Mortal Temptations

by Allyson James

  I’ll find you, Patricia, he thought, hoping that somehow she could hear him. I love you. I’ll find you and break this test and prove my love is real.

  He pictured her standing in front of him, her riot of blond curls snaking over her shoulders, her smile, her laughter. He lifted his hand as though to touch her hair, his heart breaking when his fingers brushed only empty air.

  THE room had definitely gotten bigger. Patricia could walk twelve paces each way now, and on her next circuit, her foot bumped something hard.

  Wincing, she leaned down to see what it was and found a square shape that felt smooth and cool, like tile. She also felt droplets of water, and reaching forward, she encountered the unmistakable silken feel of water.

  Her heart lurched, her parched throat pinching. She hesitated, fearful of drinking water that hadn’t been purified, but her dry mouth urged her to at least taste it.

  She scooped some in her hands and let droplets dribble across her tongue. They tasted as clear and pure as the best bottled water.

  Well water? If she was out in the middle of nowhere, well water might be all right to drink. It was cold and good, and she couldn’t resist scooping more into her mouth.

  “Now, if I could just have a sandwich to go with it,” she said hopefully.

  She waited, but no smell of roast beef and mustard assailed her, and she sighed. “Oh, well, it was worth a try.”

  Patricia started to walk back to her corner, then had the sudden fearful thought that the basin might vanish if she turned her back on it. She whirled around and banged her foot on it again.

  She scooped more water into her mouth, then found a dry place to sit next to it. She hung her fingers into the water, its touch comforting.

  “Come on, Nico. You’re supposed to find me. I know you are.”

  She wished for the hundredth time that her psychic ability included projecting her thoughts to others. Even if she closed her eyes and concentrated, she could feel nothing more than the auras of this room, nothing outside of it.

  “Nico, if you can hear me . . .”

  She sighed. She knew Nico couldn’t, and she could not hear him, as much as she projected.

  “They could have left me a cell phone,” she muttered. “But, oh, no.”

  Not that it would have worked in this thick-walled building out in the middle of nowhere. Cell phones were only as good as their ability to pick up a signal.

  Patricia sighed, hoping that whoever found her phone put it to good use.

  “I’M in Egypt; where do you think I am?” Andreas yelled into Patricia’s phone. At the other end, Rebecca’s shrill, tinny voice came back to him.

  Andreas’s heart beat thick and hard. Rebecca’s number at Cornell had indeed been stored on Patricia’s phone’s recent call list, and one touch had it ringing far off in New York. Rebecca’s breathless “Hello” reached him after the second ring.

  She was safe. She was all right. Hera hadn’t killed her.

  “How should I know where you are?” Rebecca said back to him. Her voice sounded shaky, like she’d been crying. “You magicked yourself out of the tomb, leaving the rest of us stranded.”

  “No, I didn’t, sweetheart. I’d never leave you stranded.”

  Rebecca huffed. “I saw you.”

  “I had to get out before she could think of some way to trap me again. I knew that was the only way I could help Nico. When I came back for you, everyone was gone. I thought Hera had done something with you. Nico and Demitri didn’t know where you were.”

  “I blacked out and woke up here, in my office, with my clothes all dirty from the tomb. The department chair walked in thirty seconds later.”

  Andreas imagined it, Rebecca filthy from the rain of rubble and wall painting, tears tracking through the dust on her face.

  “And do you know what?” Rebecca’s laugh sounded strained. “He didn’t even notice anything was wrong. He just asked me how my research trip to Cairo had been.” She kept laughing, hysteria edging her voice.

  “It’s all right, Becky,” Andreas said. “You’ll be safe enough there. Go back to the B and B and tell the cats we’ll be coming soon.”

  “What about Nico and Patricia? Are they all right?”

  Andreas hesitated, not sure what to tell her.

  “What is it?” she squeaked as his hesitation went on too long. “What happened to Patricia and Nico?”

  Andreas told her. He clenched the phone, not liking to hear her cries of dismay. He hated being half the world away from her.

  “Damn it,” Rebecca said. “I’m coming out there.”

  “No, you bloody well are not. You’re safe there. The Dyons will stop tracking you now.”

  “Screw that. I have my passport, and my visa’s still good for another three weeks. I can get a British Airways out of JFK and change in London. What else am I going to spend my postdoc stipend on?”

  “Becky, no.”

  “Stop calling me Becky like it means something. You aren’t under the curse anymore.”

  “I know that,” he shouted. “Don’t you get it?”

  “I’m coming out there,” she said firmly and hung up.

  Andreas slapped the phone closed and stalked out to the living room.

  Demitri watched him with an amused look on his face. “Trouble with the little woman?”

  Andreas had the sudden urge to go to the man and jerk his tie crooked. Demitri always had to look perfect. “I thought once the curse was gone, I wouldn’t care what she thought of me. But I do. Damn it.”

  “I think Nico is having the same problem. What he’s feeling is more than just the curse.”

  They both looked at Nico, who had spread maps all over the table, marking places to look. Andreas’s heart burned for him. Andreas at least had the satisfaction of knowing Rebecca was all right, even if the headstrong woman wasn’t about to stay quietly safe at home. Nico was hurting.

  Andreas sat down next to him, looking over the places Nico had marked: the pyramids at Giza and the ones farther south at Dashur, the valley of Amarna, the remote areas of the Valley of Kings.

  “Why these?” he asked.

  Nico looked up, a fanatic light in his dark eyes. “They’re places god magic would have built up over the centuries. If Hera wanted to confine Patricia magically, these would be good. I can’t imagine Patricia staying long in a place that wasn’t magical. She’s resourceful and would figure a way out.”

  He spoke proudly, and at the same time, his face was stark with grief and worry.

  “There are magical places like this all over the world,” Demitri said, his voice gentle. “Stone circles in England, the Mayan temples, caves in India.”

  “I know.” Nico looked up with a frown. “But we have to start somewhere.”

  “Good point,” Demitri said, trying to sound cheerful.

  Andreas shook his head at Demitri, and rested his hand lightly on Nico’s shoulder. “We’ll find her,” he said. “Demitri and I will do everything we can. Promise.”

  LATER that night, Andreas found Nico out on the balcony, looking over the Nile. The river was a black streak in the city of light and noise, the boats on it strings of brightness.

  Nico had agreed to rest and start searching for Patricia at first light. Demitri was putting together tickets and passes for them to get around the country.

  Andreas leaned next to Nico on the balcony. “You all right?”

  “No.” Nico wouldn’t look at him. “She’s out there, in danger, and I don’t know what to do.”

  “Yes, you do. You look for her. You keep looking for her.”

  Nico sighed. “I’m in love with her, Andreas. I feel it, even beyond the curse.”

  “I know.”

  “I should have made her stay in New York. I let her argue her way to coming out here because I wanted to be with her. I wanted to have her as long as I could.”

  “I know. What do you think I did with Rebecca?”

  “I thought my feelings were ph
ysical, part of the curse,” Nico continued. “But they go so far beyond.”

  Andreas didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. He saw the tears glisten on Nico’s face and moved closer to him.

  Sometimes words weren’t enough. Andreas snaked his arm around Nico’s shoulders and turned Nico’s face to him so he could kiss his mouth. This wasn’t about sex but about comfort.

  Nico kissed him back, shakily, his lips cold. The world had changed in so many ways, Andreas thought. But once upon a time, in their ancient world, a man could kiss his best friend without condemnation.

  He heard Demitri stop in the doorway. “Don’t do that out here,” he said, exasperated. “I have a hotel to run.”

  “Piss off,” Andreas rumbled.

  Nico stepped away from Andreas, his stance a little stronger. “I’m all right now.”

  “No, he isn’t.” Nico was bowed with grief and fear, and Andreas knew it.

  “Come on inside,” Demitri said. “If Nico needs comfort, we can both give it to him.”

  Nico nodded. He passed Andreas, and Demitri moved aside so that Nico could enter.

  Nico took Demitri’s hand and pulled the other man inside with him. He kissed Demitri’s mouth, then started with him for the bedroom, Andreas following.

  NICO woke a few hours later, snug in a nest of his two snoring friends. He was grateful to them for their comfort, lying with bare bodies touching for warmth and reassurance, like littermates.

  Both Demitri and Andreas advised caution and waiting, but Nico knew he could do neither. They also advised against using his demigod magic to search, but Nico knew he had to use everything in his power to find her.

  Nico rose and left the bed, pulling on his pants. Still sleeping, Andreas and Demitri moved closer together, Andreas draping one arm over Demitri’s bare torso.

  Nico walked through the dark suite and out onto the balcony. The night businesses had closed, and it would be several hours before shops opened to take advantage of the cool of the morning.

  Nico unfurled his wings, letting the breeze from the river ruffle his black feathers. He stepped up on the balcony rail.

  I will find you, Patricia, if I have to search for the rest of eternity.

  Eternity sounded like a long time for her to wait, but he hardened his resolve. Hold on, my love.

  He leapt out into empty air, his wings catching the cool draft rising from the river. He stretched out his powers to see, and the world changed.

  Solid shapes receded into irrelevant details. What he saw was humanity, the teeming brightness of it, families gathered for warmth and love against the night.

  He soared over the city of Cairo, seeing the spread of domes and minarets of the Islamic city, faith clinging to them like warmth.

  Across the river, the cities of Heliopolis and Giza spread before him, densely packed with humanity. The river itself gleamed with boats.

  He found no sign of Patricia. He hadn’t expected to, thinking Hera would have put her somewhere far more dire. He turned to swoop out over open desert, the chill of the night catching in his feathers.

  Soon that chill would change to unbearable heat, and Patricia would be out in it—somewhere.

  He circled south, following the life-giving Nile, and out across the desert cliffs.

  PATRICIA jumped awake, her limbs cramped from the hard floor and her folded position.

  Her hand had fallen to her side, and she quickly reached for the basin again, sighing in relief to find the water still there. She didn’t feel any ill effects from it, and her thirsty body didn’t stop her from leaning over the tile and scooping handful after handful of water into her mouth.

  She felt a little better after she drank and bathed her face in the cool liquid. Her frustration mounted after that. She had to get out of here.

  Another exploration of the room showed that it had expanded in size even more. One wall jutted out a little now, and around the corner, still in the dark, she bumped into a table.

  Sinking to her knees, she cautiously touched it, thoughts of snakes and scorpions prominent in her mind. Her hand found something ball-shaped, with the unmistakable feel of orange skin.

  Laughing, Patricia lifted the orange to her nose and inhaled the citrus goodness of it.

  Then she peeled it and devoured it. While savoring its tangy sweetness, she felt the table again, finding a whole pile of oranges and a plate of what smelled like figs. She ate a little of those, too, saving the rest.

  Now that her hunger and thirst were somewhat assuaged, she began to want light. She had to figure out where she was and figure out how to get out of there and find Nico.

  She hoped Nico was all right. Hera had killed Andreas by barely lifting a finger, and she might think it fun to murder Nico and keep Patricia imprisoned and wondering for the rest of her life.

  Best not to think about things like that.

  She also wished she knew where Andreas had gone. Had he deserted Nico and Rebecca as Hera claimed? Or was he biding his time? She’d seen Rebecca disappear the split second before Patricia had been teleported out herself, and she wondered if Rebecca, too, was confined somewhere.

  She had faith in Nico and Andreas, even if Hera didn’t. Nico would come.

  Patricia wasn’t certain how she knew—she’d met Nico only a couple of weeks ago—but she did. She and Nico shared a bond, even if it first started as a curse.

  He would come for her.

  HALFWAY down the Nile, a man with a rifle aimed into the dawn sky and brought down the largest black-winged bird he’d ever seen.

  21

  ANDREAS wasn’t surprised to wake up and find Nico gone. Demitri was already up, showered, and immaculately dressed by the time Andreas wandered out to look for coffee.

  “Are you going to just let him go?” Andreas asked. He stretched, letting the morning sunlight warm his body through the windows.

  “Do you have any suggestions as to where to start looking for him?”

  “Not really.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  Andreas gulped the coffee Demitri handed him and scowled at the smoggy morning. “I’m not going to sit here while Nico gets obliterated by Hera.”

  “I don’t suggest we do.” Demitri set his cup down with economical movements. Demitri’s hair was pulled into his neat, short ponytail, his expensive Italian suit precisely tailored for his frame. Andreas felt scruffy in jeans with bare torso, his hair a mess, and he didn’t care.

  “What do you suggest then?” he grumbled.

  “Nico’s running on adrenaline and emotion. If you and I use our brains, we can figure this out and help him.”

  “You’re optimistic.”

  “He’s hurting.” Demitri arranged the empty coffee cups carefully on a tray. “And I saw you both with Patricia even if I didn’t meet her. She wasn’t looking at you or any other man; she only had eyes for Nico. He needs someone like that.”

  “Nico’s a demigod. Patricia’s a mortal. How is that going to work?”

  “We’ll make it work. And even if they can have only a fleeting time together, don’t you think it’s worth it?”

  Andreas thought about Rebecca, how she could move from shy smile to steely determination back to shy smile in seconds. She was two women: the brainy scholar who’d made her name as one of the top archaeologists of the day and the hesitant young woman who’d never realized she was sexy.

  “Yes,” Andreas said slowly. “I think it would be worth it.” He studied Demitri a moment, taking in the man’s dark eyes and tanned skin, remembering when Demitri had been a wild hellion running all over the world beside Andreas and Nico. “When did you become the matchmaker?”

  Demitri shrugged. “When I realized Nico had a chance to be free and happy.”

  “I’m free, if you noticed. Are you happy for me?”

  “Well, of course.” Demitri straightened his tie a fraction. “But do you know what to do with the happiness you’ve been handed?”

  Andre
as thought about Rebecca again, how his longing for her hadn’t abated, even though his slave chain was gone. This was real.

  “I’ll figure it out,” he promised.

  NICO lay facedown with his wings over him, trying to be as still as he possibly could.

  The shot had taken off a chunk of wing feathers, enough to knock him out of the sky. He’d spiraled down to this clump of rocks and crawled behind them, hurt and out of breath. Out in the desert, he heard men shouting to one another, searching for him.

  He wished he had the power to make himself invisible, but he was only a half god, with limited magic. He couldn’t retract his wings with part of one damaged, even though it would be almost as awkward to explain to whoever hunted him why he was lying in the middle of nowhere without a shirt. His full-back tattoo would cause comment as well.

  All he could do was huddle in stillness in the middle of the rocks and hope they didn’t see him.

  To quiet himself, he thought about Patricia. He imagined himself carefully licking her leg all the way up to her quim, then kneeling back and slowly spreading her legs.

  She’d laugh down at him, her blue green eyes shining in anticipation, her hair a riot of curls on the pillow. She’d touch her clit like he’d taught her to and spread the lips of her quim. She’d be glistening with moisture and wanting his mouth. And his cock.

  That organ inflated as soon as his thoughts spun. His heart throbbed with worry for Patricia, and his cock throbbed with need for her.

  The men spoke in Arabic, coming closer. Nico lay utterly still, the warmth that flooded him thinking of sex with Patricia relaxing his limbs.

  “I’m telling you, it was the biggest bird I ever saw. A black swan, maybe.”

  “Sure, little brother. Like the huge fish you caught last month that none of us ever saw.”

  “I told you, some cats ate it.”

  “You tell good tales, Ahmed. Very entertaining.”

  The first man, Ahmed, trailed off into disgruntled murmuring. They were three feet from his hiding place, their pace not slowing. With any luck they’d tramp on by, unable to see Nico in the early light.