Free Tempted by Elisabeth Naughton Page A

her head, white hair flaring out all around her shoulders. And his last thread of patience snapped. He’d nearly gotten fried, had risked his own neck so Demetrius could get Gryphon and Isadora the hell out of there, and then they’d gone and ditched his ass so they could—
    “It didn’t reopen.”
    “What did you say?”
    “I said the portal didn’t reopen. They didn’t come back through. Not here, not in Tiyrns.”
    His brow wrinkled. “How can you—”
    “Because I sense anytime the portal opens, anywhere in Argolea. How do you think I’m able to monitor our mobile portals?” Her hand tightened on his arm. “I sensed it open to the human realm, but not back again. Orpheus, I don’t have to tell you, as one of the Horae, it’s not safe for the princess to be in the human realm.”
    No, it wasn’t safe for Isadora to be in the human realm, but that wasn’t what set off a tremor of unease deep in Orpheus’s gut. Thinking about Gryphon unable to stand on his own when Demetrius had taken him through was foremost in Orpheus’s mind.
    He didn’t bother to answer Delia, simply closed his eyes and pictured the castle in Tiyrns, then flashed to the grand foyer.
    The guards at the front door caught sight of him and hollered, surprised he’d flashed inside walls. Turning, he looked up the massive staircase to where Theron and a few of the other Argonauts were coming down.
    Footsteps pounded across the marble floor. Theron waved a hand from above. “He’s with us.”
    The leader of the Argonauts stopped at ground level, motioned Cerek over to take care of the flustered guards. Then he turned his attention on Orpheus. “Glad you made it back.”
    Yeah, right. “What happened?”
    “I was hoping you could tell us.”
    “We were overrun. Demetrius took the princess and Gryphon through the portal to get away. I stayed back to give them a chance.”
    “How in Hades did you get out?”
    Orpheus didn’t like the accusation. The guardian might command this ragtag group of warriors, but he didn’t hold a damn thing over Orpheus. “I have my ways.”
    Theron studied Orpheus for a long beat, and in his eyes there was skepticism and distrust, the kind Orpheus was used to seeing. But not when he’d volunteered to help. And definitely not when he’d nearly gotten zapped to smithereens as a result. This is what he got for being a fucking Good Samaritan.
    He set his jaw, was just about to lay into Theron, when the guardian said, “They never made it back. What did they say to you before they left?”
    Nothing that would help the Argonauts find them, that was sure. They could be anywhere. Except…“Gryphon was injured.”
    “Where? How?”
    “That piece of shit warlock hit him with some kind of energy. He could barely stand on his own. If they didn’t come back right away—”
    “ Skata. ” Theron looked over his shoulder. “Zander, get Callia. We’re going to need her.”
    As the blond guardian headed back up the stairs, Orpheus’s irritation with this whole fucked-up situation reached its limit. “Can’t you just track them with those fancy medallions you all wear?”
    “The medallions work like a beacon, one way, and only if they’re pressed. Someone has to activate them for—”
    Boots clomped on the floor above, and all heads turned to see what the ruckus was about. Seconds later Titus rounded the newel post and skipped stairs to reach them at the bottom. He was out of breath when he said, “I got it. Just came in.” He waved some kind of handheld gizmo. “Gryphon’s medal went off.”
    “What about Demetrius’s?” Theron asked.
    Titus shook his head. “Hasn’t been triggered. Theron, man. They’re at the half-breed colony.”
    “ Skata, ” Theron muttered again.
    It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that was the worst possible place to open the portal. The colony had recently been overrun by daemons, and the Misos—half human, half Argolean—were in the process of