Page 125 of Cathmoir's Sons

“Your sisters have passed from the mortal plane,” I say. “The gods who sentenced you here have no more say in this world of steel. Let me cut the ties that hold you here. Be free.”

“You don’t know what you offer, dark sister,” Deino says. “Do you imagine that dread, horror, and alarm will pass peaceably from the world of men?” She narrows her Cyclopean eye at me. “Did you think we’d go quietly?”

“I have no expectation.” I honestly don’t. I hadn’t thought about the manner of their passing. “What do you want?”

Enyo grins hideously, a long, pale tongue lashing out between her fangs. “We wish torage.”

“We wish towroth,” Deino echoes her sister.

“We wish to remind the mortal world what it is tofear,” Pemphredo snarls. “We are three. Give us each a day to remind the mortals they should only speak our names with awe and fear.”

Three days for ancient sea hags to unleash their powers on the mortal world? Remembering the terrible death toll of the tsunami in 2004, I shake my head. “Too many mortals will die.”

“Unlike you, we’re not death goddesses,” Enyo sneers. “We only demand the lives of those who break their bargains with us.”

“Mortals are frail,” Pemphredo says, clacking her nails together. “We cannot promise none of them will die during our three days, but they will not die by our hands.”

“What do you think?” I whisper to Rhodes.

“I think it’s better than our first-born,” he murmurs. “Three days of sea storms in winter, when there are fewer tourists nearthe coasts, when boats have been brought up out of the water? It doesn’t seem like a bad bargain.”

“Three days,” I agree, hoping I haven’t just agreed to a catastrophe.

Chapter 35

Three Days

LUCA

Istand behind Caileán at the window of our villa and watch the horizon darken over the white peaks of the waves. She shakes in my arms, tiny tremors of anger and frustration.

She and Law returned from Torre Faro in the middle of a raging argument. She wanted to warn everyone about the Graeae’s storm. Law vehemently objected on the basis that it would bring unwanted attention to the growing fae presence in Scilla.

Surprisingly, Arch sided with Law. How was Caileán planning to explain how she knew about the storm without anyone guessing the deal she’d made with the Graeae? With the Graeae gone, access to Charybdis was open. Was she willing to risk someone else recovering Ulune’s Daughter?

Their argument went on until we heard the wind howling even through the sturdy walls of the villa and Caileán realized it was too late for an effective warning. She stomped off to try to reach Rowan Wright and Jakob Maher, to tell them to get off the water. But they both refused her calls.

After I told my brother he’s a fucking idiot, I found our mate by the big window in our bedroom, watching the storm brew.

“I told you Law’s more than a prince,” I whisper into her hair. “He’s a general. He’ll always approach everything as a battle. He’ll always preserve every advantage. It’s to protect you and the Cait. Always.”

“I made this bargain,” she whispers back, barely audible over the howl of the wind. “I’m in here safe and sound. No one down there knows what’s coming. They’re defenseless.”

“It’s winter, baby. It’s storm season,” Rhodes says from behind us. “They’re not defenseless.”

I heard him come up the stairs and stop in the doorway a moment ago. Since I don’t get much one-on-one time with our mate, particularly when she needs comfort, I appreciate him not butting in physically.

Lightning forks down, searing the sky to white before the darkness closes in again.

Caileán takes a ragged breath. “If there’s damage to Scilla or Torre Faro, I want to make it right. Law wants to throw his money around? This is how we’re going to spend it.”

“That’s a cause I’m very happy to support,” Law says.

I didn’t hear him come up the stairs because Law’s utterly silent when he wants to be. I glance over my shoulder. He’s standing a step behind Rhodes in the doorway. My twin can give great poker face when he wants to. His expression’s closed, unflinching, but his eyes are black holes of hurt and need. He wants to be the one standing where I’m standing, comforting our mate.

I unwrap one arm and hold it out to the rest of our foursome. I appreciate that they’ve given me a minute with Caileán, but I don’t need to hoard her. Unlike my mate-hog of a twin.

Law moves so fast I can’t track his movement. He slips under my arm and mashes himself against Caileán’s side, wrappinghimself around the both of us. Less preternaturally, Rhodes steps up behind me and kisses the back of my head before pressing his chest against my back.

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