no defenses against.
I moved up onto the back porch, careful to stay clear of the French doors, then moved to the side of one of the windows so I could glance in.
The room was moody, with just candles on for ambiance as the gods lounged around, some draped over partners. It was impossible to tell if those partners were gods too, humans, demigods. I wouldn’t pretend to know anything about how the gods fucked.
Some were being fed by said partners. All held glasses full of a honey-colored liquid.
It was lucky the damn poppy extract boiled down relatively clear. I think I’d been expecting red wine, not… whatever was in their glasses.
Shadows danced across the burgundy walls, but it was impossible to know which of those shadows was my brave girl.
My gaze slid around the room, looking at the different faces. Some were familiar. Others… not.
Momus was lounged in a corner with a woman in his lap, getting sideways glances from Eris and Ares, who he—no doubt—had teased mercilessly already.
“Wait,” I said, my gaze scanning the room again.
Panic gripped my system, my stomach twisting.
There was one specific face missing from the ones gathered inside.
Sure, there was a logical explanation. Maybe she was in the basement, torturing some innocent human. Or maybe she was upstairs in one of the rooms—resting, fucking, looking in on the witch or warlock.
But the shiver that slid up my spine told me that wasn’t it, that she wasn’t just off somewhere, doing some basic activity.
Hell, even if she was, it meant she wouldn’t get a dose of the drugs; she wouldn’t be neutralized. We couldn’t go in and get the witch or warlock.
We had no more poppies.
And we damn sure couldn’t go back into the Underworld again.
Fuck.
“I wondered where you’d gotten to.”
My blood turned to ice.
I knew that voice.
I sometimes heard it.
But inside my head.
When her siblings had been beating the shit out of me.
Oizys.
I managed to turn my head, to get a quick glance at her.
Before the pain screamed through my mind, through my spirit.
It… cracked down the center of me.
The last thing I could remember thinking before everything turned to agony was that I was leaving her alone.
My shadow girl.
Mine.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Nox
It was strange to see my siblings not engaged in torture, to hear snippets of their casual conversations, to see them cuddling close to partners or plucking snacks off of trays of food.
There was a sweet scent in the room that I didn’t recognize, but it overwhelmed everything else. And, oddly, it made my belly grumble.
Focus.
I needed to focus.
The faster I could get the drinks drugged, the sooner I could get back out and drop my shadow. Before, hopefully, it drained me completely.
The problem was there seemed to be no communal pitcher or bottle I could spike.
I was going to need to get their cups individually.
My heart thudded painfully in my chest as I moved closer to Momus.
True, he wasn’t exactly a threat. He hadn’t shown any violent tendencies at all. But there was no telling if he would try to stop Daemon from going upstairs, from freeing whoever was helping keep Nemesis captive.
He had to be drugged too.
Luckily, his arm was draped casually on the arm of a chair as he turned his head to accept a grape straight off a bunch from a beautiful woman.
Daemon seemed relatively sure that only a drop or two of the liquid would be enough to completely incapacitate the gods, so that was all I gave Momus, wanting to make sure I had enough left for everyone else.
As soon as the drops were in his glass, I moved against the wall, taking slow, careful breaths, not wanting anyone to hear me gasping for breath because my heart felt like it was in a vice that was squeezing tighter with each second.
I stepped toward Eris next, having to wait a precious few moments for her attention to get distracted enough for me to slip the extract in her glass.