by Muse, M. W.
“Are you here under Hades’s order to abduct me? Or are you working for him in any way?” she asked him.
He looked at Legacy. “No, sweetheart,” he whispered sincerely.
“So you’re saying you are Adin Sheppard,” she clarified. Gods, was she shaking so badly that everyone could tell? What if ignorance really was bliss? Would the truth be too devastating to accept?
“Yes. I’m Adin Sheppard,” he said slowly.
She turned to look at River. He smiled softly but warily. “He’s, er, telling the truth.”
Those words of confirmation brought life back into her barren soul. She slowly faced Adin, feeling her body still tremble as she reached up and stroked his face. “Adin,” she whispered, caressing his cheek. It was really him. It was really, truly him.
He nodded. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” he murmured, sliding his hands onto her face.
Her breathing hitched as she rubbed her hands on his face, his neck, his chest, and back up to his face. He gently stroked her face with his hands, tilting it up to his. When their eyes met again, she cried, clinging to him.
“Shhh. It’s all right, sweetheart,” he whispered, pulling her up against him, burying his head into her hair.
She didn’t want that. She wanted to see his face. She pulled away just enough so that she could look at him, and his forehead came to rest against hers. They both caressed each other’s face rhythmically as their breathing sped. Adin lifted his head and looked over her at River and Calli. Then he spun her around so that he shielded her from their view. He leaned down, bringing his lips to hers. He rubbed them gently, and she moaned softly, waiting for him to kiss her.
He didn’t. He wrapped his arms around her, lifted her up, and with two quick strides, they were out of the kitchen, alone.
He crushed his lips to hers, kissing her urgently while she cried. When he pulled away, she clung to him, and he continued to stroke her face, her back. They spent several minutes relearning all the shapes, textures, scents of each other. Then he walked them back into the kitchen, her face buried in his chest while she tried to control her crying.
It took her a while before she was coherent enough to continue. She finally took a jagged breath and pulled away from him. Taking a deep breath, she looked at River. “We have something to tell you.” The goddess secret she’d tried hard to keep from River was about to be spilled. She wasn’t sure how to even start. She looked at Adin, at a loss for words, and back then back at River, hoping those words would come to her.
River’s brow furrowed. “What?”
Adin kissed her forehead. “I’ll do it, sweetheart.” He took her hand and walked them toward River. “Legacy told me several months ago about her true abilities.” Calli gasped, and Adin looked at her. “She told Calli before she told me.”
River looked at Calli, and then looked at Adin again, waiting.
“Legacy isn’t just inheriting all of Persephone’s abilities. She’s inheriting all of Zeus’s and Demeter’s abilities. She is going to be extremely powerful. More powerful than Zeus.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me this?” River asked Legacy.
“I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone, but I just had to tell Calli. Lissa didn’t want me to tell you or Adin. I wasn’t going to tell Adin about it, either, but it sort of slipped out.”
“She shouldn’t have even told me,” Adin confessed.
“Why?” River asked.
“Because now Hades knows. I’m sure he’s even more eager to abduct her now. Not only does he want her to be his queen, but she’ll naturally ascend to her father’s throne. That just leaves your father to contend with.”
“Not if he’s dead,” River mumbled. Adin gave him a puzzled look. “My mom was working with Hades to get to Legacy. In return for her help, he was going to kill Poseidon, leaving me to ascend to his position. She’d hoped I would form an alliance with Hades once Poseidon was out of the picture.”
Adin nodded. “I see. Well, anyway, I thought you should know about Legacy’s abilities, so you can help us keep her safe.”
River nodded reluctantly, stepping closer to them with an unfathomable expression. “You do realize since you’re not dead, I’m destined to be with Legacy.”
Ugh! The dang prophecy again. Why did it everything always come back to that?
Adin smiled at him. “No, you’re not. The prophecy was that she’d be with you as long as I stayed alive. I died. It didn’t specify how long I had to stay dead. But according to my dad, the meaning of prophecy wasn’t really addressing my life. It was addressing my immortality. It meant that you’d be with Legacy if I stayed mortal. I’m not mortal anymore. The prophecy is broken. And as for unwanted bonds,” Adin continued, glancing at Legacy. “Since you were the one to save me, and not Venus, like Aphrodite did for Adonis for those original Greek gods, she and I aren’t bonded together anymore either.”
“You’re serious?” River asked, briefly glancing at Calli, trying not to smile and not doing a very good job of it. Legacy cocked her head to side as she stared at him. Why was Calli the first one he looked at when he realized he was free to move on with his life? And why had he been stroking her shoulder when they’d first walked in? Oh gods. River liked Calli! Legacy couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen this one coming! She chuckled before she could suppress her surprise.
“What?” Adin asked, wrapping his arms around her and smiling at her tickled demeanor.
She shrugged her shoulders, smiling back at him. “I need to have a word with River.” She glanced at Calli. “Alone.” Oh yeah, she needed to have several words with him.
Adin nodded and whispered, “Okay.” Then he kissed her forehead and escorted Calli out of the kitchen.
She stared at River, salivating for details. Details she was definitely going to get! They were not leaving this room until he spilled his guts.
Chapter Fourteen
Legacy was still reeling because of her new revelation—that River liked Calli—so she stared at River for a few seconds before she could even speak.
“How long?” she asked, trying to make her smile go away. No luck.
“What are you talking about?” River asked, bewildered.
“How long have you liked Calli?”
“What?” He looked shocked. “I-I don’t,” he mumbled, looking away.
If there was any doubt before—and there wasn’t—his reaction just negated that doubt! “Liar, liar, pants on fire!” She laughed out loud, unable to control herself.
“No, really, Legacy. I, er, I just think she’s nice,” he said quickly, walking up to her.
“You’re a big, fat liar!” She laughed again. She couldn’t contain herself. She was too shocked, too happy. “Big. Fat. Liar.”
“Legacy,” he groaned. “You’re blowing this way out of proportion.”
She wasn’t buying it. “You want to borrow her sugar!” She giggled, remembering that totally unpleasant conversation they had when they’d all first met at the store during the summer.
“I-I don’t know what to say. I was in love with you for so long, but as soon as that love disappeared …” He trailed off, shaking his head.
She gave him a slanted look, waiting for his confession. She wanted to hear it, and she wasn’t giving up until he admitted it. “Where are your balls, man?”
“Yes, fine, I like her!” he whispered heatedly. He threw his head back in disbelief that he was saying this out loud. “When we were staying with you after Adin died, it devastated me to see you upset, but watching her cry…” He shook his head at the memory and looked at Legacy. “That was torture. I-I didn’t understand why I had such a hard time seeing her like that, but I had such an overpowering instinct to console her. Then when I’d hold her, her heart would flutter. I even caught myself smelling her hair. Her hair!” He became animated, gesturing with his hands, disbelief coloring his face. This was priceless. “It smelled like apples, and I’d wonder why someone with strawberry
blond hair would choose apple scented shampoo! Just that thought was enough to drive me crazy. After you two would go to bed, I’d cut open an apple just to smell it, and I don’t even like apples!”
Oh yeah. Priceless. She smirked at his little rant, and he took a deep breath, calming his fervent tone.
“Then as time went on, I found myself thinking about her all the time,” he murmured. “If I couldn’t talk to her, I’d stare at her aura, and you know I don’t even like looking at auras, but hers is just so beautiful. Then when I got to dance with her at Teen Scene, I was thrilled,” he breathed, lost in the memory, but then he shook his head. “I don’t even have to tell you how much I hated chaining her to that wall. Knowing I had to let Mom use her as bait worried me more than I can even explain.” He sighed, shutting his eyes. “But because of our bond and your friendship with her, I didn’t want to show that I liked her. I didn’t want to hurt her if I was just going to fall in love with you, and I didn’t want to cause you pain by pursuing her if we were meant to be together.”
“So when you were avoiding me after Adin’s death…”
He groaned, looking at her. “I told you I wasn’t avoiding you. It was just that I was so confused. I didn’t want to like her, but by that point, I just couldn’t deny it to myself anymore. It wasn’t that I felt guilty about not being in love with you. I felt guilty about liking her. But even being able to admit it, I still didn’t know how to deal with it. I still remembered how it felt to be bonded to you.”
“But we’re not bonded now.” Legacy smiled.
He smiled too. “Yeah,” he whispered. “So what should I do?” he asked.
“Um, I don’t know.” She shrugged.
“Oh my gods. You’re not any good at this girl talk stuff,” he said with a laugh.
She laughed too. “Well, you’re pretty smooth with the ladies. I’m sure you can figure this out.”
“Please?” he asked softly. “She’s not just some girl to me. I want to do this right.”
“Okay.” She thought for a minute. “How about we all go on a picnic tomorrow? I’m sure I’ll be giving Adin most of my attention, so that’ll leave you and Calli to hang out.”
He shook his head like that wasn’t good enough. “We hang out all the time already.”
“Yeah, but you’ve been under the impression you’ve been bonded, taken. You’re not under that impression now. And if you want, I’ll feel her out too. See what your chances are.”
He smiled widely. “Okay.”
She smiled back and stepped up to him, her best friend. She reached up and stroked his cheek. “I love you, River,” she whispered.
“I love you too, baby,” he whispered back, wrapping his arms around her. “I’m so happy that everything seems to be working out for you.”
“Me too,” she whispered. “Everything’s going to work out for you too.” She had a wonderful feeling that it would.
He chuckled. “I hope so.”
She pulled away and looked into his eyes. “You don’t mind if I leave now, do you? I haven’t seen Adin in, like, forever. We have a lot of catching up to do.” She started to turn around before he responded, her body already wanting to be in Adin’s arms.
River grabbed her arm, and she turned back around to face him. “Even though I’m happy because you’re happy, I still think you should be careful, Legacy. I’m not sure what to think about all of this yet.”
She nodded, though she didn’t know what to make of that. River had said before that even though he wasn’t in love with her anymore, he was still possessive. She figured this was just part of his possessive nature. He’d just have to learn how to let that feeling go where Adin was concerned. No need in voicing that now, though. River would learn how to deal in his own time. Maybe focusing on Calli would help him with that. She gave him an acknowledging smile and turned back around, and he followed her out of the kitchen.
She walked up to Adin and Calli. They were talking and laughing, sitting on the stairs in the foyer.
“Hey, guys, we want to go on a picnic tomorrow. It’s almost spring and the weather is supposed to be nice,” she said with a smile. “How’s that sound?”
“Sounds great,” Adin murmured, standing up and stepping over to Legacy.
“Sure,” Calli said with a shrug.
She glanced at River, and he was watching Calli. She figured he was interpreting her every move. She’d have to have a talk with him about reading her energy, though. It wouldn’t be fair if he did that. “You can call Seth and see if he wants to bring Kate,” she told him.
River nodded. He noticed her eyeing him, but he turned his attention back to Calli. Yep. She would definitely have to talk to him about abusing his little ability.
“How about noon?” she asked, and everyone nodded. “Okay. Why don’t you ride with River, Calli?” she said, nonchalantly.
She glanced at him and smiled. “Okay.”
He smiled softly at her and flashed his eyes at Legacy. She gave him a reproachful look, and he looked at her with an innocent expression. He knew she knew what he was doing. Now that her immediate work was done, they said their goodbyes and left.
“What where you talking to River about?” Adin asked once they were in the car.
“Um, nothing. He just has the hots for Calli.”
“Oh.” He chuckled.
“That’s why I wanted to do the picnic. He’s helped me out so much, so I’d like to be able to help him out too.” And, apparently, she’d have to help him be noble with his ability.
“That’s very sweet of you, princess,” he murmured, reaching over and taking her hand into his. He kissed the back of it and placed their joined hands in his lap. “I want to take you out tonight,” he said, looking at her. “We haven’t gone out on a date since before Thanksgiving.”
She smiled at him. “I’d love that.”
“Good.” He nodded with a smile.
“So, where are we going?”
“Um, I don’t care.” He shrugged. “As long as I’m with you.”
She giggled. “Well, how about seafood?”
“Mmmm…lobster sounds great,” he murmured as he pulled into her driveway. He got out and opened her door. “Can we make it early? Say five o’clock?” he asked, walking her to the front door.
“Sure,” she said as she frowned at him. “Are you not staying?” He had been gone for so long. She didn’t want to spend one more minute away from him.
He shook his head. “You were the first stop I made yesterday. I still have to tell my mom and grandma the good news. Besides,” he whispered, stepping up to her, “I have to get ready for my hot date.” Bending his head down to her ear, he whispered, “Wear something nice.”
“Okay,” she whispered, trying not to giggle as he wrapped his arms around her.
“I’ll see you at five.” He kissed her on her lips and on her forehead and walked over to his grandma’s house.
She walked into her house with a true feeling of happiness. The first time in nearly two months she’d felt whole.
Once inside, she rummaged around in her closet trying to find something to wear. Adin wanted her to dress up, and she was eager to oblige him. But nothing looked right. When she felt irritated that she’d have to settle for something less than perfect, she remembered that Calli had a killer new dress. When she got out of the shower, she called and asked her if she could borrow it, though she knew she wouldn’t mind. Calli agreed to bring it right over.
“Come in,” she answered when she knocked on her bedroom door.
“Here,” she mumbled as she walked in and placed the dress on the bed. “I brought the matching shoes too. You know I had to buy new shoes when I bought the dress.” She giggled.
“Those are adorable!” The dress was off-white and the matching shoes had a little bow on them. The color of the dress and shoes would go great with her new pearls.
“Yeah. At least you can put them to use.” She pretended to scowl.
; She laughed, though she was sure she’d be able to wear her new outfit soon too.
“So where is he taking you?” Calli asked as she sat on the bed.
“I mentioned seafood and he told me to dress up, so I think we’re going to Cajun’s.”
“Mmmm, yum!”
She wagged her eyebrows as Legacy sat beside her and grabbed her nail polish.
“This must be so—I don’t know—weird for you. I mean, I’m so happy for you, but this is just so weird.”
“Yeah, I think I’m still in shock. Not only is Adin alive, but he’s not bonded to Venus. I’m not bonded to River, and I don’t have to worry about killing Adin—again.” She smiled. “We’re free to be together. There’s always been something we had to deal with, and now all that drama is gone.” It really felt freeing.
“Well, you still have to deal with Hades. I’m sure he’s going to step up his game now that Medusa is dead and he knows about your true abilities.”
“I’m sure you’re right, but I’m not going to worry about him right now. I want to take a little time and enjoy my life again. I haven’t really been able to do that since Adin died.”
“Yeah, I was really worried about you at first. So was River,” Calli said softly, looking down.
Legacy figured she could use this opportunity to get Calli’s thoughts on River. Maybe even tell her how he felt.
“Um, Calli, speaking of River…” Her BFF’s head shot up, and she forced herself not to smile at her eagerness. “You two have spent a lot of time together lately, so I was wondering if you were interested in him. You know, like you were when we first met him.”
She seemed to be groping for words.
Legacy smiled at her. “It’s all right if you are. I don’t love him like that. Adin’s the only man I want to be with.”
“Er, well, I try not to think of him like that,” she said timidly.
“Why?” Legacy asked, leaning toward her.
She sighed. “Because he’s been gaga over you ever since we first met. Then I met Zach and pretty much locked away any attraction I felt for River. I just haven’t ever considered unlocking it.” She shook her head, looking away. “That sounds silly.”
