“I submit,” she said, pain lacing her words. “I submit. Stand down!”

“Jerry, keep that rock on her for a moment,” I said, dribbling the power of the Line through my magical touch and repairing the first prong. “I’m trying to fix a couple of things, Flora, and then I’ll get out, okay? Just hang on.”

“You’re a danger to the magical community!” Flora screamed, her primal terror clearly overcoming the pain of the boulder pinning her in place.

“I am not trying to minimize your situation, Flora, but honestly, you started it.” I released the prong, and sighed when it held. “Just one more. I’ll leave the last one broken for insurance purposes in case you act up.”

“It’ll repair itself,” Harding whispered from ten feet away.

I jumped—and then let out a ragged breath when Flora’s soul stayed put.

“Way wrong time to pop in, Harding,” I said, rebuilding the second prong. Most of the time, when I got this far in ripping out a soul, I went through with it. I was fighting against muscle memory right now, and more than a little worried I’d mess up.

“I’ve been around, watching from a distance. You have a certain way about you, you know? It’s thrilling.”

“No, I do not know,” I said through clenched teeth.

“That is why Hades was banished to the Underworld, with his disgusting, cowardly magic,” Flora spat, her arrogance helping her fight her fear.

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe the reason Hades slipped under the earth and Poseidon dove into the deep oceans was to get away from Zeus carrying on about himself, his courage, and his schlong? That must have gotten old. I’d find somewhere else to be, too. Honestly, you and your people are about as dumb as a box of hair. I’d take Hades magic over yours any day.”

Harding laughed. “Good one. You’re definitely one of us. Sure wish you’d been a Demigod so they’d care more.”

Sweat dripping off my brow, I slowly disengaged from her soul, then took a step back. I took a long, steadying breath. “It’s good. We’re good.”

“Jerry, roll the rock off her foot,” Kieran said, lowering the water back into the crevice and walking around it to get to Flora. I went with him. “Zorn, anyone left?”

Zorn emerged from the rock fort Jerry had created as we neared Flora. “Of theirs? Six. Three are very badly hurt and might not make it. The others will need medical attention but should be fine.”

“Bria should be waiting a couple of hundred yards down the hill with the four-wheelers and the flatbed trailers,” Kieran said. “The injured can be transported on those.”

“When did you give her that directive?” I asked, my heart squishing, remembering the moments when I’d thought she had turned. “It’s not like her to skip a battle. Not for any reason.”

“And she didn’t skip this one. I told her to take out any transportation Flora might have, then go along the outskirts of the battle on the way to checking on the kids, taking out anyone she ran across. I’m sure she took out one or two enemies, at least.”

“But…why her? Were you worried she was the leak?”

“I knew she wasn’t. Bria’s too smart to betray a Demigod. In her field, she’d run the risk of becoming unemployable. I knew she wouldn’t want to fight another Demigod unless we were going in for the kill, and that you’d be handling cadaver duties, so I figured I’d use her in another way. She saves face, you get your kids checked on, we have transportation for the injured, and she still gets to take out some enemies. Wins all around.”

I touched his arm, not really able to believe my love for him could grow even stronger. Bria was great in combat and we’d had less people than the enemy, but instead of pushing his own agenda, he’d put her needs first and given her an out. From what I was learning, not many leaders would’ve done that. Not many leaders would have allowed people as intimate with our plans as Red and Bria to hang around without a blood oath, either. He was one of a kind.

He smiled at me. “Let’s get this all cleaned up, and we can get out of here. If we don’t leave soon, I have a feeling this town is going to chase us out.”

“He’s of Zeus’s line,” Flora said, sitting up with a pained wince as we stopped next to her. Her leg was in bad shape, and I kept from looking at it to avoid losing my last meal. “He belongs with me.”

“He belongs with whomever he chooses,” Kieran said, looking down on her coolly.

“Noble words coming from someone that’s here for the same reason I am. You Drususes have always thought you were above the rest of us. Well, I have a prosperous territory, too. And I—”

“Let me just stop you right there.” Kieran lifted a hand. “I am not here to secure the Thunderstroke. I am only here to prevent you from unlawfully forcing a magical worker to join your organization. After this, if he is willing, I will transport him wherever he would like to go, and there I will leave him, in anonymity if he so chooses. If he would like to join you, he will contact you. If you try to force his hand, you will, once again, come up against me. Next time, however, I won’t stop the Soul Stealer from turning you inside out and using you like a puppet. Think it through.”

Flora stared up at him with a moving mouth, no sound coming out. I was pretty sure it was the last thing she’d expected Kieran to say.

“We’ll round your wounded up and deposit them in town,” he went on. “Hopefully you were nice to the townspeople, since you’ll now be in their care. See you at the Summit.”

He turned away, thoroughly dismissing her, and scanned his people. He might not make arrogance an art, but he sure could turn it on when he wanted to.

Amber stood with her weight on her uninjured leg, the other blackened badly where the bolt had struck. Thane leaned against a tree, his perfectly cut torso on display, marred with charred smudges. His vest lay at his feet, and I could just make out a blistered hole in it, plus the blackened remains of what had to be his shirt. He’d obviously been struck, but while his shirt had literally gone up in flames, he didn’t appear to have sustained any lasting damage.

“Are Berserkers immune to lightning?” I asked as Kieran inspected a large gash down Red’s back. Boman stopped beside them, his pants only singed at the ankles, already digging for supplies to patch Red up.

“Not totally, no.” Thane rolled his massive shoulders, and a ripple of power ran through his muscles. “It still hurts like an absolute beast. I barely stopped from changing.”

“Wait…” I bent to touch the scorched hole through the vest. “You were still in human form when this hit you?”

“Yes. I sure would’ve liked to get free, but you all had it locked down. I didn’t want to piss on your parade.” Each word was laced with a growl. It sounded like he was still resisting the urge to go Berserk.

Dylan waited just beyond the tree that Thane was using as a leaning post, his hands in his pockets, watching Kieran move through his people.

“Hey,” I said, stopping beside him. I’d just get in the way if I tried to help the others. I was better at causing the mess, not cleaning it up.