Free Shafted by Kymber Morgan Page A

stupid for later.” Anteros struggles finally stilled with the
bow pinning him. “You think we don’t know what’s been going on?
Huh? Even if Hades hadn’t tipped Mother off, it was already
obvious.”
    Stunned, all the fight drained out of
Anteros. What? Uncle Hades ratted him out – to his mother?
    “Don’t looked so shocked, little Bro. ‘Uncle
Big Bad and Moody’ owed her for brokering the deal with
Persephone’s mother. When Demeter went all ‘Romeo and Juliet’ over
Hades relationship with her daughter, if it weren’t for Mom, Auntie
Seph wouldn’t be down there with him even the six months of the
year she is. And you know how much Hades hates be indebted to
anyone.” Eros released the pressure but didn’t pull the bow away.
“Now, you ready to listen? Or we going dance a little more before
your ears start working?”
    His brother had gained his attention, but
Anteros was still mad enough to hang him up by his silver hair.
With a shove he brushed past the bow and sidestepped out of reach,
never turning his back but managing to put himself between the
still unconscious Callie and Eros.
    His own anger stared back at him from Eros’s
face and Anteros’s fists clenched and unclenched in frustration.
This wasn’t getting them anywhere. Squaring his shoulders, he
relaxed his stance but didn’t come off guard completely, not with
Callie vulnerable directly behind him. “You better not be high on
ambro-fever right now Brother . You’ve got
one minute to tell me what in Zeus’s name you’re yapping about and
two minutes to produce my bow – with its arrows.”
    Hurt and shame flashed across Eros face
startling Anteros and he looked closer at his brother. The normally
wild look in his brother’s crystal eyes wasn’t there, nor was the
idiotic grin or nervous twitch typical of an ambro-fever victim.
Anteros world shifted further off its axis, Eros appeared
completely lucid.
    “Tero, I can’t bring you your bow, but before
you go growing a hydra head about it, hear me out. I’m running out
of time.”
    “What do you mean, running out of time?”
    “Shut up and listen.” Had his brother just
told him to shut up? He hadn’t done that since he got sick. “We
know how close you are, our only hope was to try to dilute some of
the heartache you’re overloaded on – how? By making you fall in
love.” Eros swung his bow over his shoulder and crossed his arms in
front of his chest. “Like I said we know about the deal you made
with Hades, so don’t deny how far gone you are.”
    Flinging his arm out behind and toward the
sofa, Anteros glared back. “Eros, shooting me is one thing. But.
She’s. Human. How does chaining her to me against her will or my
dying after one mortal lifetime, work out to saving me?” He made an
effort to unclamp his jaw so his words would quit grinding out
between his teeth and crossed his own arms, mirroring his twin.
    A shout came from outside the room and both
their heads snapped in the direction of the door. In unison, as
they’d done as children, they looked back at each other and
mouthed. “Busted.”
    Old habits and childhood patterns die hard
and without thought, Eros reached out his hand. The broken table
and chair righted themselves and the blanket that had fallen on the
floor in front of the sofa neatly arranged itself over Callie’s
prone form.
    Anteros stepped forward and pushed his
brother back into the shadows where anyone entering the room
wouldn’t be able to see him.
    “Anteros, I’m sorry.”
    A quick glance over his shoulder showed his
twin’s eyes quickly loosing substance but not sincerity or sanity.
“I don’t know how things will work out, but promise me you won’t
give up.”
    The door to the parlor banged into the wall
as it flew open. “What in the world is going on in here? I heard a
crash like something got broken!” Mrs. Turnbull’s curler riddled
head, haloed by the light in the foyer, was far too similar too
Medusa’s ‘do’