“I’m sure there’s something—hey—hey—are you okay?” Lea’s voice suddenly sounded so, so far away, but her hand was on my arm.
“Yeah, I’m… okay.” I took a step and felt a tremble in my legs. Muscles twitched, gave way.
An explosion flashed white in the dimly lit room, blinding me temporarily. I thought I screamed a warning. I thought I turned to move in front of Lea, but when the intense white light receded, I wasn’t in the little room anymore.
The circular chamber was made of sandstone and lined with marble pillars. Strange glyphs covered the walls, runes that matched the ones gliding over my skin. There was nothing in the room—no couch or bookshelves or Lea—but I wasn’t alone.
“What the hell?” I demanded.
Standing before me was a god, one who looked like he wasn’t much older than me. The winged cap he wore hid most of his hair, but light brown wisps poked out from underneath. He wore a white chlamys cloak.
The god gave a little smile. “Don’t kill the messenger.”
And then he blinked out.
“What the fu—”
Then I saw him. He leaned against one of the pillars, his back to me. The familiar black garb, the wave of blond hair—now slightly longer… Recognition sent a terrible, icy Shockwave of disbelief through me.
“Seth?” I whispered.
A heartbeat passed and he turned his head to the side. “I am not very happy with you, Alex.”
Horror rose quickly and I took an involuntarily step back. Before, I never would’ve feared him—would’ve laughed at the thought. But now I was terrified—not of him, but what he could do.
Seth turned to me and his face was as I remembered—strong jaw and expressive lips, eyes like liquid amber and a beauty that was too perfect. It always reminded me of sculptures done in the images of the gods.
He arched a mocking brow. “What? Are you struck speechless? That would be a first.”
“How?” I croaked, heart racing painfully.
“We’re still connected, and I’ve been waiting for the right moment to… how should I say this? ‘Make a long-distance call via our bond’?” He smiled that smug half-grin. “Shield or not, I can still reach you… with a little help from friends in high places.”
The god… “Hermes?”
Seth nodded. “He’s always been a fav of mine. Bringing you to me will surely piss off some of the other gods, which was all it took to convince Hermes to do it. And before you jump to the wrong conclusion, Hermes is not the god responsible for me.”
The fact that Seth had gotten Hermes to swoop in ticked me off, but it didn’t make sense. How had Hermes found me? Confusion swamped me, but there was something that tasted like blood behind it. “I don’t understand. Where am I?”
“You’re where I want you to be.” He took a calculated step forward.
I inched backward. “That’s not much of an answer.”
Seth cocked his head to the side, eyes narrowing as he kept coming forward. “Do you think you deserve an answer?”
Now I knew what tasted like metal in the back of my throat. Anger. “Am I dreaming, Seth?”
He laughed; while we’d been connected, he had laughed a lot, but now I realized there was a difference between real Seth and the ghost version of him. His presence was potent; his voice held a husky, musical quality to it with the slightest accent. And his laugh… his laugh was deep and smug.
“You’re not dreaming, Alex. Like I said, I used our connection, and Hermes helped. This…” He spread his arms out, and the golden skin was covered in moving symbols. “This is in here.” He tapped a finger off his skull. “It’s like Skyping.”
My hand itched to knock that smile off his face. “So this isn’t real?”
“Oh, it’s real to a certain extent.”
I found that I’d kept backing up and now my back was against the warm sandstone wall. “This can’t be real.”
Seth stopped in front of me and leaned in, coming so close that I turned my head, my fingers curling helplessly at my sides. His breath danced over my cheek. “If you’re worried that I can transfer your power in this state, I can’t. Neither can I really get anything out of our bond. Your shields—” he rolled his eyes “—are still intact. I probably shouldn’t have taught you how to do that, but anyway, you’re not really here. Hermes rode our connection to your subconscious and pulled you into mine.”
Gods, that sounded so entirely messed up.
“I missed you. So relax.”
Relax? I was supposed to relax when I was here, wherever here was, with crazy-pants Seth? My head jerked toward him. Our faces were mere inches apart. “You missed me?”
“I miss the Alex who lived to make me happy.” He laughed at what I was sure was a I’m going to murder you look that crossed my face. “Okay. I wanted to see if this would work and it did.”
“So if I touch you, then nothing will happen?”
“Correct.” His amber eyes flared. “Wait. You want to touch me? I like where this is going.”
I smiled, and then a second later I planted my fist in his stomach with everything I had in me. Doubling over, Seth grunted and let out a low curse. Moving forward, I brought my knee up, slamming into the same spot my fist had connected with seconds before.
“Dammit, Alex, I can feel that.” Seth straightened, rubbing his stomach.
Sweet satisfaction tasted like sugar on my tongue. “Good! Because there’s more where that came from, you psychotic douchebag!” I swung again.
Seth reacted quickly, capturing my hand in his. He pushed back, snatching my other wrist, which was heading for his face. Less than a second later, he had both my wrists pinned above my head.
Smiling like I hadn’t just kicked the air out of his stomach, which totally ticked me off, he pressed in. “How many times have I told you, Alex? Hitting isn’t nice.”
I pushed off the wall, but all that succeeded in doing was bringing our bodies flush. Anger deepened the hue of his eyes, as did something else—interest and lust. And even though that made my skin crawl, I realized something important. The cord wasn’t snapping alive like it usually did when I was around him, especially when he was practically on top of me. It rested dormant in the pit of my stomach.
This was real… but it wasn’t real. Still, I wasn’t thrilled with what was happening.
“You’re in my personal space.” My jaw ached from how hard I was grinding my molars. “Let go.”
“No.” His eyes widened. “You might hit me again.”
“You can count on it!” Rage boiled inside me, swallowing the confusion and terror that had held such a tight grip on me. “How could you do that to me?” I kicked off the wall, but Seth pushed back. “You promised you wouldn’t use our bond against me, and you did! You turned me into the president of the Seth Fan Club.”
His lips twitched. “I see nothing wrong with that.”
I seethed. “I referred to you as my Seth!”
“Again, I see nothing wrong with that.”
Hands curling into fists, I glared at him. “It was wrong, Seth! What you’re doing is wrong! Don’t you understand that? Dammit!” Throwing my hand back, it cracked against the wall. Very real pain exploded up my arm. “Shit!”
“Now, calm down. You’re just going to hurt yourself.” Mischief sparkled in his golden eyes, and for an instant, I was reminded of Seth—Seth before he went crazy on aether power, who ticked me off just as much as he made me laugh—the boy who had stolen a piece of my heart.
I stared into his eyes, feeling some of the rage seep away. “What happened to you?”
He blinked. “What?”
Slumping against the wall, I lowered my gaze. “You’ve always been arrogant as hell and crazy, but…”
“Thanks,” he said dryly, but the grip around my wrists loosened.
“But you never would’ve done this to me—used the bond against me.” I lifted my gaze. “You never would’ve attacked the Council or sided with Lucian. W
hat happened to you?”
A muscle popped out in Seth’s jaw. “I got smart, Alex. What happened to you is the better question. The girl I met would’ve gone against the Council without a second thought. She would’ve still hated Lucian, but she would’ve seen that what he was trying to do was the right thing.”
“No.” I turned my head, swallowing hard.
Yes!” Moving my wrists to one hand, he caught my chin in his other, forcing me to look at him, and I hated the near-feverish gleam to his eyes. “He wants to change the world.”
“He wants to rule it, Seth! There’s a big difference. And you’re nothing but a pawn.” I dug into that fury in me, clinging to it. “He’s using you, Seth. You used to be stronger than that, but you’re weak—weak on power.”
Anger flashed across his face like lightning as his grip tightened on my chin. “I am not weak.”
“You are! You’re so weak that you can’t even see what Lucian is doing to you! Don’t you ever care about what’s happening to the world? Innocent people are dying, Seth.” Meeting his furious gaze, I willed him to understand, to see where everything went wrong. “How can you be okay with that? You have to stop this.”
His silence was stony.
“Do you understand what I’m going to have to do?” Tears welled in my eyes at the same moment I heard the whisper of my name being called from what sounded like miles away.
Seth heard it too, and he recognized the voice. His lips pulled back in a snarl.
“I’m going to have to kill you, Seth.” My voice gave out.
He jerked back, letting go of me so quickly that I nearly fell. Something a lot like disbelief flickered across his features and there was more. A look I couldn’t figure out, and then his expression went cold. “You can’t kill me.”
The sound of Aiden’s voice calling for me tugged at every cell in my body. “I will find a way, because I can’t let you do this.”
Seth folded his arms. “You’ll fail.”
My heart tripped over itself. “What do I have to do to make you stop? Tell me!”
His lips twisted in a cruel smile. “There is nothing you can do, Alex. You need to accept what’s happening—accept our Fate. You were made for me, and I will find you. And if anyone stands in my way, I won’t think twice about taking them down.”
I gasped, sickened, saddened, and a whole lot disturbed to hear him say that. He’d done so many hideous things, but to hear that, to see how truly far gone he was, cut deep into me. “Seth…”
He shot forward, clasping the sides of my head. “So go ahead and shield me out all you want. As you can see, I can still get to you.” Pressing his forehead against mine, he dragged in a deep breath. “We’ll be seeing each other again real soon.”
Seth shifted again and I felt his lips brush my forehead a second before light exploded in and around me.
CHAPTER 16
Lungs burning as if I’d been underwater, I sucked in a deep breath and jerked. When the light receded this time, gunmetal gray eyes stared into mine.
“Alex?” Relief tinged Aiden’s tone, making his voice deep and tight. His eyes were shadowed by concern, but there was a twinge of anger way in the back of them. “Gods, Alex, I thought…”
I blinked a couple of times as the small den came into focus around me. It was the one Lea and I had been in. Aiden’s arms were around me, and I was half on the floor, half in his lap. I started to sit up, but he placed his hand on my cheek, pressing my head against his own.
“Hold on there for a few minutes,” he said, shifting so that his back was against the lower part of the couch. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat, willing the pounding of my heart to slow. “That… that was trippy. Where’s Lea?”
“Outside the room with everyone else.” His thumb traced a soothing circle over my cheekbone. “She came and found me when you passed out. She said you complained about a headache before you dropped. It… it freaked her out. Are you sure you’re okay?”
I dropped? Geez, not only could Seth just reach out and touch me, but he could cause me to faint like a wuss? “Yeah, the headache is gone. I just feel a little out of it.”
Pushing into a sitting position, I twisted to face Aiden in his embrace. “How long have I been out?”
“A few minutes.” His eyes searched mine. “Alex, you… you said Seth’s name. I thought…” He shook his head and his lashes swept down, hiding his eyes.
“What?” I placed my hand on his smooth cheek, and then it hit me. My breath hitched in my throat. “You thought I connected with Seth again?”
He didn’t immediately respond. “I thought it—yes, especially when I heard you say his name. I got everyone out of the room.” Aiden looked up, his gaze meeting mine. “I didn’t know what I was going to do…”
Elixir wouldn’t have been an option. He’d tossed the last of that down the drain. What would he have done? The look in his eyes shattered me.
I leaned in, pressing my forehead against his. The act reminded me of Seth, but it was so much different, meant so much more. “I did see Seth, but I didn’t connect with him.”
Aiden reached with both hands, placing them on either side of my face. There was a faint tremble in his powerful arms. Neither of us spoke for a long second. My heart raced in a different kind of pounding. “What happened?” he asked finally.
“Hermes—freaking Hermes,” I said. “I really don’t understand how he did it, but he followed the connection between Seth and me and pulled me into Seth’s subconscious, or some kind of junk like that.”
I was sure Aiden was quiet because he was so angry he couldn’t form words.
Taking a deep breath, I wrapped my hands around his wrists and told him everything. With each word, Aiden’s fury increased until it became a tangible thing in the room, thick like smoke.
I ended up lowering his hands, keeping mine wrapped around his. “It was real… but not real. I don’t know if he’ll be able to do it again, or if Hermes will help him again. Or if there was something I was doing or not doing that made it easier.”
“You got a headache before it happened?” When I nodded, his eyes turned as cool as steel. “When you were on the Elixir, do you remember getting headaches?”
I shook my head.
He let out a low curse. “You would get a headache when the Elixir was starting to wear off. You would also start to hear Seth’s voice. It was him trying to connect with you. I think the same kind of thing is happening here with Hermes.”
“Crap,” I said, stunned. Then I thought of the nightmare. Moving faster than Aiden could track, I stood and backed away. “I had a nightmare a few nights ago.”
He rose fluidly. “I remember.”
“I dreamt that Seth was in the room, but maybe it wasn’t a nightmare. Maybe it was him testing out our freaking long-distance calling feature with Hermes?” I cursed, fighting the urge to pick up and throw something. “Well, the good thing is he couldn’t get anything through the bond. He can’t pick at my thoughts or take control.”
“There’s nothing good about this,” Aiden all but growled.
“Well, I was trying to be Positive Polly.”
His hands clenched at his sides. “You could hit him, so that means he can hit back, Alex. Yeah, he may not find out where you are, but that is a huge violation.”
I nodded numbly. Aiden was right. There was no telling if Seth could do it again.
“And there’s nothing I can do if he does this again. I swear to the gods…” Spinning quickly, Aiden picked up a small figurine and threw it across the room. It shattered off the wall, an explosion of plaster and glass.
The door to the room swung open and Solos peeked in, brows raised. “Is—”
“Leave us!” Aiden ordered sharply, then he took a shuddering breath. “Alex is fine. We’re both fine.”
Solos looked like he was about to disagree, but he took another look at Aiden and decided against it. He shut the door.
I slid Aiden a look. “Did that make you feel better?”
“No,” he shot back, taking a deep breath as he gestured at the dent in the wall. “I wish that was Seth’s head.”
Seeing Aiden lose his control was something I always found nothing short of awe-inducing, mainly because he never lost control, but sometimes I forgot that he was far from perfect or saintly. He had a temper—nothing as crazy as Seth’s or mine, but fire hummed in his blood.
I crossed my arms, suddenly feeling chilled. “But there has to be a reason why he was only able to do this now. And—and—he heard you calling my name.” Hope sparked inside me. “His hold on me wasn’t that strong.”
“I bet he was thrilled about that.”
Recalling the way Seth had appeared when he heard Aiden’s voice, I was sure he’d been damn near murderous. “There has to be something, Aiden. We just need to figure it out.”
Aiden cut me a dark look as he stalked across the room, stopping before the window.
I bit my lip. “We will. We always do.”
He said nothing, his back unnaturally stiff. “Are you sure you’re fine?”
“Yes,” I said, exasperated. “Can you stop asking me that? I’m fine. I’m okay. Tonight was a small setback, but—”
“I know.” He looked over his shoulder, his voice measurably lower and even. “I know, Alex. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have anything to apologize for.”
He let out a short laugh. “I have a lot to apologize for, Alex.”
I stared at him. This was about something more than what had just happened with Seth. Yeah, he was ticked off, mostly for my benefit and I appreciated that, but this was more. I thought of the weird gap between us in the last few days.
Irritation pricked my skin. “What is your deal?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t?” I stalked up to him and reached up to place my hand on his face. He flinched away, and I felt that in the pang in my chest. “That! That’s what I’m talking about.”
He scowled.
Like with any other situation in my life, when I was annoyed or frightened by one thing, I pretty much turned all that energy on something else. “You’ve been acting weird for days and practically hiding from me.”
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