“Sister!” Megaera dove toward the fallen warrior, silk robes trailing behind her.
The beast’s right head tracked her movement with vicious intelligence. When he swiped at her with a huge paw, the claws seemed to rake through reality itself. The moment he touched her, her entire body contorted midair. She hit the wall with a sickening thud and slumped to the floor, her wings twisted at an awkward angle, her hair tinged with premature silver.
“My daughters!” Enyo cried out. “No!”
The creature turned toward her, but for all her earlier terror, Enyo didn’t falter. She straightened her back and opened her mouth. No sound came out, but the air rippled as if distorted by something I couldn’t see. The beast recoiled and took a step back, as if he had taken a physical blow.
I dropped to my knees, my stomach turning as my head started to spin. Something was wrong, so very wrong. All of a sudden, I was back in Agrion, watching people I’d known all my life die in front of me. I saw Elena’s face twisted with rage, Melos bringing his hammer down with that wet crack, Syagros inexplicably going rabid.
This was the same magic that had turned my neighbors against one another, transformed them into killers. Enyo’s power was what had destroyed Agrion. It hadn’t been natural mob violence, but deliberate manipulation.
Come to think of it, I’d seen this strange skill used before, in Phonos’s duel in the Kratos Circle. But back then, I’d been too far to process what was happening. Or maybe he had deliberately aimed away from the crowd. Enyo hadn’t been able to do that, too caught in the desire to help her children.
Either way, her inaudible screech hadn’t worked. The monster lost interest in her and headed toward me. Spirals of energy twirled around his paws. Enyo tried to screech again, but the creature couldn’t be bothered to care. All three heads focused on me, and me alone.
I didn’t mind. Out of everyone here, I was probably the best person to handle him. He would never hurt me. Somehow, I knew that, beyond a shadow of a doubt.
The way he looked at me... That desperate intensity felt so familiar. I couldn’t quite place it, couldn’t tell why. But I wasn’t wrong about him. Bestial or not, this Cerberus was connected to me.
I wished I could reach for him, but I was too stunned, paralyzed by the shock I’d just had. And then, Phonos burst into the chamber, his wings already spread wide. He took one look at his sisters’ fallen forms, his helpless mother, and the creature dominating the space, looming over me. “You.”
It was a single word, but it held almost as much anger as the giant beast emanated. And there was recognition in his voice. Phonos knew the beast. They’d fought before.
The realization hit me like ice water. This was him, the desperate lupine warrior from the Kratos Circle. The monster I couldn’t stop thinking about, no matter how hard I tried. The same one Phonos had targeted with his cry. But what had happened to him? How had he become this twisted, terrifying thing?
“Get away from Callista,” Phonos snarled, and the beast’s attention snapped to him. It was as if my name had been some kind of cue. Those six eyes studied Phonos with almost anticipatory glee.
The last time these two had fought, the battle had ended in a draw. Now, Phonos couldn’t have been more outmatched,and he knew it. That didn’t stop him from launching himself forward, his hardened feathers turning into sharp, black daggers.
The projectiles bounced harmlessly off thick hide, but he pressed the attack. He moved like a whirlwind, so fast I couldn’t even follow him with my eyes.
But the battle was over before it had even begun. The creature opened its center maw, and energy poured out in a torrent. The vortex caught Phonos midflight, and he collapsed, his magnificent form suddenly seeming hollow.
Then came the hellfire. For a few moments, the entire spire seemed alight, and I covered my eyes, blinded by the intensity of the beast’s attack. It took me seconds to focus again, and by then,flame engulfed Phonos’s already ravaged body. His flesh was blistered and charred. One of his wings was already broken and had lost most of its feathers.
The creature wasn’t satisfied with what he’d already inflicted. He grabbed Phonos just as he had Alecto, his jaws crushing his ribs, tearing his muscles. And never once did Phonos scream.
Watching him endure the agony in silence, I couldn’t help but think of my neighbors. Many of them had screamed. Even Syagros had, when I’d killed him. But they hadn’t chosen to fight. They’d been forced into madness by powers they couldn’t understand or resist.
But this was Phonos. Phonos who had been kind, patient, whose family had cared for me. I couldn’t allow this.
My hand burned, and the dark brand that lingered on my flesh snapped me out of my stupor. “Stop!” I begged, stumbling forward through the burning ruin of the tower. “Please, stop!”
It was the same thing I’d begged the people of Agrion when they’d attacked each other. Back then, my words had gone unheard. But the beast heard me. The moment I spoke, he dropped Phonos from his snout and turned to look at me.
By the time I finally reached the beast, I was breathing hard, but somehow so much calmer. From up close, the creature’s transformed state was overwhelming. He could unmake me with a thought, erase me so completely that I would never have existed. But when I reached toward his muzzle, there was no fear. Only certainty.
“I know you.” My palm touched warm fur, and lightning shot through my body.
The dark brand on my hand flared again, but this time, it lit up brighter than ever before. Pain and joy exploded through me as my stolen memories flooded my mind in a devastating rush.
Choosing him at the bride market. His gentle hands worshipping me. The claiming ceremony interrupted just before completion. Everything Charon had taken returned, overwhelming me with the truth of what I’d lost.
“Theron.”
The creature’s form began to shimmer and contract. The three heads merged back into one, four legs becoming two. And then,he was standing before me, exactly the way I’d known him, and it was almost too much to bear.
“Callista,” Theron murmured, each syllable echoing with every single emotion he couldn’t otherwise convey. Relief, love, desperate need.
