Avenging Heart

by Desni Dantone

  Nathan shoved me against the side of the cottage as diamond-coated metals clashed around us. From under his arm, I watched Isatan and Permna push the demigod to the edge of the marsh. There, the water rose up behind him until it towered over them like a small tsunami.

  “Asleon,” Lillian announced from the doorway.

  Poseidon’s son, the water manipulator.

  “Nathan,” I grunted as I tried to push past him. “They need my help.”

  His arm tightened, prevented me from getting any closer. As the wall of water spilled over top of Asleon and rushed toward Isatan and Permna, I let my magic slip free, and pushed against it. I couldn’t stop the wave, but I did slow it down. Just enough to cause Asleon to dart a look in my direction.

  That was the opening Isatan needed. He thrust his knife into Asleon a second before the wall of water washed over them. When the water receded into the marsh, only Isatan and Permna were left.

  They were soaked and shaken, but alive. As Isatan rose to a stand, he met my gaze, and for the first time since we had met, he didn’t scowl. I supposed that was the limit of his appreciation of my help. Not much, but I would take it.

  Besides . . . we had just taken out two demigods.

  My triumphant smile faded the moment I turned and saw the ashen look on Nathan’s face.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked him.

  His hands rose to cup my face fiercely. “I love you,” he gasped.

  My brow wrinkled in confusion when he fell to my feet. His face buried in the dirt as he groaned and fisted the short blades of grass in agony. I dropped to a knee beside him in stunned confusion as he rolled onto his side. Only then did I see the tear in the leg of his pants, and the blood that oozed from a gash near his knee.

  A gash made by a diamond-coated blade.

  Chapter 5

  The only sound I heard was that of the blood rushing to my head. Though everyone’s lips were moving, I heard nothing as I stared in horror at the wound on Nathan’s leg. I swayed slightly when Lillian dropped to her knees beside me, bumping me with her shoulder.

  Finally, the sound of tearing fabric snapped me out of my daze. I fixated on Lillian’s hands as she took a knife to Nathan’s pants, fully exposing the wound in his leg. My eyes shifted to observe the signs of diamond poisoning that had already started to spread.

  “Kris!” I looked up when Alec dropped to his knees across from me. “Focus, Kris!”

  I shook my head to clear the lingering fog, and lifted my trembling hands to my neck. Despite the numbing fear that crippled me, I managed to remove the pendant Micah had left me from its chain. I dumped the powder into my hands, and tried not to think about the one and only time I had attempted to heal diamond injury . . . and failed.

  Failure wasn’t an option this time.

  “What are you doing?” Lillian shrieked when I covered the wound with my hands.

  Alec reached across Nathan to put a hand on Lillian’s shoulder. “She’s healing him,” he told her. “Let her concentrate.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut to channel every ounce of energy I had left. I already felt weak from using my magic in the fight. Lillian’s inconsolable sobs certainly didn’t help my concentration.

  I glanced up to find Permna hovering behind Alec. “Could you take her inside?” I pleaded.

  Lillian started to protest as Permna took her by the arm. I blocked her, and Alec’s reassurances to her, out as I lowered my head to concentrate. Once her terrified wails were silenced, I glanced up to meet Alec’s eyes with a silent request.

  His hand covered mine. “I’m here.”

  I closed my eyes with a nod, and channeled my powers. The sensation of free-falling through a pocket of hot air startled me at first, and I nearly pulled back, before I realized it indicated the energy I was pushing out. The heat encompassed the cold energy surrounding the wound, and I chanted the necessary words under my breath over and over while I focused on drawing the cold out. I found myself swaying from the dizzying effect it had on me, but I soon found my rhythm and I didn’t stop.

  I would never stop.

  “Kris . . .”

  I continued to chant, faster and louder, sure that I wasn’t doing it right. Determination kept me going. Tears streamed down my cheeks and dripped onto my hands, reminding me of how much was at stake, as I pushed against the wound.

  “Kris . . .”

  I interrupted my chant only long enough to mutter, “No,” before resuming.

  “Kris, you’re about to pass out,” Alec warned, and his hand tightened on mine. “Take a break.”

  “I can’t.”

  “You can,” Alec ordered. “You’ve stopped the spread. If you’re going to reverse the poison that has already set, you need to take a break.”

  “What?” I opened my eyes to peer down at Nathan.

  He had lost consciousness at some point. A streak of black diamond poisoning had spread to his thigh, but stopped there. It was no longer spreading.

  I glanced up at Alec in astonishment.

  “You did it,” he said with a nod. “But you need to take a break now.”

  I started to shake my head—what if it starts to spread again?—but Alec shut me down with a stern look.

  “I watched Micah heal you,” he told me. “I saw it, Kris. I saw how much it took out of him, and I saw how long it took. You’re not going to do it all at once. Trust me. We’ll get Nathan inside, and I’ll watch him. But I want you to rest before you do any more.”

  I swatted at the fresh tears in my eyes as I nodded. I had done it. Partially. Though I hated to stop while the poison was still in Nathan’s system, I did trust Alec. I knew he wouldn’t let anything happen to Nathan.

  Isatan helped Alec move Nathan inside. Once they had him lying in the bed, Alec pointed at one of the cozy chairs behind me.

  “Rest. Now. I’ll get you up in an hour or two,” he ordered, and then pinched my lips together when I started to object. “Sooner if anything changes. I promise. Now go.”

  I turned toward the chairs, and nearly ran into Lillian where she had been standing behind me. Tears rimmed her eyes as she stared at me.

  “Can you really heal him?” she asked.

  “I’ll die trying,” I answered as I moved past her.

  I fell into the first chair I came to. I realized how exhausted I was once the adrenaline started to abate.

  My gaze drifted across the room and settled upon the face of the man who had repeatedly saved me. I had never been one to pray, but as my eyelids dropped, I prayed that, this time, I could manage to save him.

  ~ ~ ~

  Alec woke me to perform the ritual three more times over the next several hours before all signs of diamond poisoning were completely gone. Nathan hadn’t woken up yet, but Alec reminded me that I had slept for two days after I had been healed . . . so we assumed that was normal.

  Isatan agreed to keep an eye on Circe, and watch for any signs that the bind was weakening. Alec suggested that I squeeze into the bed with Nathan—but only so he could get some sleep in my chair. While Lillian and Permna had succumbed to fatigue hours ago, Alec hadn’t rested once.

  “Hey, Alec . . .” I called out to him quietly as he crossed the room to the empty chair. “Thank you.”

  He flashed me a lopsided grin. “See how far we’ve come? A few months ago, I would have never . . .” He trailed off as a look of awe crossed his face. “Just tell him I only did it for you, okay?”

  “Just admit you don’t hate him anymore.”

  “Never,” he tossed over his shoulder before he lowered himself into the chair with a satisfied sigh.

  A knowing smile teased my lips as I crawled into bed beside Nathan. I doubted he knew I was there, but I felt better as I rested my head against his shoulder and finally gave in to the call of sleep.

  ~ ~ ~

  ~ Nathan ~

  There was a brief moment I thought I might have been paralyzed after my eyes snapped open. The soreness I felt in every f
iber of my body assured me that I was not. My muscles protested loudly as I shifted, and stretched the life back into them.

  My arm hit something soft, and I rolled my head to the side to find Kris curled up alongside me. The soft snore that accompanied her steady breaths told me that she was deep in sleep. Nights of holding her while she slept had programmed me to know that.

  Just like I knew to expect the tiny little whimper she made when I brushed my lips against her forehead. She stirred, but didn’t wake. She never did.

  I carefully positioned her head on the pillow as I sat up, and climbed out of the bed. Looking down at her, I was tempted to crawl back in, if only to be next to her. But my body was too sore to stay still.

  I needed to move, and Kris needed to rest. And there was nothing like a brush with death to induce a bad case of insomnia.

  With the aid of the candles spread throughout the cottage and the faint glow of orange spilling through the windows, I saw the others sleeping soundly on the chairs scattered across the room. I saw everyone . . . but one.

  As I moved to the back door, I wondered how long I had been out, and how much time we had before the bind on Circe wore off. I opened the door, and nearly tripped over Lillian, who sat with her back against the outer wall of the cottage.

  She glanced up, and immediately shot to her feet. “Oh, my God! You’re okay!”

  Her arms circled my neck in a blink. My own arms moved hesitantly to return her generous hug.

  “What are you doing out here?” I asked as I pushed her to arm’s length. I grit my teeth at the pang I felt in my chest at the sight of the downward curve of her mouth that my distance had caused.

  I couldn’t help it sometimes. Though I was very much in love with someone else, I still cared about Lillian . . . and her feelings. Even if they were very different, and much stronger, than my feelings for her.

  “Umm . . .” She shook her head against whatever thoughts were filling her head. “We were taking turns watching Circe. I couldn’t sleep, so I volunteered.”

  I glanced at Circe, where she remained in the exact same spot I had last seen her. “No change?”

  “No. But we’re running out of time. It’s a good thing you’re recovered.”

  “Kris needs more rest,” I returned a tad too defensively, but Lillian didn’t seem to notice.

  “Yeah. What she did . . .” She trailed off as she searched for the right words to say. Finally, with a shrug, she gushed, “It was impressive.”

  Well, Kris was an impressive girl. But I didn’t say anything like that to Lillian. Instead, I said, “I’m up. Why don’t you go lie down, and I’ll watch Circe for a while. When Kris wakes up, we’ll head out.”

  “Sure.” Lillian attempted to cover her disappointment with a weak smile. She turned for the door, but stopped with her hand on the knob. “Nathan?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m glad you’re okay,” she murmured. “And I’m glad she loves you as much as she does, because she wouldn’t . . .” Lillian trailed off with a shake of her head. When her eyes lifted to mine again, I saw the unshed tears that lined them. “She would have never given up on you.”

  She opened the door, to really leave this time, and I found my mouth opening before I could stop it. “Hey, Lil . . .” I swallowed the emotion I felt at seeing the hope in her eyes when they lifted to mine, because hope wasn’t something I could give her. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

  “Me too,” she muttered with a sad smile.

  She shut the door behind her, and I took her seat on the ground. Though my eyes settled firmly on Circe, my thoughts wandered.

  This hadn’t been my first brush with death, and I doubted it would be my last. But it had definitely been the closest I had ever come. Even a few months ago, when I was sure I would die in the back seat of Alec’s car after escaping the Skotadi base in Kentucky, I hadn’t been as sure as I had been this time.

  How had I not known that Kris was capable of healing diamond poisoning? The moment the blade had sliced through my skin, I knew I was done for. I would have been, if not for her.

  I remembered waking after that last incident to find Kris resting against me, my blood all over her hands, and her relief when we both realized I would survive. That was the moment I had accepted the feelings I had developed for her . . . feelings I had tried, unsuccessfully, to deny up until that point. It was then that I knew my intended future would come true, whether I had wanted it to or not.

  I often wondered if I would have welcomed my feelings for her a little sooner if not for that prophet’s words to me months before. And Gran’s pestering . . .

  Gran had definitely been the worst of the two. She had planned my future with Kris long before the prophet predicted it. Nothing like a nagging grandmother to give a guy a severe case of commitment phobia.

  I shifted to retrieve the ring Gran had given me from my pants’ pocket. It had once been hers, given to her by my grandfather. She insisted on keeping it in the family. Of course, I was the only option she had to ensure her wish was seen through.

  I returned the ring, where it would continue to burn a hole in my pocket, as it had been for weeks. Not that I didn’t know I wanted to spend my future with Kris. I did, very much so—prophetic vision, or not. It was just . . .

  “So huge,” I muttered.

  The soft click of the door opening jolted me from my thoughts, and I looked up to find Kris peering at me from the doorway. Her face carried a mixture of amazement and disbelief that I was sure matched the look on my own face. She dropped to her knees in front of me, and I brushed away the single tear that had settled on her cheek.

  “Don’t cry,” I ordered softly.

  “I thought I had lost you,” she admitted before circling her slender arms around my neck.

  I pulled her against my chest as I murmured, “You couldn’t lose me if you tried.”

  That earned me a soft laugh as she released her death grip on my neck. I guided her into a position between my legs, with her back pulled flush against my chest. I rested my chin on her shoulder and savored the feel of her in my arms while I wondered how someone so delicate could have managed to do what she had done.

  “You amaze me, you know?” I whispered into her ear. “I don’t think I ever gave you enough credit.”

  She shifted to gaze over her shoulder at me. “You believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”

  “I didn’t know you could heal diamond injury,” I returned wryly.

  “That was something Micah worked with me on. You were my first . . . successful attempt.”

  Her tone suggested the story behind her learning the skill wasn’t one she wanted to revisit, so I didn’t press. Instead, I planted a soft kiss to her lips. “Thank you for saving me,” I murmured, though the words didn’t feel like enough.

  I felt her lips curve into a smile beneath mine. “Totally selfish on my part,” she mumbled.

  Then her arm curled around my neck, and I deepened the kiss with a hearty groan. She welcomed me with an eagerness I had come to recognize. And it drove me crazy. Wild with need . . . for her.

  While I had taken special care to tread carefully with our physical relationship, she made it increasingly more difficult to do so. Though I knew we had reached the point that the protective barrier I had put between us would soon be torn down, I knew it wasn’t going to happen on the ground outside Circe’s residence in Aeaea.

  That didn’t stop me from kissing her like I intended to never stop kissing her. Because, right now, the thought of stopping hadn’t registered a single bleep on my radar.

  Spurred by my obvious need for her, Kris twisted in my arms to climb onto my lap. She must not have remembered to breathe, because her mouth slid from mine as she sucked in a sharp breath. I chuckled lightly as I took the opportunity to nuzzle her neck. Her perfect, supple neck. And her perfect, soft jaw.

  My hands entwined in her silky, beautiful hair . . .

  Her hands traile
d across my shoulders and over my erratic, racing heart . . .

  As her hands moved lower, I briefly entertained the idea that knocking that barrier down right here, right now, might not be that terrible. But no. I had exercised control with Kris from day one. That wasn’t going to change now, in a moment of weakness. No matter how weak I was. She deserved a fairytale. Nothing less.

  A soft cackling in the distance served as the effective bucket of cold water I needed, and I froze with my mouth an inch from hers.

  Kris’s eyes popped open and met mine warily. “What was that?”

  “Ah . . . young love,” Circe sang.

  I peered over Kris’s shoulder, expecting to find Circe looming over us, but found her still frozen in the same spot.

  “Such a magical experience,” she taunted from a distance. “However . . . not with the one I expected.”

  I involuntarily flinched from the rhetorical slap in the face. Though the movement was slight, Kris noticed. She clasped my face in her hands, and gave me a pointed look.

  “No,” she said, before she rose to a stand.

  She spun toward Circe, and I saw her feisty side rearing its stubborn head. I clambered to my feet, and grabbed her hand to stop whatever quip she had planned for Circe’s ears.

  “Forget her,” I ordered. With a fleeting glance in Circe’s direction, I added, “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Yes . . .” Circe goaded. “Go. Let your love grow. For now.”

  Kris didn’t miss the hidden message behind Circe’s words any more than I had, and she spun around to snarl, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

  I pulled Kris behind me, into the relative safety of the cottage. I shut the door on Circe’s taunting cackle before the situation worsened. She was trying to bait Kris for a reason, and I suspected the bind on her was weakening.

  We woke the rest of our group, and within minutes we were prepared to leave this contorted realm behind. As long as the tide didn’t trap us here for several more hours.

  As we entered the dark cavern, Permna assured us that the tide was in our favor, and would remain so until we were safely back in Cape Circeo. How she was so sure of that, I wasn’t certain, but I hoped it meant that the bind Circe had placed on her was weakening, and her powers of prophecy were returning. We sure could use the advantage of knowing what was coming.