Strength (Curse of the Gods #4)(47)

I heard a few rumbles of laughter from behind, but there was also a lot of tension riding the group. Everyone was wondering if I’d just pushed Cyrus too far. We were about to find out if the leverage I’d had over him since he killed me was gone.

We remained close together, silence growing between us. His eyes were raging, swirling in the scariest way. But I didn’t break the stare-off. Dweller or death. Emmy was remaining a dweller, that was the only option.

“Fix it, please.” I tried to give him something, so that he could feel like he had the upper hand. The please was my offer.

His jaw tightened, but the icy rage in his gaze lessened minutely.

“Fine,” he snapped, pulling away from me. He tilted his head up, squeezing his eyes tightly closed for a moment, before letting out a breath.

“Your punishment still stands,” he told me. “Go to Topia, to the panteras. They have something of mine. I find myself in need of it.”

I tried not to let my excitement show. Cyrus had given me exactly what I needed: a reason to go to the panteras.

“Is that all?” I asked, almost bouncing on the spot.

He nodded. “For now. Let’s see how you go with one assignment before I give you the next one.”

He brushed past me then, striding back toward the main platform in a rush of white robes and icy energy.

Tension had been holding me rigid for so long that my leg muscles actually ached when I finally relaxed. I found myself leaning back against Aros as he draped an arm around me, his warm heat seeping through my clothing and into my skin.

“You shouldn’t antagonise Cyrus,” Rome told me. “Let his wrath be directed at us. We can handle it.”

I shrugged, straightening a little so that I could clear my head. Aros was very distracting.

“Everyone knows that taking me on means taking you all on. I might as well use that to my advantage.”

He shook his head at me, but the half-smile on his face told me that he wasn’t as upset as he was acting.

“Do you think Cyrus will hurt Emmy?” I asked them. If they thought there was even the smallest chance, I wouldn’t be leaving Champions Peak that sun-cycle.

Siret flashed me his trademark, wide grin. “She has you and you have us, not to mention she’s always been mouthy as hell when it comes to Neutral. I’m pretty sure that if Cyrus hasn’t thrown her off a cliff already, he’s probably not going to start this sun-cycle.”

“She’ll be fine.” Coen sounded confident. “Cyrus has a soft spot for her, otherwise he’d have killed her already.”

“He has a soft spot for Willa, you mean.” Yael didn’t sound particularly happy about that fact.

“For both of them, then,” Coen revised.

None of them seemed particularly worried about Cyrus killing Emmy, and I figured they were probably right. My friend hadn’t ever tried to hide how much the god pissed her off—not from us, and not from him either—but still, he hadn’t killed her yet. He also said he’d fix it. So … I had to believe she’d be fine.

“Okay, I guess we’re off to Topia. Anyone know the best way to sneak in?” The pocket that Staviti had opened was gone now.

Five almost identical grins broke out, all aimed at me—though Coen’s had a hint of a grimace to it.

“Staviti is going to be watching this mountain closer than Topia right now,” he told me. “So, the pathways back to Topia should be safer than usual. As long as we get in and out as quickly as possible.”

“That’s right,” Rome chimed in. “They’re going to notice if we’re not here to train our champions tomorrow, but we can get this done in a night.”

“Maybe Cyrus will have thrown them all off the cliff by the time we get back?” I suggested hopefully. I was pleased to see that my comment widened their smiles, but the good mood quickly drained from our group as we travelled down the mountain.

As it turned out, there were a lot of ‘back ways’ into Topia, but they weren’t so common that you could just turn a corner and slip into the other realm. You had to travel a short distance to one of the known pockets, or else traverse harsh terrain for some of the lesser known—for good reason—pathways. The Abcurses were of the opinion that since I was undead, I wouldn’t have the same problem crossing through the energy as I’d had on my first trip through a back door into Topia.

So, getting through the pocket wasn’t going to be a problem, but getting to the pocket was a whole other issue. We made it down the mountain and began walking.

I tried to listen as Siret explained how we were going to get there, but the moment he started using words like “east” and “miles” my attention began to drift to the scraggly bushes lining the valley.

“Are you even listening, Soldier?” Siret asked with a chuckle, the brush of his hand across my shoulder returning my focus to him.

“You lost her at east,” Aros told him. “Her eyes glazed right over.”

I narrowed my eyes on them. “I was listening.” I jerked my head up and pointed forward. “We have to go in … that direction.”

Siret laughed at me again. “That leads to the outback stockyards, where the bullsen are herded between breeding seasons. You should probably leave the direction thing to us.”