by C. M. Owens
"I think it's pretty amazing, but I'm not this high maintenance if that's what you're asking," I quickly answer.
He laughs a little as we head up the spiral staircase.
"I know you're not high maintenance. I'm just trying to assess which of my houses you would like the best," he chuckles.
"Any house you're in," I add with corny oomph.
He smirks as he blushes slightly, and then he scoops me up in his arms. I see a door similar to the beach house that is marked with my name.
"Did they make me a room in every one of their houses?" I ponder aloud.
"Probably. They most likely prepared for the day you would join them. It's not common for an immortal to find someone their willing to tie themselves to so early on," Devin murmurs, and then his eyes drop as if he's said something that doesn't settle well with him.
"What?" I prompt.
"You haven't really gotten to experience any of the fun things yet. You've spent the entire time on the run, fighting, or barely surviving. Now I'm pressuring you to marry me, and you've barely stepped foot into the immortal doorway. It's the first time I've ever really thought of it, and now I feel a little selfish for holding you back from the experiences you should get to have," he hesitantly mumbles with a guilty and fretful tone.
"You're not holding me back from anything. I love you, and I can experience the immortal world with you. It's not like we have to become old married hermits overnight," I chuckle.
His eyes don't change, and I can still see some trepidation in their swirls that confuses me. It's as if he worries about something else.
"He's talking about the more promiscuous side of our world," Jace provocatively interjects to announce his eavesdropping. "The partying, the wild sex, the fun that last for days as often as you like without consequence. Being an Aphrodite, you would definitely have a lot of fun."
"I wasn't speaking to you," Devin growls.
"I didn't say you were. I was just clarifying what you were neglecting to fully explain," he perkily offers. Then he turns back to me. "Once you're immortally bonded, you're bound to that person until death. Your powers are tied to that person the moment you say yes. There's no going back, there's no divorce, and there's no leaving one another without risking an epic heartbreak that could kill you. Just ask him," Jace says as he crosses his arms over his chest like a proud devil.
"I don't have to ask him," I mutter as I join the fuming Devin. I curl into his arms, and my lips threaten to graze his. "I don't want to be promiscuous. I don't care if there's a cemented bond formed by our immortal union. As a matter of fact, it sounds pretty freaking good."
Devin smirks but keeps his eyes lowered. Jace frowns at my overly enthused attitude he had been trying to sour. He shakes his head, and I can hear the surging of electricity as he skulks off.
"He's relentless," Devin gripes, and he moves out from under me to go shut the door.
"That he is. He's convinced I'm meant for him," I exasperate.
"And you?" Devin asks with a hint of worry lacing his tone.
"I know who I'm meant to be with, and it's not him."
Devin smiles gorgeously, and he slowly saunters over to me with mischievously swirling eyes.
"How do you know you're meant to be with me?" he fishes.
"Well, there's the obvious stuff. The fact you're my strongest trigger is one of the reasons. The fact fate pushed me into your arms twice is another. Most importantly, I've been thoroughly in love and obsessed with you since I met you," I seduce.
His grin grows, and then he pulls me to his body as his lips find mine. I feel the heat blazing through us, and I open my eyes to make sure it isn't blazing out of me as well. I see smoke seeping from my pores, and I instantly withdraw to throw myself outside on the balcony.
Devin walks up behind me with a touch of laughter.
"If I said you're smoking hot, would it be too easy?" he teases.
I roll my eyes as I pat my arm fervently with my hand to extinguish the lingering smolders.
"This is aggravating. Now these clothes are ruined," I grunt.
"I'll buy you some more," he teases.
"I'm still waiting on some other things you promised to replace. We've had this conversation before," I joke with mock frustration.
"Have we?" he seduces with coy indifference before closing his lips over mine.
I hear the fabric tearing as he jolts me forward, and suddenly my legs are wrapped around his waist. I don't waste time ripping his shirt off, and I feel it pulling through my legs as I toss it to the ground.
His lips move down to devour my neck, and I moan as I tilt my head back to give him full access.
He carries me over the threshold and back into the room I nearly set ablaze. The soft bed folds around me and the walls shiver in fear when my skin begins to sizzle.
"Careful not to set the room on fire," Devin provocatively dares.
"I have no control," I groan as his lips slowly embroider a seductive pattern against my bare chest.
"Yes you do," he murmurs against my skin. "Just breathe, relax, and pull it in," he coaches.
"I don't want to," I tremble out, and the bed beneath me begins to blister.
"You have to, baby. Try… for me," he instructs, and his lips slide down my stomach as I struggle against the brewing inferno.
"Why?" I moan, and the throbbing is suddenly verging on being unbearable as his lips stroll even lower.
"Because it'll make it that much better if you hold it back and just let me have you without alternative release. Try it," he seduces.
His words are almost enough to break the dam, but I continue to fight the pleading flames. I breathe in slowly as his lips slide down my inner thigh, and I feel the heat threatening to emerge.
"Fight it," he cautions. "I want you to feel everything fully."
How can I fight it when he's talking like this?
His lips begin trekking back up the trail they've forged, and I feel my body begging to convulse from the build. His lips consume mine, and I forget everything else in the world. He's all there is.
"Well?" he asks with anticipation.
"Definitely amazing," I pant.
He laughs a little as he gently places a kiss on my still quivering lips.
"Tell me something I don't know about you," he randomly insists.
"Where did that come from?" I chuckle out.
He sits up to prop against the massive and padded headboard, and I scoot over to rest my head in his lap.
"I want to know everything, and if you're willing to give up your chance to explore the immortal world with a binding marriage, then I want to start planning the things you would enjoy doing with me."
My eyes dance up and down with provocative insinuation, and he laughs while shaking his head.
"I realize that was too easy," he jokes. "But seriously, tell me something I don't know. I don't want you feeling like you lost your opportunity to just enjoy the world we live in. I want it to be special," he says with all sincere sweetness.
I sigh as I sit up, and my eyes lock with his.
"You make it sound as if I'm giving up a million dollars to simply live on the street. I'm not giving up anything to be with you. I want to be with you, and I'm excited to do so."
"You say that now, but I'm worried you'll regret it in a century or two when you see how very little you've lived," he pouts.
"You want to know something you don't know?"
"Yes. Please."
"I could see your swirling eyes while I was still mortal. I never saw anyone else's eyes swirl while I was mortal," I confess.
He smirks a little and shakes his head. "That's because you're not supposed to be able to, but you never cease to amaze me. I do like knowing it was only mine you saw," he smolders before pulling me closer to him. "But, that's not going to help me find amazing ways to show you a good time for eternity. Tell me something else. Where have you always wanted to go? What's the one thing you've always wanted to do, but you were too s
cared to try it? What's something you've never had the money to do? What's-"
"Whoa. Easy boy," I giggle out. "I think I get the point."
He grins a little at my joking interruption, and I shrug.
"I've always wanted to ride a horse, but not on the beach - too cliché. I've always wanted to go to Greece, and that was before I knew about my heritage," I chuckle. "I never had the money to go to Greece, so the two overlap. I'm completely unremarkable in the ambition department, so you shouldn't be stressing about scheduling my immortal calendar with everything fantastic thing you can fit in."
"I want to. I've been waiting on a reason to plan ahead, and there's never been one more perfect than you," he murmurs as he pulls the back of my hand to his lips.
His words resonate, and then intrigue strikes me. "You can see the future of the mortals anytime, right?"
"Yeah, why?" he muses.
"Does the future extend past two days?"
He sighs and his eyes show understanding for my line of questioning.
"It does, but that doesn't mean anything. I can only see their lives and how they would be if unobstructed by immortals. If I can't see the immortal, then I can't see the impact they could have. It's definitely misleading."
"Oh," I grumble.
"We're going to get through this though. I don't need a vision to know that. I'm not going anywhere until I'm your husband," he genuinely declares.
"I can't believe our wedding was interrupted," I huff. "Where's my dress?"
He flinches slightly and walks over to his bag. He pulls out a smaller bag and tosses it to me very reluctantly.
"I really didn't know what I should do with it, so I kept it."
"Kept what?" I ask while staring at the very small bag.
"Your dress," he murmurs softly with a secretive face.
"My dress wouldn't fit in here. The train alone was too big to fit in here," I chuckle out.
He grimaces slightly, and it takes him a minute to sigh out, "It didn't fit in there before the fight, but… it did after."
I warily unzip the bag that can't possibly be holding my dress, and I gasp when I'm proven wrong. Small, tattered bits are all that remain of the dress I had planned to start my life in, and a single fake rose lies intact.
I pull it out, and look at the ravaged shards of fabric crumbled in the bag.
"Holy ripped up wedding dress. Please tell me I wasn't wearing this in front of everyone," I worry.
"Only for a few seconds. I quickly covered you up, and I'm sure you can believe that," he murmurs very dryly.
I smile a little at his agitation for the others having seen so much, and then a blushing hue stings my cheeks. He pulls me into his arms, and I feel his exhaustion when he neglects to capitalize on our extreme closeness.
"Go to sleep," I murmur gently into his ear.
He smirks a little, and his lips graze mine. His soft breaths are rattling against my hair, and I feel his strong grip pulling me as close as he can get me.
"Are you going to sleep with me?" he asks hopefully.
"I think I've slept for long enough, but I'll stay here until you fall asleep. I love you."
"I love you," he mutters in an even more exhausted tone, and almost instantly he's sleeping peacefully.
My finger gingerly brushes the line of his strong cheek, and it strolls down his defined jaw until it reaches his neck.
I kiss his chest as I crawl out of his arms, and I contemplate just sitting here and watching him. I sigh when I realize there's only one day after tonight. One day to find all the answers.
I gingerly creep down the stairs, and whispers ring to my ears the farther down I get.
"I still don't know what we're going to do," Persia sighs. "The daughters of Athena are our most deadly counterpart. You know as well as I do they'll have Medusa spawn there as well now that they know Kahl is really alive."
I don't allow anyone to answer. I don't want to stumble into another full blown argument about me and their doubts.
"Why does the Medusa spawn want Kahl dead so badly?" I interject.
Their eyes widen when they see me, and it's fairly obvious I'm walking in on a discussion that has recently changed. It feels as if they're worried I overheard something I wasn't supposed to again.
Kahl sighs as he breaks the awkward silence to answer my question.
"Medusa once turned full armies to stone. Unlike the fable of Medusa, she could choose whom she turned to stone, and when she did so. She threatened Kaos, and she told him if he didn't bring forth the army of dead to strike down her most hated adversary, she would turn him to stone. Kaos hated threats, and to say he responded viciously would be an understatement.
"My father spent the bulk of his life as a monster among the immortal world, but he never sought to inflict harm among his own unless provoked. His worst crimes were against the unsuspecting mortals. I've lived with those demons for centuries, and you'll face your own struggles with such."
Note to self, stop learning about your heritage.
"Okay. So, Kaos stomped Medusa, and now all of her descendents wish to do the same to his bloodline," I sum up.
"There's a lot of descendents too. Fire Nuris are never too far behind. They love and cherish the Medusa spawn."
"Explain a Nuri, please. I'm still playing catch up," I grumble.
"Nuri entities are the third wave of our kind. The embodiments of earth's excess energy, but they're not weaker in anything other than title. They gather little respect, and they certainly have a chip on their shoulder about it. They fight just to be fighting most times, and those who are our allies are still not deemed trustworthy."
"How can you tell the difference?" I ask curiously.
"Their eyes. The stronger the lineage, the stronger the power in the eyes. Swirls and flares such as ours are the strongest. Theirs will glaze dimly and offer only a subtle change," he clarifies.
"So there's just a whole lot of everyone trying to kill us… Not just Safina and Athena's spawn," I huff. Then my eyes turn to Theia. "How did you stop the army of dead when they came after you?" I ask, foaming at the mouth for insight.
"I didn't," she murmurs with a shiver. "The first time they came, Phillip threw my blood to the ground when I couldn't move. The second time they came, Eycleus stood at my side, and he forced them back into the ground," she mutters.
"Eycle… who?" I stutter.
"Eycleus. He was the keeper of the dead, and he was the first to control the army of dead. He pulled forth a group of mortals to allow them the opportunity to exact revenge on the immortals who had wrongfully ended their life too soon. The unfinished souls poured back into their flesh, and they stalked the immortals.
"Many died, and Eycleus decided the power was too great to use. Unfortunately, others found they had the same ability, and the consequences for his unexpected discovery were grave, destructive, and it would forever change the weight of power. Eycleus spent the remainder of his time putting the armies back to sleep."
"So he's dead now. Great. Anyone else who can do that?" I gripe.
"No. That's why we're still sifting through every scheme we can. Something has to fall into place at some point," Theia exasperates while rubbing her aching head.
"Has anyone slept since we left the beach house?" I ask while staring around at all the weary faces.
"No," Jace grouches. "We've been trying to come up with something… anything at all."
Camara is propped up on Deacon, and I can see her eyes begging to close. Jace walks over to join me on the couch, and his arm rests around my shoulders a little too effortlessly.
He leans back to nestle into an oversized pillow, and I lean against him as Theia pulls out a book.
"This is a journal I started years ago to help me remember anything that might have seemed insignificant at the time, but could help us now. The truth is, without a grave-raiser, there's not too much we can do. Van will go straight for you the moment you're in sight. The moment his eyes pene
trate yours, you'll be lost in fear before you can even strike," Theia sighs in dismay.
"We're still talking gloom and doom," Devin's voice chirps from the entryway.
His eyes narrow at Jace when he sees me propped against him, and he walks over to sit in the chair across from us.
"I thought you were asleep," I murmur softly.
His jaw tenses before he says, "I see that." His eyes flash between me and Jace, and then he motions for me to join him. "It appears I can't sleep too well without you anymore," he grumbles.
I smirk a little as I free myself from Jace and walk over to fall into the open arms waiting for me. Devin's lap is warm and welcoming, and I snuggle into his shirtless body.
"Forget your shirt?" Jace scoffs.
"Forget she's mine?" Devin retorts.
"Yours? Last I checked she was still wearing one ring, not two," Jace growls.
"I think we're all a little tired," Theia exasperates in interruption. "Let's not start arguing right now. There's more at stake here than pride."
Devin's not worried about pride. He just hates Jace because Jace thinks he's supposed to be with me. I love Jace in a completely platonic way. I feel a connection with him, but not the kind he wants me to.
"I've slept too long, so I'm not tired at all. Would it be rude of me to ask for your journal?" I ask Theia.
"I don't have anything personal in it. It's strictly war related stuff. My eyes have crossed from reading it for so long. You're welcome to it," she offers.
She hands it to me before Phillip flashes to her side. He tugs at her hand as his eyes show more fatigue than he can bear any longer.
"We'll talk more tomorrow. We need rest," he urges, and they disappear before anyone can say anything else.
"Mom's right. We're all tired, and it's impossible to think at all when we're this tired. We need to rest," Devin adds.
"It's hard to sleep when we know we're looking at the mortal equivalent of World War II," Jace huffs while rubbing his eyes.
"World War II was my bad. It had been a rough couple of days when I sparked that conflict," Deacon snips. "This is going to be far worse than that for them and us," he continues.
I roll my eyes at the warlord’s claim, and then Devin scoops me into his arms as he stands.
