by Stasia Black
A glint of metal and she had a knife at the man’s throat. “Do you pledge your loyalty to the Titans?”
“You ain’t no Titan,” the man spat, and then died with a gurgle as she slit his jugular.
Her stomach rebelled at the sight. But this one act of violence now could stop endless violence later. She had to prove she was strong and ruthless or these men would never respect her rule. She understood now some of the choices and sacrifices Marcus had to make every day to hold his city in check. She would now do the same.
Waters strolled to her side and offered a white handkerchief. Cora wiped the blood from her face and hands, but didn’t bother with her white dress. She’d expected to be christened tonight. Once she’d handed back the handkerchief, she fixed the capos with a cold stare she’d learned from her husband. “Anyone else?”
Dead silence answered her until the older capo chuckled. “She’s a Titan all right. Fuckin’ visionary, like her parents. Spittin’ image.”
“Any other questions?”
“What about Ubeli? With all due respect,” the capo added. “We just gonna roll over and let him win?”
Cora smiled. “Not at all. From now consider war at an end between us. You handle business as usual. I’ll handle my husband.”
Another chuckle from the oldest capo. He elbowed his neighbor while the others exchanged knowing glances.
“I know a few of you won’t be happy with the new arrangements,” Cora continued. “I expect you to come discuss things with me. Respectfully. Otherwise, you’ll feel the full force of the Shades and Waters’ men, not to mention the trouble you’ll get into with the law. Oh yes, the cops have orders to back me. The mayor of New Olympus introduced me to the Metropolis chief of police, and we’re fast friends.” She laughed lightly.
Another chorus of beeps had the capos checking their phones again.
Slim held out a screen to show Cora the grisly image.
“Looks like my husband got my little peace offering. A sign of goodwill. Alexander Titan had some use after all. He was your main leader, correct?”
A few of the capos had turned green.
“I don’t have to warn you what will happen if you ever cross me,” Cora said. “I expect we’ll all get along beautifully, especially when profits start rolling in. I’ll be by to visit each of your businesses this week. Expect me. I’ll expect you to be on your best behavior. Behave and you won’t get on my bad side.”
A bark broke the silence. Brutus broke from his handler in the back, and bounded to Cora’s side. She knelt to stroke his head a moment before rising. Slim came to her side with a red coat. With his help, she shrugged it on over her dress.
“Now, Philip and I are going to dinner. You’re all invited to pay your respects.” She’d know who was loyal if they came to kiss her ring. “If not, I’ll see you later this week.”
Signaling Brutus, she strode down the aisle, her guards at her back and her dog at her side. Waters paused a moment before following.
“The king is dead,” he rumbled. “Long live the queen.”
Forty
A week later, Slim pulled the limo up to the docks.
“You gonna be all right?” Waters asked. They’d spent the week in Metropolis, cementing Cora’s rule over the Titan’s businesses.
Cora raised her chin. “Don’t worry about me.” The capos weren’t all happy she’d moved in, but they’d put down the ones most likely to betray her, and placated the rest with a bigger cut of profits.
“That’s the spirit.” He chucked her under the chin. “You let me know if anyone causes you trouble.”
“I will. Thank you, for everything.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” he announced as he got out and went around to open her door. “In a minute you’re gonna want to yell at me.”
“What? Why?”
“This is my limo. Your ride’s over there.” He stepped away and she looked down the pier to a black car idling at the curb. A familiar form waited, hands in pockets, dark head bent.
Marcus.
Cora drew in a sharp breath.
“He’s been calling me like crazy,” Waters grumbled. “Demanding proof that you were okay. Me and Slim and Fats all had to report hourly.”
Cora put a hand to her neck, gaze fixed on the dark form of her husband. “I don’t...we didn’t leave things in a good place. I know he came through at the theater, but I don’t know...”
“He’s here, isn’t he?” Waters put out a hand and Cora automatically took it. When she was out of the car, he gave her a little push. “Go get him, kid.”
She started across the blacktop. Marcus looked so sober, leaning against his car. She’d talked to him on the phone over the past week, but only about Sharo’s progress after his multiple surgeries. Whenever he tried to turn the conversation to deeper topics, she made excuses and hung up.
There was so much between them. So many lies. So many scars. Could he forgive her? If he really had been with Lucinda, could she forgive him? Had he moved on? Did he even want her?
She wobbled on her heels and stopped.
“Cora.” He called her name and her head snapped up. His arms opened.
Kicking off her high heels, she ran.
Marcus hugged her as soon as she’d jumped into his arms, but she’d turned her head aside when he lowered his mouth for a kiss.
She might have completed her coup in Metropolis, but there was unfinished business between them.
“Thanks for the ride,” Cora said from her side of the limo. She made no move to bridge the awkward space between them.
Easy. Gently. Give her time, Marcus could practically hear Sharo coaching him. He missed his friend more than he could say. Sharo had been put in a medically induced coma, but the doctor said all indications were positive that he would have a full recovery. But they wouldn’t know for sure until he woke up. It had been days, though, and he still hadn’t opened his eyes.
You better not die, brother. I don’t need you haunting me. Marcus could almost hear Sharo’s chuckle filling the car.
They’d spent hours talking in the weeks Marcus was separated from Cora and Marcus tried to muster all of that advice now.
All right, brother. We’ll try it your way.
“You were magnificent.” Marcus drank in his wife’s slim form, barely believing she was real. She looked different. Older. Not hard or jaded, just wiser somehow. “Waters and the Shades told me everything. I made them get footage.”
She shrugged, then looked at him anxiously. “How’s Sharo?”
“No change. Yet.”
She bit her lip and he had to clench his hand into a fist to keep from brushing his thumb against it until she relaxed. Then she asked, “You really think so? You really think I can do this? Lead the Titans?”
“Don’t believe me. Check it out.” He grabbed the paper on the seat and showed her. “Queen of the Underworld. You’re gonna have to get used to getting dogged by the press.”
“I’m already used to it. I married you, remember.”
“Mmm.” He’d always hated being called King of the Underworld but he’d embrace the term as long as she was by his side as his Queen.
His Queen looked exhausted, though, as she glanced his way. And she was sitting much too far away, almost hugging the opposite door.
“Come here.” He held out his arm.
She sighed. “Marcus, just because this is all over…” She shook her head and looked out the window, her expression far away. “It doesn’t mean—” She broke off, hands going to her face.
She’d been as powerful as any general back there demanding her due as head of the Titan Empire but here with him, she was as vulnerable as always.
And he was done allowing her to put distance between them. He went to her and gathered her in his arms. “I almost lost you and I’ll be damned if I spend another minute apart from you.”
She struggled, though, and when she pushed away from him, her eyes flashed fire. “It was easy enough for you
to walk away from me three weeks ago. And I saw the picture of you with that woman. Your lover.”
She had to mean Lucinda. Marcus had raged when he first saw the picture but now he grinned. “Jealous, kitten?” He could stand anything but her indifference.
If he thought her eyes were fiery before, it was nothing to the fury that sparked at his words.
“Get off of me, you oversized oaf.” She shoved ineffectually at him but he only tightened his arms around her.
“I didn’t touch her. I ran into her outside the Crown and she stumbled into me. Probably on purpose. Come to think of it, it was probably her who’d called the paparazzi. She always was an attention whore. I steadied her and then continued on my way. That was the full extent of our interaction.”
Nice work, Sharo said. Now tell her the truth.
Get out of my head, Marcus almost muttered aloud before taking his advice. Tilting his head at his beautiful wife, he said, “There’s no replacing you, love. There never could be.”
Her countenance immediately changed. Instead of pushing him away, she gripped the lapels of his suit coat. “I was so scared. When you went down, I was so scared.” Her eyes filled with tears. “And then Sharo.”
“We’re heading to New Olympus General now. I knew you’d want to see him, first thing.”
“Good.” Cora sank against him, her head to his chest. “Is it really over?”
He squeezed her close to him and breathed in the sweet aroma of her hair. “Yes, goddess. It’s over. But the rest of our life is just beginning.”
He felt her nod against his chest. But the next second she was pulling away. “Sharo tried to explain. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I left the Estate like that and headed straight into danger. I had no idea about Chiara.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks and he cupped them, shaking his head. “You couldn’t have known. I just— I just couldn’t—” He looked down and huffed out a frustrated breath.
But then he forced himself to meet her gaze again. “I swore to protect you. No matter what. Even if it meant the safest place for you was away from me. It killed me, being away from you. Worse than the first time. So much worse, because I was afraid it was forever.”
He didn’t want to think about what the past three weeks had been like. He’d thrown himself into his work but not even that could distract him from missing her. Or from wondering, every hour of every day, every minute, if she was okay, what she was doing, if she hated him. If she was moving on. His sleep had been tormented by nightmares of her happy—in the arms of another man, wearing another man’s ring.
Ten times a day, he’d had to wrestle himself back from saying fuck it, and getting in his car and breaking every traffic law known to man to go back to her. All his discipline, all his control, none of it counted when it came to her.
Maybe she saw something of his torment on his face because she lifted a hand to his cheek and whispered, “Never again. From here on out, it’s you and me together. Always. No more secrets. No more lies. No matter if you think it’s for my good or not. We’re partners in everything now. Swear it?”
He met her eyes solemnly. “I vow to you, Cora Ubeli, never to lie to you again.”
“Not even if you think it’s for my own good? I need you to say it, Marcus.”
He smiled at her tenacity. “I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will never lie to you again or keep secrets, even if I think it’s for your own good. Now your turn.”
She clasped his hands and there was no smile on her face. She was taking this dead seriously.
“I, Cora Ubeli, vow to never leave nor forsake you, and I will never lie to you or keep secrets from you again, even if I think it’s for your own good.”
“Now all that’s left is to seal it with a kiss,” Marcus said, moving his head slowly towards hers.
She rose to him and when their lips met, Marcus thought he might just die after all at the angel soft touch of her lips.
In his worst moments, he thought he’d never get to experience this again. Even remembering how that felt made him crazy. He couldn’t do gentle, not right now. Not after all they’d been through and their separation.
He crushed her to him and she threw her arms around his neck, apparently just as desperate for him in return. Their mouths met in a hungry tangle. Lips, tongues, teeth. He couldn’t get enough of her. He needed all of her. Now.
But just as he shifted her to straddle him, the SUV came to a stop and the driver’s voice sounded over the speaker. “We’re here.”
Cora broke from Marcus’s mouth, eyes wide. “Sharo.”
She barely bothered to rearrange her clothing before shoving open the door. Marcus had to run after her; she was halfway to the hospital entrance by the time he got out his own door.
They spent two days’ vigil at Sharo’s bedside before he finally opened his eyes.
It was sunset when his large brow finally scrunched and he blinked his eyes open.
“Sharo!” Cora cried, jumping up and grabbing his huge hand in her tiny one. “You’re awake. Marcus, he’s awake!”
Marcus stood behind Cora, smiling down at his oldest friend, at his brother. “Thank the Fates,” he breathed out. Sharo had been such a study constant in his life. He couldn’t imagine going on without him. He was family.
Sharo looked around, obviously confused.
“Here.” Cora let go of his hand only long enough to grab a cup of water with a straw in it from the bedside table to hold it up to Sharo’s mouth.
He took several swallows before leaning back on his pillows. “What— Happened?”
Cora took his hand again. “You saved the day. You saved my life.” She squeezed his hand.
“And for that, you have my eternal gratitude, brother,” Marcus said.
Sharo met his eyes over Cora’s head and they shared a silent look. Sharo nodded and Marcus knew he understood. Marcus owed him everything. It was a debt Marcus could never repay but he’d spend the rest of his life trying anyway.
“My mother would’ve gotten away with all of it if you hadn’t showed up when you did,” Cora continued. “And then you got shot. So many times,” her voice broke. “I thought you were dead. The doctor says we’re lucky that you’re alive. If one of the bullets had even been half an inch closer to the left.” She broke off, shaking her head, tears falling down her cheeks.
“I’m okay,” Sharo croaked, and Cora immediately held the water back up to his lips.
Then Cora swung around to look at Marcus. “He’s awake. We need to get the doctor. They said to call him when he woke up.”
Marcus nodded and pressed the button for the nurse to come in.
The nurse and then doctor arrived several minutes later. Marcus and Cora were hustled out of the room while the doctor attended to Sharo.
As soon as they left the room, Cora’s shoulders slumped. She was exhausted. No matter how Marcus had tried to coax her to go home to get some rest, she’d refused to leave. She’d gotten a few hours sleep on a little cot they’d set up in the room, but not much.
Now that Sharo was awake, though, he was insisting. She’d go home and get a full night’s rest.
Her hand slid into his, fingers intertwining.
“I love you, Marcus.” She paused in the middle of the hospital hallway and looked up at him. “Thank you for giving me this life. Thank you for everything. You know how much I love you? Can you even fathom it?”
Marcus smiled down at her, the woman he loved more than life itself.
He was about to leaned down to kiss her when her eyes suddenly rolled back in her head and she collapsed. He barely had time to catch her before she hit the ground.
Forty-One
All was dark and there were no stars.
“Hello?” Cora called into the darkness.
No one responded.
Cora stretched her arms out and felt all around her. Nothing. There was nothing.
“Marcus? Marcus?” Her voice was high-pitched, nearing
on frantic. Where was she? Why couldn’t she see anything? She spun around but there was only more nothingness, until, arms outstretched, her hand finally ran into a brick wall.
The air smelled sour and dank and that was when Cora knew.
Mama had locked her in the cellar again.
It had all been a dream. Marcus. New Olympus. None of it had ever been real.
Marcus had never been real. He’d never loved her. He never would. Because he didn’t exist. None of it had. Olivia. Anna. Sharo. Armand. She’d made them all up in her head.
How many days had she been down here? How long since she’d had food or water? How long since she’d slept?
She’d experienced it before, the delirium that came with being confined in the solitary space for long stretches.
She sank to her knees.
She was alone.
Unloved.
Her mother had finally driven her mad.
“Noooooo!” she cried, banging her fists on the earthen ground. “Please!” She didn’t know what she was begging for. Maybe for the earth to open and swallow her up whole.
But then she froze. Because she heard something.
She sat up and craned her ears.
“Cora. Cora!”
The sound was coming from so far away, Cora could barely hear it. But it was there. Either that, or it was an auditory hallucination.
But she was so desperate, she didn’t care.
“Hello?” She stumbled towards the sound. “Hello?”
“Cora,” came the voice, louder this time. “Cora, baby, come back to me.”
Marcus. It was Marcus’s voice.
Cora started running towards it. She should have run into the back wall of the cellar but she didn’t. The darkness just went on and on and as she ran, it began to lighten. First to a dark gray and then…and then…
Cora blinked her eyes open and winced at the painfully bright lights.
“Cora!” Marcus’s blurry face loomed over hers. He was smiling and crying at the same time. She’d never seen Marcus cry in the entire time she’d known him.
