Dream Warrior by Sherrilyn Kenyon

His gaze went down Jericho’s undamaged body before he cursed. “Traitor!”
    His condemnation set Jericho’s fury to boiling. How dare this bastard look at him like that. “Betrayed.”
    â€œFuck you!”
    Jericho curled his lip. “Now you know how I felt, brother. Remember the day you turned with them against me?”
    â€œHow could you?”
    That was laughable. “That’s the same question that has haunted me since I looked at you while Zeus held me on the ground and you looked at the floor at your feet.” Jericho grabbed Deimos’s head and made him meet his gaze. “You held me down while my mother burned her words into my flesh. I can still feel the pain of your arm wrapped around my throat.”
    â€œYou earned your punishment.”
    Jericho struggled not to strike out at him and add to his pain. How could Deimos not apologize even now for what he’d done? They had been friends before that. It was why he had no pity for any of them. They had none for him.
    Screw them all.
    â€œAnd you’ve earned yours,” he said pitilessly. “Son of the Furies. How many people have you tortured throughout the centuries for your mother and Zeus? It sucks to be you now, huh?”
    Deimos tried to head-butt him, but Jericho moved away. “Noir is going to kill us.”
    â€œI’ll make sure you have a nice requiem.”
    Deimos shook his head. “So that’s it, then? You have no remorse?”
    Jericho held his arms out and shrugged nonchalantly. “We are the products of our past. But if it makes you feel any better, I do feel sorry for you.”
    Deimos sneered. “You’ll feel even sorrier when you’re hanging on this wall, too. Don’t think for one minute Noir won’t do this to you. He’s the god who invented betrayal, and I’m sure he already has a space here with your name engraved on it.”
    Jericho laughed at his warning. “Oh, brother, you all have taught me well. I will never put myself in that position again. Believe me. I learned my lesson at the hands of the Dolophoni you command. I have no intention of giving Noir any reason to turn on me. I am his to command. Forever.”
    â€œJericho?”
    Shocked that someone in this hole knew his adopted name, Jericho looked to his right at the next prisoner hanging on the wall. Like Deimos, he’d been badly beaten. His dark hair hung around a face distorted by swollen lips and a black eye so severe the entire whites of that eye were red from busted blood vessels.
    It took him a full minute to recognize him. It was those eyes that gave him away. One dark brown and one a bright green …
    Jaden.
    Jaden was the one the demons summoned whenever they wanted to barter with Noir or Azura for favors. Jericho had known Jaden lived here with them, but he would have thought the broker would have a lush place to call his own, not be caged with the rest of their victims.
    Stunned, Jericho released Deimos and stepped back. “What are you doing here?”
    Jaden laughed bitterly. “Do my accommodations offend you? I’ve grown quite used to them. Though a view of something other than mangled bodies might be nice for a change.”
    Jericho scowled. “You serve the Source. You’re one of them.”
    Jaden shook his head. “I serve Noir and Azura. Word to the wise, don’t ever displease them. For some reason, I can’t seem to stop myself. I guess old habits die hard.” He looked down at his torn and bleeding body that was barely covered by shredded clothes. “As do I. But don’t worry. I’m sure they’ll be kinder to you than they’ve been to me. I held their enmity long before I came here, which is part of the reason they love to gut me every chance they get.”
    He looked past Jericho to see Asmodeus hiding in the shadows. The light from his hand was muffled and faint. Jaden called out to him.