Enslaved by Elisabeth Naughton Read Free Book Online Page B

her biceps, dragging her with him down the slippery cave floor, rushing in a river of water right for Orpheus and the others racing in their direction.
    She tried to catch her breath, tried to twist away from Gryphon. Through blurry vision, she saw lights ahead. People coming their way. Orpheus’s face.
    “Hang on to me!” Gryphon yelled over the thunder of water.
    No . Never. She fought against him. Lashed out with her arms, tried to kick away with her feet.
    Another crack resounded. Her eyes grew wide. Locked on Orpheus and Nick skidding to a stop. Then the rocks gave out beneath them.
    She managed one bleating scream. And felt nothing but air.
    ***
    Atalanta was in a time crunch.
    She glanced at the calendar mounted to the wall as her frustration grew exponentially. “Galto!”
    The clacking of nails against stone echoed through the room, followed by a raspy voice at her back. “Yes, my queen.”
    She turned to glare down at the three-foot-tall, scaly, goblinlike creature she’d dragged back from the Underworld when she escaped after following Gryphon and the daemon spawn out. “What news of my doulas ?”
    Galto rubbed his gnarled hands together, his forked tongue licking his dry lips. One pointed ear turned back as if to listen for movement behind him. “Nothing, my queen. It’s as if he’s vanished from the human realm.”
    “Imbeciles.” Atalanta brushed her long red robe behind her and moved to the window to look out at the sea of snow. She craved the cold. Even her realm in the Underworld—when she’d resided there and had been building her army of daemons—had been a frigid wasteland, so different from the fiery chasm of Tartarus. But as a goddess, she’d had the power to turn her little corner of hell into whatever she wanted. Here in the human realm, she had to resort to locating her base where cold weather persisted. And though she’d have preferred to be somewhere isolated, like Antarctica, her daemons couldn’t flash from place to place on earth as she could. They were limited by the same laws of physics as humans—and Argoleans. Which meant she had to set up camp someplace convenient for them and cold enough for her. Since her fortress in northern British Columbia had been destroyed by those bastard Argonauts, she’d been forced here. To sunny, sinfully cold Scandinavia.
    Revenge whipped through her. She would not rest until she saw Argolea in ruins and those pompous Argonauts in chains. They’d shunned her. Cast her out because she’d dared question their order. Banished not only her, but her love.
    Thoughts of Meleager—the only person who’d ever understood her and who’d died standing up for her—drifted through her mind. So many years alone. So many disappointments. But it all ended now.
    I’ll make them pay, my love. I promise you they’ll burn for what they did to you.
    “Perhaps…” Galto started.
    She glared over her shoulder at the disgusting creature.
    “Perhaps he’s in Argolea?”
    Atalanta looked back over the snow. And sent out feelers. Searching. Scanning. Drawing on the darkness of the Underworld that had been bestowed on her doulas . “No, he’s out there somewhere. I can feel him. The pull is too strong for him to be in Argolea. Besides, after what was done to him in the Underworld”—a wicked smile twisted her lips—“he’d never have the nerve to face his fellow warriors in Argolea. His honor would be too strong for that. He’s out there, Galto. But he’s fighting the darkness.”
    “He will eventually give in. He can’t resist much longer. We just have to wait for that to happen.”
    Atalanta looked back to the calendar on the wall. Six months. Krónos, the king of the Titans, had given her six months to get the Orb, and more than two had already passed. Even though Krónos was locked in the depths of Tartarus, he still commanded a power like no other. Atalanta didn’t doubt for a minute that if the six-month mark hit and she didn’t live up to