Stay, little demon, stay.
She smiles against my lips. “Well,” she whispers, pushing incessantly at the waistband of my pants. “If you insist…”
I don’t get the chance to answer her. A pronounced slam of the front door does it for me.
I go still. Kara tenses too, but not in the same who’s-barging-in-at-six-a.m. way.
“Take it down a notch, Olympian,” she chides before kissing me softly. “It’s just Kell. She’s clearly been out canoodling.”
I kiss her back but keep my eyes open, kicking up a brow. “‘Canoodling’?”
“It’s what she does. But back to what we were doing. Something about pretend sand…and having my way with you…”
I let her kiss me once more, but I still can’t relax into her desire. Something—instinct, sixth sense, premonition, whatever—eats at my libido. Something about the rhythm of the footsteps out in the living room. Footsteps that don’t track toward Kell’s bedroom…or even the kitchen.
“Kara? You awake?”
I breathe a little easier. Okay, it is Kell.
“Kara.”
Holy shit. That’s not. But I recognize the voice instantly.
“Kara!” Veronica Valari’s repetition seems to push at the walls themselves. “I need to see you out here. Now.”
Chapter Two
Kara
The best thing about seeing my mother at this hour is that Z is standing right beside her. For all Maximus’s doubts, for everything he’s feeling about this man that’s far from resolved, Z’s presence here gives me hope. My mother’s icy stare adds to my surety that he’s found a way out of this mess. She wouldn’t look so miserable otherwise.
Her arms are folded tightly across her chest, accentuating her heavy bust through the leopard fabric of her blouse. Silence hangs in the room like the early morning fog. Except this is more eerie than peaceful.
Kell shifts on her feet, her gaze fixed on some imaginary point of interest outside. Everything about her posture betrays her guilt.
“You told her I was here,” I utter with bitter resignation.
Her eyes are wide and dark, nearly a mirror of my own. “It wasn’t like that.”
“I only asked for a little time to lay low,” I remind her.
“Lay low? After the warhead button you’ve pushed?” my mother scoffs, hiking one of her etched black brows. “Besides, there were only so many places to look, darling.” She utters the last word with sugary sweetness that doesn’t match the rest of her tense posture. “You haven’t been answering my calls, which simply isn’t like you.” She lifts her gaze, narrowing it on the man beside me. Her regard slides south of Maximus’s waist before her nostrils flare slightly. “At least you have discriminating tastes, Kara. He could have been human.”
Z answers with a low chuckle as he casually paces the living room, curiously checking out the decor. “That’s my boy.” The perusal and the remark feel like an invasion.
I don’t know whether to feel defensive or downright embarrassed by the conversation. “I don’t see how it matters, all things considered.”
“Oh, darling. It matters.”
“Why?” I bite back.
“Maximus is a demigod,” she says, unfolding her arms haughtily. “It’s not good, but it changes things.”
“What things?” My voice wavers, giving away the worry that’s been plaguing me every hour since I broke my vow. “Are they coming for me?”
Maximus catches my hand in his, warm and possessive. I yearn to tuck in closer to him but don’t dare.
“I’ve managed to work something out with Arden.” My mother tucks her short black hair behind her ear, her expensive bracelets tinkling with the motion. “Though you left him in quite a mood when you ran off the other night. I had no idea how taken he was with you already.”
Maximus tightens his grasp, shifting himself in front of me a fraction, as if he can protect me from the mere mention of my betrothed.
“He’s not coming anywhere near her.”
“Why would he? She has nothing to offer him. You made sure of that,” she snaps.
If this topic wasn’t so awkward already, I’d correct her. Maximus didn’t seduce me, unless the weeks in his class listening to him passionately read page after page of Dante counts. Of course, it was so much more than that. A thousand little moments that twined our souls, tighter and tighter, until I couldn’t imagine giving myself to anyone else.
But none of it matters if I don’t survive our relationship. Before this moment, I doubted that I would. But now, there’s something about my mother’s stance, something defined and different about her attitude, that infuses my spirit with real hope.
“So what does this mean? Are we safe?”
“As for Maximus, I pulled some strings at the university. They’ve agreed to let the matter go.” She levels an even stare at the man I adore. “You should be able to start back on Friday, Professor.”
A whoosh of air spills from me. While the threat of having to pay the ultimate price for our affair has weighed on me, so has the prospect that Maximus would lose everything he’s worked so hard for because I couldn’t stay away. His livelihood. His passion.
“Does that mean…” I’m afraid to even ask, but the relief singing through my veins and flowing into my hopeful heart is too much to resist. “Can I go back too?”
My mother’s nostrils twitch again. “You can. For now.”
I can’t help the broad smile taking over my face.
“For now?” Maximus’s question cuts through the elated moment.
My mother interjects before I can explain. “Kara agreed to quit her studies at Alameda. To protect you and your career, of course. We couldn’t have the two of you creating any more newsworthy scenes. Someone had to go. It was her or you.”
Maximus’s expression is torn with confusion. “Kara, why didn’t you tell me?”
I turn in to him, mold my palm over his pectoral, and stare up into his tortured gaze. “It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered,” I whisper. Nothing but Maximus and the night I thought would be my last.
“Kara.” My mother’s sharp tone severs our connection, pulling my attention back to her. “This isn’t sentimental. Sending you back to Alameda has nothing to do with my approval or lack of it—and everything to do with your ultimate safety.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Being seen together before threatened to destroy the path you were born for. Had Maximus been a mere mortal, I doubt there’s anything I could have done to protect you. You could say we’re in limbo until this is sorted out, but we might be able to use the visibility to our advantage.”
Maximus laughs roughly. “Visibility? As in, having a relationship in the public eye?”
Z halts his pacing. “That’s exactly what she means.”
“But…isn’t that dangerous?” I ask.
Z shrugs. “Call it PR. Call it politics. And sure, while you’re at it, you could call it a Hail Mary.”
My eyes bulge at that. “Excuse me?”
“Think of it this way,” he goes on. “Disobedient subjects are easier to dispose of when very few know they even exist. Extinguish the problem. Poof.” He snaps his fingers, causing tiny snaps of electricity to leap from them. “You, Kara, are a Valari—which means you have the unique ability to position yourself directly under the limelight. And until this is resolved, the limelight is the safest place you can be. If anyone makes a move, all eyes are on you. On both of you, in fact.”
I disconnect from Maximus’s embrace and step toward Z. I’m struggling for words. While I should be grateful for the advantage fate has given Maximus and me, I’m still reaching for some reasonable argument that will let us go about our lives peacefully. Something better than the media spectacle I’ve grown up in. “Please. There has to be another way. Can’t we just stay under the radar for a while longer? Until you work things out?”
Z tugs on the collar of his pale-blue shirt, which perfectly matches the bri
lliance of his eyes. “Like Veronica said, we’re in limbo at the moment.”
“You said you’d make calls,” I remind him more accusingly than I probably have the right to.
“I have and I will. My brothers and I, we’re due for a family reunion. There’s a reason why people organize these dreadful things. Too much time goes by, things get lost in translation. Grudges go deeper. People take the rules a touch too seriously. We just need to clear the air is all.”
“If it’s that simple—”
“It’s not simple at all,” he replies with the quick confidence of a god who knows everything. “But nothing ever is. In the entire history of time, not a single thing has ever been simple. This I can promise you.”
I release a tense sigh. “And you really think this will work?”
“Darling,” my mother chimes in, “there’s nothing I do better than publicity. The good, the bad, and the ugly. If it’s a media frenzy we need to whip up to keep the gods at bay, I’m the best person for the job.”
I pause to take in her promises and her determination, even wrapped in her arrogance. “Why would you help me?”
She winces. “Are you seriously asking me that?”
“The last time we spoke, your designs for my life were very different. You were pushing me out of Alameda, forbidding me from seeing Maximus ever again, forcing me onto Arden—”
“My purpose here has never been to ensure your happiness. It’s always been secondary to your safety, to setting you on the path you were meant for. You defied me, but here I am once again, doing what I need to do to keep you safe. I’m not standing here in defense of love and romance. To hell with all of that nonsense. I’m doing this because you’re my daughter, and I won’t have you taken from me.” She exhales her breath with a soft hiss. “At least not without a fight.”
I have to measure my own breaths. They’re nearly painful from the unexpected emotion sawing through me. All this time, I never thought she cared that much for me. But perhaps we’ve simply been seeing the world differently—focusing on such divergent things that I discounted her love. Maybe she couldn’t offer me the warmth and sweetness one might expect from a mother. But for all her biting words and self-absorption, there’s something about her ready stance now that I can’t ignore. Her teeth are bared slightly, and she has the distinct look of a feral creature ready to attack to protect her young.
Though we’ve rarely seen eye-to-eye, I believe what I see now. I trust it. Enough to go along with this plan that defies all my instincts and shatters all my safety zones. A plan that will forever change Maximus’s life too, because being associated with a Valari for more than a single news cycle will have implications he can’t possibly understand now.
But we have no other choice. If this is the only plan, then I have to show up for it.
“What do we have to do?” I finally say.
“Well.” My mother glances to Z briefly, then back to me. “You’ll be seen together, obviously. And casually, with the rest of us too.”
“And Arden… He’s just going to let this go?” I hedge. “Just like that?”
My mother’s lips purse slightly. “Not exactly.”
“Meaning what?” I press.
“He obviously had his sights set on you, but in the end, we came to an agreement. He was able to readjust his expectations, given some perspective.”
In the few seconds between taking in her subtle glance at Kell and my sister’s nervous shifting, I piece it all together. With horror. With the teeth-baring fury that clearly runs through our demon veins.
“No!”
My mother’s jaw tightens. “It was the only way.”
“No,” I growl it this time and step between the two women, taking a protective stance in front of my little sister. The moment I do, my shoulders are caught beneath her clamping hold.
“K-Demon,” she rasps. “Please don’t make this any worse—”
“Kell, this disaster isn’t yours to fix.”
My mother rolls her eyes. “You’re being dramatic. Please. She could do far worse than Arden Prieto.”
“He’s a snake!”
“He’s a demon, and he was promised something he now can never have. He’s furious, and your existence hangs in the balance. What did you expect, Kara? That you could follow your heart and no one would have to face the consequences?”
“I didn’t expect anything. I was born into this nightmare, forced to live under these laws against my will. So was she.”
My mother huffs. “Well, if your grandfather hadn’t—”
“If Gramps hadn’t done what he did, none of us would be here making him pay for it. Right?”
She stiffens her spine, crosses her arms, all eyes on her. “We all have our part to play, don’t we?”
“It’s fine, Kara,” Kell utters with a softness that betrays the lie on her lips.
I whip my stare back to her. “It’s not fine.”
“Yes, damn it. It is. I’m not like you.” She swallows hard. “I’ll do whatever I have to do. Especially if it buys you time.”
Chapter Three
Maximus
“Why don’t we take a drive?”
I battle, unsuccessfully, to hide my lack of enthusiasm about the suggestion from the man standing next to me. Z doesn’t flinch, except for the higher tilt of his roguish grin. We’re on the deck outside Kara and Kell’s living room, isolated from the others, for now. The chilly morning fights to stick to the air, but in these hills, the Southern California sun is persistent. Its heat spreads rapidly across the stone slab beneath my bare feet.
But that’s the only warm part of me.
I don’t anticipate a de-thaw anytime soon, since the deep freeze stretches into the marrow of my bones and cells of my blood. All the visceral parts of me that are waging a war worse than the battles of the wrathful in the marshes of Styx. My spirit should be welded with relief and gratitude, but I can’t stop thinking of Veronica Valari’s arrangement as an ultimatum instead of a solution. A mandate that—surprise, surprise—will likely brighten the gleam on her empire by a few million notches.
But bitterness is no good to me right now. No matter how strongly I yearn to race back inside, grab Kara, and whisk her away to a corner of the world where we’ll never be found, I have to let logic prevail. That also means conceding to the reality of our situation. If we’re to survive the underworld’s backlash, maybe we do have to fight fire with fire. Even if that blaze is made of headlines, spotlights, and paparazzi flashes.
In short, it’s my worst nightmare—though as soon as I look back inside, it’s eclipsed in the space of one breath. There’s a plate of glass separating Kara and me, but our gazes lock in sublime synchronicity. At once, I notice the reflection of my face staring at hers. I don’t recognize the man I see because he’s never existed before. I’m beyond smitten. I’m devoted. Entirely fixated on her happiness and her safety.
Especially that.
So for now, I’m all-in with Mama Valari and her bold strategy. That also means upholding my promise to Z. It’s time for quality father-and-son bonding time if I’m to believe what everyone around me seems to. That I’m the son of a god. The son of Zeus himself.
At the very least, this reunion should be interesting.
With gritted effort, I shift my regard back to the man who smiles at the burgeoning sunlight as if he created the giant fireball himself.
“A drive,” I say. “You mean you can’t snap your fingers and transport us anywhere you want to go?”
He lifts a hand and turns it over. With a wiggle of his fingers, silvery light forms iridescent webs between them. “Always an option,” Z returns. “But I’ve heard that taking a drive is a good excuse for talking things out.”
“Is that what you want to do, then? Talk?”
“You’d rather stay here?”
“You’re mistaking me for someone who wants to do any of this.” I shrug. “Guess I just had different expectations.”
&
nbsp; His return expression also walks the line between serious and humorous. “Like what?”
I eye him carefully and really debate just yanking the cork in the dam. To seriously tell him every thought barreling through my brain. But this isn’t the time or place. The sooner I get this father-son visit over with, the better.
“Not important,” I finally say. “So where are we going?”
“Also not important. Why don’t we just get in the car and go?” He hones his gaze, as if he’s trying to read me again. “Is there someplace special you want to go?”
Yes. The most remote place on earth. With the woman I’m leaving behind. On a day when she needs me most.
I shove the conviction aside. It’s not constructive right now. It only reminds me of the torment that my sweet little demon must be enduring. She’s escaped a lifetime beneath Prieto’s thumb, only to have catapulted her sister to the same awful fate.
She’s heartbroken. Vulnerable. I shouldn’t be leaving her.
But I must.
I’m bitter about that, and it’s impossible to sift every note of that from my voice. “Someplace special? You mean like a park where you never played catch with me, or the schools where you weren’t around for ice cream social nights. Someplace like that?”
Z curls his fingers back into his palm. The result isn’t exactly a fist, but his new tension is palpable. “You’re a little frustrated. I get that.”
“Frustrated?” I shake my head. “I gave up on frustrated in fifth grade, okay?”
“Fine, then. Angry. Confused. I get those too. As a matter of fact, I share them.”
“Thanks. That’s so validating.”
His soft, almost approving chuckle makes me feel strange things, but I push them away. I can’t afford to bask in his pride right now. The temptation is ludicrous. Frivolous. The sooner Z gets what he wants from me, the faster I can be back at Kara’s side.
“Let’s get out of here,” he says with a warm lilt. “Why don’t you drive?”
I always feel a little better behind the wheel of my truck. Several minutes later, the silence that stretches between us until we’re well into the suburban sprawl of Encino, Woodland Hills, and Calabasas is an added bonus.
Heart of Fire: (Blood of Zeus: Book Two) Page 2