Orpheus frowned. “And look how well that turned out. The colony’s in ruins today.”
“Because someone didn’t keep the ore lit,” Max said. “We’re smarter than that.”
“Insanity.” Orpheus looked toward the ceiling and shook his head.
Skyla reached for her mate’s arm. “They can do this, Orpheus. They could save her. It’s not a terrible plan. In fact, I think it could work.”
Worry lines creased Orpheus’s brow as his gaze met Skyla’s. “You really think it’s a good idea?”
“I do. Let them do for her what you couldn’t do for me.”
Orpheus closed his hand over Skyla’s against his arm, sighed, and looked between Max and Talisa. “You’re both willing to risk your futures for this?”
“Yes,” they answered simultaneously.
“And the Argonauts?” Orpheus zeroed in on Max. “Because if you do this, you’ll never serve with the guardians. It doesn’t matter how relieved Demetrius or Isadora are that Elysia is safe. You’d be disobeying a direct order from the queen. I might not always agree with everything Theron does as head of the Argonauts, but if he didn’t go after you for that, he’d be breaking the law. With the political climate the way it is now in Argolea, the Council would demand you be punished for insubordination. And I’m not talking about just kicking you out of the Argonauts. I’m talking about a sentence of death.”
Max knew full well what it meant to break the laws of the Argonauts. His father had been preparing him to join the guardians both mentally and physically since he was ten years old. Tradition was sacred in their land. But he also knew some things were more important than laws and traditions.
Max stood a little taller. “I’m fully prepared to face the consequences. If they can catch us.”
“And that’s a big if,” Talisa added.
Orpheus shook his head. “Stupid young fools. The whole world will be after you.”
Skyla let go of Orpheus’s hand, sidled up against him, and wrapped her arm around his waist. “If memory serves, the whole world was after you not all that long ago, daemon, and you managed to prove everyone wrong.”
Orpheus draped his arm over her shoulder and looked down at her. “I got lucky.”
“No, you just had someone who believed in you. Elysia needs someone to believe in her just as much. This is the right thing to do, Orpheus, and you know it.”
Orpheus’s grim expression said he wasn’t convinced, but when he looked back at Max, his eyes hardened. “I can’t guarantee the invisibility cloak will work more than a few hours. The thing’s ancient.”
Hope surged through Max’s veins. “A few hours are all we need.”
“No, you need a fucking lobotomy. And if you rat me out for helping you, I will kick your ass from here to Olympus myself. We clear?”
Max smiled for the first time in weeks. “We’re clear.”
Talisa exhaled a long breath. “Thank you. Thank you both.”
“Don’t thank either of us yet.” Orpheus glanced back at his mate. “Though you, Siren, can show me all kinds of thanks for going along with this asinine plan as soon as they’re gone.”
“Asimime plan!” Melita giggled and popped the lollipop back in her mouth.
“Ass-a-time!” Kyros laughed as he rolled onto his back on the couch, kicked his chubby little legs in the air, and waved his candy. “I want ass-a-time too!”
“That’s a good idea,” Orpheus leaned close and nipped at Skyla’s ear. “I could use some ass time myself.”
“Down, daemon.” Skyla smiled and pushed him away. “There are young in the room.”
“They’re four. They have no idea what we’re talking about.”
“No, but the other young do.”
“Oh yeah. I forgot about them.” Orpheus chuckled and kissed Skyla’s cheek.
Max frowned at Talisa, whose gaze darted anywhere but at Orpheus and Skyla. That familiar resentment burned inside him. The “adults” were treating him like a kid again. Someday soon he’d make everyone see he was as much a warrior as the rest of the Argonauts. Someday soon they’d all realize just what he was capable of.
“Now that we have that settled…” The former Siren turned toward Max and Talisa, her expression growing serious once more. “Let’s talk about what you’ll find when you get to Olympus.”
After a month in the pit—which was exactly as it sounded, a hole in the ground beneath one of the buildings on the Siren compound—Damon was eager to rejoin the Sirens as an instructor. And way more than ready to see Elysia again.
He’d thought about her nonstop in the pit, and even though something in the back of his head warned this growing obsession for her could be trouble, he’d decided to ignore it. He’d spent the last twenty-five years on Olympus feeling no excitement, no emotion, nothing but disinterest. Something about Elysia brought him to life in a way nothing and no one had before. Something he needed to know more about.
He showered and changed in his room in the instructor wing, checked in with Athena to figure out where they were in the training cycle, then headed down to the mess hall for some food. After filling his plate, he took his tray to a table near the wide windows that overlooked the training field where recruits swung blades and shot arrows during their daily skills sessions.
Damon scanned the recruits until he found Elysia, and his pulse ticked up at just the sight of her. She stood on the far side of the field, a bow in her hand, aiming an arrow at a target set on a stump. Kastor, a mortal Damon had worked with in the past, walked around her, lifting her elbow, repositioning her grip on the bow, giving her tips on when to release the arrow.
Heat rushed through Damon’s body, condensed in his groin, and sent electrical spirals all through his limbs. She was dressed in the standard Siren fare—tight black tank, slim-fitting dark pants, and knee-high boots—but even from this distance, he could see that she’d changed. Muscles that hadn’t been there a month ago were now obvious in her arms and legs. And her skin, though still paler than most, was darker from hours outside in the sun.
Kastor stepped around her, brushing his body against hers in the process. Jealousy whipped through Damon as he watched. He wanted to be the one touching her like that, lifting her arm, helping her hold the bow. His only consolation was that he—not Kastor—would be the one pressed up against her later tonight, teaching her all about the pleasures of seduction, hearing her scream his name and beg for more.
“Holy Hades.” Erebus set his tray on the table beside Damon and pulled out a chair. “I thought the last class was bad. Is it just me or are these recruits getting weaker by the year?”
Damon glanced up at the god. Kastor wasn’t a threat. As soon as Elysia saw Damon again, they’d pick up right where they left off. His blood warmed just thinking about the night ahead, and the jealousy slipped away. “It’s probably just you. You’re getting older and less patient with every class.”
“Probably true.” Erebus frowned. “Good to see you, man. I heard you were in the pit. That had to be fun.”
Most people steered clear of Erebus because of his size and his perpetual darkness. Most, but not Damon. He liked the god. Enjoyed being around Erebus’s perennial bad mood because it was a complete one-eighty from Aphrodite’s light and airy pleasure palace.
Damon huffed and reached for his water. “More fun than hanging with Athena.”
“I’ll give you that.”
As Erebus was in charge of all the instructors, he worked closely with Athena to keep the training schedule running smoothly. The goddess might be a mighty warrior herself, but she had zero personality and rarely cracked a smile. In that respect she was a lot like Erebus.
Erebus pointed toward the windows with his fork. “And I guarantee it was more fun than being stuck out in the field with those yahoos.”
“Are they really that bad?”
“Let me put it this way.” Erebus leaned one elbow on the table. “Do you remember Ambrosia?”
Ambro
sia had been a nymph Zeus had pegged for the Sirens. The poor female had been hot enough for the order, but she hadn’t known the hilt of a sword from the blade, and she’d been so clumsy, she’d spent most of her time in the infirmary. When Athena had realized the nymph was more of a danger to herself and the other recruits than the monsters on Pandora, the goddess had finally pulled Ambrosia out of the Siren class and sent her to serve Aphrodite as a maid. Damon still saw the girl in Aphrodite’s pleasure palace from time to time and felt sorry for her, but the nymph didn’t seem to mind her station in life. In fact, she rather enjoyed cleaning up after the goddess and her toys. “Yeah, I remember her.”
“She was Heracles compared to what’s out on that field now.”
Damon barked out a laugh. “You’re so full of shit.”
“I’m not.” Erebus cut into his meal. “After a month, we should already be moving on to strategy, but most of these chicks can’t even shoot an arrow yet. I mean, look at that one there.” He pointed toward the far side where Elysia lined up another shot. “Hot, right?”
“Totally hot.” Arcs of electricity spiraled straight into Damon’s groin again as he watched the muscles in Elysia’s arm flex and she pulled the string back and released. The arrow skewed to the right, missing the target by ten feet.
“Kickass body, gorgeous face,” Erebus went on. “One conversation with her and you can tell she comes from some kind of nobility. And according to her chart, she sailed through the seven labors on Pandora in record time. But the female can’t shoot an arrow to save her life, and she’s even worse with a blade. I mean, where does Zeus find these broads? 1-800-soft-r-we?”
A bead of worry slid down Damon’s spine. “You said they were all bad.”
“They are.” Erebus swallowed a bite. “But she’s at the back of the class for sure. Her reflexes are atrocious, and she’s slower than snail bait.”
Damon’s worry morphed to a quick pulse of panic. The Sirens kept tallies on all the recruits and compared them at checkpoints during the training. If Elysia was still at the bottom of the list by the next checkpoint, she’d be removed from the Sirens. And removal from the Sirens didn’t mean she’d be reallocated to a new position on Olympus like Ambrosia—that had been a special case. Removal from the Sirens usually meant death.
“She’s got heart,” Erebus said, scooping up another bite. “I’ll give her that. She was a little ball of fury when she arrived here from Pandora. Whatever happened there sure lit a fire inside her.”
Damon’s arousal cooled, and he frowned. He could only imagine what had ignited that fire. No doubt one of the Sirens had mentioned his name and told Elysia just who he was. That, coupled with the fact he hadn’t been around to explain his side, had to have left her spitting mad. Good thing he was scheduled to see her tonight so he could make a little of that up to her.
“I sure hope she’s better at seduction than she is combat.” Erebus shook his head. “Might be the only thing that can save her at this point.”
She would be. Damon would make sure of that.
A tingle ran through him at the thought of what tonight would bring, but as he continued to watch Elysia shoot that bow, it slowly dissipated. He’d have to find a way to tutor her in marksmanship as well as seduction. Those weren’t the kind of late night hookups he’d fantasized about in the pit, but they were just as important if he wanted to keep her around.
And he would keep her around. Because he wasn’t about to let her get kicked out of the Sirens. Whatever it took, he’d make sure she stayed right here on Olympus. With him.
CHAPTER NINE
Every muscle in Elysia’s body ached.
Around her in the Siren barracks, lockers slammed, voices murmured, and running water echoed from the showers. Kicking her dirty boots under her bed, Elysia reached for the towel from her locker and swiped at the mud on her face. All she wanted was a hot shower, a belly of food, and a full night of sleep, in that order. Considering fifty other recruits all wanted the same things, her odds of getting any quickly weren’t looking good.
“You weren’t last today, Highness.”
Elysia stiffened when she spotted the two recruits standing at the end of her bed, each covered in as much mud and dust as she and holding their own towels. The one who’d spoken was an Amazon—tall, athletic, and deadly with a bow, and she used the word “Highness” like a sharp weapon. The other was a wood nymph—petite, fair, and fast as a cheetah. Both had been kicking Elysia’s ass in the training competitions all week. Neither had bothered to learn Elysia’s name, preferring instead to call her Highness, in reference to a conversation they’d overheard between the trainers about why Elysia was so “soft.”
“She got lucky,” the nymph said with a hint of disdain in her voice. “It won’t last.”
The Amazon chuckled, and both females turned, speaking in hushed voices as they headed for the showers.
On the bed beside Elysia’s, where she was pulling off her dirty socks, Sera shook her head. “Don’t even think about it. They’re not worth the effort.”
Elysia clenched her jaw as she reached for the shampoo and soap sitting on her shelf. “They’re right, though. I did get lucky. If Damaris hadn’t slipped and fallen in the mud, she would have beat me on the obstacle course today.”
“Maybe.” Sera shoved her dirty socks in a bin beside her bed. “Maybe not. You were catching her. You’re getting faster. Those bimbos know it too, or they wouldn’t bother taunting you,”—she winked—“Highness.”
Elysia frowned. “Don’t you start with that too.”
“Why not? You could be royalty, you know. Why else would the trainers be whispering about it?”
Elysia rolled her eyes and slammed her locker. She was royalty. She just didn’t want anyone to catch on that she knew who she was. Which meant acting all put out when people teased her. “Yeah, right. Maybe I’m really the Queen of England.”
Sera’s brow wrinkled. “What’s England?”
Skata. Someone had wiped Sera’s mind a little too vigorously. Elysia reached for Sera’s arm and pulled her up from the bed. “A cold, wet place. Come on. We need to hit the showers before all the hot water’s gone.”
They rounded the corner toward the bathrooms just as Athena stepped into the barracks with a Siren on each side. Voices quieted. The water shut off. Several recruits rushed out of the showers, dripping wet and wrapped in towels.
“Gather round,” Athena said. “I have an announcement.”
Elysia and Sera glanced at each other, and whispers drifted over the group as Athena’s gaze skipped from one face to another.
Tonight,” Athena said, “the evening meal will not be served in the mess hall. This marks the beginning of the next phase of your training. Upon showering and preparing yourselves, you’re to gather in the grand foyer where you will be blindfolded and assigned a seduction trainer. Your first lesson begins tonight. He will instruct you on what to do. If you please your trainer, you will be rewarded with dinner.”
Gasps and excited whispers echoed through the room, but Elysia’s stomach flipped as she stared at the gorgeous goddess and pictured Damon.
Athena glanced over the group, her dark hair falling in soft curls past her shoulders. “Are there any questions?”
One recruit at the back of the group, a wood nymph who was almost—but not quite—as bad at Siren training as Elysia, held up her hand. “What about, um”—the nymph’s face grew pink—“protection?”
“Before you each began your first phase of training,” Athena answered, “you were charmed in such a way that your body is now resistant to all disease and your fertility was suppressed. The spell lasts seven years, until such time as you finish your training. If you pass your final exams and are inducted into the Order, a new spell will keep you protected throughout your time with the Sirens.”
“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about getting pregnant,” Sera muttered at Elysia’s side.
Elysia shushed her, bu
t her stomach rolled.
Sex. Athena was suggesting they have sex. No, not suggesting, ordering.
“Are there any other questions?” Athena asked. When no one responded, she nodded at the two Sirens at her side and said, “Good.” The two Sirens stepped out of the room and returned, each carrying several boxes. “The Sirens are placing your specified attire for the evening on the end of your bunks. They are different for each of you. Remember that your seduction trainer has chosen your ensemble to fit his plans. He will know if you choose to alter it, so be forewarned.”
When the Sirens finished handing out boxes, they returned to Athena’s side.
“Enjoy your evenings, ladies, but remember this is not for fun. Seduction training is an integral part of our curriculum, and you will learn to pleasure, to be pleasured, and to seduce if you are to join our ranks. Fail at this, and you fail at everything.” Without another word, Athena turned and left the room with the Sirens on her heels.
Voices kicked up as soon as they left—excited whispers, giddy laughter, shrieks of anticipation. But Elysia couldn’t share in the exhilaration, because all she felt was a rush of sickness.
“Wow.” Sera turned toward Elysia with wide eyes and a huge grin. “I guess that throws a wrench into our evening plans.
Elysia’s gaze locked on the silver box sitting on the end of her bed, the one that hadn’t been there only moments before. Moving back toward her bunk, she lowered herself to the mattress.
“Hey.” Sera followed. “You okay?”
“Not really.”
Sera sat on her own bunk. “What’s wrong?”
Elysia glanced around. The others were all in the bathroom, already doing their hair and makeup. No one could hear their conversation, but she softened her voice to a whisper just in case. “I, ah, kinda already made out with one of the trainers.”
Sera’s eyes grew wide, and she grinned. “Holy shit, you little minx, you! When did you find the time?”
Awakened (Eternal Guardians Book 8) Page 10