by Linsey Hall
“I don’t think he is. I don’t think you are, either.” Whatever the cure was for this disease, I was going to have to make a batch for him. “I’ll help you if you’ll help me.”
“I’ll help you if you have another drink.” He gave me a lecherous leer.
“Oh, come on, dude. Don’t be creepy.”
He huffed and sat back.
“I’m not getting in the sack with you, even if you get me totally drunk.”
“Well, I’m not telling you anything about Atlas.”
Actually, he’d already been a little loose-lipped. My plan was a good one. “Let’s drink to it.”
He grinned and waved at the waitress. A few minutes later, she appeared with six more test tubes of Raki.
Ah, shit.
That was a lot of liquor. I liked the occasional beer every now and again, but this?
This was nuts.
But when Prometheus poured the water into the glass to turn it a milky white, I picked it up and slugged it back. I was definitely going to have to take some Sober Up soon.
“Nice to have a drinking buddy,” Prometheus slurred. “But I think you could use a word of advice.”
“Yeah?” My head was already woozy.
“Yeah. You’re a DragonGod, so you gotta act like one.”
I squinted at him. “What the heck is that supposed to mean?
“Don’t fight the magic. Embrace it.”
“But it could devour me.” I shivered. “And there’s darkness inside me.”
Yep, I was a bit more drunk than I’d realized.
“There’s darkness in everyone, kid. And the magic will devour you if you fight it.”
“Am not.”
“Are too.” He handed me another glass, and I slugged it back. My head spun a bit. “Do you mean I have to embrace the dark magic inside me?”
“I mean you have to stop hiding. Embrace your destiny—embrace all your magic. Even the stuff you’re scared of.”
I didn’t want to face the stuff I was scared of—that was the whole point of being scared of it. To then do some serious avoiding. But if all of these gods were going to give me some of their power, I had to do something to be worthy of it. And facing my fears seemed like part of that.
Maybe this was how I was meant to learn about myself and my magic. Just randomly, from drunken titans.
Not what I’d expected, but hey, what did I know?
Prometheus pushed the last glass of milky white liquid toward me and raised a brow.
I tossed it back, delighted to see him sway slightly to the right. Good. He was feeling it, too.
And I needed to not be feeling it. I stood. “Be right back.”
He just grunted. I wasn’t worried he’d leave while I was gone. Prometheus looked like he planned to have his butt nailed to that chair for a while yet. Not to mention, he probably couldn’t walk. Not with all the Raki in his system. How much had he had before I’d gotten here?
I wobbled my way between the little tables, heading for a darkened back hallway that I assumed led to the ladies’ room. Maximus was no longer at the bar, and a little stab of sadness hit me. Where had he gone?
The darkened hallway led to a tiny bathroom, where I multitasked by peeing and taking my Sober Up potion at the same time. Never say a girl doesn’t have skills.
My head began to clear immediately, but even Sober Up couldn’t fight six Rakis. I had to guess that I was down to two in my system now—mildly drunk. I definitely had enough wits about me to stay on top of Prometheus, though.
I opened the door.
A looming figure blocked the way. I bit back a scream and sent my fist flying, drunk instinct driving me.
The figure caught my fist. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
Maximus. My vision had adjusted enough that I could see him in the slight light of the hallway, his features cast in shadow. He looked so much like a fallen angel that I wanted to peek at his back and see if he had wings.
I knew he didn’t, though, because there was just a little bit of the devil inside him.
I leaned back to look up at him. “You scared the hell out of me.”
“Are you doing all right out there? You’re drinking like a fish.”
“I’m fine. I had some Sober Up, and now I’m only 20 percent drunk.”
“That’s not bad, but it’s not ideal.”
“It is when I’m trying to drink information out of our titan buddy.”
“Ah, that’s your plan.”
“I don’t think he’ll give it up any other way.” Boy, did Maximus smell good. Like cedar and the ocean. I leaned closer, trying to get a better whiff, then realized I looked insane. I pulled back. “Better get in there again. I think I’ve almost got him.”
“Good luck. I’ve got your back.”
He could have my anything-he-wanted.
When I reached the table where Prometheus still sat, propped up by some kind of magic or determination or just sheer drunk luck, there were six more test tubes on the table.
“Well, shit,” I muttered.
“If you’re going to try to drink me under the table, I’m going to win.”
“We’ll see about that.” I sat heavily in my chair, convinced I’d be victorious. Because I was cheating. I still had another half dose of Sober Up, in case I needed it.
I stared blearily at the glass containers of clear liquid.
I was going to need it.
Quickly, Prometheus added a bit of water to the vials, performing the cool little chemistry experiment with turning the liquid white. I didn’t know what was going on with it, but my curiosity to know more would probably die in the daylight when I opened my eyes to the inevitable hangover. Sober Up was no match for Prometheus and Raki.
I slugged back the three of them, making sure Prometheus did the same, then leaned over the table to catch Prometheus’s eye. “So, you live in Istanbul.”
“Yep.”
I asked him questions, nothing interesting, just getting him to talk about himself while the liquor went to work. When I slipped in a question about Atlas, he was so used to babbling that it slipped right out.
“If I were you, I’d check the Garden of Hesperides.”
Jackpot. “Why?”
“Why, what?” He blinked, his eyes hazy.
“Why would I check the Garden of Hesperides?”
“Why the hell would you go there?”
Ah, crap. We were on a merry-go-round of drunk questions. And honestly, with the new dose of Raki coursing through my system, it wasn’t helping matters. “I’d go there to find Atlas. Will I find him there?”
“No, but you’ll find his daughters.” He blinked at me, then scowled. “Hey, that was what you wanted to know.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” Yeah, that was what I wanted to know, but no reason to piss him off with my victory. Better to play drunk. It wasn’t hard. I swayed slightly, putting on a show. “I wonder if there’s anything dangerous in the Garden of Hesperides?”
“Oh yeah, loads of dangerous things,” Prometheus slurred as he held up a hand and pointed to one finger, about to count things off a list. “There’s the dragon, the—”
He swayed once more, then face-planted on the table.
Aw, crap.
I leaned forward and poked his shoulder. “Hey, Prometheus. Hey! You awake?”
He barely mumbled something. He was basically the equivalent of a godly rock.
Damn it.
Looked like that was all the info I was going to get out of him.
I turned to look for Maximus, who was sitting at the bar, staring at us with a frown. The dark-haired bartender was headed our way, her gaze on Prometheus. She didn’t look annoyed though. Far from it.
“How’s our big guy doing here?” she said.
“Um, not great? I think he passed out.” I felt a bit guilty. Clearly Prometheus was an alcoholic. While I’d needed the info to save the world, I didn’t want to add to his troubles.
The waitress stopped by and rubbed his hair. He didn’t move. “Ah, don’t worry about old Prometheus here.”
“I feel like I should. He seems like he needs help.”
She scoffed. “Not him. He’s on a job, apparently. Said he had to wait here and help some girl. Give her some information.” Her gaze sharpened, and I realized that up until now, she’d looked a bit dimwitted. “Hey, could that girl have been you?”
Now it was my turn to feel a bit dimwitted. “Wait, what?”
“Did he help you?”
He had, in fact.
Hang on, had I just been played by Prometheus? Had he been waiting for me?
I’d definitely needed his help, and it was for an important cause. I had no idea how he’d known to expect me, but that was what seers were for. As for why he’d relayed the information in such a weird manner, I had no idea. Maybe he was just bored after thousands of years hanging around earth.
“Either way,” the waitress said. “We’ll watch out for him. Don’t worry a bit. And he already paid the tab.”
My gaze darted between her and him. “All right, then. Thanks.”
I got up and hot-footed it out of there, though my hot-footing was a bit leaden from all the Raki. By the time I reached Maximus, my head was really spinning. He stood up from his stool at the bar and gripped my arm gently, keeping me upright.
“Did you get what you needed?” He peered down at me, concern glinting in his eyes.
“Yeah, let’s get out of here.” I swayed my way to the door, Maximus keeping me upright.
The night air was brisk when we stepped outside, the city lights gleaming all around. The high rises in the distance looked like an entirely separate universe from this small, older part of the city.
I leaned drunkenly into Maximus, burrowing my face into his jacket to get a whiff of his scent. My head spun as I tried to remember why we were here.
“What did you learn?” he asked.
The repeated question jogged my memory. “We’re looking for the Garden of Hesperides. Atlas’s daughters live there, and maybe they can tell us where he is. Oh, and there’s something dangerous there. A...uh….a…” I scrubbed my hand over my face. “Damn it, I can’t remember what the dangerous thing was.”
“It’s okay. I’m sure we’ll figure it out.” Maximus’s deep voice drew my attention upward.
I looked at him, struck dumb by how freaking hot he was. He stood in the shadow of the streetlamp, his features carefully highlighted by their glow. Broad shoulders blocked the light from hitting my face, though, and I couldn’t help but think of those shoulders looming over me in other circumstances as well.
“Wow, you’re pretty,” I slurred.
“Pretty?”
“Well, maybe not pretty.” Drop-dead gorgeous, more like. Lethally sexy. Fallen angel broody hot.
I couldn’t help myself. I leaned upward and pressed my lips to his. Heat and desire shot through me, straight to my core. It twisted, tying me in knots and making me desperate to latch myself onto him.
So I did, throwing my arms around him and kissing him for all I was worth. My tongue snuck inside his mouth, and he groaned low in his throat, sounding almost like an animal.
His strong arms reached around my back, pulling me toward him so that I was pressed against the full length of his hard chest. My head spun with desire and need.
We should have sex. Right now.
Like, right here.
He groaned again, then pulled back, separating his mouth from mine. “We can’t do this right now.”
I almost screeched my indignation, but my brain was moving way too slow to even get the noise out. Wait, why couldn’t I speak?
Why could I barely move? I felt like I was existing in water, swimming almost.
Oh yeah, drunk as a skunk.
Maximus moved me back from him just slightly, carefully holding my arms to keep me upright. “You’re a bit too drunk. Once you’ve sobered up a bit, we can revisit this.” The corner of his mouth tugged up at one corner. “Hopefully you’ll still think it’s a good idea by then.”
Oh, I will.
I wanted to say the words, but they wouldn’t squeak out past my lips. Even worse, my stomach chose that moment to lurch.
Oh, hell.
Suddenly, my lethargic muscles got a shot of adrenaline, and I could move. I was filled with a sheer, animal panic induced by the horrifying vision of puking on my hot sorta-boyfriend’s shoes.
I turned, jerking away from his grasp and leaning over to heave Raki up onto the sidewalk. Impossibly, it burned even more going in this direction, and I regretted my stupid plan to drink answers out of Prometheus.
When the last of the Raki seemed to have left the building, I stood, wobbly.
Concern creased Maximus’s brow as he pulled a water bottle out of his pocket and handed it to me. “Here, I got this from the bar.”
He held on to me as I stood shakily, drinking the water. It felt like actual heaven going down my throat, and I figured he was pretty much the biggest genius in the world to have remembered to grab the bottle.
“I thought you took the Sober Up,” he said.
“I did. I just drank waaaay too much.”
“Do you have any more?”
“Yeah,” I slurred. Clearly, puking didn’t really help the drunkenness. What was in my blood was already there. “Pink vial, in my belt.”
His fingertips moved lightly over my potions belt, and he tugged out a little glass vial and held it up in front of my face. “This one?”
I nodded, my head feeling very bobbly, then drank the last of the potion. My mind cleared a bit, but I was still a lightweight. The alcohol wasn’t entirely out of my system, but at least the Sober Up would prevent alcohol poisoning. I might have had nine drinks, but I had a feeling they counted for more than one alcohol unit each. Who knows how much I’d really had?
“Come on.” Maximus wrapped an arm around my waist and tugged me along to walk beside him. “Let’s find a place to stay the night so you can sleep this off.”
“Faaaantastic idea.” I stumbled, almost face-planting.
Maximus swept me up into his arms and strode down the street. He was so warm. So lovely. So…
Blackness took me.
7
A beam of sunlight dragged me from sleep. At first, I thought it was the devil himself, shining hellfire into my eyes. Then I realized it was just the morning sun, streaming through the windows and landing right. On. My. Face.
Groggily, I opened my eyes.
At first, I could see nothing.
Then there was just a broad expanse of male chest. I blinked, confused, and nearly lunged backward. Then I caught sight of Maximus’s face, dead asleep.
Oh. Him.
Well, that I could get down with.
But what were we doing, naked in bed together? Wouldn’t I remember something like that?
And what the hell was digging into my rib cage? Wincing, I peered down. Crap, it was my bra. Under my shirt.
Which meant there’d been no hanky-panky. That was actually a good thing, because if it was going to happen, I certainly wanted to remember it. I was damned sure I’d remember it with Maximus, even if it was bad. Mostly because I’d be so shocked it wasn’t any good. So shocked I’d probably tell my grandkids about it. Well, there was once this really hot guy, I could imagine myself saying in a creaky voice.
Okay, maybe not. That wasn’t quite PG-13.
But if he was naked and I was not, and I couldn’t remember…
I must have been drunk.
I wasn’t that hungover, thank fates, which was a miracle from the heavens. Hazy memories of a bar, glasses of white stuff, and a surly man filtered through my mind. Prometheus.
Okay, so I’d gotten some info out of him. That was good. Then Maximus must have dragged me back here, semi-conscious or possibly unconscious, and we’d slept it off.
Speaking of, where was here?
I craned my neck, careful not to bounce the bed and disturb Maximus, and caught sight of a nice hotel suite. There were two large beds, with three tiny figures curled up on the other bed.
The Menacing Menagerie. How had they gotten here? I didn’t remember them showing up. At least they were asleep.
I turned back to Maximus, who looked so good in the morning light. The sharp planes of his features were relaxed in sleep, his full lips parted just slightly. His lashes were so damned long that I was jealous, but mostly I just wanted to lean up and kiss him.
I nearly did it, too. Then I caught a whiff of my own breath, and holy crap.
This time, I did lunge backward, desperate to get away and into the shower. I wasn’t quite as graceful as I’d planned to be, and instead of sneakily sliding across the bed and making my escape, I crashed to the floor, dragging the bedsheets with me.
Well, hell.
“Are you okay?” Maximus’s voice was thick with sleep.
Cheeks burning, I peeked up over the side of the bed. He wasn’t, in fact, totally naked. It was almost worse. He wore some kind of tight black shorts that made my imagination run wild and my cheeks heat even more.
Since there was no chance of me gracefully rising to my feet and him forgetting what had happened, I considered just wrapping up in the sheet and rolling across the floor into the bathroom.
Maybe he wouldn’t see me then.
Okay, nope, crap plan.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I struggled upright, the sheet wanting to keep me in a pile on the floor. “Going to grab a shower.”
My whole body had to be red as I hurried into the bathroom. To his credit, Maximus didn’t laugh. Or if he did, he did it quiet enough to keep my pride mostly intact. I appreciated that. A real solid dude, that one. Just acting like me on the floor in a pile of sheets was totally normal.
I showered as quickly as I could, washing away the mild effects of the hangover. Since I couldn’t find my clothes and what I’d been wearing was definitely dirty, I put on the cushy hotel bathrobe and felt quite fancy. By the time I made it out into the suite, Maximus was dressed in a change of clothes that he’d probably conjured. The suite was much larger than I’d realized, with a little couch and table and a magnificent view of the city.