And she was their mother, wasn’t she? Their creator. Sabrina watched as Arand lowered his head so the Lady could touch him. The warriors all crowded around her, but Mordecai hung back.
The Lady paused and made some kind of sign with her hand. The warriors parted, leaving her a clear path to the serpent. “Won’t you come forward and greet me?”
Mordecai shook his head. “I am tainted.”
The Lady walked toward him and Sabrina tensed, wondering what the goddess would do to the betraying warrior.
“Why did you join Hades?”
The entire room seemed to hold its breath. It was the question all of them wanted answered.
“Why?” Mordecai squared his shoulders and glared at the other warriors. “Because I knew we needed someone on the inside if we were going to defeat Hades, and I knew none of the others would do it.”
The other warriors erupted, outrage pouring from them. “What did you do to help?” Roric roared. “You tried to kill Aimee.”
Aimee, a slender woman with short black hair, placed her arm on Roric’s arm to retrain him. Sabrina had been introduced to all of them earlier, but her head had still been spinning at the time. If Sabrina was remembering correctly, Aimee was an artist of some kind.
Mordecai sneered. “If I’d wanted to kill her I could have done so several times.”
“You stabbed Araminta.” Leander took a threatening step forward. “And you stabbed me.” Leander wrapped his arm protectively around a woman with long tawny-brown hair and steady gray eyes. Sabrina remembered being told that Araminta was a writer.
“She attacked me and I reacted automatically. I knew you wouldn’t die from your wounds. All you had to do was let the clock run out and you would have both been fine.”
Marko grunted and started to speak, but the Lady raised her hand and all the warriors fell silent. “What happened to you, Mordecai?”
He glared at his fellow warriors and raked a hand through his hair. It amazed Sabrina how good all the warriors looked. They were all dressed in leather leggings, boots and tunics, except for Mordecai, who looked more like a mercenary for hire in his jeans, a new black T-shirt and combat boots.
“Like all of you, I was set free by a woman. We disappeared, but I knew it was only a matter of time until Hades came after us.” He paused, his expression sad. “I was lucky. She was a very smart woman, and a woman of some skill. She took my soul.” He rubbed his chest as though it still pained him.
Took his soul. “How is that even possible?” Sabrina asked.
Mordecai looked at her and shrugged. “As I said, she was very clever and learned, and I was more than willing. She held my animal form, the very essence of my soul, keeping it safe from Hades.”
“But you killed her,” Marko stated.
“Did I?” Mordecai sighed, looking very tired, his shoulders slumping.
“No, he didn’t kill her.” Sabrina was shocked when Jessica stepped forward. Jessica glanced toward the Lady and received her nod of approval before continuing to speak. “That woman who set Mordecai free was my grandmother, and she wrote about the episode in her journal. She was a witch of great power and took Mordecai’s animal essence to protect it.”
“It was in the amulet you wore.” Mordecai went down on one knee before Jessica and lowered his head. “I am in your debt and your grandmother’s debt for returning my other half to me. How does she fare?” Mordecai raised his head to look up at Jessica.
“She’s gone from this world, but after a long, happy life, thanks to you.” Jessica put her hand on Mordecai’s shoulder and urged him to stand. “I owe you my life. Without you saving my grandmother, I would never have been born.”
Sabrina’s head was spinning at this revelation. Jessica had known about the warriors all this time and hadn’t said anything at all.
Jessica turned away from Mordecai to address them all. “Mordecai went to a local cemetery and dug up the body of a recently deceased woman and took that to Hades. The god didn’t bother to check to see if it was the right woman, just as he never checked to see if Mordecai still had his soul. Hades had one of the warriors at his side and that was all he cared about.” Jessica looked at Sabrina as if pleading with her to understand. “I had to repay this debt my family owed. I had to. I promised my grandmother on her deathbed that I would. It was she who told me to come to New Orleans. She told me I’d find my destiny here.”
Sabrina slowly nodded and Jessica immediately looked relieved. Her friend had done everything in her power to help. Sabrina understood she had to keep her word to her grandmother. She’d have done the same if she’d made a promise to her granny.
“Amazing.” It was Kellsie who spoke. “What happened then?”
Mordecai shrugged. “I did what I could.” He turned to Stavros. “When Stavros was released, I pretended to kill him. Instead, I killed a very large jaguar and took that body to Hades. I told him I’d killed the woman who’d freed him too.”
“And he never checked to see if the jaguar really was Stavros.” The Lady’s soft voice calmed some of the rising tension in the room.
“I never knew.” Stavros stared at Mordecai, his dark gaze filled with unspoken thanks. “I wondered why Hades wasn’t searching for me. When the curse was broken, I watched over Melinda until the day she died.” He turned his sad gaze onto the Lady. “I’ve spent almost all the years since I was released in my animal form. I am sorry for that, sorry for not trying to find and help my fellow warriors.”
Sabrina could feel the sense of shame coming from Stavros and wanted to give the tall, dark-haired warrior a hug. The Lady did it for her, walking over to her warrior and wrapping her arms around him. “There is no shame, my brave warrior.”
The Lady stepped back and turned her sharp gaze back to Mordecai. “What about Phoenix?”
One corner of Mordecai’s mouth tipped upward, not quite a grin, but almost. “That bastard went up in flame and smoke and we never saw him again.”
They all looked toward Phoenix, who shrugged. “It was reflex. Unfortunately, I was not able to save the woman who set me free.” Sadness filled his emerald-green gaze. “I was weak, my powers almost nonexistent and it took me decades to regenerate. I’ve only become aware of the world again over the past few years, and I’ve been searching for all of you ever since. When I felt the Lady’s power, I was able to follow the trail and I found her here.”
“Hades never had your soul, never truly had you, Mordecai.” The Lady glided across the room, stopping in front of Mordecai. “If you’d gotten out of Hell during the first twenty-four hours after you were released from the curse, you would have been free. You tricked the devil himself. But you gave up your freedom and stayed in his domain for decades.”
Mordecai nodded but said nothing.
The Lady continued. “You did it to protect your fellow warriors, to help them as much as you could. But you were playing a dangerous game, Mordecai. You had to do enough to keep the devil from realizing he had no real hold over you. But you were residing in his realm. Because you went willingly to him, because you were in Hell when your twenty-four-hour time limit of the curse came and went, he had the power to kill you himself if he chose. You were alone in Hell.”
“It was a chance I was willing to take.”
The Lady placed her hand in the center of his chest. “Your heart is heavy, Mordecai. You are whole once again, your soul returned to you, your animal half joined with your human half once again. Because of that, you are now free from the curse and from Hades for all time.” She shook her head and sighed, sadness filling the very air around her. “But you will never be the warrior you once were.”
Sabrina reached out and took Arand’s hand, wondering what was going to happen to Mordecai.