Chapter Twenty-One.
The Path to Vengeance Apollo rode Anguish hard through the snow, the needles of the pines whipping unheeded against his face and body, his torso ducking and swaying to avoid branches.
His destination: where he"d seen the dragons" blaze.
His lungs were burning fire throughout his frame.
His neck and shoulders were solid with tension.
His thoughts were tortured.
He hit the smoking wasteland and saw them.
Meeta and Loretta were there for some G.o.ds forsaken reason.
Finnie and Frey were there, which was surprising but not, considering the dragons and their fire.
His wolves were there, which was as he"d arranged.
And then there was Maddie, looking wet, cold and disheveled.
But standing.
Breathing.
Alive.
Alive.
He rode straight to her, not slowing Anguish, and the huddle swayed out of his way as he threw his leg over the saddle and dismounted with Anguish still at a run.
His legs bore the impact of his dismount but he didn"t feel it.
He took two long strides to Madeleine, lifted his hands and framed her face. Unable to stop them, he moved them over her hair, down her neck, under her jaws and back to the sides of her head as his eyes scoured her face.
Standing.
Breathing Her eyes open and looking into his.
"I"m all right, Lo," she whispered and he felt her hand light on his stomach as she leaned in. "I"m all right, baby."
At her words, he crushed his mouth down on hers, thrusting his tongue in, tasting her, drinking from her, devouring her.
Her arms curled around his middle and went tight as she tipped her head back to give him what he needed.
More.
Approaching horses and voices pierced his extreme relief and he tore his mouth from hers. When he did, he cupped the back of her head, shoved her face in his throat and curled an arm around her, hauling her deep so she was tight to his body and he could feel her everywhere. Smell her close. Absorb the fact she was still alive.
His eyes went to Frey.
"What was it?" he barked.
"Hewcrows," Frey answered. "Minerva," he went on, telling Apollo something he already knew.
Everyone knew the bird-headed hewcrows were Minerva"s magic.
But the black mist that he"d seen envelope Maddie was something else.
He couldn"t think of his Madeleine being attacked in the forest by hewcrows. Not then. His nerves were frayed, his fury at the surface. The thought of his broken dove battling hewcrows in the snow would cause him to lose control.
Instead, he glanced around at the destruction, taking in the three dragons at rest.
Hostilities had escalated.
"Lo," Maddie breathed.
He ignored her and looked back to Frey.
"You"re here because?" Apollo asked.
"I"m here because my family gathers," Frey answered.
Enough said.
"I"m also here to seek Lavinia," Frey added.
"The others?" Apollo went on.
"We"ve had a message from the Circe of the other world. She wishes to help with our plight and she"s discovered a way to recover her magic. It"s a dangerous process and she would still consume all she recouped if she made the journey between worlds. We need Lavinia and Valentine to transport her here. Once here, she"ll be a formidable addition. That said, she"s explained this process and Circe, Cora, Tor, Lahn and their men journey to the font where Lahn"s Circe can recoup her magic as well."
Apollo nodded.
"Lo," Madeline whispered.
He again ignored her and noted that Frey"s men Ruben and Thaddeus had arrived and Annar, Lund, Oleg and Orion were riding to join their group. He turned his head and saw Laures, Remi, Hans and Alek had also made it. All of the men were still mounted, except Hans, who was close to Loretta, holding her while Meeta tied a strip of fabric she"d torn from her dress around a shoulder wound Loretta had sustained.
At the sight of the maid"s blood, Apollo"s mouth got tight and that burn in his chest came back.
"Get Loretta back to Brunskar," he ordered Hans.
Hans looked to him and nodded.
"Lo," Madeleine repeated.
"My mother?" Frey asked over her and Apollo looked to him, knowing the question.
That question being why Apollo was there.
And Frey knew the likely reason.
"She, or your father, Franka or Kristian. They"re all here," Apollo answered.
This time, Frey"s mouth got tight and his eyes slid to Ruben.
"I want them in the dungeons before night"s end," he commanded.
Without delay, Ruben, Thad, Annar, Lund and the others whirled their horses, dug their heels in and shot through the smoke.
Apollo heard more horses and turned to see Draven and Gaston arrive.
They"d barely stopped their mounts before Apollo caught Laures"s eyes. "One of you, a.s.sist Hans with Loretta and Meeta. The rest, aid Frey"s men."
Gaston approached Hans and the women. The rest of his men dug their heels in their horses and galloped away.
"Lo!" Maddie wheezed into his throat.
He took the pressure off the back of her head and looked down at her. "Dove, what?"
She tipped her head back. "You"re squeezing the breath out of me."
His arm around her back relaxed but he did not let her go.
She collapsed into him and pressed her face in his chest.
Seeing her do that, feeling it, he felt a muscle tick in his cheek right before he whistled sharply.
Maddie jumped in his arms and lifted her head but Apollo turned his eyes to the wolf who ran to him and stopped five feet away.
He heard Maddie catch her breath but he spoke to the king of the wolves.
"How many did you lose?"
"Twenty-seven." He heard in his head as the wolf barked.
Twenty-seven.
Twenty-seven wolves.
G.o.ds d.a.m.n it.
"They will be avenged," Apollo promised.
The wolf yipped, bobbed his muzzle, turned and ran through the smolder.
"What was that?" Maddie asked, her voice breathy, now for a different reason.
Apollo looked down at her.
She was staring after the wolf.
He lifted his head and gave a different kind of whistle.
Anguish trotted to him.
He heard Maddie gasp as he lifted her up and planted her a.r.s.e on his mount. He didn"t delay in swinging up behind her, jerking up his chin to Frey, dipping it to Finnie, clamping Maddie close to him and bending into her and his steed.
He dug his heels in Anguish"s flanks.
His horse shot through the smoke.
Destination Brunskar.
And the path to vengeance.
His boots sounding sharp on the black stone floors of the Brunskar dungeons, Apollo was not surprised at what he saw at the end of the hall when he turned the corner.
Madeleine and Frey facing off.
She was wearing what he a.s.sumed was one of Melba"s soft, peach gowns. He a.s.sumed this as he"d left her to Melba, a guard, one of Calder"s witches, a physician called in from the village, as well as Meeta. They were all seeing to Loretta.
In other words, outside Melba, who"d essentially been elbowed aside by a rabidly protective Maddie and an equally rabidly protective Meeta, they were generally getting in the physician"s way.
As he had things to do that didn"t include watching a physician st.i.tch flesh as his Maddie fanned Loretta and Meeta threatened the poor man if the st.i.tches weren"t tidy and straight, he"d left them to it.
Now she had found her way to the dungeons, the torches lit along the walls casting spare light into the gloom.
He was finding that was his Maddie. a.s.sa.s.sins. Hewcrows. Dark magic. She was a fighter. She most definitely did not like to be kept in the dark and she didn"t shy away from much.
Except emotion.
And she was learning to face that head on too.
And all of this, all of Maddie, pleased him very much.
Which meant the thirty minutes where he knew not whether she was still with him in this world, or she was not in any world, had been unadulterated anguish.
Apollo could not dwell on that however, for as he got close, he saw her face was set.
As was Frey"s.