Page 84 of Summer's Seduction

Morpheus wasn’t going to make it. I tried to run forward, but my wings dragged, my body not yet used to their presence. The morning sun crested at our backs as the pouch careened toward the center of our troops, only for a pale arm to reach up and grasp it before it landed.

Psyche looked as if she’d just plucked a ripe apple from a low-hanging branch. “I couldn’t save the rest of them, but the dawn is coming.”

Before I could ask what she meant, I saw dozens of small pouches identical to the one held in my sister’s hand launch into the sky.

“Gods,” Morpheus breathed, dropping down to my side as we watched them travel up, up. It had been a diversion, and we’d played right into Hypnos’s hand.

Golden arrows flew before the pouches could reach the ground, lacerating the rough material just enough to allow the sands to catch on the breeze as they fell. Great clouds erupted across the battlefield, affecting both our troops and theirs, but they could afford to lose numbers where we couldn’t

Morpheus slipped his hand in mine, neither of us needing words. It was enough that he was here. That we were togetheras a disturbing hush settled over the world. Souls, gorgons, dark ones, and furies fell, drifting into a deep slumber.

Those further back in Hypnos’s great army surged forward, stabbing and slashing as they went until they, too, fell victim to Hypnos’s magic. Weapons were abandoned, clattering to the ground, but arrows continued to fly. Only they weren’t gold.

“I have to stop this,” Morpheus breathed, watching as more of us fell.

“I’ll go with you,” I said, chasing after him.

“The sands can’t affect me.” He shook his head with a sad sort of smile. “But you’d be asleep and trapped in an unconscious state as soon as you breathed them in. I love you, little monster.” He pressed a kiss on my lips, and before I opened my eyes, he was gone.

“Look to the dawn,” Psyche said, her violet eyes staring straight into the sun just as a silver arrow hissed past.

LARKSPUR

Morpheus flew toward the maelstrom, batting pouches of sand back toward the furies as he went, but there was always more. I knew he needed to end this—to stop Hypnos once and for all—but gods did I wish I could join him.

Hypnos had been plotting with Demeter. They’d been the reason I was taken from my adoptive father, the reason my sister was imprisoned, but more so, Hypnos was the reason I was driven from my home. Hecate had stolen my memories and bound my magic—which I still hadn’t forgiven her for—but I believed her when she said it was the only way forward after what Hypnos had done.

I wanted to tear and gut and hurt Hypnos more than I’d ever wanted to hurt another in the many years of my long life, but I’d have to find another way of enacting my revenge.

The sun crested the horizon, the howls of the Chimeras growing louder as its ray flared infinitely brighter. Heat pressed through me like a wave washing over and capturing me in its pull.

All the aches and soreness from my newly formed wings along my spine faded. I felt invigorated like any remaining traces of Hecate’s binding magic had been cleansed.

The sounds of horses whining amid the brilliant sun caught my attention. I heard the rattling of metal and dozens of feathered wings beating. Artemis and the huntresses had returned, and they’d brought Apollo.

He was the God of Light and Healing, god to music, prophecy, knowledge, and truth, and right now, he might just be the reason we won this war.

Everywhere this golden light touched, beings healed. Those affected from The Sand of Slumber were awakened, some finding they’d been ripped apart by furies and dying within moments, but others rose to fight.

Silver arrows rained down upon black feathered wings, furies dropping to the ground after a single strike. I turned, finding the gorgons at our back nearly finished by the huntresses.

Raising my palms, I called forth my magic. This time, it felt like a living thing, like a web I could shape and mold. I wove it around the gorgons, ensuring every last one of them as Hades called on his whip and the huntresses loosened their arrows… and then I pulled.

Stop.

I didn’t say the word out loud, but I pictured the gorgons stopping—their bodies and hearts. I imagined them falling lifeless to the floor. And when I opened my eyes, that’s where I found them.

Hades’s chariot stilled, his eyes finding mine. They were entirely black, his shadows thick and swirling around him. Persephone looked spent, the golden light beneath her palm pressed to his chest dimming as she, too, met my gaze.

Hades dipped his head, his ram horns framed by his great, bat-like wings nearly the same size as Morpheus’s. “Thank you, Larkspur. We are in your debt.”

My stomach flipped at his genuine gratitude, and I swallowed back the wave of emotion. Persephone gave me a soft smile as if to say she knew exactly what I was feeling.

“Let us finish this before we make celebration plans,” Artemis said, voice hard as she stepped forward. Camilla was at her side, with Hebe and Cyrene on the other. “My brother will heal Hypnos’s poison and Hephaestus will reclaim his wife, but there are many enemies yet to slay.”

“Hephaestus?” I asked as our troops repositioned to join The Dark Ones at the line of battle.

Artemis nodded, her gaze lifting toward the sun. “Beneath the cover of my brother’s light.”

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