Medusa: The Wronged

by JJ King

  Poseidon swallowed hard, then simply nodded and rose to his feet. He reached down and gathered her into his arms tucking her safely against his chest, then they were travelling back to her family.

  This time Em's body didn't fight her, it was as if it knew that there was already too much trauma buffeting her already fragile psyche. Poseidon lowered her to her feet, holding onto her arms for a moment until she stopped shaking long enough to take a single step, then he followed her down the long hallway of Eury's apartment in through the door to where her sister lay.

  Ceto looked up in surprise, then jumped to her feet and reached for Em, worry and fear mixing on her beautiful features. Em allowed herself to be held by her mother until the pain in her chest subsided enough that her thoughts became her own again. She pulled back and held up the necklace, offering her mother the smallest of smiles, "This will keep her safe until we can break the curse."

  Ceto's eyes filled with tears that spilled easily onto her cheeks. She plucked the necklace from Em's hands, blinking rapidly so she could see, and moved to sit beside Eury.

  "Can you help me?" Ceto looked to Em with pride and hope giving her skin a rosy glow. Em moved up behind her sister and gently pulled her up enough for their mother to loop the chain around her neck and fasten it securely. Em laid Eury back down and waited, staring at her face and chest for any sign of change.

  They didn't have to wait long. The erratic beat of Eury's heart slowed, settling into an even pace, and her forehead smoothed, even as her pallor improved. She quieted, looking as if she were merely sleeping peacefully. Em leaned forward and pressed a kiss against her sister's cheek, and then rose and walked out of the room, snagging Poseidon's hand as she passed by him.

  As soon as they were alone, she turned and lifted her chin to look up at his face. "Take me somewhere we can talk." She stepped into his arms and buried her face in his chest. When his arms came around her, she laid her head against him and focused on the thundering sound of his heartbeat against her cheek.

  The warmth of the house disappeared, replaced by a soft salty breeze coming off the Aegean. Em inhaled, breathing in the fresh scent of the ocean that had been her home so many years ago. She'd been born of two sea deities, raised among the waves and on the sandy beaches of her homeland. It seemed like fate now that she thought about it. She'd come from the water and she'd fallen in love with a man whose entire life was the ocean.

  It smelled like home to her but, she realized, just like the natural scent of the man whose arms she still rested in. She clung to him, afraid to let go because once she did and they started talking, there was no telling what would happen. She had hope, but that frightened her more than anything else in the world right now, even, if she was being truthful, more than her fear for Eury. She'd built such strong walls to protect her heart, her soul, and now they were gone and everything she'd kept locked up safe within her over the last two millennia was laid bare and raw. Anyone could destroy her now.

  Poseidon ran his hand over her back, soothing her with soft touches and murmured words, like a parent soothing a child. But there was nothing platonic or parental between them. Instead, there was hot, raging, lustful, love; the kind that made your blood simmer and your bones go soft. It wasn't all they had, what they shared had so many more layers than even she understood, but right now, at the surface of everything they were, was passion.

  Her skin lit with desire as his fingers trailed over the material of her shirt. Instinctively, she arched, pressing her breasts against his abdomen, and gasped at the sensation thrilling through her body.

  Poseidon groaned a sound of pleasure that made her thighs clench, then his hands moved, skimming down her back to reach the curve of her ass. He froze there, waited a split second as if asking for her permission, and when she purred, he lifted her in one swift motion until her mouth met his in a kiss that scorched the earth.

  Em threw her arms around his neck, burying her fingers in his long hair, pulling him closer, needing everything all at once and frustrated by their limitations.

  The taste of him drove her into a frenzy and she locked her legs around his waist, using his hips as leverage as she began to writhe against him, grinding herself against the solid hardness of his erection. His hands were everywhere, lighting fires with every inch they touched, while his mouth devoured her, licking and sucking. He pulled back to moan when she crushed her lips against his throat and bit down on the sensitive flesh just below his jaw. Thousands of years may have passed since the last time they made love, but a girl didn't forget her lover’s sweet spots.

  Then his lips were on her neck, nibbling at the flesh just below her ear, inciting a riot of sensation through her body that made her skin vibrate and beg to be touched. She pressed herself against him, needing her clothes to be gone, but too caught up in the frenzy to focus on taking them off.

  "Clothes," she gasped, arching back as he trailed his tongue up her throat and, just like that, she felt his naked flesh against her own. Opening her eyes, she caught sight of his grin, and thanked whatever powers that be for giving him such useful abilities.

  The cool night air on her skin did nothing to calm the heat. It danced over her sensitive flesh, raising goosebumps that made her tremble even more. Em pressed her hips against Poseidon's once more, suddenly very aware of the lack of clothes between them. His erection twitched and pushed against her abdomen, so close yet so far away from what she wanted. It was too much, this need inside her was too much, she couldn't control it, didn't want to.

  She didn't think, only reacted, and while Poseidon lifted her to fit his mouth over her peaked nipple, sending fresh waves of pleasure straight to her core, Em rose up and took him into her in one swift move.

  Poseidon's legs gave out beneath them and they fell, breathless and rolling until Em was poised above her lover’s body, looking down at his face, which was stuck somewhere between pure ecstasy and shock at her bold move.

  Pure feminine power had her grinning down at him with a decidedly feline satisfaction. She'd been an innocent all those years ago, new to the art of love, but that had been lifetimes ago. In the years since, she taken many lovers, men, women, and all kinds of combinations that had amused her at the time. She'd read the Kama Sutra from cover to back more than once, and had even signed up for OMG yes.com when it had first come out. Em considered herself an expert but, right now, she was just a girl who couldn't wait another second to have the man she loved inside of her.

  The feel of his exquisite thickness sliding into her made Em cry out in absolute wonder. He stretched her, awakening every nerve in her body. Then he grabbed her hips and lifted her. Her eyes rolled back in her head as brilliant stars exploded behind her eyelids.

  "Open your eyes," Poseidon's voice came out rough and thick.

  Em gasped in a jagged breath and leaned forward, opening her eyes to look down at Poseidon.

  His eyes were dark, almost obsidian, and gleaming with arousal and layers of emotion. In them, she could see wonder, delirium, and love. Unable to hold back her response, Em let her tears fall onto Poseidon's chest. Emotion swelled, beating against the inside of her chest until there was no more room inside her. She bit down on her lip and stared at him, sharing the enormity of the moment, knowing he was right there with her.

  “I love you,” he rasped, “I never stopped loving you.” Then he pulled her back down and began to move.

  Em’s eyesight blurred then she went utterly blind as Poseidon reached a finger down to caress the small bundle of nerves that sprang to life beneath his fingertips. She cried out, sobbing his name, and met his thrusts with a roll of her hips. Each dip and crest slammed layers of sensation through her, building towards the explosion she knew would be upon her soon. She rode him, harder, faster, as delectable pressure rose in her, surging upward, reaching, searching…

  She came hard in an explosion of bright colours. Unable to keep her eyes locked on Poseidon, she closed them and let the colours play behind her eyelids a
s her body shook and clenched around him. Still, he moved, lifting her with strong hands and pumping into her over and over while her orgasm peeked and instantly began to build again. There was no down time, no soft floating sensation as she rode out the pleasure. Instead, there was an overwhelming desperation to find that peak again and leap straight over.

  Poseidon shifted, grabbing her and twisting until she was beneath him, lying flat with the soft grass beneath her back. It was all she could do to hold on and sob as another orgasm ripped through her, destroying her.

  Poseidon roared as he came. Her muscles clenched around him, drawing every last drop as he balanced on his shaking arms above her, then collapsed with a groan. Em closed her eyes and smiled sedately, caught beneath his significant weight but completely unwilling to have him move. This was perfection, a perfect moment caught in time.

  After a few minutes, Poseidon shifted, moving onto his side. Em gasped in a breath as he pulled free of her, leaving her empty and alone. Then his arms were around her, pulling her impossibly near, and the feeling faded. She rested her head against his damp chest and listen to the sound of his heart trying to find equilibrium. His fingers moved over her shoulders softly playing with the round curves of her breasts.

  “Do you think anyone would notice if we stayed here forever?” Poseidon murmured, circling her nipple with clever fingers.

  The thought was so tempting, it created an ache in her heart because she knew it was impossible. She shook her head, “It’s a beautiful dream, but there are people depending on us and I don’t plan on ever letting anyone down again.” She closed her eyes and thought of her sister, and guilt tainted the sweet pleasure they’d just shared. Reluctantly, she patted Poseidon’s chest and sat up. “Speaking of, we should go.” Em pushed to her feet and looked around for her clothes, which were nowhere to be seen since they’d been magically transported. She turned with a grin on her face to ask for a new outfit and saw the look on Poseidon’s face. Em frowned and took a step towards him, then stopped when he climbed to his feet and held out a hand to stop her.

  She waited, watching his eyes as emotion played over them, and felt the tension grow as he searched for the words he wanted to say.

  Poseidon cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and faced her. “I thought you were dead.” His voice nearly broke, but he went on. “All this time I thought you’d been murdered by that jackass, Perseus,” he trailed a hand through his hair. “I mourned you, Medusa. I raged, destroyed things, I ripped apart cities.” His voice rose with each word until it boomed around her.

  Behind him, the ocean began to change. Waves grew and beat against the shore, destroying the peaceful calm of their secluded paradise. Em’s heart thudded in her chest as his words pierced her soul and destroyed the last of her defenses. He’d thought she was dead. He’d been made to think she was dead. Her heart broke for him and the pain he’d gone through. It broke for her, too, and the knowledge that every assumption she’d had about him abandoning her, was just another lie created by Athena to punish.

  Em clenched her fists as a rage filled her. They lost lifetimes together because of that bitch. Well, one lifetime at least, but a lifetime of love, and happiness, even children that would’ve had his dark hair and her green eyes. They’d been stripped of a future and all the possibilities that came with that, and all because Athena was a vindictive monster.

  “I thought you’d come for me, at first,” Em forced out through clenched teeth, remembering the hope she’d felt when she’d imagined Poseidon coming to her rescue, making everything right. “I waited and prayed, cried until I had no tears left, but you never came.” She cringed at the horror she saw in his face, but kept speaking, needing to finally let the thoughts out. “I waited for years, trying to reach out to you, trying to find a way to speak to you. But Athena covered all her bases I guess, because no matter where I looked, I couldn’t find you. So, I gave up and forced myself to admit that you were done with me, that you’d abandoned me.”

  “I would never…” Poseidon stepped forward and grabbed her arms, shaking her to make his point, but she kept speaking, unable to stop now that she’d started.

  “I couldn’t handle it, the thought that you’d thrown me away after I’d lost everything, after my sisters and I had been turned into monsters because I dared to love you…” Em broke off to gasp in air. It felt like she didn’t have enough, like she couldn’t breathe, but still she rushed on. “It broke me. I thought if you were going to reject me for being a monster, then I’d be a monster. This,” she motioned to her snakes and eyes, “curse, gave me strength and abilities that I couldn’t control, so I lashed out against anyone that would dare look at me. Do you know how many people I killed?” She screamed the words at him over the sound of the roaring surf. “I’d never hurt a single soul in my life,” Em pounded her fists against Poseidon’s chest, venting years of tortured guilt, “I killed innocent people. I became a monster.”

  He didn’t say a word, just gathered her in his arms and hugged her tight enough to block out the world. Em wrapped her arms around his chest and released every emotion she had held in over two thousand years. It burst out of her in great rending sobs, leaving her raw and exposed, but she didn’t care, she wasn’t alone anymore.

  When he finally drew back, Poseidon wiped the salty tears from her cheeks and pressed his lips over the tender skin. Em brushed her hand over his stubbled cheek and found it wet, like hers. Without saying a word, she rose on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his in a silent promise. Then she pulled back, and took his hand, "Let's go home."

  CHAPTER TEN

  "How the hell are we going to get Athena's blood?" Phorcys gaped at them, his jaw slack with surprise.

  Em opened her mouth to answer but snapped it shut, because she had no answer to her father's question. In all the years she'd lived at the temple as Athena’s closest, most cherished priestess, not once had she seen the goddess hurt, let alone bleeding. And, in all that time, she learned that Athena was a total badass, a point which had been driven home when she turned her significant powers on Em and her sisters.

  Poseidon, who had been pacing the room, pivoted and huffed out a breath, "Leave that to me." She's my niece, after all."

  "Yeah," Em inserted, "a niece that despises you. How do you plan on even getting close to her?"

  He shrugged, "We're family when it comes down to it, we fight and make up just like everyone else."

  "My family has never cursed someone for falling in love," Thea muttered under her breath, then hid behind her cup of tea.

  "Most families are dysfunctional," Poseidon said with a raised eyebrow, "ours just happen to have powers, which complicates things."

  "And you're all insane," Em piped up, flashing Poseidon a wink.

  "And we’re all insane." Poseidon agreed with a saucy grin.

  Em noticed her mother looking back and forth between them with a small knowing smile on her lips, so she sent a wink her way as well.

  It felt strange, this fullness inside of her. The fear for her sister was still there, but it was softened somehow, buffered by hope that if she could find her love again, anything was possible. They'd find a way to get Athena's blood.

  "When's the last time you saw her?" Thea asked, her observant eyes taking in every shared glance between Em and Poseidon.

  Poseidon scratched his jaw and frowned, looking uncomfortable, "The day after you disappeared," he looked at Em. "I kind of destroyed her temple a little bit."

  Em's eyebrows shot up, "A little bit? What exactly is "a little bit?""

  "You know the shiny new section she just had added, with the water fountain and the cherubs?" Poseidon grinned.

  Em groaned, knowing exactly how proud Athena had been of the work done to her temple. Then she saw the irony and blew out a deep breath. It had been that water fountain, those cherubs, and that section of her temple, that had instigated Athena's invitation to Poseidon in the first place. She'd been in fine bragging form, invit
ing members of her family one at a time to see how much her people loved her.

  That's when she'd seen him, walking along beside Athena so tall and broad, his shoulders at least twice, if not more, the span of his neice’s. Em remembered the moment as if it had just happened, the way his eyes had met hers, the way they darkened an instant awareness, making her stomach flutter to life.

  Athena had been completely unaware, too wrapped up in herself to see anything else. Which it always struck Em as odd, seeing as Athena was the goddess of wisdom. Normally, she noticed everything, but this one time she saw nothing and it had changed everything.

  "You destroyed it?" Em fought back a smile and lost. She could imagine the rage that Athena would've felt at the destruction.

  "Every last cherub." Poseidon chuckled. "It's not like she didn't deserve it." His smile faded, "I mean, if we knew then what we know now what..." his voice trailed away.