The Dragon Legion Collection(64)

The Erinyes screamed as if being tortured, but they didn’t fly away. They dropped lower, wings flapping, eyes bleeding, snakes hissing. Damien wasn’t sure what to watch or where to strike.

Petra distracted him then by crying out in dismay. He looked back to see that her water had broken, and that dark liquid was spreading across the ground. “Our son,” she whispered, the light of hope in her eyes. “He’s coming.”

Damien had to get Petra and their son out of this realm.

“He still murdered our sister, Tisiphone,” the two Erinyes whispered in unison, then lunged at him, claws bared as they screamed for vengeance.

Damien roared and dove after the Erinyes, his dagger held high. They leapt out of his path, in the same moment that a flash of lightning blinded Petra.

She opened her eyes to find Hades himself standing before them. The god was dressed in long dark robes. His beard and brow were silvered and his expression was grim. They weren’t in the same place anymore, because the River Leche was gone. To Damien’s dismay, they were back in the forest of stone trees.

And the corpse of the Erinye he’d killed was at the god’s feet.

“Who dares to slaughter one of my own?” he demanded in a voice like thunder.

The two surviving Erinyes landed on either side of Damien. Before he could evade them, they seized his arms and shoved him forward, so that he fell on his knees before the ruler of the underworld.

He looked up and doubted he had anything to offer that Hades might want.

But Damien was determined to try.



* * *



Damien loved her.

It was everything Petra had ever wanted and more. He hadn’t just said the words she’d wanted to hear: he’d proved his feelings with actions, as a dragon ought to do. He’d saved her, he’d committed to being partners with her, and now she had to use her powers to get them free of the Erinyes and the underworld.

She would have tried but her water had broken, and the sensation had been enough to take her to her knees. Her womb contracted and she felt her son moving downward.

Petra had feared the worst when the Erinyes attacked, for they could devise the most vicious torments. Damien was determined to defend her, but she knew he was weary. They couldn’t both be confined here forever, not now!

Petra couldn’t argue her case, not with her whole body tightening in preparation for another contraction. It seemed that her son wasn’t just as stubborn as Damien but as resolute, too. Now that he’d decided to be born, he wasn’t going to waste any time about it.

“Did you do this deed?” Hades demanded of Damien, gesturing to the lifeless Erinye at his feet.

“She attacked me,” Damien said. “I had no choice.”

“No choice but to die,” Hades said. “And you were already in the realm of the dead.” He bent down and touched the cheek of the ancient hag. Even the snakes of her hair had stilled. “She was always a loyal servant.”

The other two Erinyes began to wail, and the blood flowed more quickly from their eyes. Hades spared them a glance, then granted Damien a stern look. “You will pay a price for this.”

“I apologize for killing one of your own,” Damien said tightly.

Hades smiled. “The price will be higher than that.” He straightened then reached out one hand in obvious expectation. A servant leapt forward and put a chalice into his outstretched hand. Petra assumed it was wine or another refreshment, but Hades only sniffed the contents. He then poured the dark liquid over the body of Tisiphone. “Tisiphone, the face of retaliation and the avenger of murder, take life again and exact your own vengeance upon your murderer and his kind. Pursue them through all eternity, until your thirst for revenge is sated.”

As Petra watched, the body of Tisiphone began to change. She shifted shape from a winged harridan to a cobra then to a lithe woman with red hair. In the blink of an eye, she was a harridan again, the rotation between forms becoming faster and faster until her form blurred.

And then she disappeared.

“Where did she go?” one of her sisters asked.

“You all three have walked in whichever realm you chose. Tisiphone will live only in the realm of the living until her vengeance is served.” He gave Damien a hard look. “She will strike among the living, even as she abides in secret. His kind will never know of her vendetta until her vengeance is served.”

Petra was appalled. She could see Damien’s consternation and knew of his loyalty to the Pyr. “But they have to be warned!” she said, even as her womb tightened for a contraction.

“I see no reason for it,” Hades said.

“Let her go,” Damien begged the god. “Let her go so our son can live.”

“It could be argued that he’s dead already,” Hades replied mildly.

“Take me instead,” Damien said with a vigor that shocked Petra. “Take me instead.”

“You just want her to warn the Pyr.”

“Forbid her to do that, but let her go!” Damien appealed, and Petra was amazed that he was more concerned for her than his fellows. “Let her have our child in the world. I’ll stay here instead.”

“Forever?” Hades asked.

“Forever,” Damien said with resolve.

“Snakes and all?” Petra whispered.