Amber and the warriors had also returned, apparently guessing that if we came back, we’d come to Alaric’s hideaway.

We gathered in our main cabin.

I’d been quiet since we escaped the destruction of the Court of Ice and Wind.

Alaric dove into decoding the inscriptions on the scroll, and my other mates joined him, offering whatever assistance they could. They were all acquainted with ancient linguistics, and Alaric was also fluent in the Olympian tongue.

It took them one and a half days to boil down the details.  

1. The Blade of Five Elements must be forged in the hottest fire on Earth.
2. Only Hephaestus, the God of Blacksmiths and Fire, could build the blade.
3. The runes of ancient Earth and Olympus must be engraved on the blade with a mixture of our combined blood.

“Hephaestus will jump up and down with cheers at the chance to make the only weapon that can kill the gods, including him,” I said in a sarcastic tone, unable to conceal my resentment.

Their death also meant mine, but my mates could never know that.

The whole thing sucked.

I wanted to delay this task a little longer. I was selfish. I wanted to have a bit more time with my mates.

I’d been out of the cage for only a few months. I’d just found home with my mates. And soon, I would have to head to my eternal death.

But then, if I stalled, there’d be graver consequences. Any day the gods could find us. Apollo and Ares knew exactly how to hit me the hardest. By taking out my mates first.

“He might,” Alaric said. “Hephaestus is one of the most mistreated gods in the history of Olympus.”

Lorcan nodded. “Everyone knows that his parents, the King and Queen of Gods, tossed him out of Mount Olympus and crippled him because he was ugly.”

“Then Zeus forced the Goddess of Love and Beauty to marry Hephaestus as a punishment,” Pyrder said. He was in a competitive mood. He wanted to take part in teaching me the history of the Olympian gods as well. “Aphrodite wasn’t pleased, so she had an affair with Ares and bore him three bastard children.”

Alaric gave my fae mate a look. He was Hephaestus’s half-brother, and many had called him Zeus’s bastard son. “Abandoned, abused, and cuckolded. That’s Hephaestus’s life story,” said the demigod, staring at the scroll spread across the long table. “He still hates them for his eternal humiliation. He’ll take our order. All we have to do is find him.”

After the meeting, Alaric wasted no time in finding the God of Blacksmiths and Fire. He often took Celeb with him. My mates took it in turn to accompany him while two of them would always stay with me.

Days upon days, they hunted for Hephaestus, until they found his secret residence in a ramshackle castle. They waited, but Hephaestus didn’t return.  

Alaric then assigned his team to wait for the blacksmith and came home to me. I was grateful to spend more time with my mates.

Then one night, Gaea showed up in my dreams.

I eyed her warily. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to see her, especially after I’d met the cold-blooded her from the past in the Court of Ice and Wind.

I felt like a lamb that would be led to slaughter soon.

“My true daughter,” she greeted.  

“What is it you want this time?” I asked. “I’m busy with my mates, you know.”

“They’re asleep,” she said.

In my dream, I couldn’t see my mates, but I knew they all sprawled around me in bed.

“I want to give you more time,” she said, sorrow tainting her musical, earthy voice. “But time isn’t on our side. You know where the blacksmith is. You can find him, as you can find anyone on Earth.”

“Whatever,” I said, suddenly finding myself standing with the Goddess of Earth atop the cliff, overlooking the crashing black sea. I slouched on a large rock nearby. I was tired. She made me tired. “Why don’t you just make it simple and tell me where he is instead of making me work so hard?”

“When you expand your mind and search for the alien forms, the powerful ones,” she said, unmoved by my sarcastic, hostile tone, “you’ll find all the gods. You’ll know which one is the God of Blacksmiths and Fire.”

“And then I’ll use the weapon he forged to kill the gods and myself, right?”

“Death isn’t the end, Cass.”  

“It’s easy for you to say,” I said, tasting the bile in the back of my throat. “Death will separate my mates from me. And they’re all I have.”

Tears flowed down my face as I thought of my final fate.

“You carefully bred me just for this,” I said. I wanted to smash her, but I knew it was useless. “You forged me as a weapon. After I’m used, I soon will be discarded, erased, and forever forgotten.”

“I care for you, my flesh and blood,” she said in grief. “If I could go in your place, I would. I’ve been weakened for too long. I’m still not complete.”

She waived in the icy wind, and then she was gone.

I fluttered open my eyes, lying still for a long moment. Then I centered my mind, letting it expand and search.  

A strong pulse made of alien fire and metal glowed amid billions of other life forms. The God of Blacksmiths and Fire stood out in the matrix of the Earth’s web.  

He was waiting, but he wouldn’t wait forever.

My throat was parched.

Instead of joy, it felt like doom, a destined doom, and I couldn’t lift it off me.

My inner sight turned away from the smith god. My gaze focused on my mates, tracing each one of them in bed with me, around me.

They watched me, wondering why I’d put a shield around my mind ever since we’d returned from the collapsed Court of Ice and Wind.

“I’ve found Hephaestus,” I breathed out, forcing a smile. “I know where he is.”