Love & War
Page 26
Everyone in the room turned to look at Ares, as if they expected something to happen to him.
“What’s going on?” I demanded.
“What is she doing?” Poseidon demanded, standing. “If you try something, then this entire—”
“She’s just bringing you your demigod,” Jason said, his voice calm. “You didn’t think we were going to let you set foot on our island to take him, did you?”
“Oh, Medea can teleport,” Otrera said in an offhand way, scooting along the bench to offer me a sympathetic smile. “I thought you knew.”
A figure materialized in the room on screen and my throat went dry. Eyes the color of pale silver glanced around the room in surprise. I took in his silver-white hair and paper-white skin and my heart slammed against my chest.
She’d summoned Adonis all right. The real one.
“Oh, shit,” Ares said.
Chapter XXXVIII
Medea
WHEN A SILVER-HAIRED, Jack Frost wanna-be showed up in Adonis’s place, I was beyond confused. I’d never summoned the wrong person before. What the hell? Then I saw past his blinding features enough to recognize the demigod.
“What did you do to him?” I leapt to my feet, blackened metal chair falling to the floor with a clang as I took in the newly transformed Adonis.
“He’s a god,” Jason said in a hushed whisper. “They turned him into a god.”
The silver-haired deity in question glanced at Persephone and Poseidon, wide-eyed in alarm, before returning his attention to Jason. “She didn’t see them take me,” he said.
“Shut up, half-breed,” Poseidon growled, his ocean eyes swirling like a tempest.
“She wasn’t even conscious,” Adonis babbled, backing up until he hit one of the scorched tables. “Elise had nothing to do with this.”
I stared at him in shock as the pieces fell into place. Adonis had never set foot on our island. The one Jason had brought home was an imposter. Tantalus had been right about their plan to glamour themselves to look like us.
“Medea,” Jason said, edging toward me, his fingers lacing through mine.
No. He couldn’t be an imposter. I’d seen the way he looked at Elise. Heard the way he said her name. There was no way he was faking his feelings toward her. They were written all over his face. And the way she looked at him . . .
She’d notice if someone took his place. Unless she was in on it. Could she be a goddess too?
No. Elise’s injuries had been real. She’d nearly died. That couldn’t be faked with super healing. I’d know better than anyone.
We poisoned the goddess on the cruise.
The one Adonis—not Adonis, the fake Adonis, had spoken about with straight-up reverence.
Holy crap. Elise was a goddess.
“Medea!” Jason gripped my hand tighter, shaking me out of my reverie.
“Wait.” Persephone lurched toward us. “We can explain. Just—”
Elise was Aphrodite. I could use that. I switched to Greek, speaking rapidly. “How’s this for an exchange?” I yanked my hand free of Jason’s grip, and reached for Adonis. “I’ll be in touch.”
Before anyone could stop me, I teleported us both away.
Chapter XXXIX
Aphrodite
ARES YANKED ME to him. My body burst apart and reformed in a surge of agony as we slammed into the shield surrounding the island. I landed in the ocean with a splash. My scream of pain was cut off when I inhaled water.
Firm, warm arms pulled me to the surface. Ares’s face was contorted in anguish, but I was in worse shape. I’d been sure, so sure, that I was getting better. But I’d forgotten a key feature in how the poison worked. It attacked powers sure, but before, my powers worked to heal me despite being under attack. I didn’t have powers right now. So when I was hit with Ares’s surge through me to teleport me along, I had nothing to heal the wake of damage within me.
“Stay with me, stay with me.” Ares clung to my writhing form and focused on keeping us both above the water. Fortunately, we weren’t far from the cliff face. He’d teleported us to one of the spots where the shield was nearest to land, inaccessible from above, but with teleportation, a much easier reach.
“How long have you been able to do that?” I gasped when I caught my breath.
Ares shrugged. “I wasn’t sure I could. You’re not going to be able to teleport again though, that’s for sure. So . . . new plan.” Ares glanced around, helplessly, then bent his head to bite his arm. Teeth ripped flesh. Blood welled and he slammed his fist into the shield. “Poseidon!”
The island pulsed. Like a dreamscape on the verge of waking.
Medea couldn’t move the island, could she? No. That wasn’t possible. Even for a full-fledged god, it would be dangerous. Suicidal. Stupid. There were reasons gods never moved large masses of lands. Surely she wouldn’t be so—
The cliff beneath me pulsed again.
“Ares!” I surged away from the cliff face just as the shield shattered.
Poseidon grabbed Ares by the arm, pulling him beyond the line where the shield once stood, and reached for me, his face contorting in shock when his hand passed through mine.
Pain tore through me as the world went black, shifted, then reappeared in blinding Technicolor. The island came with me, slamming into its new place in the ocean with enough force to send a wave swelling over my head.
My head went under just as a shield sprang into place behind me. I slammed into the shield hard enough to knock the wind out of me. Pushing to the surface, I gasped for air, but just as I inhaled, another wave slammed into me. Then another.
Sand scraped my body as I slid along the ocean floor. I kicked to the surface again, and again, Finally I managed to get a hold on the sheer wall of the island.
I sputtered, coughing up water, and focused on keeping my head above the water. I was on my own. There was no way to communicate with the gods. I had no powers. No way to escape. Stuck on an island with a small army of demigods who might or might not want to kill me, and definitely wanted to kill my friends. It took every trick in Athena’s book to keep the panic at bay, but I managed.
“You can do this,” I told myself.
And saying the words made it true.
The End, except . . .
. . . the story’s not over yet!
Aphrodite is stranded on the island of the DAMNED without powers or a way to communicate with the Pantheon. Unfortunately, the only help she can call on is Medea—an unstable ally with demands of her own. If Aphrodite wants to survive, not to mention find Hades and take out the weapons cache, she’ll have no choice but to meet them.
Don’t miss the final installment of Aphrodite’s story. Watch for
Venus Rising, available winter 2017 from ImaJinn Books.
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Kaitlin Bevis
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Persephone
Book 1 of The Daughters of Zeus
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Daughter Of Earth And Sky
Book 2 of The Daughters of Zeus
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The Iron Queen
Book 3 of The Daughters of Zeus
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Aphrodite
Book 4 of The Daughters of Zeus
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Kaitlin Bevis
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About the Author
Kaitlin Bevis spent her childhood curled up with a book and a pen. If the ending didn’t agree with her, she rewrote it. Because she’s always wanted to be a writer, she spent high school and college learning everything she could to achieve that goal. After graduating college with Masters in English, Kaitlin went on to write The Daughters of Zeus series. Visit her at: kaitlinbevis.com