Innovation's Muse (Truth's Harem)
Page 23
Lexi turned back to him. “I do. A lot more than you do, you fucking dickwaffle. If it mattered more, you would have told us up front.” She studied him. “But you were stronger while he was here. If he was locked away, you’d rule it all, with him intact to keep the dead in their homes.”
“How dare you—”
“Shut up.” Lexi pressed her palm to her forehead. “My head is screaming, you’re not helping, and I’m considering puking again.”
Icarus loved this side of her. He’d never seen anyone dismiss Zeus this way. Not even Actaeon.
“You should be cowering,” Zeus said.
“If you wanted to kill me, you would have. You want to shout and intimidate and bend me to your will, like you do with everyone.” Lexi sounded bored.
“I’ll deal with this on my own. Get out of my sight.” Zeus waved his hand, and his office disappeared.
Icarus, Lexi, and Aphrodite were back in the goddess’s temple.
Aphrodite brushed Lexi’s cheek. “How are you?”
“I need to know where they are.” Lexi frowned. “I’m sorry to be a broken record but... it’s quiet in my head. It’s not right. Where did they go?”
“I would tell you if I knew.” Aphrodite was apologetic. She looked at Icarus. “Take care of each other.”
Icarus nodded and took Lexi’s hand. “We need to talk.”
Lexi started to follow, then paused and looked at Aphrodite. “Answer something else for me.”
“Of course, child.” Aphrodite’s voice was sugar.
“When I was a teenager, the night I lost my virginity to Conner, why did you take my memory and not his?”
Aphrodite’s jaw worked up and down. “I don’t... What?”
“If you were worried about the other gods knowing about me, why not take the memory from him? He was far more likely to tell.”
Aphrodite’s smile looked strained. “I guess I didn’t think of it at the time.”
Lexi clenched her jaw. You’re lying, echoed in Icarus’ head.
“Get some rest.” Aphrodite vanished.
Lexi growled.
Icarus didn’t blame her. “I don’t have that answer, but I have others. Let’s go home.”
“I don’t have a home.” She looked lost.
The words broke his heart. “You do. Anywhere I live is your home. Cerberus and Actaeon feel the same.”
“You can speak for them with that kind of certainty?”
“Yes. And they’re out there. You’d feel it if they were dead, so they’re somewhere.”
She wasn’t convinced. He could tell without looking at her. But when he started walking again, she fell into step beside him.
They rounded the corner to his street, and he faltered. Potholes filled road, and debris lay everywhere. Barriers and steel plates had been put in place, but they didn’t hide the damage.
When they reached his shop, a new level of destruction greeted them. They’d left so quickly after the fight with Hades, he hadn’t dealt with his broken windows.
Lexi’s gasp mirrored the dull throb in his chest.
They stepped inside. Shelves were broken, and shattered electronics littered the ground. Graffiti decorated one wall. Go home, Hades’ whore. The message dripped in bright red, and the thicker spots of paint were still damp.
There was a dark-haired Barbie nailed to the wall next to the message.
“I’m sorry.” Lexi’s voice was tiny.
Icarus clucked and shook his head. She was hurt more by the damage than he was. “It’s not your fault. I didn’t think...” This was his neighborhood. He’d taken care of these people for decades. This was their thanks.
“I know,” she said softly. “But they were scared, and it’s been a bad week for them.”
“You’re defending these people, and you don’t even know them.”
“Do I need to?”
“No.” He smiled. “I love that it matters to you. They’re as much my family as anyone, but they’re no one to you. They’ve never treated you anything other than poorly, and you still want what’s best for them.”
“Until they prove they don’t deserve it.” Lexi’s shoulders drooped. “I should have offered Cassandra the same courtesy. She sacrificed herself for us.”
Icarus didn’t know if saving them was the reason Cassandra had done it, but there was no point in unpacking something they’d never have an answer to. “Come on.” He and Lexi picked their way through the carnage. “This is just the shop. Things, all of them replaceable. No one can get into the upstairs or the basement without my permission.”
He led her downstairs. “Above us is for guests. I live downstairs.”
He guided her along the edge of the workshop, toward his private space. The kitchenette was small—enough room for a microwave, a hotplate, and a small fridge. He didn’t need much else.
They reached his room. Shelves of knickknacks lined the walls. These were the things that held sentimental value. Pieces he’d collected over the millennia. A handmade quilt—a gift from George—covered the bed.
He lay on the bed and tugged Lexi down next to him. Her arm rested against his. It was comfortable and right.
“Want to see a magic trick?” he asked. They needed something to lift the mood, and it was an easy gimmick, but he hoped it would make her smile.
“Almost always.”
Icarus snapped his fingers, and the star-filled night replaced the ceiling.
“Is it real?” Awe filled Lexi’s voice.
“It’s what’s above the building right now.”
“I used to wonder why none of the gods ever did magic, if they could do so much.”
“Zeus can summon lightning, and Apollo wields a bow made of sunlight,” Icarus said.
“But that’s not like magic; it’s everyday life for them. They don’t treat it like it’s special.”
He understood what she meant. “No, they don’t.”
She sat and pulled her knees to her chest. “So many are dead. People. Heroes. Apollo will never find what he wanted from Cassandra—forgiveness or something else. Cerberus can never make right with happened with Orthus...”
“And that’s life.”
“You sound so clinical.” Lexi glanced over her shoulder.
“I hurt at the thought. Every time someone passes, when untapped potential is snuffed out, I grieve. If I could give each person a neat little bow on the end of their life, let them tie up all the loose ends and leave this world without regrets, I would. I don’t have that power.”
“I don’t suppose anyone does.”
He made himself comfortable next to her, and rubbed her back. “Maybe you’ll be the one to figure out how.”
“Do you think Actaeon and Cerberus left?” Lexi asked.
The rapid change in topics didn’t faze him. It was as if he felt the gears change in her head. “Disagreements happen. But no. I don’t think they chose to be away from you.”
“Why not?”
“Because I wouldn’t. I won’t. Not willingly.”
“But we’re not... I don’t...”
“It’s not love?” Icarus supplied the words for her.
“Not right now.”
He felt the same. There were things he adored about Lexi. And the sex was incredible. Inspirational even. “The potential is there, and I’m all about that. We aren’t in love yet, but I worship you.” He never thought he’d say something like that. She was a deity he could make that promise to, though.
She laughed nervously. “Worship. Really?” Her question was flat.
“You don’t remember what Aphrodite said to your dad the night you left your hometown.” Now that he had his chance to tell her, he was hesitating. It was going to be a big burden, but she could bear the weight.
“It’s not that I forgot. I couldn’t hear.”
“You did hear, because I did when I was watching from inside your head.”
She faced him. “Are you going to tell me?”
“There’s a reason you’ve blocked it out, even after living it thousands of times in a memory. Once I tell you, you won’t be able to unhear it.”
“Tell me. No. Wait.” She chewed her bottom lip. “Considering some of Aphrodite’s secrets... It’s not that there’s another guy out there somewhere, who I’m fated to love, is it?”
Icarus shook his head.
Lexi took a deep breath. “Okay. Tell me.”
“Persephone wasn’t born mortal. Only she and Aphrodite ever knew. She was a goddess before she married Hades.”
“So...” She was hesitant to put the pieces together. “I’m not a hero.”
“No. You’re a goddess.”
She laughed, then her expression went blank, and then she laughed again. “You’re serious.”
“Completely and totally. It’s why you were able to make the contract with Cerberus. I don’t know if it’s got anything to do with what’s happening between you and me, but it’s also the reason you could take us to the underworld. Why your blessing helped them fight. I suspect there’s a lot more that will manifest once you start pushing yourself.”
She flopped onto her back and pointed at the ceiling. “Teach me how to do that?”
“I can try.” He felt the excitement rushing through her. It matched his own, mingled with it, and amplified it. “You realize I’m going to poke and prod you to find out how powerful you are.”
She smirked. “Is that a euphemism for sex?”
“It could be, depending on the mood.” He dipped his head for a kiss and swallowed her giggle.
Energy sparked between them, but it wasn’t the alluring electricity he’d felt in the past. He jerked back with a gasp, as the heat singed his mouth. “What the fuck?”
“I don’t feel good.” Lexi’s voice was strained.
The lights flickered. A rush of ethereal energy raced past and through Icarus, burning his skin and soul.
It flooded into Lexi, who arched her back. Her mouth opened in silent scream.
And then she collapsed back on the bed, eyes closed and chest heaving.
“Zee?” Icarus took her hand and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles.
An unfamiliar fear grew inside, stronger than when they’d fought Hades. “Lexi?”
Her breathing slowed, and she didn’t move.
This wasn’t right. Something ethereal was inside her. Icarus forced himself to relax and slide into a meditative state. He nudged the edges of her mind.
Another spark jolted him, kicking him out. His eyes flew open.
This was so bad. “Alexandra. Lexi? Zee? Talk to me. Please?
THE END
The story continues in Apathy’s Hero (Truth’s Harem Book 3).
Coming Early 2019. Click here to grab your copy today.
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About the Author
USA Today Bestselling Author Allyson Lindt is a full-time geek and a fuller-time contemporary romance author. She likes her stories with sweet geekiness and heavy spice, because cubicle dwellers need love too. She loves a sexy happily-ever-after and helping deserving cubicle dwellers find their futures together.
Read more at Allyson Lindt’s site.