Chosen (6 page)

Chapter Nine

T
here was no denying Cronos's return any longer, but having the very headquarters of the Order of Ancients attacked after so many weeks of peace was like reopening a wound that had finally started to heal.

And there was only one question playing over and over in Ryker's mind now. What good was being a god if he couldn't stop things like this from happening?

It had never been more vital that they all learn what they were meant to know about their new positions—most especially Ryker. The others were going to look to him and Zeus for guidance and answers, and he sure as hell wasn't going to let them down.

For a moment, he thought about calling for Geoff and Silas to join them outside Artemis's temple. Perhaps their small group could come up with a plan of action without him having to alert the others to what had happened. But as quickly as the idea had come, he decided against it. They needed all hands on deck right away. Keeping any of the deities in the dark would serve no one but Cronos.

He rubbed at the knot burning his shoulder, listening to Artemis and Kyana talking over each other to question him. He had no idea what to tell them. He only knew that the Order of Ancients' headquarters in the human world had been attacked. That people had died.

He said as much.

“How many?” Artemis asked.

“Several of theirs. A few of ours. Some of the fort's structure was weakened. The uninjured are working to reinforce it again.”

As he spoke, his anger slipped out of his grasp, threatening to unearth the columns supporting Kyana's temple.

“They had to have been newly born Dark Breeds,” Kyana said. “Novi. No one who's been around more than a decade would be stupid enough to strike at the heart of the fort unless they had a full army at their backs. They tried when Hell first opened and were slaughtered.”

“Definitely wasn't a full army,” he muttered. “Ares's new general is on his way. He'll have more information.”

As though on cue, a tall, dark-haired man appeared at Kyana's gates and they swung open for his entrance. At least it wasn't a stranger. The man who'd taken Ryker's place as Ares's general was someone he had served with years ago. Zach Merchant had fought by Ryker's side in more than one rogue uprising. Since Hell's reopening, he'd proven himself worthy of the promotion, desperate to keep his new, pregnant wife safe by ensuring the world Above remained intact.

“Zach.” Ryker motioned him forward. “Please tell me you know more than those asses you sent in your place.”

Zach gave Ryker a slight bow before nodding a greeting to the goddesses.

“Merchant.” Kyana smiled. “The uniform suits you. Glad to see you accepted it.”

“Ten years rusty, but yeah, Shanna seems to like it.”

“The fort,” Ryker interrupted. “Details?”

“Right. Sorry.” Zach's face immediately recontorted into a back-to-business expression. “Morning patrol discovered that the Huguenot Cemetery had been violated and tracers were sent out to locate the ones responsible. I posted guards at each of the nearby cemeteries. When they returned to the Castillo, it was under attack. We lost a dozen sentinels and a handful of Mystics who were tending some of the Chosen brought in last night.”

Ryker's chest gave a painful squeeze. “The Chosen? They all right?”

Zach nodded. “All brought Below. They're being held at Spirits until we're given clearance to take them to their respective gods.”

Ryker exhaled. Good. More of the replacements were found, safe, and soon to be ready for a power exchange. That was a plus. But none of that eased the knots in his neck and shoulders. He might trust Zach to protect the humans, along with their stronghold Above, but he hated relying on others to do a job he was used to doing himself. More than that, he hated waiting on others to provide information he'd always been able to obtain firsthand.

“Your men didn't say anything to me about the cemetery. Anything I need to worry about?”

“All the graves there have been desecrated, just like Huguenot's. The mark of Cronos was found on several of the grave markers.”

Ryker tried to keep his temper in check, but it was becoming harder by the second. “How the hell did we go from six weeks of peace to a damned nightmare in one day?”

“Told you this treaty thing was a bad idea,” Kyana muttered.

“One rogue group doesn't make all Dark Breed bad,” he pointed out. He still believed in the treaty he and Geoffrey had come up with. The Dark Breeds who signed it were allowed to remain free of Tartarus unless they broke the law—and since they signed the treaty with their blood, tracers would be able to immediately locate them and bring them in.

Those who didn't sign were considered enemies of the Order and brought in regardless of their actions. Once the world settled back into a routine, it would be a sound plan. But right now, nothing was going as it should, and Ryker wasn't in the mood for another round of pros and cons with Kyana.

“Were the tracers able to find anything that will tell us who is responsible for digging up the graves?” he asked Zach.

“Ares has a group of Witches working on that now,” Zach replied. “But it doesn't look promising.”

“We knew Cronos was raising an army, and Geoffrey already said some of his souls were missing,” Artemis said. “It's not a surprise that cemeteries are going to be ravaged. He can't raise the dead without their bones for talismans.”

“I'll question the Oracles.” Ryker cast his gaze up the mountain behind his temple where the Oracles resided. “Maybe they can see where Cronos will strike next—keep a watch on known offenders' graves.”

He turned to Zach and held out his hand. “Appreciate you coming so quickly. Send a guard with a list of the Chosen brought in and I'll send word to the gods they'll need to meet.”

Zach took the dismissal with a nod of compliance and a quick shake of Ryker's hand. “As you wish.”

When Zach vanished down the path toward the gate, Ryker spun on his heel and glared at Kyana. “If you say I told you so, I swear I'll forbid your exit off Olympus and won't let you help figure this out.”

She blinked. “About what?”

“The fucking treaty.”

“I wouldn't dream of pointing out the obvious.”

“Nonsense,” Artemis said. “The treaty is still viable. Treaty or not, there will be Dark Breeds out there until the end of time just as there always has been. The more we can harness, the better off we'll be.”

Even though the older goddess was essentially taking the blame off Ryker's shoulders, he didn't feel the least bit better. He led the women inside, ready, though not at all eager, to inform the rest of the Order of the events that had taken place Above.

As they strode into the council room and he took in the sight of deities sitting with Healers, their arms outstretched as the Mystics siphoned blood into tiny vials that would be transported to Ryker's temple and added to the siphoning wall, his frustration only grew.

Sitting around while others got their hands bloodied wasn't for him. He was a warrior. A fighter used to being in the thick of things, solving the problems. Instead, he was the decision maker—his job binding him to Olympus in a stationary position he was finding more and more irritating.

A
n hour later, Ryker had delivered the bad news and the only straggling deities left in the throne room were he, Geoffrey, Silas, and Kyana. Beside them was Haven, looking out of place and ashen-faced. No one was saying a word, but Ryker could tell precisely what each was thinking. He'd come to know them all so well in these last few weeks that their faces had become void of secrets.

Kyana's foot was tapping impatiently on the floor. She was antsy, unable to sit still. Soon, she would demand to fight, and Ryker couldn't blame her. He was nearly coming out of his own skin with the need to jump into the fray. She wanted to hunt, and judging by the twisted, puckered mouth on Geoffrey's face, he did too. They were both ex tracers, and it was in their blood.

Silas, on the other hand, was blankly nibbling at the tray of ambrosia-laced cheeses in the center of the table, his brow lined in concentration. He wasn't much of a fighter, though he was skilled enough. But as a Witch, casting spells and creating magic had brought him to this place. Not blood and glory. Likely he was contemplating what sort of charms he could manifest that would lead them to the culprits so Geoff, Ryker, and Ky could kick their asses.

Haven was a little harder to read now, but the determination in her eyes to be a part of the team reminded him of the first time he'd met her. She hadn't backed down to Kyana's insistence that she stay where it was safe then, and he knew she wasn't going to unless the orders came with chains and guards.

“Everyone stop,” he grumbled, startling all four from their solemn expressions. “I know what you want me to say and it can't happen. It would be irresponsible for all of us to leave the mountain and weaken Olympus—”

Kyana raised a black brow, gracefully lifting it to nearly meet her hairline. “Irresponsible? Irresponsible would be sitting on our asses and letting this new band of Dark Breeds be born, who won't, mind you, be under the laws of
your
treaty. Which means they're untrackable. Novi. And that makes them dangerous.”

“You're a goddess now, Kyana. Not a tracer,” Silas said. “You might be more powerful, but your death has far more consequence than it ever did before.”

The fact that Silas was taking Ryker's side made him cringe. He didn't have much use for the Witch, and that was only partly due to his once having been Kyana's lover. But if Silas was worried about them leaving their posts here for more than just their nightly patrol, maybe Ryker should rethink his own stance. He certainly didn't want to be as much of a pussy as Silas could sometimes be.

“We all know that if anyone's going to be able to do this, it will be me,” Kyana said.

“And if you fail?” Artemis asked, appearing in the doorway. “Who will make certain the humans repopulate the world? Who will track and find the loosed Dark Breeds that fail to adhere to our treaty? I can only continue carrying out those duties for so long, Kyana. My powers fade more every day. It will be up to you to begin seeing to fertility and hunting more than just Cronos. If something happens to you, there
is
no one else.”

Kyana leaned slightly toward Ryker. He wrapped a protective arm around her shoulder, the idea of something happening to Ky inducing the urge to vomit.

“There's enough of my blood on that siphoning wall to replace me if I fail.”

Artemis strode across the room and took the empty seat on Kyana's right, her gaze so intently settled on Kyana's face that it looked as though she was peering right through her skull and into her brain.

“It is still risky. There are others we can send when we know where Cronos is going next.” She tucked her finger under Kyana's chin and brushed her hair from her cheek the way a mother might do to her daughter. “I know you will go, child. But you must promise to take more care now than is your nature.”

“I'll have all of them,” Kyana said, sweeping her hand to indicate everyone present at the table. “And even Ares sometimes. Artemis, you saw to your duties and hunted every day of your life. Becoming the Goddess of the Hunt did not turn me into a treasure to be put in a glass box any more than it did you.”

“Yes. It did,” Ryker said, knowing those words would cost him later. But he'd rather fight with Ky than bury her. “At least until you've finished siphoning.”

“You mean until I become replaceable.”

Like that was even possible. “Whatever you want to call it.”

He cocked his head at Geoff. “And you? If you leave to hunt, who's going to see to the dead? Who's going to make sure they get to where they need to go?”

Geoff leaned against the long marble table and folded his arms. He seemed to be considering the question, but Ryker could tell by the way his eyes glowed with determination that this debate wasn't going to be a quick one . . . or an easy one for Ryker to win. If Kyana was going hunting that meant Haven was going hunting. And Ryker was pretty sure Geoff wouldn't let her go anywhere without him.

“Forget it, mate,” Geoff said, his gaze turning to Haven. “I'm not sitting on my arse while the people I care about are in danger.”

Ryker sighed. He couldn't blame him really. He was having issues with the thought of Kyana going off without him too—especially with the threat of Cronos breathing down their necks.

A Dark Breed, she could handle, no problem. But Cronos? Ryker didn't want her coming face-to-face with that bastard without a lot of backup.

“The threat is real,” he said. “Even if you take out the Novi he's raising, Cronos is out there. We can't all leave Olympus. It would be as good as handing him the mountain.”

Geoff pushed to his feet. “Fine, you stay here. It's still in
our
blood to hunt. Becoming what we are hasn't changed what we've been for centuries.”

“Yeah, well I've always been a fighter. Doesn't mean I can go off and risk the entire world because I miss the excitement,” Ryker said, even though that was exactly what he wanted to do.

“As well you shouldn't. You're the most important of all of us,” Kyana said, placing her palm to his chest. “Without the God of Gods, Above, Below, and Beyond will fall into chaos.” She waved her hand to include herself, Geoff, and Silas. “Between the siphoning and the powers the old gods hold, new Chosen can be found and trained. It will take time, and it will make the Olympians as a whole weak for a while, but
we
can be replaced. Zeus had to give you everything at once to assure your strength.
You
must be protected.”