Solin shook in uncontrollable fear and rage. Yes, he was in excruciating pain, but that didn't matter to him as he entered the home of his enemies.
Olympus.
The hall of the Oneroi, to be precise. He hadn't been here in so long, he'd all but forgotten what it looked like. Nothing shy of major desperation had him here now.
Only for Lydia would he do this. And for her, he would do absolutely anything. No questions asked. All she had to do was call and he would come to her, no matter the consequences.
His heart pounding, he entered the chambers that he was banned from.
Madoc, the eldest leader of the Oneroi, looked up with a fierce frown that quickly melted into a mask of total disbelief. Like every full-blooded Dream-Hunter in existence, Madoc held an exceptional beauty that made it hard for humans to look at him in the flesh. His short hair was jet-black and his blue eyes practically glowed.
He rose to his feet. Resting his fists on the conference table, he leaned forward in an obvious sign of aggression. As if that would ever intimate him. "Solin?" His tone was low and hushed, as if Madoc thought he might be hallucinating.
Solin kept his face stoic. There was no need to alienate Madoc quite yet. "Yes, hell froze over." It would have had to for him to be here asking Madoc for any kind of favor.
Madoc arched a condescending brow. "Why are you here?"
Because the gods knew that while they'd formed a truce years ago in Greece, they had never been friends. Neither of them trusted the other.
They'd fought each other too many centuries for that.
Solin stood on the opposite side of the table and duplicated Madoc's stance. "We have a problem."
That only amused him. Madoc snorted a rude denial. "We?"
Solin was about to knock the smug look right off Madoc's features. But he didn't need his fists to do it. His words would be much more effective for once. "Remember the key to Olympus?" All of them had come after Solin for it.
For centuries.
They had tried everything to find and destroy it while Solin had protected it with every ounce of his strength.
That key held the only thing that could kill the Olympian gods and destroy their entire existence. The blood of the three races that Zeus, Apollo, and the Fates had wrongfully condemned and punished.
Blood that was mixed with that of an Atlantean goddess who had cursed them when they killed her only son and then trapped her in the Atlantean hell realm. The goddess of absolute destruction, Apollymi, had promised them the day of retribution when the beast of the past would come and confront them all for their numerous transgressions.
"Unless you send Apollo to me, and that bitch Artemis, it will bring forth my justice and avenge my innocent son whom Apollo butchered like an animal ...
"A combination of all you have sought so desperately to destroy, it will survive against all odds. And its blood mixture will be your poison.
"And on that day when it comes for you, my laughter will ring in the Hall of Zeus, and every Greek god will feel my wrath as they die in utter agony.
"He sah te, akram justia!"
All hail the queen's justice.
For over eleven thousand years, it had been the horror story used to frighten all of them. And it was the real reason why the Fates refused to allow the Were-Hunters to choose their own mates. Why they wouldn't allow a Were-Hunter to mate with any but their chosen one ...
But destiny refused to be denied forever.
And even the best-laid plans eventually led the architect straight to hell.
He sah te, akram justia ...
Madoc's entire face turned as white as his shirt the minute he realized what was coming next. "You mean the key you swore to us you'd destroyed? What of it?"
"I'm sure it won't come as a surprise to you now to learn that I lied. The key wasn't destroyed."
Madoc cursed. "What happened to it?"
A new pain tore through Solin as his fear overwhelmed his fury. If he told the truth, they would kill Lydia.
If he didn't, Seth would kill her.
The sword of Damocles hung directly over him now. But the one truth he knew for a fact was that he couldn't negotiate or bargain with Seth. He'd been trying for that and the bastard was steadfast on destroying them.
Don't betray me again, Madoc. Above all, the Greeks were his family. Madoc could be rational at times, and like Solin, he'd been captured and tortured by Noir himself.
In the end, no argument trumped the one bitter truth that Solin kept coming back to.
The gods he'd fought against for centuries were his only hope for saving Lydia's life.
His only hope.
Solin took a deep breath and braced himself for Madoc's answer. "I want you to swear by the River Styx that you won't destroy the key when I tell you how to find it. That you will stand with me, brother, to protect it."
Madoc laughed bitterly. "You know I can't do that."
"You have no choice in this."
Madoc scoffed at him. "I-"
"If you don't swear," he snarled, cutting him off, "all of you will die. And I do mean all of you. There won't be a single Greek god left."
A tic started in Madoc's jaw. "I won't be held hostage by you, and you know how Zeus is when confronted."
Solin shrugged with a nonchalance he definitely didn't feel. "Then you will die painfully ... just like D'Alerian and M'Ordant." They, along with Madoc, had been the ruling council for the Oneroi for centuries.
Until Noir had turned the evil Oneroi against their brethren. He'd almost succeeded in destroying every one of the Dream-Hunters.
Almost.
And they were still recovering from his attack. Madoc was one of the few prisoners Noir had taken who'd survived. He, Delphine, who had been instrumental in saving them, and Zeth, one of the evil Oneroi Noir had turned, were now the leaders. And while Delphine led them, in this, he knew Madoc was his best hope.
As for D'Alerian, he'd been the Dream-Hunter Noir had tortured and killed to find out that Solin had been the one who hid the key in the world of man. Bloody bastard for not keeping his mouth shut. And in the end what had it gotten him?
A slow and painful death.
Madoc pushed himself upright and crossed his arms over his chest. Annoyed, he let out one feral breath. "Fine. I swear on the River Styx that I won't destroy the key. Now where is it?"
Solin swallowed as another wave of pain ripped through him. He blamed himself for this. He should have known what would happen. But it was too late now to focus on what should have and could have been done.
They had to fight and fight hard.
"It's currently in the hands of Noir's guardian."