“Aphrodite chose you for a reason.” The goddess drifted to Kyme’s side. “You possess a rare gift. On your own, you are powerful. But with Arsenius…” She arched one fine brow. “Do you not sense it? His love makes you strong.”
Arsenius fought the urge to clear his throat, to wipe the sweat from his forehead. Once again, his emotions were being declared for him. Bloody hell, he couldn’t gauge Kyme’s reaction.
He focused instead on Persephone. He shouldn’t have expected anything less of Hades—a god notorious for strategizing. His mind wandered back to the mermayde and her mate, Gaven. Aedre possessed a gift as well. Perhaps Nazrin’s future mate did too. And who the hell knew with Thereus?
Aphrodite and Hades must have guessed the consequences of her wager. Had war been their intention all along? If so, they’d already begun assembling their troops. Clever gods, they weren’t collecting powerful individuals for their army, but rather couples. Pairs of warriors whose loyalty to the cause of love would not falter.
If not for that damn wager, he’d never have met Kyme. He owed them his gratitude, even his allegiance.
The goddess dropped the flower and whispered, “I have failed.” Sadness clouded her violet eyes. “I asked Hades to let me try. I was sure my methods would be gentler than his, and as effective, but—”
Kyme stepped forward. “You are not mistaken, my Lady. I do love him.”
His heart bounced around in his chest, unsure of where it belonged. What was Kyme saying? Was she lying to protect him? He didn’t dare believe her words—the mystery of her affection was easier to accept.
Arsenius swallowed hard as he sensed his blissful ignorance was about to be torn from him.
Persephone peered between the two of them. “Your mate does not believe you. I’m afraid you’ll have to prove it.”
“P-Prove it?” Kyme’s voice pitched high. Those two words sent a dagger into his rapidly beating heart. He didn’t want to know. He didn’t want to know. He didn’t—
Kyme snatched a dagger from his belt, grasped her trembling finger, and swiped the blade across it. He yearned to close his arms around her, to whisper in her ear that she didn’t have to do this. That, like Hades, he would love enough for the both of them.
Yet he was frozen, transfixed as though witnessing a gruesome battle. He ought to look away. Walk away. Do anything but watch.
“I swear to my mistress Artemis that I love Arsenius.” Her voice, barely a whisper, broke. The silence in the room was loud enough to echo her words back to them. She squeezed the droplets of blood onto her ring. If the stone absorbed the blood, her vow was true. If not, it would mean she had spoken false.
The stone did not lie.
The amber stone glowed as the blood dripped onto it.
And then his world crumbled.
Two plump drops of crimson slid off the stone and splattered onto the pristine white marble floors.
Wrong. So wrong. The stone’s declaration must be false. Arsenius mustered the courage to glimpse Kyme’s face.
Not wrong. Her lips were firmly pressed, her eyes vacant. No distress or shame in her features. As though it mattered not to her that her lie had been revealed.
Understanding swept over him, dragging him under its relentless tide. He couldn’t have her. Couldn’t love her enough for the both of them because that was not the nature of love.
He refused to imprison her with his love. Against his instincts, Arsenius grasped what he would have to do. He’d die from it eventually, but better him than her.
He’d fight for her against anything. Anything except this. She must love me, too. The armor closed around his heart. He plucked the bundle he’d tucked into his waistband and handed the parcel to Kyme.
Her brows drew together as she peeled aside the cloth. “My dagger? You kept it this entire time?”
When he’d disarmed her in the cave, he’d held on to the blade, sensing its importance to Kyme. He’d planned to return the dagger to her as a gift, celebrating their victory. “Aye. You’re no longer my slave.” Had she ever truly been? Nay.
“Thank y—”
“Return to your home.”
“Bu—” she stammered.
“I was wrong, Kyme.” He let the raw ice drip from his voice. “The only thing worse than living without you, would be living with you, denied your love.”
He turned his back on her and focused on the goddess. “Pray, have you news of my sister?” Visions of Lena were all that kept him from bolting out of this palace and throwing himself into the ocean.
***
Kyme blinked and shifted her attention from Arsenius to the ring upon her hand. As numbness spread through her blood, she stared at the stone, at the stark crimson of her blood on the floor.
Was the stone wrong?
If what burned inside her chest—the ache smoldering as though her heart had imploded—wasn’t love, what was it?
How could an emotion so strong, so wonderful not be love?
Arsenius had regarded her before her vow with hope and anticipation, like a warrior on the verge of victory. Afterward, those grey depths had been so haunted.
She might as well have sliced open his chest and torn out his heart. The pain she’d caused him would have been less.
Yet how quickly he’d recovered. How easily he’d switched the discussion to his sister. Kyme’s chest tightened and her lungs strained. She should cast him aside as he’d so coldly suggested. It was better than standing here, humiliated.
She truly was a monster, incapable of this great emotion which seemed so simple for everyone else. The truth was, she’d been born a cold-hearted Amazon, and she would die as one.
The buzzing in her ears had drowned out the conversation between Arsenius and Persephone until she detected him growling. He shuffled beside her, fists clenched at his sides.
“Be at ease, Arsenius. The burden of her rescue is not yours. It has never been yours.” The goddess rested a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Although I cannot tell you her location, I promise you she is safe and unharmed. She has known none of the suffering you have.”
“Then lead me to her. Let me have her, at least.”
His plea struck Kyme to her very core. Arsenius had at last fathomed how utterly wasted his love was on her. How he deserved so much more.
A man like him could claim the love of any woman he desired. Except me.
She brushed away the beginnings of tears. I will not cry in front of him. She wasn’t capable of such emotion, after all.
“Command me, please, my Lady.” The desperation in his voice tore to pieces what remained of Kyme’s soul. She had reduced this great warrior to such bitter depths.
“Only one can retrieve her, son of Ares. The Fates have declared it so.”
“Who? Who is he?”
“Her true love.” Wistfulness slanted her smile as she glanced toward Kyme. “Do you wish to leave?” She swept out her hand and the wall with the markings—a Portal—shimmered to reveal a familiar mountainside. My homeland.
Arsenius hung his head in resignation, his face a mask, his eyes distant, unreachable.
I’ll never see him again. How she longed to run into his arms and free her tears. To comfort him over this news of Lena.
But this was what he wished—to send her away.
Kyme swallowed her battered pride and stepped through the Portal.
***
Nay, don’t leave me, his lips begged to plea.
His limbs weakened with the urge to crawl on his knees, beseeching.
Instead, Arsenius turned his back. He refused to watch Kyme’s departure, to acknowledge she had done as he’d always feared she would.
Mine. The beast inside roared.
Nay, he scoffed. She was never yours, you fool. She only made you believe it for a while.
Cursed. I am cursed. He would resume his life and endure for the one thing he always had. Lena. He’d locate her true love; he’d save her. Then he’d drink himself into o
blivion.
A single tear shimmered down the goddess’s cheek. “Will you not go after her?”
“No.”
“No,” she agreed, a firmness in her tone. “Not yet.” Persephone inclined her head and returned to her throne.
Dismissed, the heavy wooden doors slammed behind him. He stumbled and clung to the wall to regain his balance. Kyme might as well have broken every bone in his body, torn out his heart, and used a battering ram against it.
He hissed at how much her indifference hurt. How absolute the love he possessed for Kyme was.
Of course, he’d loved his mother and sister, but his love for Kyme defined him. She was his breath, his heartbeat. Without her, he would die.
Somehow, he managed to stagger back to his ship.
One glance at Arsenius’s face and Thereus remained silent. The sole question he asked was, “Where to, Captain?”
Arsenius refused to acknowledge any event in the future, not even a destination. Yet they had to go somewhere, and he’d pledged himself to the goddess. “Back to Halcyon.”
He wasn’t sure why Halcyon was where he was drawn to. Mayhap he sought to punish himself with the sight of the cabin, the bed where he’d first made love to her. Or because he aimed to keep the pain fresh. He prayed it would never dull, that he would not forget her. He’d rather be tortured with memories than revert to what he’d once been. Before Kyme.
Oh, he’d still drink himself numb, if only to suffer the agony anew when he sobered.
Did the gods find this amusing? Were they having a good laugh up on Mount Olympus? Was his father Ares leading the jesting?
It’s no more than I deserve, for falling in love and becoming weak. So weak.
Arsenius cursed his father, opened a bottle of rum, and collapsed on the bed inside his cabin.
He was destroyed. Ruined as not even his nine months of slavery had managed.
None of it mattered. For now, he had one purpose in life. To track down his sister’s true love.
The good news? He knew who it was.
And the bad?
The male had died nearly a decade ago.
***
Kyme perched on a rock at the edge of a small lake, sharpening a knife. The scrape of metal against leather brought a satisfactory purpose to her hands. As long as she kept her hands occupied, the dull, blistering ache inside her chest was bearable. Any idle stretch resulted in the surfacing of that agony—an unacceptable event. So here she perched, fulfilling her offer to sharpen the blades of the entire camp.
The Queen had accepted Kyme’s return better than she’d anticipated. In fact, Hippolyta had been nothing except courteous and warm. These past two weeks, her sisters had been kind to her.
As she retained her powers, she’d decided not to disclose the extent of her relations with Arsenius. With everything considered, she should have been content. Her life was as perfect as when she’d left it. Better even.
She’d somehow gained the respect of several of her sisters who’d always been indifferent or even spitefully envious toward her.
You’ve proven your loyalty to us and earned your place amongst us. You wished to stay with the male, yet you chose to return to your sisters, Kalare had declared.
Kyme blanched at the echo of the woman’s words. How wrong they were. And how right. She had never fit in. She’d always tried so hard to be the perfect warrior, to do everything expected of her.
Had she truly ever coveted this? She’d yearned to belong, somewhere, to someone. Now that she did? She was empty.
The truth was, the only place she’d ever belonged was in Arsenius’s arms. But they were closed. He rejected me. She would have to be content with her sisters. In this place, she had a purpose. What did it matter if she never experienced love? It wasn’t as though she was capable of reciprocating the emotion.
Damn him. Her heart thumped in protest against her ribs. I do love Arsenius.
A scream formed in her throat at the injustice. Instead of releasing it, she set down the knife and permitted her tears to fall. She’d held them back for weeks, but the dam had been breached and they fell one by one into the pond.
Should she place more faith in a rock than in her heart?
Arsenius did, the voice in her head taunted. His disbelief was the reason you uttered that cursed vow. When it proved false, he was the first to dismiss you.
The love she bore for Arsenius wasn’t as defined as others’, but it was still love, wasn’t it?
A breeze blew through the meadow, carrying with it a whisper. You may keep your powers so long as you retain his love.
Kyme scrambled to her feet and searched for the voice. “Who’s there?” Silence answered her. Settling once more, she brushed away the evidence of her tears and stared into the waters, pondering the goddess’s words. An idea flickered in her mind, and tentatively she stretched out her hand, calling upon her gift. Her hand glowed amber—the proof she required. Why had she not concluded this before?
Arsenius’s love remained hers. Was she brave enough to claim it?
As she stared into her reflection in the pool, she grasped what she must do. I have to see him again. She had to convince him. By fair means or foul.
Kyme smiled as she gripped the bone handle of the ceremonial dagger Arsenius had returned to her, flipping the pointed blade over in her hand, saying farewell to its familiar weight. Time to retire her Amazon blade. Regardless of Arsenius’s response, she refused to live this life. She craved more. To explore the world and make her choices. Rising, she gathered the knives and wandered back to her cave.
Perhaps she would venture to Halcyon and join the army. Fight for Persephone and Hades, win the war for their love even if she couldn’t fight for hers.
She would surrender her heritage for the one virtue she’d never understood until she’d met Arsenius.
Love.
Kyme rolled her shoulders as she surveyed the small cave which had been her home her entire life. Once she deserted her people, she’d never return. She would no longer be an Amazon.
The simple furnishings of her cave were proof of how sheltered she’d been. How little she was surrendering. A small pallet of straw and furs. An assortment of weapons. A few clothes. A brush. This was the sum of her life, and it was empty. With no one to love, she’d been hollow.
No longer.
She packed a sack of provisions and the one treasured item from her cave—her ceremonial dagger. The one she’d been gifted for her initiation. It was time to relinquish it, to renounce the shell of a person she’d been.
A sigh fell from her lips as she gazed one last time at the cave where Arsenius had woken her with a blade to her throat.
Where he’d intended to capture her body and instead had succeeded in enslaving her heart.
Hippolyta tilted her head at Kyme. “What is wrong, my child?”
She dared not speak as she knelt before her godmother. The two days it had taken her to journey to this remote hunting camp had done little to bolster her courage. It took every ounce of her control to steady her hand as she offered up her dagger.
“What is this, Kyme?” The Queen’s voice faltered.
“I am leaving.” Her throat tightened. “I cannot stay. In my heart, I am no longer Amazon.” The conversations around them halted. They might kill her for uttering such a thing. It was akin to treason. She kept her head bowed and prayed for leniency.
Still no one spoke. The silence sliced through her.
Behind her, a set of familiar footfalls thudded.
Apparently, it wasn’t her statement which had silenced everyone.
***
Arsenius raised his sword and clashed it against Nazrin’s. Gods, this was much better than liquor. The Wind Borne was a fantastic swordsman and he was agreeable to any kind of fighting Arsenius might fancy. They sparred for another ten minutes before Nazrin was called away. He thanked the winged male for the exertion and leaned against the training arena’s fence as he wiped the
sweat from his brow.
The sun beating down promised a hot day and perhaps later he’d venture into the lake for a swim. Halcyon was remarkable. They had almost everything required to make this place self-sustaining—from fields where they grew food year-round to lodgings able to house several hundred soldiers.
While Gaven tended to Aedre, who was growing steadily with child, Nazrin had been his guide around Halcyon. The two of them had concluded they lacked a naval fleet, for ocean battles, and also to transport their armies. Wasn’t it fortunate that Arsenius possessed expertise in procuring ships?
They’d made modifications to the encampment—extended the lake, added docks, and a port to house the ships Thereus retrieved during his excursions.
The centaur had ventured to his home in Thessaly to secure the allegiance of his people. Halcyon needed to expand its army, and rapidly. Whether a war was coming soon or further in the future, they must be trained. Be ready.
Arsenius would also depart soon to search for other recruits. Dozens of descendant-species and divine creatures hadn’t been considered yet. They would require as many men and women as they could muster. If Persephone was right and this wager would result in a rematch of Troy… Well, the War had numbered in the tens of thousands. In comparison, the paltry three hundred men currently in Halcyon seemed like a miser’s offering.
Upon his return, Arsenius had sent out a few trusted men with specific instructions to collect information on Lena’s “true love.” Was the grave still there? Had he indeed died in the war? He prayed not.
All of this planning kept him occupied. One might presume busy enough to forget about her. Alas, no. He suffered restless nights, even if the days stretched on beyond infinity.
No matter how he replayed those events in his mind, it never made sense. Kyme wasn’t callous. Nor dishonest. She would never have made a vow to her goddess lightly.
What if she had believed her own words? The mask on her face afterward was what she used to retreat from her emotions.
What if she does love me? He scoffed. Not bloody likely.
Moon Borne (Halcyon Romance Series Book 1) Page 27
