A company of immortal guards wearing armor of interlocking plates surrounded us, each holding a spear and a shield. We hadn’t spotted them from the carriage.
Zak relaxed his knees and lifted his broadsword, ready to charge. Paxton, Axel, and Héctor followed suit, their expressions grim and fierce.
“Zak, cover the left flank. Axel, the right,” Héctor barked. “I’ll watch our back. Paxton, protect my Lamb.”
“I can fight. I’m good at it, especially after I fought in the pit,” I barked back. The months in Hell had honed my skills. “I’m an excellent swordswoman. I’ll pair up with Héctor.”
I’d watch his back. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust my other mates, but they would focus on protecting me instead of him. I couldn’t afford to lose Héctor. One fatal wound and he’d be done.
The giant guards leveled their spears at us, the spearheads looking very sharp. They raised their metal shields that must have been made by Hephaestus, the God of Metalwork.
I glared at them, desperately looking for a weakness we could exploit and finding none. We’d have a hard time defeating this bunch who had nothing else to do but practice their swords all day long.
“Fuck. This is all Mom’s fault,” I cursed again under my breath. But blaming Mom wouldn’t help us win the fight.
“You won’t be able to sneak by Tartarus, Princess. No one can.” A cocky male voice boomed like a bass drum.
“Who are you?” I demanded.
“Show your face!” Axel and Paxton demanded simultaneously.
“It’s Tartarus,” Héctor said, “the warden of the Eternal Prison. I recognize his depressing and arrogant voice.”
“Your observation is inaccurate, Héctor,” Tartarus said. “It’s been a long while since I last saw you. And for your information, if you, your cousins, and your woman choose to fight me today, you don’t stand a chance.”
If I could get my magic to work like last time, we might stand a chance. But my magic wasn’t exactly steady, and I wasn’t willing to gamble on it, or to fight our way in or out. I needed time to let my magic sink in and all my powers align in the Void. This realm was nothing like Earth or Hell, and we’d constantly been interrupted. I barely even had time to muse or reflect, let alone practice my magic.
And the unceasing mating call in my bloodstream wasn’t helping me think straight, either.
So I took this chance as a cue to talk our way into the prison cell to see Dad instead of fighting our way in. “We have no argument with you, Tartarus,” I said. “We do not come here to challenge your prison system.”
“The system is flawless under my supervision,” Tartarus said.
I restrained myself from shrugging. I had a habit of challenging all authority, but this wasn’t the time to let my old habit screw things up.
“Is this the way you greet your guests, Tartarus?” Zak hissed, the tip of his sword making a sweep of the hostile guards around us.
“Zak,” Tartarus said. “It’s good to see you too. How are you? Aren’t you in Olympus anymore? What happened? Did your dad finally get fed up with you because his queen kept nagging at his ear on the pillow? Did he throw you out like garbage because Hera was jealous? Was your pride hurt, or your heart? Oh, but I heard that you didn’t have a heart. Then how did you end up sharing a pretty little mate?”
“You talk too much, dude,” I blurted. “Not everyone here is in love with your depressing voice.”
“Ha ha,” Tartarus said, with zero mirth in his tone. “One gets depressed and lonely guarding the Titans for eons. And they never stop being a big pain in the ass.”
“Get your minions out of our way, Tartarus,” Axel commanded. “Or they’ll regret getting in our way.”
“You forget where you are, boy,” Tartarus said. “You have no power here, so watch your mouth. I heard Ares knocked up some mortal tramp on Earth. Are you his brat?”
My mouth fell open a little. How could the warden know all these affairs in the middle of nowhere? Did he have a spyglass room like Mom?
Zak whispered in my ear. “He can read memories. That’s one of his powers.”
“And we have no shield against him in this realm,” Héctor said in dismay.
“I’m the master of my domain,” Tartarus snickered.
Then I felt a prick in my head. I instantly put on a mental shield and punched back the invading force. I felt its surprise as it staggered back, and it didn’t come near me again.
“Interesting,” Tartarus said. “You are indeed Princess of the Void. However, I don’t need to read your mind to know things. What you know, your mates also know. They’re the weak link in the relationship, and they’re dragging you down in the Void. Perhaps it’s in your best interest to ditch them and look elsewhere.”