Shadows of Fate

Chapter 24

Something cold and wet nudged my cheek, waking me. My eyes fluttered open. A large shadow-furred hellhound pressed his snout up to my face. I gasped and flinched away. The beast that had terrorized me only a day ago, now whined with cuteness that rivaled a puppy in those adoption commercials. Stepping closer, the hellhound licked my face, its tongue rough and warm. I couldn't believe this was the same creature that filled me with fear.

I pushed its snout away with my free hand, my other still coiled tightly around Icarus's limp hand. A faint pulse of energy tingled between our palms.

"Icarus?" I whispered.

He didn't stir. His face was pale, his chest barely moving, and the glow that covered him was slowly dying.

I sat alone with my fading hero, a dog from hell, and my twin's corpse in the middle of a battle zone. Smoke lazily spiraled off a charred fallen tree that lay broken and battered. The heavy smell of dirt and pine mixed with the metallic scent of blood.

A golden haze illuminated the tops of the surviving trees. At first I thought it was fire, I'd destroyed my sanctuary, but no, a mist of gold rained down through the leaves. The shimmering light swirled together on the ground before me.

I inched closer to Icarus, prepared to shield him and holding tightly onto his hand.

Zeus appeared before me. I didn't immediately cower—something was different. This wasn't the same man whose gaze made people crumple to their knees. This wasn't the man who commanded an army of immortals. This wasn't the all-powerful ruler of gods that I'd seen only hours ago. This man was broken.

His wild hair no longer shined with zeal, it hung limp and gray. He didn't shroud himself in spun silver and gold, but a modest linen toga.

Zeus knelt on the other side of Icarus. "You've kept him alive." He motioned to my hand still coiled around his son's. My palm hummed from my energy that seeped into Icarus.

"When Nyx abducted you," Zeus said. "The council decided it was best to wipe out your bloodline. We could not risk your power being in her control."

I pulled Icarus's dimming hand against my heart as if the closer I got it to my core, the more energy I could give to him.

"But my son came to me and begged for permission to venture into Tartarus to retrieve you. He swore that your soul was pure, that you would never mean us harm. My only condition was that he would not tell you that Nyx was your mother."

Icarus's face remained lifeless and faint. He defied his father, the council, for me. I couldn't say I was surprised. I brushed the back of Icarus's cold hand against my cheek. Everything he did was for me and I turned my back on him without letting him explain. My ribs felt too tight, constricting my lungs like a snake.

"Hermes didn't like the idea," Zeus continued, "but it was the only way I would allow your rescue. We never intended for you to find out about Nyx."

I searched the old god's face. Stress lines creased his forehead, but his eyes, now a stormy hue, were not filled with grief but confusion, as if he wrestled with the foreign emotions.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"Once, we lived among your kind, we meddled in human lives, we ruled over you all, and in turn, we became more human." A nostalgic smile crossed his mouth. "We began to feel love, and joy." He brushed Icarus's bangs to the side. "And pride."

Zeus's gaze shifted to stare straight into mine before he continued. "Then we began to feel jealousy, grief, and anger. We quarreled amongst ourselves. We cheated and fought with each other. It was then that the council decided we should leave, before human emotion destroyed us all. So we left, and we rid the world of any lingering bloodlines."