Page 66 of The Guardian (Dark-Hunter 20)
Chapter 19
Seth hesitated outside the throne room. In battle, it paid to get your bearings before running in half-cocked. That was the quickest way he knew of getting gutted, and he'd been gutted enough to verify it for a fact.
And while he knew he would survive a good gutting, Lydia might not and he wasn't about to take a chance with her safety.
As he listened, the familiar sounds of violence and battle rang out around him, reminding him of the life he'd had to endure all these centuries past.
I don't want to go back to that. Ever.
He wasn't a coward. But he was tired of fighting for every little thing. Of being on guard with every creature he came into contact with, knowing they wouldn't hesitate to strike out at him if given a chance.
Lydia had spoiled him with another world, and it was one he never wanted to leave.
Which meant he had to get rid of these assholes so that they could ...
Make a commitment to each other. That's what Lydia had called it. And that was the life he wanted now. One with her in it.
That was the life, the only thing, he was willing to fight for.
Closing his eyes, he tapped into the powers that Noir had been stripping from him since puberty. They were stronger now than they'd been even an hour ago, and they still weren't at full strength. It made him wonder what they'd be like at maximum capacity. They'd have to be impressive, given what he felt right now.
No wonder Noir had kept him under heel. At full strength, he would have the ability to give the bastard a good run for his money.
The jackals should have asked for a higher price when they sold him. Stupid bastards.
And with those powers, he was able to see everything going on inside the throne room.
Verlyn and Maahes were there and engaged in a bloody fight as they stood toe-to-toe. But they weren't alone.
Far from it.
Solin, along with other Dream-Hunters and a Greek god he didn't recognize, were fighting another group of their own kind. And as he watched and listened, he finally understood why everyone was after them.
Why the gods were after Lydia.
His stomach churned. Verlyn wasn't here for just him.
There was someone even more important to everyone in that room. He looked back over his shoulder.
The same person who was everything to him.
In her jackal form, Lydia started to run past him, but he caught her against his chest and held her tight before she made a serious mistake.
Struggling against his hold to free herself, she flashed back to human. She crouched beside him to give him a nasty glare. "What are we waiting for?"
Sanity.
But it was a little late for that. What the hell? Not like he'd ever had any to begin with.
He inclined his head to the combatants inside. "The Phonoi and those bitches from my dreams are in there."
Lydia felt the blood drain from her face as she heard his news. The Phonoi? Here?
Why would they have come for Seth when he was Egyptian and Noir's property?
As the Greek embodiment of Murder, Slaughter, and Killing, the Phonoi were the triplet goddesses Zeus sent in whenever he wanted someone killed.
But why kill Seth?
"Are you sure?"
Nodding, Seth's jaw muscle worked furiously. He pinned her with a stare that made her stomach clench. "You're the key, Lydia."
She drew back with a scowl. "The key to what?"
"The key to Olympus that they're trying to find."
The man was nuts. "There's no way. You're wrong."
He stroked her cheek, looking at her as if he'd never seen her before. But that wasn't what scared her. It was the light in the back of that icy blue gaze that sent a shiver over her because she didn't know what it signified.
"Think about it, sšn. It's the only thing that makes sense. Don't you see? It's why Solin was the only one who knew where the key was. Why the Greek Dream-Hunters came for me, demanding I give you to them. Why else would they want to kill you?"
Even though it made sense, she refused to believe it. She couldn't. "I can't be the key to Olympus. I know nothing about it. I've never been there. Never met Zeus or any of them. I..."
Lydia's voice trailed off as a long-forgotten memory flashed through her mind. She saw her mother on that awful night that was forever branded in her heart. Smelled the fire and heard the screams and shouts of her family dying.
"Where is it? Give us the key and we'll spare the rest of you."
She'd never seen who attacked them, but now she remembered the angry voices that had been right outside their small home.
Their attackers had been looking for a key that night, too. Her grandfather and uncles had gone to fight them while her mother grabbed her from bed and dressed her to run.
"Stay calm, Lydia. Don't panic." Her mother had kissed her on the cheek. "I know you're scared. So am I. But this is something you have to do alone. I can't go with you. Now that they have my scent, they'll be able to hunt you down and find you if I do."
Lydia had tried to speak, only to learn that she couldn't. And that terrified her even more. Why couldn't she make even a whisper?
Her mother's hand had shaken as she stroked her hair to soothe her. "I did that so that you can never speak of this night to anyone. You understand? Trust no one ... Now, I'm sending you to your father. He'll guard you always. You are the key that men will kill to possess. Whatever you do, listen to what your father tells you. One day, you'll understand."
Then her mother had tried to transport her to Greece.
Lydia hadn't made it. Their enemies had killed her mother before she could finish the transport.
Instead of Greece, she'd landed in the desert. Alone. Terrified. Bereft. For days, she'd staggered through it until one man had come out of a sandstorm to save her.
She wouldn't know he was her father until long after she'd grown up.
And then only because, as a young woman, she'd been desperate to learn something about the man she'd thought had abandoned her and her mother. Ready to confront him and give him nightmares until he begged for mercy, she had been shocked to her foundation to find Solin.
