I nodded. “But we’ll never reach it. Desmerada will make sure of that.”
“She’s the demons’ number one enemy. Menelaus would never go there, right?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Not unless he wanted his head on a pike right next to mine. It doesn’t matter, Elena; we can’t make it to that portal. It’s impossible.”
Elena straightened and shouldered her pack before unsheathing the Olympian short sword at her waist. “We’re going to the Bloodkeep.”
A chill ran through me at the ice in her tone. She was a warrior, ready to deal death to her enemies, no matter who or where they were. The shimmer around her intensified, electricity crackling in the air.
She kicked her chin up. “And we aren’t going there to run. We go to take it.”
The three of us hurried through the home. I paused only to snag the white queen from its stand. Outside the front doors, a magnificent pegasus, inky black with wings of the purest silver, stood waiting.
I scanned the perimeter but heard only the breeze soughing through the trees. The demons had not made it this far yet.
The beast nuzzled Daphne as Elena approached. “Zirga, I’d like you to meet Elena.”
Zirga’s wings shook slightly as if waving a greeting, and she nickered lightly. Elena reached out her hand slowly. I tensed, readying for Zirga’s temper. But the creature placed her midnight nose against Elena’s palm and looked at her with a steady silver gaze. Elena calmed the unpredictable beast—a feat I’d never been able to master.
“She likes you.” Daphne jerked a thumb at me. “Him—not so much.”
“Can he ride her?” The trepidation in Elena’s words struck at my heart. Yesterday, she ran from me. Now, she didn’t want to leave me.
Daphne stroked near Zirga’s ears and whispered to her. The creature shook her head, her dark mane waving as if in deep disagreement with whatever Daphne said. I doubted even Daphne could persuade Zirga to fly me to safety.
“We don’t have time; they’re almost here.” I brandished a set of daggers and bared my fangs. “You two go. I can hold them off.”
“No. We aren’t leaving you.” Elena summoned fire into each palm and readied herself.
“You have no choice.” Parting from her tore me to pieces, but I couldn’t let her fall into enemy hands. She would fight, no doubt, and be punished even more for it. And she could never harm Menelaus, never fight back against the demon. That bargain had been struck long ago.
Before we could argue further, Daphne clapped her hands in triumph. “She’ll do it!”
Zirga turned away, snorting her disapproval.
“Thank the gods.” Elena doused her hexes and beamed at the reluctant pegasus.
Not wasting another second, I easily lifted Elena to the beast’s back and held out my hand for Daphne.
A tear slid down the nymph’s olive cheek as she took a step back. “She can’t carry all three of us.”
I stepped to her, ready to throw her across Zirga’s back if necessary. “Then the two of you must go.” I would not leave her.
Daphne smiled through her tears. “I’m a nymph, remember? No male, mortal or immortal, will ever be fast enough to catch me.”
Before I could seize her, she threw me her hefty pack and tore through the trees toward the distant lowlands. Her fey-like feet barely touched the ground as she blurred out of sight.
Chasing after her was pointless. Daphne was right—a sure-footed nymph was notoriously difficult to capture, especially if a male was on her trail. And I couldn’t leave Elena’s side, not with danger so close.
As I turned back to Zirga, a thundering sound shook the mountain beneath me. Elena was aglow with power and had reduced one corner of my home to a smoking void. A hapless demon’s arm fell on the ground in front of me, and several pained shrieks cut through the air.
My eyebrows shot to my hairline.
She glanced at me, a tempest in her eyes, and shrugged. “What?”
I couldn’t stow my smile. “Gods, I’ve missed you.”
The woods were now whispering with footsteps, enemies seeping through the shadows, just beyond view. Even her magic could not destroy them all.
I ran to Zirga, slung the packs across her back, and jumped on.
“Go!” I yelled.
She took a few steps and stretched her silver wings. Elena tightened her grip around my waist, pressing into my back and digging her nails into my stomach. Zirga broke into a gallop and, with a few more flaps of her wings, sent us shooting out over the house. Hundreds of spiderlike demons crawled along the eaves, invading the cloaking magic and causing the spell to flicker. Glass shattered as they burst through ceilings and windows.
Elena held out her hand and summoned a ball of black flame. Intense magic, nothing on earth or in the Underworld could compare to her raw power. She hurled the vicious hex at the structure beneath, shattering my home in an explosion of fire, sending it and the demons plummeting to the valley floor. The cacophony of screams and splintering wood seemed to rattle the air as we soared away, Zirga’s wings pushing us farther into the lightening sky.