His entire world had ended on that day, the day Anubis took the sun from him. The day the God had ripped her from all of their lives, and hidden her away somewhere they couldn't find.
It had been a perfect day, the sun warm on them, and the grass soft under their bodies as they enjoyed the peace that was possibly the last peace they would experience for quite some time.
They had been talking, the men around him that congregated like sheep to a shepherd. She was their shepherd, and they were eager to be near her.
She had been standing by the water, watching her twin and the man in the water, a slight frown tugging at full lips as she contemplated the male that was courting the one sibling she had left.
He knew she was ready to kill Hunter the instant he did something wrong, and they had regularly taunted him about the matter. He hadn't quite believed them until he had found her observing him, ever watchful of his actions.
He had stopped ignoring their taunts after that, knowing that she would end his existence in an instant if she thought for even a second that he would betray Letari.
She watched them, both happy and afraid for her twin, wanting her to be happy and wanting her to be safe in equal measure.
Did she know how utterly perfect she looked standing there? Her skin almost shimmering in the sun, her long black hair trailing past the perfection of her arse and taunting them all as it got to touch something none of them likely ever would?
Did she know how all of their eyes lingered on her, studying the minute movements of her face as thoughts passed through her mind?
She had turned to look at them all, alert and wary of threats, but then her tension had left her, and her frown faded.
She was so incredibly beautiful, painfully so. Small compared to the rest of her kind, with slender, toned limbs, and rounded hips, a perfect hourglass figure, and a full chest that had all of them salivating to taste. Alabaster white skin with just the faintest hint of a grey-blue tint to it that was so completely smooth, it was like silk. Delicate hands and feet, long fingers, and silver nails that could slice through metal if she put her mind to it.
An oval face with naturally sculpted, arched brows and a delicate nose, full lips, and the most amazing cheekbones he had ever seen. Long, tapered ears, and the best of all, those eyes. Eyes that put the vibrant blue of a Ulysses butterfly to shame, that started vibrant and deep at the pupil and darkened at the outer edges with pupils that were just slightly oblong. They said her eyes were the colour of blue lightning, but even that couldn't give them a proper identifying name. There was nothing in this world, or any that could properly describe that colour, and they were framed by thick lashes that kissed her cheeks when she looked down.
No, she had no idea just how agonisingly perfect she was to look upon. They all knew that. She did not see herself in that way. She saw herself as a freak thanks to the bastards that had taken over the 'care' of her when she was but a child. They had taught her to hate herself.
She watched them, and they watched her, ever alert to her movements and even more so now that she had been returned to them, broken, and abused, with a swollen belly that had been filled with life that had then been stolen from her by that monster.
They watched her because they all loved her, each in their own way.
They watched her because they all wanted her.
Dirdos was one of the few men who was brave enough to approach her like she was not the killing machine she was, and Versalis smiled in amusement as the giant man offered his hand to her.
She had smiled at him, a smile that could end a thousand lives in an instant with the devastation that was her lips moving upwards. It was like seeing the sun rising when the sun had never been seen before, and they would all be blinded by it, though none of them could look away.
The demon had a flute and had begun to play an upbeat steady tune that the dragon stepped into with ease.
When she danced, he could see light inside her that was a slow and steady glow. She never had that light except when she danced, and none of them knew what it was. But he suspected it was joy, her pure joy that had been a gift from the cat Goddess Bast. It was not the happiness she felt when she was around them, it was undiluted joy, and it sang out from her and made their bodies ache with the need to rise with her. There had been a myth that the humans invented of a creature who would lure away the children of the humans who betrayed him, and it was like that then, with her.
She lured them with her dance, and none of them ever dared tell her of the way their bodies burned to move with her. They loved her, but they were not stupid enough to let her know. They worshipped the very ground she walked on, but they would not give her ammunition. She might be a rational creature, but she was still a creature, and she was dangerous. They would have gladly killed for her, but no matter how long you kept a lioness leashed, she would always be ready to turn and rip out your throat.
Etani might be civilised, but she was a wild creature who would never be tame.
It was part of what drew them all to her, that danger and constant threat that she could turn on you, but that was the allure that was Etani. She was a monster, but she was one that would steal your very soul in exchange for her love. And every man in both worlds wanted her love.
She moved with a grace that rivalled the wind, feline and carnal in a way that should never be allowed. No being should be able to move like that, especially not a woman as beautiful as her, and he felt all eyes turning in her direction, watching that body moving.
It was not a sexual dance, but she could make eating dirt sexual just by moving.
They were captivated by her, the way her hair shimmered in the sun, the way her head tilted, the way her eyes lowered, and her cheeks flushed with a delicate pink.
They watched, and that was how they missed the God moving until it was too late.
Malik saw it, the one they all hated for his relationship with her. Her scion that could touch her and love her when none of them could.
He sensed the threat, and he moved with vampiric speed to block the jackal headed God, but it had been a foolish gesture, his arms spread in a defensive posture.
She felt his fear and turned, her smile fading into confusion as she took in the sight, and then there was a sickening thud as the axe came down on the vampire's head.
It was the most terrible thing he had seen happen to a man.
The God discarded the vampire and moved forward, determined, with dark eyes set on Etani and they had realised what had happened.
Her scream of his name broke the frozen spell of their shock, and they had all moved, but then they were stopped by the Gods around them, Hades, and Loki, Sobek, and Bast, Amun, and Eile.
"No, you will die if you step in," the cat Goddess had whispered, and he hadn't cared. That scream, that primal scream of terrible grief, was calling him to her.
But she had not needed them. He could feel her reaching down into her with her rage, and Sobek jerked as she ripped the binding to shreds.
Her wrists had flared scarlet, and then the bindings had fallen from her, burnt gold chain on the grass.
Her magic exploded out of her in a physical wave that turned the grass to frost, and they were all shivering, their bodies refusing to move as the ice crept up their legs and caged them in place. The dragon had been sent flying, and when he landed, he was frozen to the ground. Versalis knew she had not meant to do it, but her magic was uncontrolled in her rage to destroy the God.
Drawing those knives sent a chill through them all, and the blades glowed with a blinding white light, extending until they nearly reached the ground, and her skin glowed with them, marked and beautiful.
Her lips had turned dark purple, her eyes bleeding into blackness as she tapped viciously into the magic of Winter, and it screamed with her.
"Anubis!" she raged, and the God looked for an instant like he was afraid, but then he had no time to be afraid.