been so mistaken.
The damned goddess of memory had been behind it.
He needed to warn Hades.
He drew back and looked down at Harleena, schooled his features so she wouldn’t see the rage burning inside him, the twisted desire to grip her by her throat and choke her to death, and then cross into the veil and kill her there too, so her despicable soul would cease to exist.
“A good plan. A shame it was for naught. My sister is in Tartarus where she belongs.” He knew he had messed up when she broke away from him.
“It is not over yet. She will finish this,” she spat and he tensed.
They were still planning something, and she wasn’t talking about his sister now. She was talking about Mnemosyne.
Had the goddess of memory been behind everything this whole time? Everyone had thought Eris had been the one leading the group, but what if she and his other siblings had only been another diversion, a way of keeping the true mastermind hidden?
Had Mnemosyne hoped Eris and his siblings would succeed in toppling the gates and merging the Underworld and the mortal one, allowing her to take command without Hades ever knowing of her betrayal?
Or had she known Eris too would fail and everyone would believe it was over?
It struck him that the latter was the likely explanation. Mnemosyne had been aware Eris and his siblings would fall to the sons of Hades and that Hades would believe the danger was over and would lower his guard.
When it wasn’t.
He needed to escape this place and tell his god-king, but he had the terrible feeling the only reason Harleena was telling him all of this was because he wouldn’t be leaving this place any time soon.
She knew he wouldn’t reach Hades before Mnemosyne set her plan in motion.
He glared at her back as she stormed to the table and grabbed another goblet.
She poured clear liquid into it and scowled over her shoulder at him. “I should have known you would take steps to guard yourself against me. Well, know they are for naught. You will not be able to resist if I make you drink all of this.”
She pivoted towards him, her damp silver hair swirling outwards from her shoulders, and her breasts bouncing with each fierce step she took towards him.
Thanatos growled at her and beat his wings as hard as he could manage, ignoring the pain that burned in the injured one. The table nearest him toppled and the torches guttered and went out, and she raised her free arm to shield her face as she struggled to keep walking towards him, leaning into the wind he created.
“You will drink this.” She teleported, appearing right before him, moving too fast for him to track.
Before he could do anything, she seized his jaw and dug her fingers into his cheeks, forcing his mouth open. He growled and wrestled against her, grabbing her waist and weakly pushing her back, hating the way the toxin she had already drugged him with stole his strength. He tried to strike her with his wings but she was too close to him.
She shoved the goblet up above him as he struggled and poured.
Most of it hit his face, but enough of it went into his mouth. He went to spit it out but she shoved the flat of her palm to his chin, snapping his mouth closed, and he couldn’t stop himself from swallowing it.
The effect was instantaneous.
Heat rolled through him, made his skin feel too tight, had him trembling badly with a need to sate the fire blazing in his veins, burning in his loins. He shook his head, trying to fight it, but the heat only burned hotter as she released him and his head drooped, his gaze falling on her bare curves.
Need swept through him.
Hunger riding on its heels.
“That’s right,” she purred and tiptoed, caressed his cheek as he stared at her, lost in the wicked urges running through his mind. “Surrender to me, Thanatos.”
She stroked her hands down his chest and in the wake of them, coolness washed across his skin, making it feel less tight. Those hands reached the waist of his leathers and tugged at the lacing.
Rage burned through him, hitting him out of nowhere and shocking the part of him that ached for her touch.
“Harpy,” he snarled as he smacked her hand away.
Her lips twisted in a mulish line and she swept the dagger up off the floor. Her violet eyes flashed dangerously as