“So, she hid it in the wall of the temple even though it was of no use to her?” Skylar sounded disgusted.
“She continued to hide it, but not in the sacred temple. Tullia coveted the jewel until her dying day, too prideful to admit her deception. However, fortune smiled upon the Insedi when a distant relative, Akonis, received her belongings. He was of pure mind and soul and I was able to encourage his assistance in bringing the heart back through the vortex. Alas, the mountains had already shifted and the exit pathway to Insedivertus was blocked.”
Maxim nodded and looked to Skylar. “That was a bad time for our citizens. The entry site to our world was impacted at the same time. Ninety Insedi warriors and ten of our treasured Seekers were trapped on Earth. It was close to two hundred years before we had technology sufficient to free the blockage. We’d thought they’d died within months, but we now have proof that at least one survived.” He looked up when Dii moved back into the center of the cavern.
“Yes, it was sad in many ways. Lucius was unable to return as well. He spent the remainder of his life wishing he’d been trapped on Insedivertus. He was off world and trying to recover the heart when the event occurred. It only increased his hatred of Tullia. You will understand now why he painted the genesis scene as a reminder of the species he could no longer visit. Together, he and Akonis returned to Rome and hid the jewel. Upon the emperor’s death, Akonis heeded his dying wish and hid the painting alongside the heart. Should the pathway ever open again, Lucius wished for the imperial line to have the artwork as a token of his love for the race. I could not convince the young male to destroy the proof of your existence. His loyalty to Lucius outweighed his fear.”
Maxim frowned. “Why would the emperor chance returning to Rome? They tried to kill him after the senate hearing. Why did he hide it at the busiest port site?”
Dii graced them with his enticing laughter once again. “Lucius had a devious mind. He had already shown his ire at the skewed rewriting of his history by the new imperial line and thought to do it again.”
Skylar chuckled and whispered, “The Curia Julia reliefs.”
“Yes, those were of particular delight to him. With the heart, he knew it would be watched over by Akonis. He was a resident oracle at the temple and promised Lucius that he would pass instructions along to his progeny to guard the precious contents for eternity, or until it could be returned to its rightful home. He thought that one day Fortuna would smile kindly upon them.” Dii’s light brightened. “And we have seen that come to fruition when Skylar passed close enough for me to connect.”
Maxim took a deep breath and lowered his head. He was afraid he might be pushing things a little too far, but a moment like this would probably never come again in his lifetime. This whole encounter was already mind-boggling, so he might as well find out as much as he could.
“I have to know, Dii. Of the twelve Consentes, which one are you? I’ll never be able to rest until I understand.” He felt Skylar grab his hand, her words were cautious.
“What are you talking about, Maxim?”
Before he could respond, Dii spoke, vibrant words echoing throughout the chamber, almost as if they were coming from different directions.
“Look upon us, Maximus.”
He slowly lifted his head, surprised to see that the white light had settled onto the stepping-stones and was in the process of splitting in half. The lights elongated upward and two beings formed in front of them. They were so beautiful Maxim found it hard to keep his eyes still long enough to make out their features. The male was built as strong as an Insedi warrior, and the female stood tall and regal by his side. Both wore long robes draped around their bodies and laurel wreaths about their heads. It instantly reminded him of the pictures he’d seen while he studied the Roman Pantheon in school. The male’s voice came strong and virile.
“Your mother graced you with one of my many names. You will hear your brethren beating the drums in my honor tomorrow, Maximus. I will watch with pleasure as you compete in the games.”
Maxim darted his eyes over to Skylar when she spoke, the lone word hushed in reverence.
“Jupiter.”
The god inclined his head, his lips lifting in appreciation of her immediate recognition.
The female stepped forward, her hand extended, palm upward. When she spoke, a soft, fragrant breeze wafted across his skin.
“I am Juno. I require that your mate pass a message to your emperor.”
Maxim nodded. “Of course.” He watched as her beautiful, glowing eyes studied Skylar for several moments. Her voice softened.
“I will enter your thoughts now, sweetling.”
Skylar’s eyes widened as she received the silent communication, yet she never faltered. Maxim gasped when the prophetic words of the goddess drifted into his mind as well, settling in to stay and remember.
Heed to Sibyl whose eye will see the shadowed flight. Four and ten will mark the page to move you past the dreaded step. Look to the horizon to know your future and your feet to answer the past. Stepping back, the goddess turned and smiled at her mate.
“It is done.”
Jupiter, the god of thunder and Juno, the protective guardian spirit of females, Tinia and Uni, as known to their Etruscan ancestors, clasped hands and began to reform into the glowing ball of light. An overwhelming sense of loss ran through Maxim’s senses. He didn’t want them to leave. There were so many more questions he wanted to ask and fought the urge to beg them to stay. As they rose from the steps, Jupiter’s voice rumbled throughout the chamber, a reminder of his unending power.
“I ask no more of you Maximus Spears Telarius and Skylar Dove Grey. You have earned your rest and my gift to you.”
Chapter 32
Eyes closed, Maxim sighed as something soft slid across his cheek, down the side of his neck, and tapped lightly against his shoulder before moving away to drift across his pecs. His nipples hardened, and he moaned. He didn’t want to wake up. It felt too good to just be still and let whatever was caressing his body have at it. He was bone tired and couldn’t seem to make his lethargic muscles get with the program. His brows drew together when a soft voice drifted through his mind.
I saw your dreams.
Opening his eyes, he stared at a mature yushta tree’s whip-thin branches dancing excitedly above him. This drew his curiosity, since their usual movement was slow and languid, almost like a ballet. This one looked to be plugged into some serious head-banging jams. Two limbs lowered and tapped insistently on his belly, urging him to rouse. The soft voice came again and startled him fully awake.
“I’m in a different dream than yours. This is weird.”
Maxim rolled his head to the right, instantly smiling when he saw Skylar laying close by. Her right arm was extended upward, and she was watching a yellow branch beat a tempo to the end of each of her fingers before lowering to caress her palm. Sliding his arm over, he grasped her free hand and pulled it close to his chest.
“It’s not an illusion, baby. The tree is saying hello.”
She looked over to him, a confused look on her face. “I’m not dreaming this?”
“Nope.”
“I saw your dream in my head, so I thought maybe I was having one, too.”
“What do you mean?”
“You were driving a chariot, of all things. This beautiful, black horse was pulling it. Well, I think it was a horse. There was something different about its mane and ears.”
He squeezed her hand. “Let me guess. I was wearing a dark blue tunic, the plume in my helmet matched, and my mother’s coat-of-arms was on the front.”
Skylar’s eyes widened. “Yes.”
Maxim grinned. “I wore that last year at the festival games. I won the sword battles and as the winner, I got the honor of racing a chariot around the arena. You were in my head, baby.”
“How’s that possible? I thought I blocked your ability.”
Maxim rolled to his side and pulled her closer. “It makes
sense now. You had a piece of the Talesius Mines with you this whole time. Whenever an Insedi is inside the caverns, we’re unable to engage with other’s thoughts.”
Her brows rose. “Does that only work on full Insedi? I was able to talk with you when I was in the back of the SUV. The jewel was laying right next to me.”
“I’m guessing here, but maybe because you were already connected to Dii, you were allowed to reach out. It was only blocking me from attempting a connection.” He saw her curious mind at work as her eyes searched his face.
“Why do the mines block your abilities?”
Maxim snorted. “We’ve been wondering that from the beginning, but I definitely have the answer now. If we ever picked up on Dii while we were in there, either we’d waste away from never wanting to leave, or our minds might crack from engaging with something that powerful. I had hell trying to keep from begging them not to leave. Obviously, they had to throw me out.”
Skylar laughed and punched him on the chest. “You were doing just fine.”
He grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles. “You have no idea what was banging around in my head. I had to lock my knees to keep from running up the stairs before they could float away.”
“I felt it, too. It wasn’t just you. Damn, Maxim, did that really happen to us? Did we just meet gods?”
Maxim rolled over onto his back and watched the yushta still doing its dance above their heads.
“Yes, and I don’t think I’ll ever be the same. Hell, even the yushta seems to know what happened. This is the most animated I’ve ever seen one. I have a feeling that we’ll need to keep that little visit to ourselves. Only the emperor and those he trusts needs to hear the deets. Can you imagine the chaos that might break out if the citizens think that it’s possible to reconnect? They’ve been through so much trauma and are just now getting their hope back. It might set them back on their recovery if they’re never granted an audience.”
“You have a point. Plus, that freaky riddle Juno gave me would blow their minds.”
“I know, I heard it, too. I guess she wanted to make sure we didn’t forget it.” He looked back to Skylar. “Hey, how did you figure out it was Jupiter?”
She snorted. “Easy. When he said that you carried one of his names and then mentioned drumming in his honor, it was a dead give-away. The Romans referred to him as Jupiter Optimus Maximus. I learned that little tidbit while traipsing around the forum. He’s the god of the sky and thunder, so any drumming at a festival is in honor of him. The goddess definitely lived up to her rep. She’s known as Juno Moneta, meaning ‘she who warns.’ We definitely got a warning. I’m just glad I don’t have to figure it out.”
Maxim slowly ran his thumb across her skin as he studied her beautiful eyes. “I like that you’re smart.”
She gave him a quick wink. “And I like that you like me smart since I don’t have the gene inside that makes me able to space out and stare in wonder at my fingernail polish for hours.”
Maxim couldn’t stop his bark of laughter. “Ah, gods, female, you are definitely my other half.”
Skylar chuckled. “Okay, Mr. Hunky Side of mine. Tell me where the hell we are. All I know is the grass is soft and I can smell flowers all around us. If my hearing isn’t screwed up, I think there’s a small waterfall, too.”
Maxim lifted his head, looked around, and immediately started laughing before plopping his head back to the soft grass.
She lightly shoved him with her fist, unable to hide that she fought a smile. “What’s so funny?”
“Dii plunked us down at the same spot that I left our future empress when the befuddled emperor finally got his shit together.”
“Care to explain that piece of nonsense? I’ve had enough riddles for one day.”
“Sorry. Lucien hurt Tana’s feelings and in an attempt to win her back, he recreated a happy memory for them. We’re getting a new empress because obviously he was successful.”
“Well, you didn’t piss me off, so why did we get sent here?”
Maxim looked at Skylar and smiled. “When I came back to pick them up, I sent a prayer to Dii that one day I could have that same feeling of nirvana that I saw plastered on the emperor’s face. The male was seriously in love. I wanted that. The gods are letting me know that I was heard.”
Skylar gripped his hand and rewarded him with a sweet smile. “Well, they obviously heard me, too. I love you. Maxim.”
“Ah, sweets, I love you so much, it scares the hell out of me. Just keep looking at me like that for the next thousand years and I’ll be just fine.”
“Deal. Now help me up. I’m totally wasted and you’re stronger than I am. You get the pleasure of carrying me back to the city.”
“We’re too far out. I’ll just call someone for a pick up.” Pushing to his knees, Maxim reached out and pulled her to her feet. He hadn’t risen to his full height before feeling pressure on his shoulders. Looking up, he realized the yushta was trying to get him to lay back down. Skylar’s voice was wary.
“Uh…why is the tree doing that? Should we be worried?”
Chuckling, he lay on his back and motioned for her to do the same. “It knows we need to get our energy leveled. I should’ve thought of that, which only confirms that I’m brain dead. Insedivertus wants to juice us. Go ahead, baby. Lay down. You’re going to love this.”
Skylar took a deep breath and positioned herself beside him. “Okay, what next?”
“Just close your eyes and free your mind. Don’t think about anything else and focus on the beautiful energy that’s about to enter your core and set everything straight.”
Maxim relaxed every muscle he owned in order to welcome the much-needed energy into his body. He hadn’t realized how drained he’d become. Getting sucked into the bowels of the mines and standing close to a god obviously wasn’t good for stabilization. Since Skylar went through the same things, they both were severely out of whack. He sighed when tingles ran up his spine, the signal that Insedivertus was warning him it was about to enter.
Vitality poured into the center of his core in great waves, more than he’d ever experienced before. Back arching from the ground, Maxim felt like he was experiencing the third mating cycle all over again, except this time it was nothing but excruciating, erotic bliss. His cock grew long and hard, pushing insistently at his jeans, almost to the point of pain. He fought to pull his knees up to take the pressure away from his crotch.
Gritting his teeth, he forced his head to turn to the side and found Skylar wide-eyed and staring at him. Her mouth was open as she panted and gasped through the same thing he was experiencing. Her hips were twisting as her heels dug furrows into the ground. She swung her arm over and grasped his bicep. He could barely make out her words.
“Fuck…Maxim…I had…no idea.”
Fighting to find his voice, he tried to clue her that something wasn’t right. Even though it felt wonderful, it wasn’t normal. “It’s…not…usually…like this…shit!”
Gasping, he reached over and tried to pull her close, but his palm landed on her breast. Maxim immediately recognized the look that passed over her features as her knees lifted and her nails dug into his flesh. She was coming, and hard. Enthralled, he watched as her head tilted back and one hand dove between her legs. Her thighs clamped together as her hips rolled against the carpeted grass and she rode her palm. When her husky voice shouted his name, he grabbed his dick to keep from coming.
Fighting to roll over, Maxim grunted and pushed up on his elbow. He threw his arm around her waist and pulled her close just as her mouth went slack and her legs lowered to the ground. The moment his lips crashed onto hers, the surge of potent energy from Insedivertus ceased and his muscles regained full control. Her hands pushed into his hair and he moaned as her tongue slid along his. She tasted of ambrosia and made sweet little noises that only ramped his need higher.
Lifting up to his knees, he practically tore his T-shirt off, plopped his ass on the ground, and then curse
d as he fumbled with his boots. He never took his eyes off his mate. She was doing the same wild clothes dance. The more skin she revealed, the harder it was for him to control himself. He was thankful when she started talking and focused his attention to her beautiful mouth. She panted between each word as she fought to remove her thong.
“If that wasn’t normal, do you think the gods did it?”
Flopping to his back, Maxim shucked his jeans and groaned when his strangled dick popped out and started hunting for Skylar. “Fuck that has to be it. I guess they considered it a parting gift. Quick, my female. Come to me before I waste this need on the grass.” He was happy to hear her laughter since he’d totally gone into barbaric mode and didn’t want to upset her.
“Not a problem.”
When her warm hand wrapped around his throbbing beast and she threw a leg over his hips, Maxim sucked in a breath and raised his knees. He felt his body shuddering in anticipation of being inside her body. The need to feel his mate consumed his thoughts and emotions. Whatever Insedivertus had juiced them with, every nerve and erogenous zone had magnified ten-fold. He hoped his stamina was included.
Maxim couldn’t control the deep moan rolling through his chest as she slowly lowered onto him. He wanted to shout to the sky when he met a silky, wet passage and her heated flesh gripped him tightly. He clamped his hands onto her waist and it took only three rolls of his hips for him to sink completely inside her. He groaned out his sentiments.
“Vos sentio amo somnium—you feel like a dream.” Maxim’s lips peeled back from his teeth and he squeezed his eyes shut when she set a fast pace on his cock. He opened his eyes when he felt her palms slap down on his shoulders, fingers digging into the muscles. Fire shot through his groin as he looked into her half-closed, piercing blue eyes. He trembled upon hearing her husky, breathless words.
“Every time you talk to me like that, Maxim, you make my clit burn. Those words feel like your warm tongue licking me until I can’t breathe. Oh, yes, that feels so good. Run your palms over my ass again. I love it when you touch me.”
Fueled by Lust: Maxim (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 28
