She outlined a plan for a peaceful end to the conflict using economic motivation as the catalyst. Jax tightened his fingers on her hips as she spoke. Her plan should work.
Would work.
“Clio, you might just have spared humanity the terror of World War Three.” He grasped her shoulders and pulled her against his chest, claiming her mouth with a fast, hard kiss. This time, he could make a difference.
“Gaia said your people from GeoPoly are arriving tomorrow. Does this mean you’ll help?”
“What are the chances the plan could backfire because you used magic to manufacture an end to the Five Nations assault?”
“But I didn’t. When we discovered what my nudges did to you, I decided we needed a non-magic solution. You had to focus on the problem, not on how desperate you were to make love to me. Or how frantic I was to have you do that.” She swept her fingers through his hair, pushing the longer ends on the crown of his head backward. “This solution is one hundred percent not magic. And it will work.”
“I’m in. I was going to help you all along. First, because you are right. I am desperate to join with you, to move over you and in you every moment we are together.” His dick jumped in agreement. She wiggled her bottom over the sudden stiffness prodding her backside. His breath stuttered, but he forced himself to continue. “But secondly, I figured maybe with you by my side, I might be able to get my former employer and the government to listen. Can you prod them to do what we need them to?”
“Absolutely.”
“Good.” Her skin was like silk as he smoothed his hands up her arms. “My former boss, Beryl, has made arrangements for us to use one of the private meeting rooms at the library for the duration. We needed a spot big enough to accommodate a good number of people and one with access to a network. She’s greased the wheels with the university and the library director.”
“That’s good. I’ll be close if you need me to push anyone.”
One more fear surfaced, a feeling so strong it nearly stole his breath. “Will winning this conflict mean you defeat Pierus’s challenge? Now that I’ve found you, I don’t want to let you go.”
“Since I’m the first of my sisters that he’s challenged…” She bit her lip and glanced away. “Jax, we don’t know. We think yes. History has taught us to be vigilant when it comes to him. This dispute with Pierus goes back to the fifth century BC. He surfaces ever few thousand years to try to free his children. But, this is the first time the tests are to be faced individually. We won’t know what other tricks he has in store for us. Even if I win, if one of my sisters loses, we all lose.”
“Nope. I’m not going to spend the rest of my life with you as a bird. That just doesn’t work into my plans.”
A slow smile spread over her lovely face. “The rest of your life?”
“Yeah. That doesn’t scare you, does it?” It should have scared the shit out of him to think about growing old with a goddess…wife…by his side. But he searched deep within and found only excitement about the possibility.
She shook her head as she lowered her mouth to his. Just before she touched his lips with hers, she breathed against them. “Not in the least, my love. Not in the very least.”
Clio spent the night in Jax’s arms in his bed. It was the best sleep she’d gotten since learning of the challenge. The normally enchanting alarm on her phone beeped harshly before the sun came up, and she snoozed it, not wishing to leave the cocooning warmth of Jax’s magnificent body. When it went off a second time, she reluctantly rose. A small thrill went through her when a bare-chested Jax walked with her to where she’d left her car parked at the curb.
The sky blazed red and orange as the sun rose on the eastern horizon. Clouds churned ominously in the west. By the time she arrived at her tiny house, the fiery colors had faded to iron gray. Her spirits sank like a rock in a pond. The storm was definitely coming today. Would this be her last sunrise?
As she walked up the steps to her home, a magpie cackled from its perch on the corner street sign. Clio paused to glare at the bird. “You won’t win. I will defeat you,” she whispered. The black and white monstrosity lifted its wings, as though shrugging, dismissing her words.
Clio let herself into the house. She stopped in the kitchen to start coffee before heading to the shower. Thirty minutes later, she stood in her bathrobe, mug in hand, staring into her closet. She’d be meeting Jax’s former co-workers today. Possibly helping them save the world. Definitely saving her own life. She slid a couple of hangers to the side and pulled her favorite scarlet top from the rod, then reached back in for the comfortable black pants suit she considered her VIP visitor outfit. She straightened her hair until it hung sleek and smooth against her jaw, spraying it with more than enough product to maintain the style.
She was startled to hear humming as she walked to the kitchen for a refill. She slowed her step and with her free hand dug through her purse looking for her pepper spray. She might be a Muse, able to influence people to do what she willed, but sometimes a girl just had to rely on more mortal options. A nudge from her, plus a jet of burning hot liquid in the face, was guaranteed to work wonders.
“Come in. I’ve made you breakfast.”
Relief trickled down her spine at the sound of her father’s voice. She dropped the small canister of spray back into her bag. “Zeus, what are you doing here?”
He glanced over his shoulder but continued to drizzle amber-red honey into a bowl of yogurt. He lifted one brow. “Is there some law that says I cannot have breakfast with my daughter occasionally?”
She shook her head. “No, but normally you call first. And what the hell are you wearing?”
She’d never understand her father’s sense of style. Today he had on his ceremonial toga but had draped it with a tartan plaid sash. On his feet, he wore a beat-up pair of red Chuck Taylor sneakers.
“You mother wondered as well. She threatened to forbid me to leave. But I like to be comfortable.” He picked up a small bowl filled with dried fruit and chopped nuts and sprinkled the contents over the creamy white yogurt. He’d fixed a second bowl for himself. Clio grabbed another mug from the cabinet and poured her favorite hazelnut coffee into it, then topped hers off. Carrying both mugs, she joined Zeus at the table.
While Zeus doctored his drink with cream and sugar, she swirled her spoon in the bowl, mixing all the ingredients together. She took a bite and savored the sweet-tart taste on her tongue. “Oh, you added cinnamon. It’s good.”
Zeus slurped his coffee. He gazed at Clio as she ate, the expression on his face sober.
“Dammit, Zeus. You are not here for a normal breakfast. You’re here because you think it might be the last time you’ll see me,” she accused.
“I will not deny this thought crossed my mind, daughter.” Zeus crossed his arms over his chest and slid lower in his chair, legs spread wide. “But I am feeling confident in our proposed solution. I believe you will win this challenge.”
“Then you’ll have to sit through eight more daughters facing the same thing.” Appetite suddenly gone, Clio let her spoon plop into the bowl.
“We cannot know what they will face, but if we meet it together, as a family, our chances increase of pulling off the ultimate victory.”
“I’m scared, Zeus. What if Jax can’t convince his boss to pursue the option we came up with? What if she’s immune to the power of my nudges? What if they fail and war erupts in Europe?” Fear sat like a stone on her chest. The few bites of food she’d eaten roiled in her stomach. “I don’t want to turn into a stinking bird for all eternity, but I’m more concerned about the potential loss of life. And the future of the human race.”
“The challenge required that you get the man helping you to entertain the magic of what if. Jax has agreed to help, correct?”
She nodded.
“And he believes in your magic, correct?”
She nodded again.
“Then I think you have already won the competition. Saving the
world is just like the topping on your yogurt.” He pointed to her bowl. “A bonus.”
But had she done enough? Jax was willing to help. He’d embraced the idea of her being a Muse. He had to believe in magic for that to happen.
Clio ran a finger over the rim of her mug. “His people are arriving today. He told me they’d reserved a meeting room at the library, so I’ll be available to help if needed. He doesn’t want me turned into a bird either.”
“Of all of Pierus’s horrible daughters, Tyranny is the worst. For generations, humans accused me of being tyrannical. I am not even close. If she is released, I fear for the mortals we have loved and guided for the millennia.” He sat forward and cupped her face. His cobalt eyes burned with sincere flame. “So, darling daughter, please do your best to see to Jax’s success. Gaia and I will be near if you need us. Our laws ensure we can’t interfere with the humans involved, but we can advise you. And my advice is try your very hardest.”
Chapter 16
When Clio entered her office a short while later, the ugly bird perched in the bushes just outside her window. After dropping her purse and insulated mug, she crossed to the window, wildly waving her arms in the air, hoping to frighten the magpie away. Damn thing blinked a human-looking blue eye and flapped its wings, but didn’t launch into the air. The top of its wings were bare of feathers. Bone and sinew ended in small, fingerlike protrusions on the tips. Was the magpie so close to success that it was transforming back to a person?
Disgusted and worried, Clio seized the string tie of the blinds and jerked it to the left. The thin wooden planks clacked as they fell into place. Then she twisted the slats closed, blocking out the sight of the evil Tyranny. Feeling defiant, Clio lifted her middle finger in the bird’s direction.
She turned her back to the window. A glance at the ormolu clock with the delicate cherub sitting atop showed Clio had an hour before Jax and his crew arrived. The facilities director would have already taken care of setting up the room they’d reserved. She sat down to concentrate on her e-mails and work on her departmental budget. Although, she wondered why she bothered. They couldn’t fire her if she was a magpie.
The office remained quiet except for the ticking clock and Tyranny’s occasional aggravating squawk. When the phone on the corner of the desk buzzed, it startled her. Her phone almost never rang.
Heart racing, she answered. “Hello?”
“Clio, it’s Zeke.”
“What are you doing here this morning?” He typically worked at night. It was unusual for him to be in the library at nine in the morning.
“Regular guy called off sick. Professor Callahan is at the front desk. And he has a rather large contingent of people with him.”
“Would you mind directing them to the Ancient Civ room. I’ll join them there.”
“Sure thing.” Zeke hung up before Clio could utter her thanks.
She gave them thirty minutes to settle in before going to greet the visitors. After a stop in the employee break room for a refill, she headed to meet Jax and his co-workers.
A sign outside the space indicated the room was reserved for the next week and apologized for the inconvenience. It also directed any readers to take their questions directly to Clio. She supposed that was fair, since it was her particular department that was being affected.
Beneath her fingers the brass doorknob was as cold as the dread in her soul. The normally quiet room was abuzz with activity and a loud hum of many voices. Every available surface had notepads, tablets, laptops and wires strewn over it. Cables snaked from the dropped ceiling, and in one corner, a man with a tool belt stood on the highest rung of a stepladder, the top half of his body disappearing into an opening in the fiberglass panels.
Clio scanned the room for Jax. She stopped moving forward when she spied him standing near a table across the room. The look on his face was stormy and grim.
His shoulder appeared stiff under the proprietary hand of a gorgeous blonde. Her candy-apple red nails stood out against the stark white of Jax’s button down shirt. The woman’s breast brushed Jax’s bicep as she pointed to something on the paper he held. Jealousy rose like black, oily smoke in Clio’s chest. Fighting the urge to streak across the room and scratch the woman’s eyes out, she curled her fingers and dug her own unpainted nails into the palm of her hand.
Jax looked up and met Clio’s gaze. His expression immediately lightened. His lips lifted in the slow, sexy smile she’d come to adore above all his other expressions. He shifted away from the blonde and beckoned Clio to his side.
He greeted her with a kiss, smoothing his hand down her arm. “Clio Thanos, this is Beryl Ramsey. Beryl, Clio is the director of the Civilizations Division here in the University Library.”
Clio faced Beryl and stifled a shiver produced by the frosty look on the woman’s face. Schooling her own face into a placid expression, she extended her hand. “Pleased to meet you, Beryl. Welcome to Delphi.”
Beryl curled her lips up in a snarky smile as she gave Clio the once-over that seemed to find her lacking. “Thank you.” Clio found her hand engulfed in the woman’s hard, cold mitt.
When Beryl released her grip, Clio shoved her fist behind her back and flexed her fingers, hoping to ease the sting of Beryl’s crushing greeting. Clio glanced around the room. “Looks like you are getting everything in place. Is there anything you need?”
Leaning his chest into her shoulder, Jax scooted closer to Clio. He grasped her sore hand and massaged it. “I think we’re all set. Beryl and the rest of the crew arrived early this morning and, as you can see, they’ve been hard at work.”
“Actually, Jax, I do need one thing,” Beryl cooed. “Would you mind if I sleep with you? At your house? My hotel room is hideous. I doubt I’ll be able to sleep there.”
Bitch tried to intimidate her, and now she was dissing Clio’s parents’ resort. There wasn’t a single hideous room in the entire inventory of twenty spacious suites. To make matters worse, she wanted to sleep with Jax. Clio turned a cold stare on Jax to see how he’d respond to Beryl’s request.
“I’ll have plenty of room at my house.” Son of a— He’d welcome this—this awful, aggressive woman into the bed Clio had slept in last night. He slipped his hand into Clio’s and laced his fingers between hers. “I’ll be staying at Clio’s house, so feel free to make yourself at home in mine.”
Clio’s spirits soared.
Beryl’s brows lowered in a thunderous scowl. She crossed her arms over her ample chest and shifted her weight to one hip. “We’d better get back to work. The threat from the Five Nations is escalating, and standing around talking isn’t going to solve the problem. Admiral Burton from the Joint Chiefs is demanding a military action plan today. I’m sure you’ll excuse us, Clio.” Beryl pivoted on one stiletto heel but spun back around quickly. “Oh, we could use coffee. Can you make that happen?” She sent Clio a derisive sneer, the kind normally reserved by haughty generals when dealing with enlisted men. Without waiting for an answer, Beryl strode away, hips swishing from side-to-side.
For some people there simply was no excuse. Clio wanted to shout that she’d be happy to pick up the admiral’s name after the bitch had dropped it so carelessly. Burton might be one of the highest-ranking military officers now, but he amounted to chump change in Clio’s world. Wouldn’t it surprise Beryl to know that in the late eighteenth century, Clio had not only known Admiral Horatio Nelson, but had introduced the inspirational British leader to his wife?
Jax jiggled her hand and gave her a tight smile. His soft brown eyes went hard when he looked at Beryl as she stopped to berate one of the techs. He shook his head. “Sorry about that.”
“What is she to you, Jax?”
“It’s what she used to be and never will be again.” He sighed, grasped her shoulders, and urged her to face him. “I’ve worked with Beryl since I took the position with GeoPoly. She’s been my boss and my lover. And she was never good at either role.”
“Oh.”
“Clio, you have nothing to worry about with her. Is it okay if I stay with you?”
The tension in Clio’s neck and shoulders eased. “Sure. But for the record? There are no hideous rooms at the Athenian. My parents own it, and it is charming and five-star all the way.”
“I believe you.” He pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek.
Across the room, Beryl watched, her lips pursed. Clio summoned every bit of her willpower to stop herself from fondling Jax’s luscious ass. But she did nudge Beryl to look away and was pleased when the woman complied. Clio directed her attention back to Jax.
The man watched her with a knowing smile. “I like that you are jealous.”
“I’m not. I’m not jealous,” Clio insisted. She lowered her voice further. “But I should let you get back to work. Have you talked to her about our idea?”
“There hasn’t been time yet. She’s been too busy throwing her weight around.”
“Holy shit!” A man seated in front of one of the laptops shouted. “Beryl, you better come look.”
Clio rested her hand on Jax’s arm. “Uh-oh. Sounds like something is happening. You’d better get back to work. Text me if you need me to throw my weight around.”
Jax captured her mouth under his in a fast urgent kiss. “Don’t get too far away, okay? I don’t want to lose track of you.”
“I’ll be in my office on the third floor or at the front desk. I’ll let you know if I’m going anywhere else.”
Jax nodded, then hurried across the room toward where Beryl and several other people had clustered around a computer.
Clio eased the door shut behind her and strolled down the hall, her heels clacking against the marble floor. When she was almost back to her office, her phone vibrated. She pulled it out and glanced at the screen. Shaking her head, she answered, forcing energy and enthusiasm into her tone. “Hi, Callie.” Her sister used to be happier in other lifetimes. For some reason, she acted as if she had her thong underwear on backward this entire existence.
Tyranny: Goddesses of Delphi Page 14
