Daimon: Guardians of Hades Series Book 6

to this more modern type of Japanese dining chair, but every one of his brothers had thanked him when Daimon had succeeded.
He crossed his legs and tried to shut out the crazy that was his family as he ate.
Valen actually took close to seven minutes to reappear, his cheeks flushed and eyes glowing gold. He settled Eva onto his lap, ran his tongue up her neck which had her murmuring something about the stud that pierced it, and then fed her, all of which Daimon also chose to ignore.
Keras arrived just as the meal was finishing, a distant edge to his emerald eyes.
“What’s up?” Ares came out of the kitchen with a fresh glass of water and set it down in front of Megan.
“I want to test something.” Keras idly spun the silver ring on his thumb with his index finger.
Not a good sign. Keras had a bad habit of doing that when he was troubled by something. Was that why he had disappeared on them, going AWOL again? Ares had told them all not to worry, but it was hard not to when the enemy could attack at any moment, targeting the gates.
Or one of them.
Keras was powerful, but he was vulnerable when alone.
It was about time his brother realised that.
Before something bad happened to him.
“What do you want to test?” Ares said.
Not a single ounce of emotion touched Keras’s eyes as he lowered them to Marinda. “Her.”
Marinda didn’t hesitate. She stood, neatened her mulberry woollen sweater, nervously smoothing it over her blue jeans, and met Keras’s gaze. “What do you want me to do?”
“We’ll take you to the Tokyo gate and see if you can open it. If you can, then we’ll come back here and wait another few days before trying again.” Keras finally stopped playing with his ring, drew the two sides of his long black coat back and slipped his hands into the pockets of his pressed black slacks.
“I’ll go with you.” Cal stood and his blond eyebrows knitted hard above stormy blue eyes when Keras shook his head.
“No. Both you and Valen will stay here. Eva too.” Keras didn’t budge an inch when Valen growled at him.
“You’re benching me?” Valen barked.
“You’re still recovering,” Ares said, a sharp edge to his voice. “And someone has to stay here to protect Megan and Aiko.”
Valen’s golden eyes lost their spark as he leaned back in his seat, folded his arms across his chest and grunted, “Fine.”
His older brother could pretend he was in a mood about being told to stay put, but Daimon could see straight through it to the truth—Valen was honoured that Ares wanted him to protect Megan and Aiko.
“I need to go too.” Air swirled around Cal, teasing the tips of his blond ponytail.
“You need to stay here.” Keras placed a hand on his shoulder and gently gripped it as he looked down into Cal’s eyes. “We are only going to do a little testing. We shall not be long.”
That didn’t allay the fear building in Cal, shining in his stormy irises.
Daimon nodded towards Marinda. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”
Cass stood, brushed down her dress and tipped her shoulders back. “Nothing will happen to Mari on my watch. You have my word on that, Calistos.”
It grated that Cal hadn’t looked relieved when Daimon had sworn to keep an eye on the woman he loved, but he had when Cass had made her promise.
Cass was powerful, but she had her vulnerabilities. He couldn’t be the only one of them who had noticed that her magic tapped her out, draining her of strength, leaving her as weak as a mortal if she used too much of it.
Ares helped Megan onto her feet and his eyebrows furrowed as he gazed lovingly down at her.
“Oh, stop coddling. Even when you’re not coddling… you’re coddling.” Megan huffed and pushed at Ares’s broad chest, but he stood firm, not moving an inch. Her hand lingered, her touch softening to a caress as she looked up into his dark eyes. “I’ll be peachy.”
She didn’t look as if she believed that.
“You’ll be peachy too, right?”
So that was the reason behind her worry. She was afraid something would happen to Ares.
Ares lowered his hand to her swollen belly and pressed his palm against it, splaying his fingers out. She dropped hers to cover his and a smile wobbled on her lips.
“I’ll just be a few minutes, and I’ll be careful.” He dropped a kiss on her forehead, one she leaned into as she closed her eyes. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
He smoothed the fingers of his other hand over her brown hair, skimming it down to the tips at her shoulders, and then tangled his hand in it and pulled her to him for a kiss.
Daimon looked away.
His eyes landed on Cass.
She frowned at him, and he had the terrible feeling she was trying to pick apart his feelings.
He wanted to tell her not to do it.
“And then we can all have a glass of ambrosia,” Cass said.
Everyone stared at her.
“Well, everyone except Megan, since she’s pregnant.” Cass looked at her. “Sorry, no ambrosia for you.”
Ambrosia? That was what she had in that bottle with the silver filigree on it?
“Ooh, ambrosia.” Valen rubbed his hands together, causing tiny sparks to leap from them.
“Where did you get ambrosia?” Daimon put in, holding her gaze.
Her right shoulder lifted slightly, a coy edge to her smile as she said, “I have my sources.”
Meaning, she had a dealer.
He jerked his chin towards the others in the room with them. “Ambrosia isn’t for mortals.”
“Good thing that I’m not mortal.” Her blue eyes flashed fire at him, warning him he wasn’t going to dissuade her.
At least not easily.
“Just a sip. You could have one now for courage if you need it.” She pretended she was going to turn to get the bottle and then looked back at him.
Why was she pushing this?
He rolled his eyes when it hit him.
She was trying to get him drunk.
This was