The Darkest Kiss

Anya knew her mother well, knew Dysnomia had been slave to her lawless nature, as well as simply looking for love. Mated gods, single gods, it hadn’t mattered. If they had desired her, she had given herself to them. Probably because for those few hours in her lovers’ arms, she had been accepted, cherished, her darker urges sated.

Which made the betrayal afterward all the more painful, Anya thought, eyeing Lucien. Of all the things she’d expected and yearned for him to say, unimportant hadn’t been close. She’s mine, maybe. I need her, perhaps. Don’t touch my property, definitely.

She hadn’t wanted the same life as her mother, much as she loved her, and had vowed long ago never to let herself be used. But look at me now. I begged and pleaded for Lucien’s kiss, and he never saw me as anything more than unimportant.

Growling, channeling all of her considerable strength, fury and hurt, she shoved him. He propelled forward like a bullet from a gun and slammed into Paris. Both men hmphed before ricocheting apart.

When Lucien righted himself, he whipped around to face her. “There will be none of that.”

“Actually, there’s going to be a lot more of that.” She stalked toward him, fist raised. Soon he would be swallowing his perfect white teeth.

“Anya,” he said, her name a husky entreaty. “Stop.”

She froze, shock thickening every drop of blood in her veins. “You know who I am.” A statement, not a question. “How?” They’d spoken once, weeks ago, but he’d never seen her before today. She’d made sure of it.

“You have been following me. I recognized your scent.”

Strawberries and cream, he’d said earlier, accusation in his voice. Her eyes widened. Pleasure and mortification blended, spearing her all the way to the bone. All along, he’d known she was watching him.

“Why did I get the third degree if you knew who I was? And why, if you knew I was following you, didn’t you ask me to show myself?” The questions lashed from her with stinging force.

“One,” he said, “I did not realize who you were until after the discussion about Hunters had taken place. Two, I did not wish to scare you away until I learned your purpose.” He paused, waited for her to speak. When she didn’t, he added, “What is your purpose?”

“I—you—” Damn it! What should she tell him? “You owe me a favor! I saved your friend, freed you from his curse.” There. Rational and true and hopefully would move the conversation away from her motives.

“Ah.” He nodded, his shoulders stiffening. “Everything makes sense now. You’ve come for payment.”

“Well, no.” Much as it would have saved her pride, she suddenly realized she didn’t want him thinking she gave her kisses away so easily. “Not yet.”

His brow furrowed. “But you just said—”

“I know what I said.”

“Why have you come, then? Why stalk my every waking moment?”

She pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth, her frustration renewed. There was no time to reply, however, as Reyes, Paris and Gideon closed in on her. All three were scowling. Did they think to grab her and keep her still?

Rather than answer Lucien, she snapped at the men, “What? I don’t recall inviting you into the conversation.”

“You are Anya?” Reyes eyed her up and down, his revulsion clear.

Revulsion? He should be grateful! Hadn’t she liberated him from the curse that had forced him to stab his BFF every night? Yes, damn it. She had. But his look was one she knew well, and one that never failed to raise her hackles. Because of her mother’s amorous past and the widespread expectation that she, with her free-spirited ways, would follow suit, every Greek god in Olympus had projected that same sort of revulsion at her at one time or another.

At first, Anya had been hurt by their smug disdain. And for several hundred years, she’d tried the good-girl thing: dressing like a freaking nun, speaking only when spoken to, keeping her gaze downcast. Somehow she’d even squelched her desperate need for disaster. All to earn the respect of beings who would never see her as anything more than a whore.

One fateful day, when she’d come home from stupid goddess training, crying because she’d smiled at Ares and that bitch Artemis had called her ta ma de, Dysnomia had pulled her aside. Whatever you do, however you act, they are going to judge you harshly, the goddess had said. But we all must be true to our own nature. Acting as anyone other than yourself merely brings you pain and makes you appear ashamed of who and what you are. Others will feed off that shame, and soon it will be all that you are. You are a wonderful being, Anya. Be proud of who you are. I am.

From then on, Anya had dressed as sexily as she pleased, talked whenever and however she wanted and refused to look at her feet for any reason other than admiring her strappy stilettos. No longer had she denied her need for disorder. An offhand way of saying “fuck you” to the ones who rejected her, yes, but more importantly, she liked who she was.

She would never be ashamed again.

“It is…interesting to see you in the flesh after all the research I’ve done on you lately. You are the daughter of Dysnomia,” Reyes continued. “You are the minor goddess of Anarchy.”

“There’s nothing minor about me.” Minor meant unimportant, and she was just as important as the other, “higher” beings, damn it. But because no one knew who her father was—well, she did, now—she had been relegated as such. “But yeah. I am a goddess.” She raised her chin, showing him no emotion.

“The night you made yourself known to us and saved Ashlyn’s life, you told us that you were not,” Lucien said. “You told us you were merely an immortal.”

She shrugged. She hated gods so much she rarely used that title. “I lied. I often do. It’s part of my charm, don’t you think?”

No one replied. Figured.

“We were once warriors for the gods and lived in the heavens, as I’m sure you know,” Reyes said as if she hadn’t spoken. “I do not remember you.”

“Maybe I wasn’t born yet, smartie.”

Irritation flickered in his dark eyes, but he continued calmly. “As I told you, since your appearance weeks ago I have been researching you, learning everything I can. Long ago, you were imprisoned for murdering an innocent man. Then, a hundred years or so after your confinement, the gods finally agreed on the proper punishment for you. Before they could carry out the verdict, however, you did something no other immortal had ever managed to do. You escaped.”

She didn’t try to deny it. “Your research is correct.” For the most part.

“Legend claims you infected the keeper of Tartarus with some kind of disease, for immediately after your escape he weakened and lost his memory. Guards were placed in every corner to fortify security, as the gods feared the strength of the prison depended on the strength of its keeper. Over time the walls did begin to crumble and crack, which eventually led to the escape of the Titans.”

Gonna blame that on her, was he? Her eyes narrowed. “The thing about legends,” she said flatly, “is that the truth is often distorted to explain the things that mortals cannot understand. Funny that you, the subject of so many legends, don’t know that.”

“You hid here, among humans,” Reyes said, ignoring her. Again. “But you weren’t content to live in peace even then. You started wars, stole weapons and even ships. You caused major fires and others disasters, which in turn led to mass panic and rioting among the humans, and hundreds of people being imprisoned.”

Warmth suffused her face. Yes, she’d done those things. When she’d first come to earth, she hadn’t known how to control her rebellious nature. Gods had been able to protect themselves from it, humans hadn’t. Besides that, she’d been almost…feral from her years in prison. A simple comment from her—you aren’t going to let your brother talk to you like that, are you?—and bloody feuds erupted between clans. An appearance at court—perhaps laughing at the rulers and their policies—and loyal knights attempted to assassinate their king.

As for the fires, well, something inside her had compelled her to “accidentally” drop torches and watch the flames dance. And the stealing…she’d been unable to fight the voice in her head that whispered, Take it. No one will know.

Eventually she’d learned that if she fed her need for disorder with little things—petty theft, white lies and the occasional street fight—huge disasters could be averted.

“I did my homework on you, too,” she said softly. “Did you not once destroy cities and kill innocents?”

Now Reyes blushed.

“You are not the same man you used to be, just as I am not—” Before she’d completed the sentence, a sudden wind blustered around them, whistling and harsh. Anya blinked against it, confused for only a moment. “Damn it!” she spat, knowing what would come next.

Sure enough, the warriors froze in place as time ceased to exist for them, a power greater than themselves taking hold of the world around them. Even Lucien, who’d been carefully watching her exchange with Reyes, turned to living stone.

Hell, she did, too.

Oh, no, no, no, she thought, and with the words, the invisible prison bars fell away from her like leaves from a winter tree. Nothing and no one could hold her prisoner. Not anymore. Her father had made sure of that.

Anya walked to Lucien to try to free him—why, she didn’t know, after the things he’d said of her—but the wind ceased as suddenly as it had appeared. Her mouth dried, and her heart began an unsteady tango in her chest. Cronus, who had taken over the heavenly throne mere months ago, bringing new rules, new desires and new punishments, was about to arrive.

He’d found her.

Freaking great. As a bright blue light appeared in front of her, chasing away the darkness and humming with unimaginable power, she flashed away. With a sense of regret she had no business feeling, she left Lucien behind—taking the taste and memory of their kiss with her.

CHAPTER TWO

A BLACK FOG HAD DESCENDED over Lucien, locking his mind on a single thought: Anya.

He’d been in the middle of a conversation with her, trying to forget how perfectly she had fit against him, how razor-sharp his desire for her had been, and how, in the too-short minutes she’d been in his arms, he would have betrayed everyone he knew for a little more time with her.

Never had a kiss affected him more. His demon had actually purred inside his head. Purred. Like a tamed housecat. Such a thing had never happened before, and he did not understand why it had tonight.

Something must be wrong with him.

Why else would saying Anya meant nothing, was nothing, have nearly killed him? But he’d had to say it. For her benefit, and for his own. Such need was dangerous. And to admit to it, lethal to his infamous control.

Control. He would have snorted if he’d been capable of movement. Clearly he’d had no control with that woman.

Why had she pretended to want him? Why had she kissed him as if she’d die without his tongue? Women simply did not crave him like that. Not anymore. He knew that better than anyone. Yet Anya had practically begged him for more.

And now he could not remove her image from his head. She was tall, the perfect height, with a perfect pixie face and perfect sun-kissed-and-cream skin, smooth and shimmering, mouthwateringly erotic. He imagined laving every inch with his tongue.

Her breasts had nearly spilled from the cerulean half corset she’d worn, and mile after mile of delectable thigh had been visible thanks to her black miniskirt and high-heeled black boots.

Her hair was so pale it was like a snowstorm as it tumbled in waves down her back. Her eyes were wide and the same cerulean shade as her top. Uptilted nose. Full and red, made-for-sucking lips. Straight white teeth. She’d radiated wickedness and pleasure, every male fantasy come to glittery life.

Actually, he had not been able to remove her from his head since she’d entered their lives weeks ago and saved Ashlyn. She had not revealed her luscious beauty then, but her strawberry scent had branded him all the way to the bone.

Now, having tasted her, Lucien felt his heart pound in his chest and breath burn in his throat, blistering, sizzling. He experienced the same sensation when he glimpsed his friends Maddox and Ashlyn together, cooing, snuggling close, almost as if they were afraid to let go of each other.

Unexpectedly the fog lifted, at last freeing his mind and body, and he saw that he was still outside. Anya was gone, and his friends were seemingly frozen around him. His eyes narrowed as he reached up and wrapped his fingers around one of the daggers sheathed at his back. What was going on?

“Reyes?” No response. Not even the flicker of an eyelid. “Gideon? Paris?”

Nothing.

There was a movement in the shadows. Lucien withdrew the weapon slowly, waiting…prepared to do what was necessary…even as a thought slid into his mind. Anya could have taken his blades and used them on him, and he wouldn’t have known. Wouldn’t have cared. He’d been too consumed by her. But she hadn’t taken them. Which meant she truly hadn’t wanted to harm him.

Why had she approached him? he wondered again.

“Hello, Death,” a grave-sounding male said. No one appeared, but the weapon was jerked from Lucien’s grip and sent flying to the ground. “Do you know who I am?”

Though Lucien gave no outward reaction, dread slithered through him, devouring everything in its path. He had not heard the voice before, but he knew who it belonged to. Deep down, he knew. “Lord Titan,” he said. Not so long ago Lucien would have welcomed acknowledgment from this god. Now he knew better.

Aeron, keeper of Wrath, had received such acknowledgment a month ago. He’d been ordered to kill four human women. Why, the Titans refused to reveal. Aeron had declined the assignment and was now the unwilling guest of the Lords’ dungeon, a menace to himself and the world. Bloodlust consumed the warrior every minute of every day.

Lucien hated seeing his friend reduced to such an animal state. Worse, he hated the growing sense of helplessness inside himself, knowing that, as strong as he was, there was nothing he could do. All because of the being materializing before him now.

“To what do I owe this…honor?” he asked.

Fluid as water, Cronus stepped into a beam of amber moonlight. He had thick silver hair and a matching beard. A long linen chimation swathed his tall, thin body, so well-woven it could have been silk. His eyes were dark, fathomless pools.

In his left hand he held the black Scythe of Death, a weapon Lucien would have loved to seize and use on the cruel god, for it could cleave the head from an immortal in only an instant. As Death incarnate, the Scythe should have belonged to him, anyway, but it had disappeared when Cronus was imprisoned. Lucien wondered how Cronus had managed to find it—and if he could find Pandora’s box so easily.

“I do not like your tone,” the king finally replied, deceptively calm. A timbre Lucien knew well, for he used it himself while trying to keep his emotions under control.

“My apologies.” Bastard. Despite the weapon, Cronus did not look powerful enough to have broken free from Tartarus and overthrown the former king, Zeus. But he had. With brutality and cunning, proving beyond any doubt that he was not someone to antagonize.

“You met the wild and elusive Anya.” Whisper-soft now, the god’s voice drifted through the night, yet it was a lance of power so strong it could have felled an entire army.

Lucien’s dread increased a hundredfold. “Yes. I met her.”

“You kissed her.”

His hands clenched—in headiness at the memory, in fury that the passionate moment had been watched by this hated being. Calm. “Yes.”

Cronus glided toward him, as silent as the night. “Somehow she’s managed to evade me for many weeks. You, however, she seeks out. Why is that, do you think?”

“I honestly do not know.” And he didn’t. Her attention to him still made no sense. The ardor of her kiss had been faked, surely. And yet, she’d managed to burn him, body, soul and demon.

“No matter.” The god reached him, paused to stare deeply into his eyes. Cronus even smelled of power. “Now you will kill her.”

At the proclamation, Death rattled the cage of Lucien’s mind, but for once Lucien wasn’t sure whether the demon did so in eagerness or resentment. “Kill her?”

“You sound surprised.” Finally releasing Lucien’s gaze, the god brushed past him as though the conversation was over.

Though it was only the barest of touches, Lucien was knocked backward as if he’d been hit by a car, muscles clenching, lungs flattening. When he righted himself, trying to catch his breath, he wheeled around. Cronus was walking into the darkness, soon to disappear.

“If it pleases you,” he called, “may I ask why you want her…dead?”

The god did not turn as he said, “She is Anarchy, trouble to all who encounter her. That should be reason enough. You should thank me for this honor.”

Thank him? Lucien popped his jaw to quiet the words longing to burst from his lips. Now, more than before, he wanted to cleave the god’s head from his body. He remained in place, though, knowing just how brutal the gods’ retribution could be. He, Reyes and Maddox had only just been released from an ancient curse where Reyes had been forced to stab Maddox every night and Lucien had been compelled to escort the fallen warrior’s soul to hell.

The death-curse had been heaped upon them by the Greeks after Maddox had inadvertently killed Pandora. How much worse would the Titans’ punishment be if Lucien assassinated their king?

While Lucien did not care what they would do to him, he did fear for his friends. Already they had endured more torment than anyone should know in a hundred lifetimes.

Still, he found himself saying, “I do not wish to do this deed.” I will not. Destroying the beautiful Anya would be a curse all its own, he suspected.

He never saw Cronus move, but the god was in his face a heartbeat later. Those bright, otherworldly eyes pierced Lucien like a sword as his arm extended, the Scythe hovering before Reyes’s neck. “However long it takes, warrior, whatever you have to do, you will bring me her dead body. Fail to heed my command, and you and all those you love will suffer.”

The god disappeared in a blinding azure light, gone as quickly as he’d appeared, and the world kicked back into motion as if it had never stopped. Lucien could not catch his breath. One flick of Cronus’s wrist and he could have—would have—taken Reyes’s head.

“What the hell?” Reyes growled, looking around. “Where did she go?”

“She was just here.” Paris spun in a circle, scanning the area and clutching his dagger.

You and all those you love will suffer, the king had said. Not a boast. Absolute truth. Lucien fisted his hands and swallowed a surge of bile. “Let us go back inside and enjoy the rest of the evening,” he managed to get out. He needed time to think.

“Hey, wait a sec,” Paris began.

“No,” Lucien said with a shake of his head. “We will speak of this no longer.”

They stared at him for a long, silent moment. Eventually, each of them nodded. He didn’t mention the god’s visit or Anya’s disappearance as he strode past them. He didn’t mention Cronus or Anya as they entered the club. Still he didn’t mention them as the men scattered in different directions, their gazes lingering on him in puzzlement.

When Reyes tried to move past him, however, he held out a restraining hand.

Reyes stopped short and glanced at him in confusion.

Lucien motioned to the table in back, the one he had previously occupied, with a tilt of his chin. Reyes nodded in understanding, and they strode to it and sat.

“Spill,” Reyes said, reclining in his seat and staring out at the dance floor as casually as if they were merely discussing the weather.

“You researched Anya. Who did she kill to earn imprisonment? Why did she kill him?”

The music was a pounding, mocking tempo in the background. Strobe lights played over Reyes’s bronze skin and dark-as-night eyes. He shrugged. “The scrolls I read gave no mention of why, only who. Aias.”

“I remember him.” Lucien had never liked the arrogant bastard. “He probably deserved it.”

“When she killed him, he was Captain of the Immortal Guard. My guess is Anya caused some sort of disaster, Aias meant to arrest her, and they fought.”

Lucien blinked in surprise. Smug, self-serving Aias had taken his place? Before opening Pandora’s box, Lucien had been captain, keeper of the peace and protector of the god king. Once the demon had been placed inside him, however, he’d no longer been suitable and the duty had been stripped from him. Then he and the warriors who helped him steal the box had been banished from the heavens altogether.

“I wonder if she means to strike at you next,” Reyes said offhandedly.

Perhaps, though she’d had the opportunity to do so tonight and hadn’t taken it. He would have deserved it, though, no doubt about it. When they’d first come to earth, he and his friends had caused nothing but darkness and destruction, pain and misery. They’d had no control over their demons and had killed indiscriminately, destroyed homes and families, brought famine and disease.

By the time he’d learned to suppress his more menacing half, it had been too late. Hunters had already risen and begun fighting them. At the time, he hadn’t blamed them, had even felt deserving of their ire. Then those Hunters killed Baden, keeper of Distrust as well as Lucien’s brother-by-circumstance. The loss had devastated him, shaking him to the core.

Understanding the Hunters’ reasoning had no longer mattered, and he’d helped decimate those responsible. Afterward, though, he’d wanted peace. Sweet peace. Some of the warriors had not. They’d desired the destruction of all Hunters.

So Lucien and five other warriors had moved to Budapest, where they had lived without war for hundreds of years. A few weeks ago, the remaining six Lords had arrived in town, hot on the heels of Hunters who had been determined to wipe Lucien and his men from the world once and for all. Just like that, the blood feud reignited. There would be no escaping it this time. Part of him no longer wanted to escape it. Until the Hunters were eliminated completely, there could be no peace.

“What else did you learn about Anya?” he asked Reyes.

The warrior shrugged. “As I mentioned outside, she is the only daughter of Dysnomia.”

“Dysnomia?” He worried two fingers over his jaw. “I do not remember her.”

“She is the goddess of Lawlessness and the most reviled immortal among the Greeks. She slept with everything male, no matter if he was wed or not. No one even knows who Anya’s father is.”

“No suspicions?”

“How could there be when the mother in question had several different lovers each and every day?”

The thought of Anya following her mother’s path and taking multiple men to her bed infuriated Lucien. He hadn’t wanted to want her, but want her—desperately—he had. Did. Truly, he’d tried to resist her. And would have, until he’d realized who she was and rationalized that she was immortal. He’d thought, She cannot die. Unlike a mortal, she cannot be taken from me if I indulge in her. I will never have to take her soul.

What a fool he’d been. He should have known better. He was Death. Anyone could be taken. Himself, his friends. A goddess. He saw more loss in a single day than most endured in a lifetime.

“Surprised me,” Reyes said, “that such a woman could produce a daughter who looks so much like an angel. Hard to believe pretty Anya is actually wicked.”