The Nymph's Curse: The Collection

by Danica Winters

“Yes,” Epione continued, “I’ve been watching how you act around him. He is a fine man. But he has many trials in his life.”

  Ariadne traced her finger over the snake on her arm. The snake’s head turned to face her from her palm. “Going after the Labyrinth hasn’t helped him.”

  Epione nodded. “No. But I believe it is you and Kat that have been adding to his tribulations.”

  Ariadne looked down to her feet, ashamed. “I only did what was ordered.”

  “I understand why you did it, but no longer can you take orders.”

  Ariadne stared up at the goddess. “But I can’t let Beau find the Labyrinth or your crystal staff. We can’t risk exposing ourselves to the humans.”

  The snakes slithered around Epione’s arms. “It is true that many humans would use the staff for less than desirable endeavors, but there are many who would use it for good. Do you think that Beau is a man that would use it for anything other than noble purpose?”

  Ariadne shook her head. “No, Beau is a good man.”

  Epione smiled brightly. “Then perhaps the problems lie within your sisterhood and not with the problems that humans would pose. There is someone who is hiding the truth. You must fight for what your heart desires. Find the truth.”

  Epione’s eyes closed and her body stilled. The room went cold as her goddess’ spirit lifted from the temple.

  “Goodbye. And thank you, my goddess.” A soft breeze fluttered against her cheek.

  With some work, Ariadne would find the truth.

  Ariadne stood and brushed the dust from her knees. She walked to the back of the temple and glanced back at the statue of Epione.

  Her heart lightened. She would fight for her place and for what she truly desired — love. Beau was worth the fight. Love was worth the fight — even if it meant having to go against her sisters. She had to do what was right — she would follow her heart — and help Beau and Kaden.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The nurses had made a fuss about him not having physical contact with his son, but Beau didn’t care. He wrapped his fingers around Kaden’s limp hand as he watched the boy’s chest move with shallow breaths as he slept. He loved him with every beat of his heart, and watching him wither away in the sterile cold hospital room was killing Beau as well.

  He squeezed gently, giving Kaden love in the only way he could. He didn’t want to wake him. What with the beeps of the monitors, the chattering of the nurses and alarms, it was a wonder the boy could sleep at all — he must be absolutely exhausted. A battle his body was fighting.

  Kaden’s face was pale green and deep purple bags were etched under his eyes. The sight was more than Beau could take. He stared at Kaden’s limp hand. They were in this together. Whatever it took, no matter how long, Kaden would make it through this. He had to.

  Kaden coughed in his sleep, the sound wet and choking. Beau squeezed tighter.

  Come on, kid, fight this.

  Beau shifted the mask on his face and leaned down and kissed the skin of his son’s hand the same way he had done when Kae had been just a baby. He could still feel the weight of the newborn in his arms when the doctors had first forced him to hold his son. He had been so scared of something so small, so weak. Now here he was again, holding his son, feeling the weight of fear upon his shoulders.

  Please God, help him fight this. Let me take his place. He doesn’t deserve this. I’m the one who’s let him down. I should’ve been there more for him. If I had just paid attention, maybe I could have stopped this from happening. Beau dropped his head and let it rest on the back of Kaden’s hand.

  He sat up and pulled the mask back over his mouth. The doctors would be upset if they saw him without it. He had promised to take care of himself. But what did they care? All they cared about was that the disease wouldn’t spread. They didn’t care that Kaden needed him, needed his love. The doctors didn’t see Kaden for the young soft-hearted kid he was. But that was fine. All that mattered was that they concentrated on their job getting Kaden healthy.

  There was a knock on the other side of the glass ICU window. The shades were pulled, so he dropped his son’s hand and went to the door. A blonde woman, with her back turned to the window, stood on the other side.

  “Can I help you?” Beau asked.

  The blonde turned. Vickie, his student, smiled at him with a distinct look of pity on her face.

  “Hi, Beau.” She stared at him. He frowned. “I mean, Dr. Morris.”

  He stepped out of the isolation room, and pulled the mask from his face. “What are you doing here, Vickie? I thought you and the rest of the students were traveling around Crete for the next two weeks ’til you left for the states.”

  Her eyes followed his hand down and over his hospital gown. She looked back up. “I, er … heard about Kaden. I just couldn’t stop from coming back and checking on you guys.”

  He pulled the blue latex gloves from his hands. The simple action flooded him with memories of Ariadne and her deception. He looked back up at the smiling, pretty blonde who stood before him.

  I don’t have time for women. But Vickie could be just a friend. Right? She had to know that I don’t need a relationship, especially not one with a student.

  “Thanks, Vickie. I appreciate you coming here. And Kaden’ll be glad you came.”

  “I’m not here just for Kaden.” She smiled seductively.

  He looked away. “Look Vickie, I’m really flattered that you’d come back just to check on us.”

  “Well, it wasn’t just to check on you. I thought you needed a woman to help. I heard your ex-wife was a no-show.” Vickie slid her fingers into his. The hand felt out of place and a strange hollowness filled him.

  He let his hand drop from hers. “You need to know that there could never be anything between me and one of my students.”

  Vickie reached out and touched his arm gently. “Dr. Morris, I don’t think you understand. That’s not what I’m after. I just want to be a good friend. That’s all. But just so you know, I’d do anything for you.”

  Something in her inflection caught his attention, but just as he was about to ask what she meant, Dr. Dukakis walked through the swinging doors of the ICU. When the doctor saw him, Beau gave him a slight nod. The doctor frowned as he looked down at his clipboard and walked toward them.

  “Please excuse me, Vickie. I need to talk to this gentleman.” He motioned toward the white-lab-coated doctor.

  She followed his gaze and nodded. “No problem, Beau. I’ll be back.” She turned and walked away, but she glanced back over her shoulder as she opened the door that led to the stairs.

  He didn’t know if he trusted that all she wanted was to be a friend, but he would take what he could get. Friends were in short supply.

  The doctor walked up to him, clicking his blue pen as he always did. For a moment, Beau wondered if he always had the nervous tic or if it was just when it came to dealing with him and Kaden.

  “Dr. Morris, I’m glad I caught you. We’ve received some results.” The doctor looked down at the file. “Why don’t you follow me?”

  Dr. Dukakis led him to the farthest door in the long corridor labeled “Physicians Lounge” and pushed it open. The room was occupied with a large leather lounge chair and a table covered in antibacterial wipes, coffee carafes, paper cups, and sugar packets. A television was on, airing a television show with people talking in fast Greek.

  Walking in, the doctor turned off the TV and motioned for Beau to sit at the brown laminate table.

  Without a word, Beau sat down in a cheap hospital chair. The doctor sat in the leather chair across from him and opened the file.

  “First of all, I know this has to be a challenge for you, not being from Crete and having a son in the hospital. If you need any help, please let me know and I can arrange for you to meet a therapi
st.”

  The doctor thinks I need a therapist? What, does he think I’m crazy?

  Beau shook his head. “Thanks for the offer, but I think I’m all right.”

  “Great.” The doctor nodded. “The reason I brought you in here is that we’ve received the lab results from his sputum test. We’ve run some cultures on the bacteria that we found and, looking at the early results, it appears that your son may be infected with XDR-TB. We can’t say for sure for another five weeks, but in combination with what we’ve found, the state of his increasing symptoms, and his declining health, I would say with ninety percent certainty that we are dealing with XDR-TB.”

  Beau went numb. The doctor kept talking, but he couldn’t hear the words, only see the movement of the man’s mouth. Beau forced himself back into the moment. He needed to know exactly what he could do. “XDR-TB is what? Is it one of the treatable strains?”

  The strain has to be treatable. It just has to.

  The doctor cleared his throat. “I’m afraid it is the extensively drug resistant strain.” He pulled at his tie. “But we are going to treat this as aggressively as we can. I’m going to start him on some second-line antibiotics as this strain is normally resistant to first-line therapies and see if we can get lucky.”

  “That’s all you are going to do?” Beau asked. “Didn’t you say it was resistant?”

  The doctor flipped through the chart in his hands. “Like I said, maybe we can get lucky, but — ”

  “That’s not enough,” Beau growled. “There has to be something more to do than try to get lucky. This is my son. We’ll do everything. It will work. Or I will find another doctor, one who can save him.”

  The doctor looked him in the eyes. “I’m so sorry. I appreciate your concern, but no other doctors can do more than what we plan to do. We’ll do everything we can, but you need to start thinking about what any arrangements you would like to make. XDR-TB is usually a fast, prolific killer.”

  Beau clenched his fists until his hands shook, anything to make the pain of the doctor’s words lessen, but no reprieve came. Kaden was sentenced to die.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The phone beeped from Ariadne’s purse as she pulled the car into Stavros’ long driveway.

  Ignoring the phone, she drove past the guards with a wave. She parked at the valet stand and pulled the keys from the ignition. She opened her purse, and she saw the lit screen of her phone and the name she had been thinking of all day — Beau.

  Why is he texting? There was no way he would ever forgive her for what she had done to his site.

  She opened up the device and read the words: “Kaden not responding to antibiotics. Diagnosed with resistant strain. Thought you’d want to know.”

  She sank back into the driver’s seat.

  No … why is Zeus so cruel?

  Her fingers pressed the buttons and the line connected. The phone rang, once, twice, three times. Is Beau going to pick up? Or did he hate her so much that he never wanted to speak to her again?

  She pulled the phone away from her ear. A sound stopped her.

  “Hello?” Beau’s voice sounded drawn and tired.

  “I got your text. Are you sure it’s the antibiotic resistant strain?”

  Beau exhaled as if she had deflated him. “The doctors said they’ll try everything they can, but they told me not to expect much. They are hoping to get lucky, but I don’t know.”

  Ariadne pushed her key back into the ignition. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  Beau sighed. “It’s okay, Vickie is here.”

  Vickie? The overly flirtatious college student? Great. She’s the last person he needed. He needs me.

  “If you change your mind — ”

  “Thanks,” he interrupted. “I gotta go.” The line went dead.

  She looked down at her phone. He had every right to be angry with her, but his dismissal didn’t hurt any less.

  The valet opened her door. “Good evening, Ms. Papadakis. Welcome.”

  She stared blankly at the young man as he offered his hand.

  Her hand shook as she took the valet’s arm.

  “Are you okay, ma’am?”

  She nodded, but she wasn’t. How was she going to get Beau to forgive her?

  The man helped her step out in her black floor-length dress. Her shoes pinched as she stepped away from her car, but she quickly forgot them as she looked up and saw the crowds of people through the open front door. Tonight she would make her goddess proud.

  The valet handed her a ticket. Shoving the tiny piece of paper in her purse, she made her way up to the door of Stavros’ seaside villa. Voices echoed from the house, and she stopped, taking a moment to still her thundering heart. She patted her hair and ran her hands down her black satin dress, smoothing invisible creases.

  A car roared to a stop at the curb behind her and she looked back over her shoulder to watch as Captain Christos unbuckled his seat belt. He saw her, and waved. He jumped out of his car and rushed toward her. “I’m glad to catch you.”

  “Nice to see you too, Christos.” She smiled. “How’s the investigation going?”

  He looked at her suspiciously. “I talked to Governor Kakos, and I have to admit, we haven’t gotten any more leads.”

  An idea struck her and she wrapped her arm around the Captain’s as she smiled at him seductively. “What would happen if Stavros dropped the charges?” Her voice sounded overly sweet, but the effect on the human was instantaneous as he softened beneath her touch.

  He stared at her without blinking. “I … You … ” She dropped her hand from his, but she couldn’t help the wicked happiness that filled her. She still had it.

  “Um … ” Captain Christos blinked. “As you know, we’ve a special form of justice. If he wanted to make the charges disappear, well, they probably would.”

  She smiled.

  “But I doubt that the governor is going to let a shooting slide.” Christos reached out to touch her.

  Her stomach tightened with the excitement caused by his words. She ignored his outstretched hand and instead let her fingers trail up Christos’ arm. A pulse of lust radiated from his body. “Many people own guns here.” He stared down at her fingers as she spoke. “It would be impossible to find out who was behind the shooting. Don’t you think?”

  His eyes were glazed over with desire. “You’re probably right, but well, it’s the governor’s choice.”

  “I completely understand, Christos,” Ariadne said, her voice soft. “But I’m sure the governor doesn’t want to waste any more of your time.”

  He nodded as he stared blankly at her. “Yeah. Sure. You’re probably right,” he said dazedly.

  Human men are so easy.

  She dropped her fingers from his flesh, and sadness crept upon his face. “Let’s head in, shall we?”

  He nodded.

  The orchestra was playing a Bach piece as the butler opened the door and motioned them inside. She left Christos standing alone as she made her way into the party. A group of people from the museum’s board of trustees looked up at her and waved in recognition.

  Stavros had his back against the bar where he leaned with an air of arrogance, an almost empty crystal tumbler in his hand. When he saw Ariadne enter the foyer, he smiled and waved her over with a tilt of his head and a lift of his glass.

  Kat wiggled through the crowd and grabbed her arm. “Do you really think you should be seen talking to him right now?”

  Her forced smile faded as she looked down at Kat’s spindly fingers. “I will make my own choices, but thank you for your concern.”

  Kat dropped her arm and stared at her in shock. After a moment, she glared. “You know it’s funny. Trina said the same thing. Now look at where she is.”

  “What are you t
alking about?”

  Kat smirked. “Trina had to fall for that boy. She wouldn’t listen when I told her to leave him alone. Now that the kid’s almost dead, she realized she should’ve listened. She’s just lucky that I found her.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Oh, didn’t you hear?” Kat said in a whisper. “Trina was caught with her shed skin this morning, trying to commit suicide.”

  “What?”

  Poor Trina. And poor Kaden. Hopefully no one had told him, he didn’t need any more stress.

  Kat picked an invisible thread from the shoulder of Ariadne’s dress. “That’s what happens when you mess with trying to love. Hopefully others will use this as an example of how not to behave.”

  She pulled away from Kat’s fingers. “How I live my life and the choices I make are no longer any of your concern.”

  “Don’t you dare forget who I am. I saved the staff. Epione will strike you down if you go against me,” Kat whispered through gritted teeth, giving her the crazed look of a rabid jackal. “Did you forget your place?”

  With a tight smile, Ariadne pulled her arm from Kat’s grip. “I’m making a new one.”

  Kat’s neck bulged and her face reddened. Ariadne’s heart was in her throat. Before Kat could pull herself together, Ariadne made her way across the packed room.

  She smiled and nodded at the greetings she received as she brushed past familiar faces. She ignored the urge to look back at the woman who would now stop at nothing to ruin her.

  Stavros placed his glass down on the marble bar, stepped toward her and offered her his embrace. Stopping short of stepping into his arms, she extended her hand. There was a look of shock upon his face, but he recovered quickly and instead lifted her hand to his lips, and gave it a quick peck. “I’m glad you made it. I wasn’t sure you would come. After, well, you know.”

  “I couldn’t miss your homecoming. Not after Kat’s gracious invitation.”

  “I’m sorry, I meant to call, but — ”

  She stopped him with a wave of the hand. “Thank you for your apology, but it’s unnecessary. I shouldn’t have been so upset at the hospital. You just caught me at an off moment.”