The old man seemed torn. “We must think on the proper path.” He temporized. “The answer will reveal itself when the gods wish it so.”
“Warr-en is not weak!” Anniah announced, already knowing the path she would take. “There is greatness in him. I see it.”
“The Savior lost to a woman, without even putting up a fight.” Skoll waved a dismissive hand. “Notan, tell your daughter to let the men decide the best course of action. She speaks nonsense.”
Anniah’s blue eyes narrowed in his direction. She’d been spurning Skoll’s advances since she was child. The girl had a mind of her own. She was one of the few people unafraid to stand up to her father’s second-in-command and it pissed Skoll off.
Notan made a hand gesture, urging his daughter to silence.
“I’m protector of this Clan.” Skoll continued, jabbing a finger at Rhawn. “If you’re not smart enough to see that the Destroyer is manipulating you, maybe she should belong to someone else.”
Rhawn stepped closer to him. “Do you wish to challenge me for her?” That was the way the Clan settled disputes like this. The men fought and the winner got the woman. “I stood against the Savior and I will do the same to you, if you seek to claim my mate.” Skoll was strong and dangerous, but Rhawn was willing to die to keep Lucy.
They both knew who would win the battle.
Skoll backed off with a scowl. “For whatever reason, you’re the one she wants and I don’t wish to incite her wrath by killing you.” He muttered. “Besides, Notan and I have decided that I will Choose Anniah soon.”
Anniah didn’t look thrilled with that news. She frowned over at her father. Notan studiously avoided her betrayed eyes.
Lucy watched the byplay. “What’s this about now?”
“Skoll wishes to take Anniah as his mate and she does not desire the Choosing.”
“Well, who can blame her? The guy’s a tool.” Lucy snorted. “Tell her that I’m changing all the backwards rules of this place and she gets to be the one to Choose her mate, now. That’ll cheer her up.”
“That will start another battle.” Rhawn predicted, darkly. “Skoll already dislikes you enough.” But he too was angry over the idea of Anniah being forced to mate with a man she detested. Perhaps Lucy was right. Perhaps the laws of Choosing were backwards.
Perhaps they should change.
“The best option is for you to fuck the Destroyer, so she’s compliant and relaxed.” Skoll continued, either not seeing or not caring about Anniah’s unhappiness. “Then, when she least suspects it, strike her down.”
Several others nodded.
Rhawn shook his head. “I told you, I will not…”
“You must do something, boy.” Notan interrupted. “You’ve Chosen a vicious demon. We’re your people and she seeks to destroy us. You’re the only one who can get close enough to stop her.”
How convenient that they decided to include him just as he became useful. On some level, Rhawn did relish the idea that everyone knew Lucy was his, but mostly it just pissed him off that they thought he would harm her. Finally, he had a mate and they wanted him to kill her. It went against all honorable conduct for a man to hurt his woman. It was his job to protect her.
Lucy was following the conversation with a suspicious frown. “Are they trying to turn you against me?”
“Yes.”
“Is it working?”
Rhawn studied her worried face. “No.” He said quietly.
She let out a relieved breath. “Good.”
Lucy did not seem all-powerfully evil. In fact, mostly, she seemed very delicate to him. A small, fragile being cast down among the hardened creatures of the island and trying to stand up to them. When he’d kissed her earlier, she’d been soft and warm and so damn welcoming. It had been like the dreams, only better. For a heartbeat of time, she’d responded to him and everything had been… perfect.
Then she’d panicked.
He felt the moment Lucy began to worry about their size difference. She’d pulled back from him, feminine caution in her eyes. The fear that he would overpower her and take more than was offered. The fear that he could. Even as he’d soothed her, Rhawn had known that her reaction was wrong.
Why would a goddess be frightened of a man, no matter how big?
Why would she win the Ardin with a rock and not her colossal, unstoppable magic?
Why was she so concerned about getting off the island in ragan, when she could ascend back to her homeland of Newyork?
None of it made any sense.
…Unless the woman was far less powerful than she let on.
Intelligent people didn’t question. Didn’t push. They accepted what was right in front of them. He knew that. And still he looked at this woman and his instincts told him she was different than the Destroyer of legends. Given time, he could talk her out of her plan to sink the island. Lucy had a kindness in her. He just needed to keep her safe until she stopped her wicked scheming.
Rhawn weighed his options and decided to stall.
It was the best way to keep Lucy safe, especially if she was somehow weaker than she let on. “The Destroyer wishes for more ragan.” He told Notan. “She believes they will help us escape Uooloa. Have the men make them and she will be satisfied. At least for now.”
“I agree with Rhawn.” Anniah interjected. “We should give the Destroyer a chance to do something good, before we condemn her.”
“Is that Anniah girl on my side?” Lucy asked, still trying to follow the conversation. “She looks like she’s on my side.”
“She is grateful you spared Warren’s life and is now convinced we should give you the benefit of the doubt. She is urging the others to build the ragan.”
Lucy snorted. “Maybe she’s not as dumb as the rest of the Croods. Except for her crush on Warren, of course.”
“How can ragan help us?” Skoll demanded. “What is the Destroyer planning?”
Rhawn shrugged. “Does it matter?”
“No, it doesn’t.” Notan swiftly agreed. “We must placate the Destroyer while we wait for our chance to overthrow her.” He turned to the other men and started barking at them to gather um’nah trees.
“Do I even want to know what they were saying about me now?” Lucy asked.
“No.”
“Wonderful. So glad we’re wasting our time to build life rafts for those clowns.” Shaking her head, she started down the beach. “A couple hours as leader and already my loyal followers want me dead. Well, we can just add them to the ten thousand other threats hanging over my head.”
“No one will harm you, Lucy. I will not allow it.”
She sent him a half smile. “Forget it. I can deal with angry villagers wanting to burn me at the stake. I’m already moving on to the next problem.” She pointed at the sea. “Which way do we go?”
“Only the Savior can lead us from this island.” Rhawn wasn’t sure why she still didn’t grasp that, because it seemed like he’d explained it many times. “We cannot leave this place.”
“We have to or we’ll be Pompeii-ed.”
His eye narrowed, suspecting that she was mocking him. “I understand your language well enough to know that is not a word.”
To his surprise, her mouth curved. “Yeah, you’re right. I made it up.”
“To trick me?”
“No!” She looked surprised by the accusation. “See, there was a volcano above a place called Pompeii. When it erupted, it destroyed everyone in its path.”
Against his will, Rhawn glanced towards Uooloa. Smoke poured into the sky, the ominous color growing blacker by the hour. Could Lucy really be causing all that? Could this small woman control a mountain?
He suddenly doubted it.
“Pompeii wiped out everything. Generations later, when we began digging up the ruins, we found voids in the hardened ash. Just these odd-shaped holes in the rock. No one could figure out what they were.” She crouched down to grab a shell and some sand. “Then someone put it together.
” Rhawn watched as she pressed the shell into the damp sand so it left an imprint. “They were people. The voids were the negative spaces left by the citizens of Pompeii when their bodies were covered in ash.” She held up the handful of sand, so he’d understand. “Anyone who stays here will just be impression in the dirt.”
He considered that, staring at the ridges the shell left behind in the wet grains. “Even if what you say is true, the Clan will never follow you into the Infinite Sea. They fear it too deeply.”
“More deeply than a volcano?”
“Of course. There are jigons in those waters.”
“Which are?”
“Monsters.”
She rolled her eyes and brushed her palm off on her leg. “Well, monsters or not, the other members of your Clan are getting in the boats. I’m the god around here and I’m going to save their lives whether they like it or not.”
“Why do you wish to save lives?” It went against everything the Destroyer stood for.
“What do you mean ‘why?’ You told me you wanted them saved, didn’t you?”
“Yes and you agreed very quickly. You are not an agreeable woman, Lucy. I believe you would have aided them, regardless of my wishes.”
She made a face. “Yeah, well, alien cave-dwellers or not, I’m going to try to keep those losers breathing. Maybe I don’t always play well with others, but I’m obviously going to help people in trouble.”
Rhawn’s head tilted, studying her.
She winced as if remembering she was supposed to represent all that was dark in the world. “I mean… I’m going to help them and then… not help them. It keeps all of you off balance about my villainy.” She cleared her throat, nervously twisting the green beads of her necklace. “Right.”
Rhawn’s expression softened. “The Clan is yours now.” He told her in a reassuring tone. “You should try and win them over, so they will not revolt. Show them that you care and they will follow you.”
“Except, I don’t care. I’m a bitchy, antisocial person. Ask anyone.”
“You pretend to be.” He corrected. “But I know you, Lucy. You are difficult, but you care far more than you let on.”
She stared at him for a beat and then she looked away from his steady gaze. Clearly, she wanted a subject change. “Let’s refocus, alright?” She skipped the shell out into the waves. “If you had to pick, which way would you sail to reach land?”
“I would stay where we are, because there is no other land out there.”
“So you’ve said. Let’s pretend I’m crazy enough to try. What’s your best guess on a direction?”
Rhawn’s mouth tightened. Why did she not understand? “You could pick any direction and it would simply circle you right back here. There is nothing. but. water.” He spaced out each word.
Lucy digested that for a moment. “How do you know?” She finally asked.
“How do I know that we are alone in the Infinite Sea? Everyone knows this.”
“And you don’t ever question it?”
Rhawn hesitated. “Intelligent men do not question the truth.” He temporized.
“Right.” She seemed skeptical of that bedrock tenet of Clan belief. “Didn’t you once tell me you thought you were stupid?”
His shoulders straightened with pointless dignity. “Yes.”
“Because you question?”
“Questioning is a sign of doubt.”
“Smart people don’t question and doubt?”
“Of course not.”
“Right.” She pursed her lips. “Tell me, if no one ever questions or doubts, how is anything ever going to change?”
“Why would we want anything to change?”
“Because you live in caves and worship Warren, maybe?” She guessed. “Seriously, this isn’t the best of all possible worlds, Rhawn. You say you dream of New York. Now --granted-- it isn’t paradise, either, but at least we have electricity and toilet paper and shoes.” She pointed down at his bare feet. “You know how we accomplished all that?”
He shook his head, mesmerized.
“We started by assuming that every idea labeled ‘impossible’ just hadn’t been done yet.”
Rhawn blinked. “Your world celebrates doubt?”
“If you don’t doubt, how can you ever know what you truly believe?”
He swallowed. “Of course you say that. It’s your job to inspire doubt.” Allowing himself to believe otherwise would damn him. He may have Chosen her, but he had to remain on guard. “You hide the truth behind lies men want to hear.”
“You want to hear you’re doomed if you stay on this sinking rock?”
“No, but…”
“So, help me then. I don’t care what your stagnant Clan thinks. I think you’re the only guy here who isn’t a moron. That means you’re helping me. I’m a god. You’re recruited. Deal with it.” She jerked a thumb at the ocean. “Now, which way is off the island?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’m betting you know something.” She pressed. “Take an educated guess.”
He stared out over the waves, thinking.
“Rhawn,” her tone went serious, “I know it seems like a bad idea to just set sail and hope we hit a continent or something. But, whatever the risks out there, it’s better than staying here. We have to go.”
Rhawn was not swayed by the way she said his name. He barely noticed that her foreign accent caressed the word and made it beautiful. Not even he was stupid enough to be so stupid.
Damn it.
Lucy’s head tilted, maintaining eye-contact when he would’ve looked away. “Please, Rhawn.” She persisted. “Help me.”
Rhawn’s resistance disintegrated like a pile of sand under the force of a wave. “On this side of the island, there are sometimes purple flowers.” He said, unable to stop himself. When she looked at him with that bottomless green gaze, he lost all commonsense. “They wash up on the shore. It happens rarely, but I’ve seen it.”
“Purple flowers?”
“Yes.”
“And this matters because…?” Her voice trailed off in a question.
“We do not have purple flowers on this island. So, I’ve occasionally wondered where it is they do grow.”
Lucy gave a slow smile. “Stupid, huh? Shit. I knew I was talking to the right guy.” She eagerly looked around. “Which direction do they float in from?”
He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “It’s hard to be sure.”
“But you have a pretty good idea, don’t you? You’ve been out in the water. You know the tides. Tell me.”
“Telling you means you will drag me out to sea. Why should I give you information that will lead to my death?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Because I’m a god.”
“What are your powers?” The words were out before he could stop them. It was often that way with him. Rhawn thought thoughts he knew were wrong and he said things he knew he shouldn’t say. He couldn’t stop himself, though. He always had to push. He had to know.
“It’s none of your business what my powers are! Just understand that I can completely kick your ass.”
Rhawn stared down at her perfect face. Challenging the Destroyer was just more proof of his mental defect. He’d somehow survived defying the Savior and now he was antagonizing another god. What was wrong with him that he didn’t stop? “I’ll tell you about the flowers…”
“You’d better!”
“…if you make me.” He finished, simply.
She blinked. “Make you?”
“Kick my ass.” He invited. “Do something to prove that you’re a god.”
She didn’t move.
Rhawn arched a brow at her worried expression and knew he’d been right. She wasn’t powerful, at all. He wasn’t sure whether he was relived or not. He stepped closer to her, just because he couldn’t stop himself. The woman drew him like a magnetized stone. He always wanted to be near her. “Did you lose your powers or did you never have any?”
Her gaze went wide. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m very, very powerful.”
“Are you?”
“Yes. And you aren’t going to like all the horrible ways I can prove it, so don’t push me.” She nervously licked the corner of her mouth and he felt a surge of lust that the loincloth did nothing to hide. Green eyes took in his reaction and she inhaled a deep breath, her breasts rising so they brushed his bare chest.
Rhawn groaned, heat and emotions swamping his mind.
Lucy’s expression switched from concern to confusion, like she felt it too. “How are you doing this to me?” She whispered. “Around you, I feel… and I don’t…” She broke off with a baffled shake of her head.
But he understood her perfectly. He felt the same way.
“It’s our fate, Lucy.” Rhawn stepped even closer to her, so she was pressed against him. “We were meant to be together.” Dropping his head to the side of her neck, he breathed in her scent. She gave a small whimper of a sound at the animalistic move, but she didn’t retreat. That just enflamed him more. “I cannot get images from the last dream out of my mind. Your body opening to mine and the feel of your skin and the taste of your lips…”
Lucy swallowed hard and he could see her mind racing. “I’m not going to sleep with you.” She desperately shook her head. “I don’t believe in fate and I don’t care how good it was in that dream. We’re not reliving it, live and in person. No way are we doing any ‘Choosing.’”
Rhawn’s mouth curved, amused by her frantic words. “But, I’ve already Chosen you. There is no sense in trying to undo what is done. You’re already mine.” Under every rule of god and man, her smooth, perfect body belonged to him and no other. His. The thought had his blood pounding.
“Bullshit. I never agreed to that and you know it.”
“It doesn’t matter. The law says you are my mate.”
His certainty seemed to unnerve her. “Then I’ll change the law.” She said, but he could see she wasn’t so sure.
Rhawn nuzzled her temple, trying a different tactic. “Do you desire another more than me?” He asked quietly.
Her eyes closed on a sigh. “No.” It was a whisper.
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