CHAPTER 2
Trinity finished her set and placed her guitar into its fur-lined case. Zack Vrontios—Zeus disguised as a mortal—had been here tonight, and instead of speaking to her, he’d been chatting it up with Mikolas. Not that she had been watching them, not really.
But the Greek did look amazing in a tux.
She shut down the thoughts and flipped the latches closed on the case. The metallic sound echoed through the room. The sudden silence raised goosebumps on her arms as she lifted her head. Everyone in the observatory was still, frozen in time.
Her pulse raced, adrenaline pumping into her bloodstream. Kronos. It had to be. The Father of the Gods was also the God of Time itself. She’d been the victim of his time manipulations before.
So why was she still able to move?
She straightened up just in time to be caught by the waist and dragged away from her stool in the center of the room to the edge of the space in the shadows behind the crowd of immobile attendees. Before she could scream, a hand clamped over her mouth. She stared up into the dark eyes of Mikolas, the Greek billionaire who, very recently, had been the leader of the Order of the Titans. The man had almost killed her once already.
She bit his hand.
He yanked it away, growling under his breath. “Kronos is close by.”
She balled her hands into fists. But if he wanted to hurt her, why hide her from Kronos? She peered through the people and whispered. “How come we can move?”
“I’m not sure.” He scanned the room. “But we need to get the hell out of here.”
“Not yet.” It was a little surreal to be talking like this with him. He was the leader of the Order, the fanatics who nearly burned her alive. There wasn’t time to worry about it right now. “I have to get Erica and the others out. I’m not leaving them here.”
He shook his head. “We can’t help them until we have a way to stop Kronos.”
Her eyes narrowed. “There is no ‘we.’ Just go. I don’t need your help.”
He tugged up the bottom of his tux jacket and untucked his shirt. Then he pulled the waistband of his pants down a little, exposing a bright-red crescent-shaped birthmark on his hip.
Oh shit.
Mikolas Leandros was a Guardian. And she was…the only one without…
Oh gods.
She blinked, speechless for a second as she struggled to string words together. “You’re a… You can’t be. You were the leader of the Order. You killed Polly and ran over Lia’s Guardian, Cooper, with your car. You—”
“I don’t have time to explain myself now,” Mikolas interrupted. You’re in danger, and I don’t have the crystal to banish Kronos this time. I don’t even know if it would work again. We need to go. Now.”
She widened her stance, bracing herself. “Not without Erica, Lia, and Cooper.” She pointed across the room. “I see them right over there.” Like the rest of the gala attendees, they didn’t move or blink. Time stood still around them.
“We won’t be able to move them,” he countered.
“Then we’ll carry them out. I’m not leaving them here to be tortured until Zeus decides to drop his disguise. Either help me or get out of my way.”
She shoved past him, moving through the eerily still crowd of people. They would’ve looked like mannequins if it weren’t for the fear in their eyes. Mikolas followed her, his footsteps echoing through the large observatory.
Trinity grabbed Erica’s shoulders, gently shaking her. “Erica? Can you move? We’ve got to get out of here.”
Nothing. But her eyes made it clear she was aware. Kronos had slowed time so exponentially that taking a single footstep could take hours. That was time they didn’t have.
Trinity looked over at Mikolas. He was with Lia and her Guardian, Cooper. She’d half expected Mikolas to have left to save his own skin.
She wrapped her arms around Erica’s waist and sucked in a deep breath as she bent her knees and lifted. She managed about five steps before she had to put Erica down. Dammit. They’d never get out fast enough.
“Trinity?”
Her head snapped in the direction of Lia’s voice as she frowned. “You can move?”
“It seems so.” Lia shrugged. “Mikolas and Cooper snapped me out of it somehow.”
“We can figure out the details later.” Mikolas grabbed Cooper’s arm. “Help me break Erica out of the spell.”
Cooper was Lia’s Guardian. Finding her awakened a healing power inside him and a strong connection to the God, Apollo. Healing someone took a physical toll on Cooper, but he could perform miracles. They’d all witnessed it.
Mikolas gripped Cooper’s shoulder. “Touch Erica.”
Cooper frowned, but he did as Mikolas instructed and took her hand. Erica groaned, stumbling forward. “How did you…?”
“No time to talk.” Mikolas pointed to the hallway labeled Authorized Personnel Only. “We need to get out of here. There’s an employee exit at the end of this corridor.”
Cooper and Lia ran down the hall while Trinity grabbed Erica with one hand and her guitar with the other. Mikolas brought up the rear as the front doors of the Observatory blew open on the other side of the main room.
“Run. Don’t look back,” Mikolas growled.
Trinity and Erica kept going until they burst through the back door into the employee parking lot. The cool autumn breeze stung her cheeks, snapping her out of the panic.
Trinity hesitated. Mikolas had the Guardian’s mark; it had burned because she was in danger. The gods had chosen him to protect her.
Zeus must’ve been nuts. It made no sense. After Ted’s father died, Mikolas had become the leader of the Order of the Titans. Mikolas could even have been the one to give the command to lock her and her sisters inside the theater while the Order set it on fire. So how was he her Guardian? She didn’t have the answer, but she did know that the day Kronos came for them, Mikolas had stopped him and saved them all. None of it added up, but she’d never learn the truth if he waltzed back into the Observatory and got himself killed.
Trinity glanced at the door, and Erica grabbed her elbow. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Mikolas went back.” Trinity couldn’t pull her gaze away from the Observatory.
Erica squeezed her arm. “We need to warn the others that Kronos is loose.”
“You don’t need me for that. Go. I’ll be right behind you.” The words were out before she knew what she was saying. Was she seriously considering going back in that building? If she didn’t, Mikolas could die alone. All those people could die. But they didn’t have to. She could save them by giving Kronos the one thing he wanted most.
A daughter of Zeus.
She jerked free of Erica’s grasp and handed her the guitar. “Warn Callie and the others. And keep my guitar safe. Go!”
Trinity spun around and ran back inside the Observatory.
Mikolas crept along the back wall of the circular building, ducking low as he wove though the mass of frozen people. He needed to keep the God of Time distracted to give Trinity and her friends a chance to escape. The farther away from the building they got, the better their odds of living long enough to gather their Guardians. It was Trinity’s best chance to stay alive.
Kronos was back in his human form—a tall, distinguished businessman named Kevin Elys. He strode to the center of the room and perched on the stool where Trinity had been playing. Behind him, another man stepped into the light. He was taller than Kevin, but his face was hidden under a hooded black cloak. In one big, gloved hand, he carried a large spear.
Kevin chuckled, the deep sound echoing through the Observatory as he gestured to the immobile partygoers surrounding the round room. “Behold, dear Brother, my son’s precious humanity.”
Mikolas thought back, trying to determine who this mysterious cloaked figure was. He had been raised on stories of gods, goddesses, and Titans back home in Greece, and he knew that Kronos had five brothers. But only one had a spear at his side at all times—Iapetus. He was the Titan of Mortality, the Piercer. He’d been banished to Tartarus by Zeus and the Olympians eons ago. Yet here he was. Zack had been right. The prison was no longer able to contain them.
Fuck.
Mikolas carefully made his way through the crowd, sticking to the shadows until he neared Ted.
“I will destroy them,” Iapetus’s deep voice rumbled. “Then I will free Atlas. My son has been burdened by carrying this world on his shoulders for a millennium in servitude to Zeus. No more!” he bellowed.
Kevin patted his brother’s shoulder. “If you truly wish to avenge your son, you must first punish Zeus as you have been. Sacrifice his precious daughters.” The hood turned toward Kevin as he went on. “Yes, Brother. The muses are here in this world, and they’re mortal, trapped inside human bodies.”
“I will drink their life force and enjoy their father’s tears.” Iapetus nodded. “Zeus was never worthy of being your son. He wasn’t even fit to be your cupbearer, Brother.” He grunted. “Without his Olympians to protect him, we can chain your traitorous son to the depths of Tartarus. He will know our pain.”
Mikolas gripped Ted’s arm, but nothing happened. Shit. Without Cooper’s healing power, he couldn’t focus. Or something? He didn’t understand how any of this worked. Earlier, when he’d sensed Kronos approaching, he’d envisioned his energy shielding Trinity. When he and Trinity were the only ones immune to Kronos’s magic, he assumed his Guardian power had blocked the God of Time’s magic.
But it wasn’t working on Ted. Lia and Erica had awakened with Cooper’s help. Maybe it only worked on Trinity because she was Mikolas’s muse?
The other two muses had been awakened by Cooper’s healing power. Mikolas had somehow…magnified it. Zack had called harnessing divine power. But there was nothing to harness here. No healing power without Cooper.
Dammit. What was the use of being a demigod if he didn’t understand how his power worked? Or even knew what it really was…
He took out his phone and sent Ted a text. If Mikolas died tonight, he needed Ted to do something for him.
I’m going after Kronos. If I’m dead by the time you read this, protect Trinity, whether she likes it or not.
Mikolas tucked his cell back in his pocket and eyed the immortals.
“I can handle my son, but first…” Kevin waved a hand toward the immobile people. “First, you should feed, Brother. It has been far too long since you tasted mortality.”
Iapetus strode forward with his spear raised. In an instant, he spun, his movements supernaturally fast. Two heads dropped to the floor with wet thuds. A moment later, the bodies they once belonged to crumpled beside them.
Mikolas’s heart thundered in his ears. Demigod or not, he wouldn’t last long in a physical fight with two Titans. But he had to do something.
Iapetus sucked in a long, slow breath, his chest expanding as he straightened to his full height. His form seemed even larger now, if that was possible. “I’d forgotten the sweet scent of mortality, of their fragile lifeforce teasing my nostrils.”
“Okay, dude. No one talks like that.” Trinity came into the light and stopped in front of the Titans, a hand on her hip. Being fearless and flippant was a great way to get herself killed. What was she doing?
Kevin grinned. “I remember you.”
“Yeah, and I’m guessing you still want to lure Zeus into the open so you can get even.” She gestured to the men and women stuck in time. “Killing these people won’t do that. But I know what will. So let them go, and I’m all yours.”
“No fucking way.” Mikolas shouted as he came forward, every muscle in his body juiced up on adrenaline as he faced the two Titans. “Trinity, get the hell out of here.”
Kevin sobered, rubbing his chin. “Why is time still moving for you two?”
The last time Mikolas had seen Kevin, Mikolas had attacked the immortal from behind with Rhea’s crystal shard, so there was a good chance the Father of the Gods wouldn’t recognize him. Maybe he could use it to his advantage.
“Zeus sent me.” Mikolas kept his gaze locked on Kevin. “I can take you to him, but Iapetus must lower his spear.”
Kevin paused, and Mikolas held his breath. The God of Time came toward him. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face, and a crease marred his brow. “Time remains constant around you. What are you?” he asked, ignoring both Mikolas’s and Trinity’s offers.
“I’m Mikolas Leandros, and Zeus sent me.”
Kevin crossed his arms. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
Mikolas started to open his mouth, but sirens blared outside, deafening his ears. A voice boomed from a loudspeaker. “Crystal City Police Department. Come out with your hands over your head.”
Lia, Erica, and Cooper must’ve called the police.
Iapetus struck a fighting position while Kevin cursed under his breath, wiping the sweat from his brow, his eyes beginning to glow. He was losing his grip on his mortal disguise. He grabbed his brother’s arm, forcing him to lower his spear. “Humanity no longer battles hand-to-hand, Brother. They can attack from a distance.”
Mikolas stole a glance at Trinity. She quickly looked away. At least she could still move. Whatever demigod power he possessed, the connection between them as muse and Guardian must’ve kept her shielded from Kronos’s time manipulation. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, though. The strain on the God of Time was obvious.
Mikolas faced the immortals again. “That’s a SWAT team out there. If you don’t respond to their commands, they’ll come inside with guns blazing.”
Kronos gripped his brother’s shoulder. “Come, Brother.”
The air sucked out of the room, and they vanished.
Mikolas blinked. They were gone. Kronos must’ve sped up time to hide their retreat. It didn’t matter. Mikolas didn’t give a shit about Kronos right now. He ran to Trinity and grabbed her hand. She struggled for a second, but he tightened his hold.
“We need to go,” he said. “Now.”
They raced out the back exit and straight to his black Mercedes. He unlocked the doors, but Trinity didn’t get inside.
She crossed her arms. “I can ride back with the police.”
Mikolas clenched his jaw. “Those two Titans could be anywhere. The police won’t be able to protect you from them.”
“But you can?” She raised a brow.
He opened the passenger door and held it for her. “You’re still moving, aren’t you? Unlike everyone else in the Observatory…”
She scoffed. “And you think that’s because of you?”
“It’s a theory.” He fought the urge to throw her over his shoulder and stuff her into the passenger seat. “Look, you can be pissed at me, just let me get you away from here. It doesn’t have to change anything.”
She pursed her lips. “Fine.”
She got in, and he slammed the door closed. As he went around to the driver’s side, his hands trembled. They were far from out of the woods yet, but damn, they held their own with two Titans and they were still standing. Survival was a rush.
He drove down the delivery access road, staying away from the red flashing lights. When they were a few miles away, he finally glanced over at his silent passenger. “I told you to run away and not to look back.”
“So.” She stared out her window. “I saw the mark, and I’m the last muse without a Guardian so I can connect the dots, but we should get something straight right now. You may be my Guardian, but I don’t trust you, and I don’t answer to you.”
He focused on the street. “You make it tough to protect you when you put yourself in the line of fire.”
She turned his way, and he could almost feel the heat of her glare on his skin. “I was trying to save all those people. He wants a muse; I’m the best choice.”
“Seriously?” He stopped at the light and let go of the wheel in exasperation. “How do you figure that?”
She looked away again. “My sisters are all in relationships, and two of them have kids. People depend on them.”
He raised a brow. “Are you saying you’re expendable because you’re single?” The light changed, and he eased through the intersection.
She shrugged. “We were lucky to stop Kronos the first time. If we can’t defeat him this time, the best hope we have to minimize the casualties is to give him what he wants.”
He tightened his grip on the wheel. “Did it ever occur to you that if you discussed it with the other muses and Guardians, there might be another option?”
“I’m not an idiot.” Her words were tight and clipped. “It occurred to me, but there wasn’t time. I had to do something. And it still wasn’t enough. Two people are already dead.”
“It could have been much worse.” Gods, she was stubborn. He decided to drop it for now. “Where am I taking you? You shouldn’t be alone until we figure out what Kevin and his brother are planning.”
“I live with Clio and Mason, but I don’t want to go there. Not yet.” She chuffed, glancing out the passenger window. “It’s like I’m the eternal third wheel, but they’re both too sweet to complain.”
“In that case, I think I know just the place.”
Trinity sent a text to Erica to let her know she was safe while he navigated the dark streets. When he turned into the parking lot of the soon-to-be-opened Les Neuf Soeurs theater, he caught a rare curve to her lips.
She glanced his way. “I’m surprised.”
“How so?” He parked and turned off the engine and headlights.
“Just wouldn’t expect you to return to the scene of the crime.”
And there it was again. Her distaste for him was palpable.
He ran a hand down his face. “I’m well aware that you don’t believe me, but I didn’t know about the fire until I saw the coverage on the news.”
“Bullshit.” She got out of the car and slammed the door, walking toward the theater.
He slapped his hand against the steering wheel, but there wasn’t time to cool off. He couldn’t let her wander into the darkness alone. Kronos and Iapetus could be anywhere.
Mikolas followed behind her, taking a good long look at the theater the muses had sacrificed so much to see open. The building itself was a work of art with nine sides, each one with a rendering of a Greek muse. Visitors would admire the Theater of the Muses, and never guess the muses were still alive inside each of the women on the board of directors.
He stopped behind Trinity while she unlocked the glass doors. She glanced back at him. “Mason and the guys did an incredible job on this place. Thanks to Ted, we couldn’t get a single general contractor to work with us.”
“I didn’t—”
“I know.” She put a hand up as she interrupted. “Ted started blackballing this theater long before you landed in Crystal City.” She pointed to the vaulted ceiling of the lobby. “This was Clio’s idea. It’s a memorial to Nia and Polly.”
She flipped a switch, and scrolls suspended in midair were illuminated by myriad tiny lights twinkling in the darkness. Some of the scrolls were unrolled, exposing the pages of music and familiar lyrics. He squinted, bringing them into focus. Hymns. Hundreds of them. The small bulbs only illumined a few words here and there, but the effect sent a ripple of energy through him—inspiration.
Mikolas couldn’t take his eyes off it. “For Polyhymnia and Urania… It’s perfect.” He met her eyes. “My grandmother was her generation’s Urania.” He hadn’t expected the words to fall from his lips, but he couldn’t pull them back now. “My grandfather waited until I was thirteen to explain what my birthmark meant. I assumed I would be the Guardian for my generation’s Urania…”
Understanding clicked in her expression. “That’s why you donated the giant telescope in Nia’s memory.”
He nodded and glanced back up at the ceiling. “When I discovered the Order had killed her…” He shook his head, casting his gaze to the floor. “I’d been marked by the gods to be her protector. It was my purpose from birth, and I failed.” He lifted his eyes to meet hers. “But when I found you that day when Kronos attacked after the dance recital, the mark burned, and I knew.”
Trinity stared up at him, her voice barely a whisper. “I’m your muse.”
“Yes.” It took all his self-control not to touch her. He’d been marked for her as the ancient prophecy foretold. The mystical connection between them tugged at him, but the reality was, he barely knew her, and she seemed content to loathe his existence.
She was his muse, and he’d defended her from Kronos twice already. But she was hardly “his,” not even close. He swallowed the lump that was creeping up his throat. “I’ll fight until my last breath to protect you.”
“No.” She broke eye contact and went to the ornately carved interior double doors leading to the main theater. “There’s enough blood on my hands already. I don’t want yours, too.”