Wicked Lord of Thessaly (Halcyon Romance Series Book 3) (10 page)

Eione fought against collapsing and scanned the room, her focus snaring on Melita. She rushed to the nymph’s side. Hector’s wife Delia joined them and they clung to each other.

“This is my fault,” Eione whispered.

“No, my dear friend.” Melita’s voice came high and pained. “I fear this is all because of me.” She released the women, marching instead to the men.

Eione pressed a hand to her forehead, overcome with faintness and flushed with heat.

“Come, you must rest.” Delia led her to a bench and she gratefully eased down upon it. “How many weeks?”

Eione pried open her fluttering lids to stare at the woman’s clever smile. “Not many.”

Delia patted her hand. “All will be well. You must not fret, for the sake of the babe.”

“Thank you.” She frowned at the female. Delia had never uttered many kind words to her, but the woman’s drawn brows revealed she might be as fearful as the rest of them about losing their mates.

Several minutes passed while strategies and concerns filled the chamber. At last, Agrius waved her to him. Eione trembled in his embrace, fear spiking through her blood. If she wasn’t carrying their babe, they’d fight together, side by side. Yet neither of them would risk their child or her possible capture.

She shuddered. What might her family do to her, to their babe, if she became their prisoner?

“No matter what happens,” Agrius bent his forehead to hers, “I will always be a part of you. And you of me. I won’t lose you, Eione. Or our child.”

“I know. Return to me, centaur.”

“I will.” He pressed a kiss to her lips, then to her belly, his body concealed from the others by her cloak. They hadn’t yet shared their happy news and this wasn’t the right time to announce it.

She ran her fingers through his locks. “Swear to me, Agrius, that you will do all within your power to protect your family.
Our
family.” She pressed his hand against her abdomen, indicating the new clan they had formed together.

“I swear it.” He angled his face to hers and she raised her chin, chest swelling with pride and love. This male would not fail her.

***

Agrius wiped his sweaty palms across his breeches. Both armies had gathered, thousands of men facing one another, prepared to die.

And to kill.

He stood among them, positive he would do anything to protect his mate and his babe. Scanning the horizon, he spotted Eione’s brother Myron nestled amid several other bold and burly males. Her family.

She’d made damned clear to him that he was the only family she counted. Still, could he brandish his sword against them? Could he kill them? When Myron had threatened Eione in the forest, he’d been ready. Was their presence here today any less of a threat?

Eione carried their child, a centaur. No telling what these savages would do to her and their babe.

He clenched the hilt of his sword. Though his heart would weep a thousand sorrows…

Aye, he would kill them, if it came to that.

His mate would be safe by now, having been guided through the tunnels under the protection of their youngest brother, Petraeus, along with the other women and children.

Beside him, Thereus paced, just as impatiently as he had when he’d been a lad unable to calm his nerves. Agrius gripped his arm. “Brother.” The peril to his mate seemed to eat away at him, so Agrius tugged on his arm to direct his attention onto him.

Thereus nodded, shuffling his hooves instead.

He shook his head, once more gazing out at the opposing army. At Eione’s family. Tension stiffened his spine and he tore his focus away.

They both stilled while Prince Philaeus, encased by his royal guard, rode forward into the clearing between the armies. Hector and the King galloped down into the valley to meet them, their lack of guards a declaration of their bravery.

How long would it last? They raced to refuse the Prince’s offer of sacrificing Melita.

Agrius studied Thereus. The pure devotion he expressed toward the nymph was what Agrius had always wished for his brother. In Melita, Thereus had found the peace he’d long sought.

No one in Cheiron’s kingdom would tear that from him.

Yet this declaration of war would be about far more than a mortal—Melita or Eione.

This was a fight between the gods.

Apollo had gained the alliance of the Lapiths and Thereus had convinced King Cheiron to join with Hades and Persephone.

The War hadn’t begun yet, but oh, it was coming.

This battle was merely a test of the waters. The real fight hovered on the horizon.

Thereus grumbled a curse and Agrius whipped his scrutiny to the valley.

What in Hades?
He squinted at the hazy black mist. A spell?

No.
Bees.

He gaped as the insects parted, revealing Melita. Thereus growled low in warning. Before Agrius could stop his brother, Thereus sprinted through the crowds, shoving aside the warriors. He raced toward Melita, but it was too late.

Agrius’s heart sank as the nymph he called friend and the female his brother called mate, disappeared before his eyes.

And transformed into a tree.

***

“Where’s Melita?” Eione pressed a hand to her mouth, concealing her yawn. Carrying a child drained any woman, and bearing a centaur babe was even worse. Or so she’d been told. Alkippe, Thereus’s doting housekeeper, had shared many tidbits about centaur gestation on the journey here. After they’d stopped for a rest, Eione had fallen into a deep sleep, but she’d awoken to find Melita missing.

“
Shh
, all is well, Lucian.” She clutched Melita and Thereus’s child to her chest, praying her words were true.

“Where is my mama?” The child’s lower lip trembled. Doubtless, this entire situation was frightening for him.

“I’m certain she’ll return shortly. Mayhap she went ahead, or is fetching water. Fear not, darling.” She kissed the top of the lad’s head and rocked him in her lap.

Several minutes passed before Alkippe’s strong voice rang out for them to continue their march.

Eione gathered her sack and guided Lucian alongside her. A few steps into the corridor, a male’s voice cried out from behind them.

“Come back!” A centaur guard sprinted to them, panting. “You must return now.”

“What of the battle?” The air squeezed from her lungs.

“It never happened.” The male’s features darkened. “Because of her.”

No.

Her stomach twisted as she sensed dreadful news.

“Melita. She saved us all.”

Eione fell to her knees and clasped Lucian to her chest while the male sped through his story. Melita had transformed into a tree, thus nullifying any thirst for retaliation by the Lapiths. They’d returned to their lands. The battle had never even begun.

A tree.

How was such even possible? Melita was only half-nymph.

She shook her head while the tears rushed down her cheeks.

“Eione!” Agrius’s booming timbre shot through her veins. He raced to her side and dropped to his knees beside her, glancing between her and the child. “You heard.”

Alkippe called for Lucian, who scurried out from her embrace and into the centauress’s.

“Tell me it’s not true.” Eione pressed her lips thin.

“I cannot.” Agrius crushed her into his arms, kissing her hair. “She saved us all, Eione. I have never witnessed such selflessness.”

“Thereus?”

Agrius’s shoulders deflated. “He refuses to leave her side. Claims she lives within the tree.” He exhaled shakily. “Nothing less is to be expected.”

“What do we do now?” she whispered, heart aching with unbearable pain at the loss of her dear friend.

Agrius gripped her hand, squeezing tight. “Now, we honor her.” He slid his hand under her elbow and aided her to stand. Numbness spread through her muscles. She’d prepared for losing many of her friends this day, yet never Melita.

Silently, they trekked through the tunnels, Eione blinking away tears. At last, they retraced their steps to the inside of Cheiron’s palace. She rushed to the balcony and gazed into the valley.

Sure enough, there rested Thereus, on his knees and pounding the earth, beside his tree.

Melita.

She clamped her hand over her mouth as the tears fell anew. “Can nothing be done for her?”

“I fear not.” Agrius opened his arms for her and she stepped into his embrace, resting her head against his shoulder. “She’s with her people now. She made her choice, bravely.”

“Poor Lucian.” Eione pressed a hand to her belly. Melita had made the hardest decision any mother could.

“Eione?” a young male whispered behind them.

She whipped around, gasping in shock.

No, it wasn’t possible.

***

Agrius shoved Eione behind him and unsheathed his sword. He didn’t know this male, but he recognized those eyes.

Violet. Like his mate’s.

He was of Eione’s blood.

“Wait, no, Agrius.” Eione pounded her fist into his back until he glanced at her. “This is Antion. My brother.”

“And Dryas.” A young lad peeped out from behind his elder brother.

“What are you two doing here?” Eione seized a joyful step toward them, but Agrius grabbed her arm, halting her.

His brother had just lost his mate to treachery and Agrius would be bloody damned before he suffered the same fate.

The elder male raised both his hands. “I have no weapon, sir.”

“Me neither.” The younger copied, giggling at the game, and then raced into Eione’s awaiting arms.

She embraced him, patting his scruffy locks, but Agrius kept the tip of his sword trained on the elder. The lad was tall, like Eione, his long golden locks tied at his nape. “How did you sneak in here?”

“We saw the swarm of bees and determined where it originated, sir.” Respectful and polite, Antion inclined his head. “We followed the trail into those tunnels.”

Aye, so many people scurried about that no one would have noticed two extra lads.

“Eione, if they don’t return to your father—”

“Please, sir, you can’t send us back,” the elder beseeched.

“He’ll whip us for sure,” the younger chimed in, peeking out from Eione’s arms.

“Why?” She narrowed her gaze on him.

“We escaped our guardians.” Dryas shrugged, casting them an innocent grin.

Agrius chuckled. If Eione’s kin took after her, that grin was anything but innocent.

“Agrius?” She tilted her face to him, and now three sets of violet eyes pleaded with him.

“I fear these lads cannot stay with us, lest your father accuse us of capturing them, but I might be able to arrange for them to reside in Halcyon.” He scratched his jaw and sighed. “Well, I suppose, what’s the harm in two more fugitives?”

Eione laughed and jumped to her feet, gathering both of her brothers in her arms and waving for him to join.

He stepped into the warm embrace, his heavy heart lifting.

Melita’s sacrifice was devastating, but it was also a great example of how love overpowered all ill will.

And brought enemies together as family.

Four months later

Agrius paced the corridor, approached the wall, spun on his heel, and marched to the opposite end.

Thereus whistled low, shaking his head. “That doesn’t make the babe come any faster.”

He cocked a brow at the smart-mouthed centaur, daring him to continue. “Have you any other words of wisdom, lad, because if you do, I’ll cut them from your tongue.”

“Ho!” His brother held up his hands, laughing. Strangely, Thereus had recovered from the loss of his mate. As much as anyone could have hoped. Agrius had been tempted to ask Oreius if he’d shared the sacred waters with him, but had decided perhaps he’d rather not know.

For now, he would simply be grateful his brother’s time of mourning had passed. The smile on Thereus’s face was a genuine relief.

They all missed Melita. Their people never failed to place flowers, gifts, and more beneath her tree, reciting poems and singing ballads in her honor. Their gratitude was unending.

He shoved his hands through his locks, tossing his head. Eione had banished him earlier, insisting his pacing made her more anxious.

But bloody hell, that was his mate in there, on the verge of birthing their child, and centaur births were risky. The very notion that he could lose either of them… He grunted and clenched his jaw. No, he would not even contemplate it.

Eione was strong. She would survive this, but he’d be damned if he didn’t stand by her side while she did.

Agrius stormed past his brother and shoved through the door just as a scream passed Eione’s lips, followed by coaxing murmuring from Alkippe. “Good, lass, one more push.”

His gaze locked with his mate’s. Her skin flushed bright, her eyes sparkling with tears of pain and hope. He rushed to her side and seized her hand, pressing his other against her forehead, and nodded in encouragement.

Eione gritted her teeth, huffing shallow pants, and groaned, low and deep, as she birthed their babe.

He glanced between the two women, praying one of them would inform him once this was over.

Once they were both safe.

“A beautiful, healthy babe, milord.” Alkippe chimed a laugh. “’Tis a girl!”