The Last Oracle

by Colvin, Delia

  Alex smiled and said, “Well, actually...I made this guitar. I named it Orpheus.”

  “Orpheus? Why?”

  He shrugged. “I guess, for many years, I felt a sort of kinship with Orpheus. Not in talent...but in love lost.” He narrowed his eyes and looked away. “I should probably rename it now.”

  She kissed his neck and took a sip from her cold beer. “I think I’ve heard of Orpheus.”

  “Hmm. Do you want to hear the story? You do realize, by now, that most stories from mythology don’t have happy endings.”

  “I have my very own happy ending,” she said, as she smiled and pulled his arms around her. He nodded and looked out to sea.

  “Orpheus was a legendary musician and poet from ancient Greece. On their wedding day, his bride, Eurydice, was walking amongst her people, in tall grass when she was attacked by a satyr—”

  “A satyr?” Valeria interrupted.

  “Yes, companions of Pan with goat-like features, including a goat-tail, goat-like ears, and sometimes a goat-like phallus.”

  “Oh, dear! Were they real?”

  Alex shrugged. “I’ve never seen one, but I imagine so. You will have to ask some of the immortals. Perhaps Paolo knows, but I don’t believe that he is that old—Myrdd would know, if he were still around to ask,” he said.

  “In any case, the story goes that Eurydice struggled with the satyr and fell into a nest of vipers where she suffered a fatal bite on her heel. Her body was discovered by Orpheus who, overcome with grief, played such sad and mournful songs that all the nymphs and gods wept.

  “On their advice, Orpheus travelled to the underworld and, with his mournful music, he softened the hearts of Hades—he was, by all accounts the only one ever to do so. Hades’ only condition was that Orpheus must walk in front of Eurydice and not look back until both had reached the upper world. Orpheus knew that Eurydice would be in spirit form until they exited the underworld and took solace in feeling her presence as they began their trek.

  “But there were other challenges: Orpheus had to get by Cerberus, the three headed, flesh-eating dog that is the guardian of Hades. So he took out his lute and sang and played and, eventually, Cerberus was lulled to sleep.

  “As Orpheus continued his trek, he began to recall stories of Hades’ trickery and, soon, he doubted that his beloved was still with him. Just as he reached the portal of Hades and daylight, he needed to know, so he turned around to gaze upon her face. But because Eurydice had not yet crossed the threshold—”

  “What happened?” Valeria asked, certain she didn’t want to hear the end.

  Alex drew a deep breath, “She was immediately pulled back into the underworld...and this time, forever.”

  “This story needs a new ending,” she said curling into him. “What happened to Orpheus?”

  “He was inconsolable. He refused any company and was one day attacked and beheaded.”

  “I thought he was a god!”

  “He was...perhaps that’s the secret that Jeremiah discovered. How to end the life of an immortal.” Shaking off the thought, Alex added, “On a happier note, the story goes that he was at last reunited with his beloved Eurydice in the Elysian Fields...what Dante called, Paradiso.”

  Alex looked distant and, seeing his seriousness, she said, “I think you need to rename your guitar. Something that reflects our happy ending.”

  “I agree. And perhaps we had better stick with Jane Austin and Shakespeare’s Sonnets,” he said.

  ∞

  The tropical rain poured down over the lush green hills as Valeria leaned her back into Alex’s chest in the claw foot tub. Despite the rain, shards of sunlight broke through the cumulus clouds and lit the Caribbean in various shades of turquoise and azure.

  She rolled her head against his chest, as the steam rolled off the tub. He lifted his arm and lovingly brushed her brown curls back, and then wrapped an arm around her as he kissed the nape of her neck and in her ticklish spot behind her ear. With his free arm, he reached down to the table next to the tub, and handed her their shared glass of wine; she took a sip and savored the cool taste of the rich flavors of prune and oak. She savored it for a moment before swallowing. Then, she turned and kissed Alex deeply, letting him sample the wine from her lips.

  Yes, she thought, he saved the “good wine” for them, and she liked sharing it with him so much better! She remembered his comments from her first girls’ night with Ava and Camille, before she realized that he was saving a special bottle for the two of them. She smiled. That night, almost a year before, was the first time it really clicked that he might be interested in her, despite the numerous hints. Sometimes, she was a little blind to the obvious.

  She handed him the glass and he took a slow sip himself, then set the glass back down and moved his arms around her again, brushing his fingertips across her in an incredibly erotic way, causing her to arch back into him. As she looked down at his hands covering her body, she was in awe that there were no signs of the severe burns from just a few months before.

  As if he was reading her mind, he said softly, “I'm as good as new, Mrs. Morgan.” Then he kissed her neck again, taking his time on her bare shoulders. She sighed, as a tear rolled suddenly from her eye. He caught the tear with his finger and turned her face toward his.

  “Hey—I'm all right,” Alex said softly.

  Her breath caught. “It is just...so...amazing.”

  She stopped the sob, but it wasn’t pain that caused it. It was the overwhelming joy she felt from having her husband, her symbolon, by her side—whole, healthy, and head over heels in love with her. It was amazing how much she could love someone. She never knew that she had that level of love within her. And here he was, this beautiful man who adored her. And they had a lifetime together...or more. His hand brushed her wet hair away from her neck.

  “On another note, I was thinking...you might like to try something new?"

  Valeria’s face lit in an amused smile as she leaned back and kissed his hand.

  “What did you have in mind? Blindfolds already?” she asked, lowering her voice with a playful hint of seduction.

  “Actually, I was thinking about,” he kissed her neck again, “perhaps, a few new experiences,” he said suggestively.

  She raised her eyebrows. “Like what?” Her insecurity kicked in, and she suddenly wished she had been more knowledgeable about the art of seduction before they married. Blindfolds were one thing, but there was a whole other world of seduction out there that she’d yet to experience, and felt suddenly shy and inadequate.

  Alex laughed and raised a brow. “Nothing like that. I think we do pretty well in that arena.”

  “You would tell me if we weren’t, right?”

  Releasing a long, carefree laugh, he wrapped his arms around her adoringly and soon she found herself smiling. “Yes, I think we do more than just very nicely!” he said, his lower lip barely brushing her neck, in exquisite torture.

  “So, you said you wanted to try something new?” She trusted Alex and, whatever he wanted to try, she would be a good sport.

  “No, I said I thought you might like to try something new,” he corrected, with a hint of amusement. “Like a trip off the island for a few weeks before we meet our family in Puerto Rico.”

  Valeria yawned sleepily. Baths did that to her, despite the lingering desire she felt just from being within the folds of Alex’s arms. Although they seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time in bed making love and then napping, they were also hiking and snorkeling daily. Sometimes, she had a pull in her gut and she wondered if they were supposed to be doing something more important. She wondered if that was what Lars and the others had suggested.

  She pushed that thought to the back of her mind. They were on their honeymoon, and what were honeymoons for but making love and spending as much time as possible in each other’s arms? Life would require other things of them later. Now was their time. Besides, Alex had spent 3,000 years waiting for this, and she was cert
ain she could spend a lifetime, or more, living this wonderful misty life in the forest…as long as she didn’t think of their lost cottage.

  “Puerto Rico? That’s months off yet,” she said.

  Alex laughed again. “No, love, it’s weeks away.”

  She narrowed her eyes. The trip to Puerto Rico was for her birthday, which was near the end of October. They were married in July.

  “Isn’t it August?”

  He laughed again, but this time, she noticed just a hint of tension in him. “It’s mid-October.”

  “No—it can’t possibly be!” She went through the weeks in her mind. It seemed like only a few weeks and she couldn’t possibly imagine that months had passed. She felt the tug of time passing and the knowledge of a secret darkness that they would soon have to explore. She wasn’t ready to think of any of that and so she pushed it aside.

  “I am sorry to tell you that time has gone by entirely too fast here with you.” He brushed his mouth along her lower lip and, seeing her concern, he added, “Don’t worry. The honeymoon is definitely not over! I just thought we could try a few new experiences. I would like to take you scuba diving…” He waited, and when she didn’t object, he continued, “And then I thought we would go to St. Lucia for a week of luxury and room service alone, before heading up to meet the family.”

  The part about diving was the last of what she heard and she turned around to face him.

  “I thought to dive you had to go through a certification course.”

  “Yes, well, you can do a resort course where a dive master guides you through a trial.”

  “Who would do that?”

  “Me.”

  “You? Alex, I thought you were afraid of water and then I see you snorkeling every day and now I discover that you can teach scuba diving.”

  “We all handle our fears differently. I’m not a fan of the open sea, but here in the bathwater of the Caribbean is a completely different story. I know you’ll love it. I did get my certification specifically so that I could share this experience with you.”

  “When did you learn to dive?”

  “Last spring,” he said, avoiding the fact that it was when she was with another man. Maybe he needed a challenge like that to keep his attention from the loss.

  “Oh, while we were apart.”

  “Yes, well, after our experience last fall when we both almost drowned again—and would have, if not for Caleb—I realized that it might be a valuable skill for us both to learn. Besides, we hadn't completely ruled out scuba for a rescue if it came to it in Delos.”

  Valeria’s brows pulled down and she analyzed his face for a moment. She tilted her head. “I just realized something about you, my beautiful husband...” She bit her lip and held up his left hand as evidence. “Who, by the way, still does not have a wedding ring,” she teased, weaving her fingers with his as her tone became more serious. “You never lie to me, but you often withhold the full truth.” She kissed his hand.

  He narrowed an eye and looked at her for a moment, and then, seeing her certainty, he lifted a shoulder and tilted his head in slight acquiescence.

  “You should tell me,” she said softly.

  He looked away and shook his head. “Not now. Maybe later.”

  “Later then,” she acquiesced. “Let’s see…you said something about another island?”

  “St. Lucia,” he said, glad that the subject had changed.

  “Why St. Lucia?”

  “It’s one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean.”

  She kissed his fingertips. “And what makes one lush paradise in the sea different from any other?”

  He moved the fingers of his other hand along the edge of her face and then pulled her in for a kiss. He stared into her eyes, lost in his love for her. There was something different about her, he was certain of that. Something more confident—more knowing. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

  “Alex?”

  “Yes?”

  “St. Lucia?”

  “I’m sorry, beautiful!” He drew a deep breath. “Apart from being your run-of-the-mill paradise with an artists’ colony, the Pitons are breathtaking!”

  “The Pitons?” she asked.

  “Yes. The Pitons are twin volcanoes that surge up almost a half mile out of the Caribbean. Actually, they are volcanic plugs—a landform created by hardened magma within an active volcano.”

  “All right,” she said hesitantly. “But do you really want to leave here?” she asked reluctantly.

  The corners of his mouth curved upward as he brushed her hair back from her face. “I thought we could go diving tomorrow, and then the next day we’ll fly out to St. Lucia. It’s near the end of the long chain of islands, and I think we can risk a luxury hotel there, which will offer us all the privacy we’ll need. I just thought it would be nice to have a change of scenery.”

  “Hmm. Well, let me just tell you...” Valeria’s eyes followed her fingers as they trailed from Alex’s face, down his chest, and then disappeared beneath the water, causing him to gasp at her new boldness. She said, “I’ve got all the scenery I need right here!”

  Alex moaned, as he leaned in to kiss her. “I guess a few more hours here wouldn’t hurt.”

  CHAPTER 9

  The next morning, she ate breakfast in bed, reading, while Alex—who had eaten hours before—lay next to her wearing faded jeans, a gray T-shirt, and black-rimmed glasses, mulling over financials on his laptop. She glanced over, appreciating the view.

  “Why do you wear glasses?” she asked.

  He smiled. “I don’t need them. I have perfect vision, but they magnify the screen so that I have a bigger picture. With the glasses, I get three screens on one. Then I allow my intuition to guide me.”

  “Interesting!” she said, as she took a bite of her frittata and looked back down at her book. She lowered her brows as she read, “I come from there, where I would gladly return. And now, love has moved me and compels me to speak.”

  Alex smiled, adding, “Beatrice’s words to Dante. I didn’t know you were reading The Divine Comedy.”

  “I’ve read everything else here!” Then Valeria shook her head. “If Beatrice really loved Dante why would she gladly return to Paradiso without him? It wouldn’t be Paradiso without you! I would have written it, ‘I come from there, where I would gladly return—if not for your absence.’”

  At that, Alex laughed joyfully, put down his computer, and pulled her into his arms.

  Later, they drove down the hill and then sailed around the island. They stopped at a beach and Valeria immediately noticed it was not nearly as nice as where they typically snorkeled. The sand was darker and the water was choppier.

  “Why don’t you snorkel for a bit while I set out the gear?”

  She nodded and stuck her toes into the light surf, wearing a paisley blue bikini and a deep tan. She tied her hair in a ponytail, stepped further into the water, and pulled on her fins, snorkel, and mask. There were reefs, but the snorkeling was not nearly as impressive as at other parts of the island. The water was choppy and all she saw were tiny clown fish. After about twenty minutes, she swam back to the shore.

  “I’m guessing this will be about right,” he said, as he fastened a weighted belt around her and lifted a single tank onto her back. She shivered as she pushed her arms through the straps, remembering their dangerous swim out of Delos. Her breathing had been too heavy and she had run out of air. She had fought Alex to surface, risking being caught in the current and taken deep into the cave, never to escape. If not for Alex’s quick reflexes, they would both be dead. She shuddered and Alex held her for a moment, knowing why her fears were surfacing.

  “Beautiful, I wouldn’t suggest this if I didn’t honestly believe you would enjoy it,” he said, but she could sense his hesitation. She decided that he was merely responding to her apprehension, and so she nodded again, but said nothing.

  Alex continued, “Let’s sit in the water so that we can go over a f
ew things.” He walked into the water a few yards and they knelt, while her face was still above the surface. “All right, well, I know you know how to clear your mask and your snorkel. Clearing your mouthpiece is similar to clearing a snorkel—except simpler. Just blow out and it clears.”

  Then he ran through the rest of the basics, including the hand signals that she needed to know.

  “Alright,” she said, wondering what she had really gotten herself into.

  “We’ll stay fairly close to shore. Ready?”

  “Yes,” she said spitting out the rough water that had splashed her. She was already shivering.

  “Remember to control your breathing. But if your air runs low, we can always snorkel back, so it’s no big deal, okay?”

  “Alright.”

  She pulled down her mask, put the mouthpiece in, and followed Alex. Within seconds, they were in another world—a calm, but vibrant, world—that resembled a well-lit aquarium that was abundant in sea life that she hadn’t seen while snorkeling. The water didn’t seem to be deep at all. In fact, she felt like she could almost stand up and reach the surface. Although she was certain, due to her earlier snorkeling, that the water was at least twenty feet deep.

  The white sand beneath them was marbled with sunlight, and the colors of the fish, the coral—everything—was brilliant. Alex turned and pointed to Valeria’s right, where a sea turtle swam by; she couldn’t help but feel thrilled at the sighting. They continued over the gentle waves of white sand and between two giant pieces of coral, easily ten feet tall and almost as wide. Alex gave her the hand sign that indicated danger and pointed to a yellow and white striped fish with numerous spine-like appendages, well camouflaged by the coral.

  They swam along a sand path between the coral. Although Valeria felt calm, she could hear her own breathing and knew it was entirely too fast. Alex lifted a finger indicating that she should wait, and he went to the coral and came back. He took her hand and opened her fingers, and then, from a few inches above, he dropped a tiny creature that resembled a thorny octopus. It drifted the few inches into her hand.