With a roar, Prometheus lets go of the shackles that have bound him for lifetimes and throws his arms around my waist. At the same time, he uses his muscular legs to propel us outward and send us both flying out over the valley. He heaves his great weight to one side, and we spin in the air so that I’m on top.
“Umph!” My whole body goes vertical, with Prometheus dangling from his crushing grip. His colossal weight drags us both down fast, but he jumped far enough out that we’re almost to the door. I beat my wings, straining feverishly, and somehow bring us closer to the fissure between Tartarus and Thalyria. Gritting my teeth, I flap hard and push. I’ll get us there. I swear to the Gods, I will.
We plummet toward the bottom of the bright line in the sky, and I grip Prometheus’s shoulders so hard I’ll leave marks. There’s no way I’m letting him go. I have more lightning, but every instinct in me screams that this first blast I shot into the gray is my one and only door. That power was a one-time deal—my reward. The gate will close behind me, and I won’t have that ability anymore. If we fall too far, I can fly back up here, even from the valley floor, but I could never lift my passenger again. This is Prometheus’s only chance.
But what about Sisyphus? And that starving man with his fruit? I feel a moment of panic that I can’t take more people with me but then push it aside. I can’t save everyone. But I’ll save the one I can.
With a scream and a mighty flap of wings I feel all the way to my toes, I fly us the few more feet we need to tumble through the very base of the lightning door. We’re both shouting now, the Titan’s mammoth arms clamped around my waist, my wings stretched out and pounding hard. We hurtle down a long tunnel with blinding, white-hot walls. Through it all, I somehow manage to envision a lot of things. Griffin. The inner courtyard of Castle Tarva. Not being far above the ground. I even manage a big, fat, rude hand gesture directed right at Zeus along with a Ha! and an I took your prisoner, and I am not giving him back!
And just when I’m at my most irreverent, an all-encompassing, bearded male fills the space around us. Deeply powerful eyes settle first on me and then on my hulking cargo. It’s Zeus. This time, I’m sure of it. He nods to us, as if we did something right, not terrible. A similar male with a golden trident appears and mouths words I can’t hear, looking satisfied and even happy. Another figure soon joins them, as if called to the gathering in this huge and distorted space between worlds. The newcomer is sleek, shadowed, and sinfully attractive—the Lord of the Underworld, I have no doubt.
Seeming pleased by the turn of events, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades all nod to each other and then blink out of my awareness, leaving only the blinding flashes and branching crackles of the passageway around us.
But then a weightlessness grips us, arresting all motion. I draw in a sharp breath at the sudden change in velocity, and Prometheus tightens his hold on me, as if afraid we’ll drift apart. All goes suddenly dark.
I blink, trying to adjust my sight. No, not just dark. Night. And there are torches all around us.
The weightlessness abruptly disappears, and we drop, falling straight into the heart of Thalyria.
CHAPTER 29
There’s hardly time to gasp before we land in a bone-jarring heap. Prometheus takes the brunt of the fall, and I come down on top of him. He doesn’t breathe at all, both sides of him punched hard. I recover first and scramble off him, getting my weight off his chest. His first inhale wheezes in his throat. His second doesn’t sound much better, but it goes deeper, expanding his lungs. He sits up with a grimace, and guards close in. About twenty blades aim for his throat.
“No!” I throw out my arms, shielding him. Getting to Prometheus means going through me. Everyone stops instantly.
But no one stops yelling. The yelling is deafening. It’s pandemonium. Celebration. “Queen Catalia! Queen Catalia!” My ears ring with my own name, and the noise is an uproar I can hardly bear after the dullness of Tartarus.
I inch closer to Prometheus, letting his massive body buffer me from some of the overwhelming welcome. Maybe I’m shielding him as well. He doesn’t look any more comfortable than I feel.
Kaia is the first of the family to race into the courtyard. I see her beyond Prometheus’s big shoulder, her cloak barely tied together over her nightgown and her long hair streaming down her arms. I see her eyes widen as she stumbles to a stop. I see the moment she realizes through the dark and the racket and the happy roar that the man with me isn’t the one she so desperately wants. I see her heart break all over again, and mine can’t do anything but break along with it.
She looks away, hiding her tears.
“Kaia!” My voice rings out sharply—too sharply—but I need to shout to be heard. The din diminishes, and everyone waits for me to speak again.
Kaia turns back to me, blinking hard.
“I need your help.”
At first, she stares blankly, as if she doesn’t understand my words. But then she nods and moves forward again, the guards making way for her. She reaches me as I stand, and we wrap our arms around each other, squeezing hard. I let go first, knowing we’re both on the verge of losing control. We could collapse in on each other and weep for years, but what good would that do? It won’t bring Kato back. And it won’t win our war.
Kaia’s teary eyes take in my wings as she draws back, but she doesn’t say a word.
Prometheus rises to stand beside me, towering over us both. Over the guards. Over everyone. He even towers over Flynn, who arrives in the courtyard followed closely by Jocasta. Carver sprints out on their heels. My heart swells to near bursting at the sight of them—all hale and whole.
They surround me. Then the crushing, joyful, heart-wrenching hugs begin. I revel in them, in the human contact, in the love I feel. This is my family. This is where I belong.
But the most important person for me is missing. Where’s Griffin?
I glance up, ignoring the battery of questions—Are you okay? Who is this? Where were you? What happened?—and my eyes find Griffin’s as he stares down at me from the darkened window of the marble tower. My heart breathes a sigh of relief, and I suddenly know with absolute certainty that this castle will be my home. This is where I’ll raise my family. This is where I’ll live instead of just exist.
Griffin is like a statue framed by the shadowed alcove, unmoving, his hands braced upon the windowsill, his eyes burning dark. He looks down at me. He stares and stares like he sees both a dream and a ghost.
My chest tightens, and my eyes grow hot. There’s such a rush of emotions inside me that I couldn’t ever begin to define them all. The combination, though—it’s happiness unlike I’ve ever known.
Anatole and Nerissa fly toward me, and I tear my eyes from Griffin’s so that I can embrace them both. I hug everyone again—Jocasta, Flynn, Carver, Kaia—just because I want to and I can. When I pull back, though, it’s hard not to fall into the gaping hole where Kato should have been, completing our circle with his light and humor and selfless loyalty.