his eyes, forming fault lines like lightning that forked in all directions.
He caught a glimpse of a mansion. European.
Then another memory.
This one a building that looked more American. He tried to focus on it, but the black lines were spreading too rapidly, obscuring too much of it and it was gone before he could seize hold of it and watch the memory play out.
He spun into the next one, bile rising up his throat as his entire body ached and his muscles turned to water.
Darkness surrounded him.
Not darkness caused by the fault lines.
Keras stood on a bluff, cold air buffeting him, his eyes fixed on the valley below him and a small village.
Fixed on two golden-haired children where they hid behind a boulder.
His targets.
Pain lanced him, straight through his heart as he recognised them. Calistos and Calindria.
He tried to stay with the memory, but it fractured and shattered, crumbling around him as another one replaced it.
A beautiful blonde female.
She was slow to come into focus.
He pushed through the pain that seared him to piece together the memory.
A cage shimmered into being around her, suspended by a thick chain from the roof of a cavern.
Black rock blended with the darkness in all directions, making it impossible to pick out any details.
Other than her blonde hair.
And tattered scraps of sky-blue material that hugged her curves, looked as if she had pieced them together from a garment that had been too small for her womanly frame.
He stilled as a huge male dressed only in leather pants trudged towards her, as she noticed him and backed into the corner of her cage that was furthest from him, causing it to sway.
Couldn’t breathe as she shook her head, her blue eyes pleading the meaty warrior.
The male flexed fingers around a spear tipped with a black blade.
Crusted with blood.
Keras fought to move, snarled and struggled when his feet refused to cooperate. He looked down at them, at the jagged black shadows snaring his legs, creeping up them. Devouring him.
He had pushed too far.
He lifted his head and looked at the woman.
Swore she looked right at him as the male drove the spear towards her.
As she screamed.
Keras screamed with her.
The shadows engulfed him.
Chapter 30
Daimon stepped the moment the harrowing scream cut through the night air, landing in the building where he had left Keras.
Keras gripped the bars of the cage, his eyes locked with the daemon’s, his fangs long and irises black as he unleashed another pained bellow.
Daimon grabbed him by his shoulders and tore him away from the cage, shattering the connection between him and the daemon. His brother hit the floor in a sprawl and Daimon’s heart hammered in his throat as he crouched to check on him, fearing the worst.
Ares and Calistos appeared in the doorway.
Cal was quick to reach Keras and feather his fingers over his neck, his sigh saying it all as it escaped his lips and he sank back onto his haunches.
Relief washed through Daimon, and through Ares too judging by the way his shoulders sagged, the tension draining from him.
Ares raked his hands over his tawny hair and stared at Keras, his dark eyes lit with gold and red sparks. “What the fuck did he think he was doing? I told him not to fucking do this.”
Ares hadn’t been the only one to lay down the law with Keras either. Daimon had told him the same thing, and so had the rest of his brothers. Keras had agreed he wouldn’t probe the daemon’s mind and then he had gone ahead and done it anyway.
It wasn’t like Keras to be reckless.
Valen and Marek appeared beyond Ares and Cal, Caterina and Eva in tow.
“What the hell happened?” Valen looked at Keras, his golden eyes bright. He stooped, his violet hair falling forwards to obscure his face as he grabbed hold of Keras and helped Cal get him onto the nearest bench.
Keras remained deathly still.
Valen cast a worried look at Marek and Ares. “He’s gonna be all right… yeah?”
Ares didn’t look sure, but he nodded anyway.
Esher charged into the room, knocking Ares and Marek aside, Aiko hanging off his left arm. The petite female gave up trying to hold him back as Daimon stepped into his path, quickly obscuring his view of Keras.
“Good to see you up and about,” Daimon said, keeping his voice calm and letting none of his fear show in it.
Esher glanced at him and then turned his glare back on the wraith. “What happened to him?”
That growled question had