by Tamara Gill
But as much as she enjoyed her newfound powers, nothing compensated for the disappointment she felt when another day dawned and Hermes hadn’t arrived.
Maybe one day he’d hear her silent plea and come. She prayed to the gods that he would.
Chapter Sixteen
Hermes woke with a start. Sweat dripping from his brow. The same woman in his dreams haunted his waking mind. Every night was the same. She begged him to save her. To love her. Sara.
His heart yearned for a future no longer possible. A future ripped away due to lies, hate and revenge.
He could not forgive himself for his own part he’d played. He’d promised to keep her safe, to protect her, to ensure she returned home. He’d failed.
To cope, he’d thrown himself into his duties. For Zeus had resumed order between the realms of Mount Olympus and the earth. Where it had once brought pride and fulfilment to his soul, it now left him empty, alone.
He walked over to his balcony and looked out over the city of gods. He missed her. Would give up everything he’d ever known, ever had, to just spend one more minute with her. To hear her sweet voice one more time.
Again, he thought of going to her home, finding out where Eros had laid her to rest, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Just the thought of his beautiful, loving Sara, cold and dead in the ground, was an unimaginable hell he didn’t want to face.
Not yet.
A knock at the door sounded and he bade them enter. The soft patter of footsteps headed toward him. He turned to see Hebe watching him intently.
“You’re troubled, brother. Tell me what is wrong.” She leaned against a pillar on the balcony, her tone sincere.
He ran a hand through his hair wondering if he should tell her. He’d never been close to Hebe and yet over the last few weeks he’d come to depend on her to keep him sane. “I failed Sara.” He sighed and leaned his elbows onto the balcony. “I miss her.”
She studied him, compassion in her eyes. “I know.” She paused. “Did you talk to Eros when he came back?”
A wry smile touched his lips. “No. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bear the thought of what he’d just done.” He shook his head. “You’re the goddess of forgiveness. Is there nothing you can do to stop this pain?”
“There is something, but I’m not sure it’s what you want to hear right now.”
He turned and faced her. “Tell me. I’ll do anything to stop severing in two whenever I think of her.”
Hebe sighed. “You cannot turn off your feelings like that. Whether you are a god or not, you’re not immune to emotions Hermes. You must say your goodbyes to move on into the future.” She took his hand and squeezed, her fingers warm and smooth. “You are my blood. My brother. I caused strife for you when I shouldn’t have. Part of your burden is mine. This is my apology to you. I hope you accept it.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“Thank you. Now go. This you must do. Trust me, all will be well.”
His stomach knotted knowing what he would face in the days to come, but Hebe was right. He owed it to Sara and himself to let her go. He nodded once. “Until we meet again.”
***
Hermes stood outside of Sara’s farmhouse and swallowed. Hard. Memories of them together upstairs, of them sitting on the porch, talking of mundane nothings, made his body ache.
Here, where she’d grown up, made love to him, argued and played with him, was the Hades on earth. She couldn’t be gone.
The house was bathed in darkness and he sat on the porch steps, blaming his blurry vision on the dust in the air, anything but what it was. Emotion.
The hum of a vehicle sounded and he looked around when lights lit up the driveway of the house. Sara’s truck parked beside the house and he fleetingly wondered who the hell was driving it?
Had the farm been sold to her neighbors? Had squatters settled in?
He stood and the punch to his gut made him gasp for breath. He stumbled toward the truck as the woman pulled shopping bags from the tray.
“Sara?”
She started and dropped the packet of eggs balancing in her hold. “Hermes?”
He rushed over to her and pulled her into his arms. The smell of roses bombarded his senses and he breathed deep. How was she here? Alive, breathing, buying groceries? Questions flowed unbound, before arms he’d never thought to feel again wrapped around his waist. He tightened his hold, never wanting to let her go.
“How is it you’re alive? I watched you die.” His voice sounded funny. Tight with an odd wobble through it.
She shook her head against his chest and he loosened his tight grip so he could see her. She bit her lip, guilt all but written on her face.
“What did you do?” he asked.
“Come inside and I’ll explain everything.”
Sara sat Hermes down in the living room. Actually, she forced him to sit, since he kept hovering over her while she packed the food away as if she’d disappear like a ghost. She watched him circumspectly. He seemed okay, if a little on edge, but then he’d had quite a shock.
She put away all of the cold food and would worry about the rest later. She doubted he’d wait much longer for an explanation in any case, and she had her speech over her treachery of him memorized now.
But still…she wasn’t sure how he’d react. She sat across from him and folded her hands in her lap. Hermes was dressed in black jeans and a navy T-shirt. He looked like any other, regular guy. Strange, really, that he was a god. Older than anything here on earth.
Her belly crunched as she realized he was looking at her with what resembled awe and wonder. “So, where to start?”
He cleared his throat. “Right at the very beginning.”
She raised her brow at his attempt of a joke, but no matter the lightness of his tone, he was deadly serious about what he wanted to know.
“The day Zeus found us at the lake, do you remember I took off in the truck?” He nodded and she continued. “Well, I summoned Eros. I figured if he was, in fact, my grandfather and Zeus wanted us for some nefarious scheme we didn’t know what, I wanted to have a little help on my side as well.”
“Why did you not tell me this? I was there to protect you.”
Sara slumped back in the chair. “I was worried about your reaction, but also after Eros warned me of Zeus, not to trust him under any circumstance, we came up with a plan.”
“You had me.” He stated, his jaw jutting out.
Her heart thumped knowing she’d hurt him. “It was lucky we did have this plan, Hermes. Zeus took your memory of me away. You were so cold and distant. You were scary.”
He let out a breath and ran a hand through his hair. “I know. I’m sorry. What Zeus did to us will never be forgiven. Please go on.”
“For the plan to work, which as you’re fully aware of now, was for me to die but to ensure my death wasn’t permanent, something else had to change as well.”
Hermes ran his tongue over his bottom lip and she inwardly groaned. God, she’d missed his mouth, missed his comforting arms, his long fingers, which were currently playing with his T-shirt hem.
“What changed?”
Sara swallowed her nerves, not sure how he’d take her next admission. “Eros made me immortal, Hermes. It was the only way I would survive should Zeus do as we hoped. We wanted to make him angry, to the point that he would lash out. With Eros taking me out of the picture instead, it actually worked out better. More believable that my grandfather loved me enough to kill me, instead of allowing Zeus to use me as his plaything and bartering term for the rest of my life.”
His eyes went wide with shock and his mouth thinned to a hard line. Sara stayed silent as he digested her words. She’d give him all the time he needed so long as he loved her at the end of all this madness.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but we needed your reaction toward my death to be real. For a while there, with you not knowing who I was, I thought that was going to a moot point, but Zeus can always be
trusted to hurt people if it amuses him. Please say something.”
He stood and came and sat beside her, pulling her onto his lap. He hugged her to him her eyes filling with tears. She’d missed him so much. Hoped with all the hope she had that he would come and visit her home just one more time. And he had. He was here and if she had anything to say about it, he wouldn’t leave again.
“I thought I’d lost you.” He pushed her hair away from her face, running his thumb over her jaw. “Seeing you hurt, saying goodbye and knowing I couldn’t do a damn thing to save you, almost killed me.” He shook his head. “I’m going to fucking kiss Eros the next time I see him. Oh Sara. I love you. I’ll never fail you again.”
She sniffed and wiped at her cheek. “You didn’t fail me, Hermes. Zeus is a powerful deity and Eros did what was necessary to get me off your father’s radar. I’m going to sell the farm. It’s too risky to stay here long term.”
“I understand.” He lifted her in his arms and headed toward the stairs.
“So, we’re okay then. You and me?” He stopped on the bottom step and took her lips in a demanding kiss. One that shouted mine from the heavens. Fire ignited in her soul as his tongue swirled with hers. His arms pulled her tighter against his chest, her breasts aching, needing his hands to touch her. Make love to her after so long.
Sara couldn’t get enough of him. From the moment they’d met, chemistry had flowed between them like an electric current. And now they had forever together! How lucky was she?
“We’re more than okay.” He took the steps two at a time, slammed the bedroom door on the past, and set out to make her future as bright and enjoyable as the hours they spent in her room.
She laughed as he made short work of her clothing. Life was good. She grudgingly thanked the gods for that.
If you liked FALLEN be sure to read BANISHED and GUARDIAN, Books 1 and 2 of the DAUGHTERS OF GODS SERIES.
About The Author
Tamara is an Australian author who grew up in an old mining town in country South Australia, where her love of history was founded. So much so, she made her darling husband travel to the UK for their honeymoon, where she dragged him from one historical monument and castle to another.
A mother of three, her two little gentleman’s in the making, a future Lady (she hopes) and a part-time job keep her busy in the real world, but whenever she gets a moment’s peace she loves to write romance novels in an array of genres, including regency, medieval and paranormal.
Tamara loves hearing from readers and writers alike. You can contact her through her website, and sign up to follow her blog or newsletter.
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Fallen Copyright © 2014 by Tamara Gill
www.tamaragillromanceauthor.com
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a database and retrieval system or transmitted in any form or any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the owner of copyright and the above publishers.
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