The Goddess Hunt

by Aimee Carter

  “If being an asset means swallowing whatever bullshit you’re feeding me without thinking for myself, I’d rather be a hindrance, thank you,” she said, and Henry had to press his lips together to keep himself from chuckling.

  For a moment his brother looked utterly perplexed, his brow furrowing in the face of her sass, but the expression was gone as soon as it had come. He wouldn’t soon forget what she’d said, Henry was sure of it. But while it could cause problems later on down the road, for now Henry was immensely pleased and proud of her.

  Focusing on his brother, he pushed a thought toward him. Let it go.

  Walter’s frown deepened, but he glanced into the darkness of the cave and gave him the barest of nods. Without another word, he disappeared, and Kate looked around as if she expected Walter to pop out of the bushes.

  “Do you think he went after the twins?” she said. James shook his head, slipping his arm into hers as he glanced back into the cave. Henry glowered at him.

  “They’re fine, at least for now.”

  Henry watched as they disappeared through the trees, and as soon as he could no longer see her dark hair, he closed his eyes. These six months were hers to do with as she willed; he had no say in it, and he had to respect that no matter how much seeing her walk off with James wounded him.

  In less than half a year’s time, she would be his again, and he would make sure to remind her why she had married him in the first place. Until then, the thorn that James had shoved into his heart would only dig deeper, but as he’d done for the past several thousand years, he would withstand it.

  For Kate. For their life together. And because he had no other choice.

  Kate

  By the time we reached the edge of the forest, it was nearly dark. The city of Athens glowed in the distance, and I yawned, struggling to stay awake as James led the way. My body craved sleep, and just the promise of a warm bed was enough to make my knees buckle.

  “Where do you think they’re going now?” I said as we meandered toward the road that would lead us back to the city.

  “If they’re smart, as far away from Greece as possible,” said James.

  “Do you really think Walter and the others are going to hunt them down again?”

  He shrugged. “Eventually. I think you bought them a few hundred more years though. Maybe a thousand, if they’re lucky.”

  “We.” At James N rithugh. Ma217;s confused expression, I added, “We bought them a few hundred more years. Maybe a thousand, if they’re lucky. You did distract Ella, you know.”

  He grinned and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “You have a point. We make a good team.”

  I made a face and shrugged him off. Good team or not, there was one problem we hadn’t solved yet. “I’m still mad at you, you know. This whole thing was your fault. Ava would’ve never found the twins if you hadn’t led her straight to them.”

  “Oh.” James turned pink. “I thought we’d have time to get away. I didn’t realize Walter would sic Ella and her dogs on us. I mean, the council’s come close to tracking them down before—they just usually don’t put so much effort into it.”

  “That’s not an excuse for putting them in danger like that.”

  He sighed. “No, it’s not, and I’m sorry about that. I really am. It worked out all right though, didn’t it?”

  “Barely.” I hesitated. “Why did you do it anyway?”

  He scratched his head sheepishly. “Because I knew you idolized the council, that you thought we were these—superheroes or something, and I wanted you to see that it wasn’t true. We’ve got our dark side, too, and you had to see that before you decided to spend eternity with Henry.”

  For a long moment, I said nothing. I should’ve known the council was capable of something like this, and maybe deep down I did. I’d never realized Henry had it in him as well though.

  “I’m not sure I can do this,” I said softly. “I thought—I thought when all of this started that the council members were the good guys, you know? The ones who protected mortals. The ones who made the right decisions. And now—”

  “And now you realize we’re not all we’re cracked up to be,” said James, and I nodded. “That’s not a bad thing, you know, the fact that we make mistakes or let our pride get in the way. It keeps us from being infallible.”

  “But at others’ expense.” That was the part I wasn’t crazy about.

  “Sometimes. But Lux is one of us—he’s not a council member, but he is the son of Zeus. And he has just as many flaws as the rest of us.”

  “Loving his brother enough to do anything to protect him isn’t one of them though.”

  “No, it isn’t.” James shook his head. “I won’t lie to you and say every decision we make is the right one, because it isn’t. Usually the ones we all make together aren’t so bad, but the individual ones—those are sort of a crapshoot. Sometimes we’re right, sometimes we’re wrong, and sometimes it takes several thousand years before we fix them. And in the twins’ case, it’s especially bad, because the only thing keeping Walter from reversing his decision is his pride. But it’ll work itself out eventually, and in the meantime, look at it this way—now that you’re on board, you can show us the error of our ways.”

  “If the only thing I do during council m Singyou caeeting is point out how wrong everyone is, no one’s going to listen to me.”

  “True, but that doesn’t mean you can’t save those moments for the things you think are really important,” said James. “You’ll have my support. Henry’s, too. I can’t speak for the rest of them, but you won’t be alone. Most of the time, anyway.” He grinned. “Try to undo one of my rulings, however, and it might get a little tense.”

  I managed a smile in return. “I’ll do my best. You seem to have pretty good judgment though.”

  “I do, don’t I?” He bumped his hip against mine—which, given how tall he was, was sort of like he was nudging my liver instead. “You know, after everything I did, I think I deserve that kiss.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Not in a million years.”

  “What about a million and one?”

  “I might be willing to give you a peck on the cheek, if you don’t screw up too badly between now and then.”

  He pouted. “You’re terrible to me, you know.”

  “You like it.” And no matter how romantic and beautiful Greece was, I wasn’t going to break my vows to Henry, even if they technically didn’t apply for the next six months. I loved him no matter which season it was. “Do you think Ava’s going to undo the curse?”

  “Doubt it,” he said. “Walter’s angry enough as it is. Remind her in a few years, once he’s had the chance to calm down. You might have better luck then.”

  “Right,” I said, frowning. “I’ll try to remember.”

  He reached out and patted my shoulder, keeping the distance between us. At last he seemed to be getting the picture. “You’re a good person, Kate, and it isn’t by accident that we chose you to become one of us. We know you’re going to challenge things, and the majority of us will welcome it. Don’t sweat it so much.”

  “Easy for you to say,” I grumbled. He ignored me.

  “But right now you’re on vacation. A pretty great vacation, if I do say so myself, and it’s about time you start enjoying it. No more chasing after gods with bad tempers, all right? From here on out, all I want to see you doing is sipping fruity drinks and lying out on the beach. A topless one, if you’d like. They’ve got plenty of those around here.”

  So much for him catching on. “Perv,” I said, cracking a smile.

  He broke out into a boyish grin. “Hey, a guy can dream.”

  By the time we’d found the road, my anxiety had melted away, replaced by the promise of six months of sun and relaxation and not having to worry about what was to come. Eventually my reprieve would be over, but no matter how nervous I was about facing the other gods, September also meant getting to see Henry again.

  Besides, James and
Lux were right. I was one person, but so was each and every member of the council. Despite what Lux seemed to think, they were good people, and they knew the difference between doing something because it was Scauuncil. the right thing to do and because their pride didn’t allow them any other choice. All they needed was someone to point it out to them. I could be that person—I would be that person, because people like Casey and Lux deserved it.

  And if Walter wanted to smite me for it, then bring it on.

  Don’t miss Kate’s return in

  GODDESS INTERRUPTED

  Turn the page to read an excerpt now….

  Goddess Interrupted Excerpt

  When I was a kid, each fall my teachers had the class write and present one of those horrible “What I Did Last Summer” essays, complete with pictures and funny anecdotes designed to make a classroom full of bored students pay attention.

  Each year I sat and listened as my classmates in my New York City preparatory school talked about how they’d spent the summers in the Hamptons or in Florida or in Europe with their rich parents, or au pairs, or as we grew older, boyfriends and girlfriends. By the time we reached high school, I heard the same glitzy stories over and over again: escapades in Paris with supermodels, all-night parties on the beaches in the Bahamas with rock stars—every student vied for attention with exploits that got wilder every year.

  But my story was always the same. My mother worked as a florist, and because most of her income went to paying for that school, we never left New York City. On her days off we spent our afternoons in Central Park soaking up the sun. After she got sick, my summers were spent in the hospital with her, holding her hair back as the chemo attacked her system or flipping through the television channels looking for something to watch.

  It wasn’t the Hamptons. It wasn’t Florida. It wasn’t Europe. But they were my summers.

  The one after my first six months with Henry, however, blew every single summer my classmates ever had out of the water.

  “I can’t believe you’d never swum with dolphins before,” said James as I drove down a rough dirt road that didn’t see much use. We were back in the upper peninsula of Michigan and surrounded by trees taller than most buildings. The closer we got to Eden Manor, the wider my grin spread. “It’s not like we had a ton of them in the Hudson River,” I said, nudging the accelerator. We were so far from civilization that there weren’t any posted speed limits, and the last time I’d been down this road, my mother had been too ill for me to risk taking advantage of it. But now, after the council had granted me immortality, the only thing I risked was my old beat-up car. So far, I liked the perks. “I’m more impressed with the volcano erupting.”

  “No idea why it did that,” said James. “It’s been dormant for longer than some of us have been alive. Might have to ask Henry about that when we get back.”

  “What would he have to do w Vxer, hoith a volcano?” I said, and my heart skipped a beat. We were so close now that I could almost feel him, and I drummed my fingers nervously against the steering wheel.

  “Volcanoes run through Henry’s domain. If an old one’s going off like that, then something’s up.” James bit off a piece of jerky and offered me the rest. I wrinkled my nose. “Suit yourself. You realize you’re going to have to tell him about everything we did, right?”

  I glanced at him. “I hadn’t planned on otherwise. Why? What’s wrong with that?”

  James shrugged. “Nothing. I figured he wouldn’t be too thrilled with the idea of you spending six months in Greece with some handsome blond stranger, that’s all.”

  I laughed so hard I nearly drove off the side of the road. “And who was this handsome blond stranger? I don’t remember him.”

  “Exactly what you should say to Henry, and we’ll both be in the clear,” said James cheerfully.

  It was a joke, of course. James was my best friend, and we had spent the whole summer together touring ancient ruins, vast cities and breathtaking islands in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Maybe one of the most romantic, too, but James was James, and I was married to Henry.

  Married. I still wasn’t used to it. I’d kept my black diamond wedding ring on a chain around my neck, too afraid of losing it to wear it properly, and now that we were only a mile or so away from Eden, it was time to put it back on. I’d struggled to pass the seven tests the council of gods had given me to see if I was worthy of immortality and becoming Queen of the Underworld, and because I’d won—only barely—Henry and I were now technically husband and wife.

  With the silence between us for the past six months, however, it didn’t feel like it. I hadn’t admitted it to James, but I’d spent the summer glancing around in hopes of seeing Henry in the crowd, there even when he wasn’t supposed to be. But no matter how hard I’d looked, I hadn’t seen any sign of him. Granted, half a year was practically a blink of an eye for someone who had existed since before the birth of humanity. But surely a sign that he missed me wasn’t too much to ask for.

  During my winter with him though, I’d had to fight for every small step forward. Every look, every touch, every kiss—what if six months apart brought us back to square one? He’d spent a thousand years mourning his first wife, Persephone, and he’d only known me for one. Our wedding hadn’t been the perfect ending to a wonderful love story. It’d been the beginning of eternity, and nothing about our new life together was going to be easy. For either of us. Especially considering that on top of adjusting to marriage, I’d have to learn how to be Queen of the Underworld, as well.

  And no matter how many years I’d spent caring for my dying mother, I had a sinking feeling none of it would help when it came to ruling over the dead.

  I pushed my worries from my mind as the black wrought-iron gate of Eden Manor came into view. New York, school, my mother’s illness—that was my past. My mortal life. This was my future. No matter what had or hadn’t happened during the summer, I would have the chance to be with Henry now, and I wasn’t going to waste a moment.

  “Home sweet home,” I said as I drove through the gate. I could do this. Henry would be waiting for me, and he’d be thrilled to see me. My mother would be there, too, and I wouldn’t have to go another six months without seeing her again. After nearly losing her, spending the summer without my mother had been torture, but she’d insisted—this first summer was my own, and she and Henry wouldn’t be involved. But I was back now, and everything would be okay.

  James craned his neck to look at the brightly colored trees that lined the road. “All right?” he said to me. “I should be asking you that,” I said, eyeing the way he drummed his fingers on the armrest nervously. He stilled, and after a moment I added before I could stop myself, “He’ll be happy to see me, right?”

  James blinked and said coolly, “Who? Henry? Couldn’t say. I’m not him.”

  That was the last answer I’d expected, but of course he wasn’t going to be cheerful about it. James would have been the one to replace Henry as the ruler of the Underworld if I’d failed, and even though it hadn’t come up on our trip, James was undoubtedly sore about it.

  “Could you at least try to pretend to be happy for me?” I said. “You can’t spend your entire existence mad about that.”

  “I’m not mad. I’m worried,” he said. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, you know. No one would blame you.”

  “Do what? Not go back to Eden?” I’d already passed the tests. I’d told Henry I’d be back. We were married, for crying out loud.

  “Everyone’s acting like you’re the be-all and end-all for Henry,” said James. “It isn’t fair to put you under that kind of pressure.”

  Good lord, he really was talking about not going back. “Listen, James, I know you liked Greece—so did I—but if you think you can talk me into not going back—”

  “I’m not trying to talk you into anything,” said James with surprising firmness. “I’m trying to make sure no one else does. This is your life. No one’s goi
ng to take your mother away from you now if you decide you don’t want to do this after all.”

  “That’s not—that’s not why I’m going back at all,” I sputtered.

  “Then why are you, Kate? Give me one good reason, and I’ll drop it.”

  “I can give you a dozen.”

  “I only want one.”

  I sniffed. It wasn’t any of his business. I’d nearly died in my attempts to save Henry from fading; I wasn’t going to walk away from him because of the possibility that I might not like the Underworld. “I don’t know how you do things, but I love Henry, and I’m not going to leave him just because you don’t think he’s good for me.”

  “Fair enough,” said James. “But what are you going to do if Henry doesn’t love you?”

  I slammed on the brakes and forced the car into Park so violently that the head of th [he t="e stick shift snapped off. The car was a piece of shit anyway. “That’s impossible. He said he loves me, and I trust him not to lie to me. Unlike someone else I know.”

  I glared at him, but his expression didn’t change. With a huff, I climbed out of the car, cursing as the seat belt caught on my jeans. After my few failed attempts to untangle myself, James reached over and gently undid it for me.

  “Don’t be mad,” he said. “Please. After what happened to Persephone—I want to make sure you don’t have to go through the same thing, all right? That’s all.”

  I wasn’t an idiot. I knew part of Henry would always be in love with Persephone. After all, he’d lost the will to continue after she’d given up her immortality to die and spend eternity with a mortal, and he wouldn’t have felt that way if his entire existence hadn’t revolved around her. But I could give him the one thing she never had—requited love.

  “If you really are happy and you two love each other equally, then great,” said James. “Good luck to you both. But if you don’t—if you wake up one day and realize you’re forcing yourself to love him because you think it’s the right thing to do, not because he makes you happier than you’ve ever been—then I want to make sure you know you have a choice. And if you ever want to leave, all you have to do is say the word, and I’ll go with you.”