by Julia Mills
“Hello,” she breathed then reality sat in and she jumped up. “We’re not moving anymore. Are we here?”
“Yeah,” he chuckled. “We landed about a half an hour ago, but you looked so peaceful, I sent everyone else ahead and let you sleep a bit longer.”
Grabbing his hand and tugging, Juliette teased, “Well, get up lazy bones. Let’s get this show on the road.” She loved the way he laughed as he let himself be pulled to his feet, then she added, “I can’t wait to be rid of that crazy bastard.”
“You and me both,” Lee agreed as he followed her down the aisle and out the door. The scent of sea air immediately touched her face as the heat of the early morning sun warmed the air. Looking over her shoulder, she asked, “Where are we?” Then looking forward so she could start down the stairs grumbled, “Guess I should’ve asked that earlier.”
Chuckling at her back, Lee replied, “Greece…Athens to be exact.”
Stepping onto the runway, Juliette spun on her toes, put her hands on her King’s chest and asked with her eyes as wide open as she could get them, “Athens? But…Lee…but, we…”
“But we, the guys and I, made other plans and you,” he tapped the end of her nose with the tip of his index finger at the same time he winked, “Fell asleep before I could tell you the changes.”
Trying to be upset, but falling incredibly short and ending up working hard to not grin at the little boy look on her mate’s face, Juliette finally gave in and smirked but still pretended to scold when she accused, “You all but forced me to sleep so you didn’t have to explain.”
Feigning surprise, complete with wide eyes, an open mouth and a hand to his chest, Lee adamantly denied her accusation until Tommy walked up behind him and said, “Give it up, old man, you’re beaten,” to which Lee barked with laughter.
Swatting his shoulder, Juliette warned while wagging her finger, “Alright Achilles, I’ll go with you but while we’re in the car, I expect an explanation.”
Before Achilles could answer, Sal called over his shoulder, “Change in plans, the lovebirds get a car to themselves.” Then in air quotes he added, “They need to talk.”
Everyone chuckled but it was Juliette that laughed out loud when she and Lee did end up in one of the vehicles all alone. Looking at her mate as he reminded her to buckle up, she asked, “Are you Kings always like that?”
“What do you mean?”
“The way you speak for one another, know what the others need, always work together…you know that kind of thing?”
Looking out the windshield, following the SUV full of his brothers, Lee didn’t answer right away. Juliette watched as several emotions crossed his face until finally he was smiling once again. Turning his head while they were stopped at a light, he finally answered, “Yes, we are. It’s the way it’s always been, even when it was only Viktor, Roman and I.”
He looked back out the windshield when they once again started to move but continued to explain, “At first I thought it was the way Zeus had designed it but after a few years of dealing with the less than consistent King of the Gods, I soon learned it wasn’t his doing, it was ours. It was the recognition of being unique unto ourselves, at least that’s my interpretation of it.”
He laid his hand on her knee. “I wondered if it would be different after Bain joined our kind but found it actually made us closer and that trend continued all the way to Sal.”
They settled into a companionable silence, each deep in thought until Juliette asked, “Why only seven?”
Smiling as he took a right turn, Lee shrugged, “I don’t really know. It wasn’t by any design I was ever aware of. By the time Sal was transformed, the world had changed so much.” He paused while making another turn then started again when they were traveling up the side of a mountain. “You see there are almost a thousand years between Viktor and Salvatore so somewhere along the line, the Commander, or he and Roman together, decided seven was enough.”
Again he shrugged, then squeezed her knee and added, “Until you, I thought we were the only immortals.” Winking, he teased, “Boy, oh boy, am I glad I was wrong.”
She wondered then if she should tell him that she knew for a fact there were more immortals, maybe not like the Kings, but definitely those with the ability to live for a really, really long time but decided they had enough to deal with at the moment. It was a conversation for another day, one she would have to decide how to approach.
Changing the subject, she laid her hand over his on her leg and reminded him, “You promised to explain the plan. Since we’re not going to my safety deposit box in Brazil, I’m guessing we’re not using the chalice.”
“Good guess, my love,” he chuckled, nodding out the windshield to the SUV carrying his brothers and said, “We are stopping at one of Roman’s many treasure troves to get a few very viable decoys.”
“Decoys? Plural?” Juliette nearly screamed, took a deep breath and then stared just as Lee shook his head and laughed, “Good lungs, my queen.”
“Sorry,” she forced a smile. “But Lee a fake won’t work. Ares will know. He’s a god. They can feel the mysticism in every artifact.” She turned towards him as far as her seatbelt would let her, laid her hands on his upper arm and tried to make him understand. “I’m only half goddess and I know what I feel when I’m close to something magical, something touched by the gods. I can only imagine what Ares, a full god of the Pantheon can feel.”
Strangely quiet, Lee stared out the windshield simply nodding until she realized they were pulling into a small bank wedged between a fish market and a vegetable stand in a tiny seaside town. Almost biting her tongue to keep from screaming, she sighed in relief when they were parked and Lee turned to answer.
“See here’s the thing we found out that makes all the difference in the world, the chalice you have is also a fake. They are all fakes. Hebe never lost her chalice. It is on Mt. Olympus where it always was.”
“But that can’t be. I felt it.” She took off her seatbelt and turned completely to the side, needing to make sure Achilles saw the truth in her eyes. “It was my mother’s magic. I know it was. That’s the only reason I took and hid it. I had planned to give it back to her the next time we were able to meet.”
Nodding, Lee threaded his fingers through hers, and explained, “That was what Ares wanted you to believe or so we have on good authority. Hell, it’s what he wanted anyone who found the ten or so fakes he planted all over the world to believe. He was hoping you would find one or someone would bring one to you and was going to lure you into a trap with it.” He raised his eyebrows. “Just like he did.”
“Son of a…”
“My thoughts exactly,” Lee interjected.
“But what about the dagger?”
“Now, that’s the real deal and did you know it’s cursed?”
“What? Cursed how?” She screamed then immediately apologized, “Sorry.”
“No worries,” Lee chuckled. “I rather like that scream of yours.” He waggled his eyebrows. “I’m looking forward to hearing it even more when we’re alone.”
“Oh you,” she scolded. “Keep your mind on the business at hand.”
“But, Juliette,” he faked a whine while batting his eyes.
Chuckling, she was just about to tease him some more when Roman and Cynthia exited the bank. Lee’s mentor raised the briefcase he had carried in with him and gave a single nod before climbing back into the SUV. Soon they were back on the road and climbing the mountain to the ruins of the original temple of Ares.
Picking up where they left off, Lee again explained, “So, yes, Zeus’ dagger, one of many I might add, is cursed, seems like the Father of the Gods has a thing for magical blades. Anyway, the dagger Ares planted for you to find is most definitely real and cursed by Hephaestus when he made it. Apparently, the old smithing god had a go around with a human when he was forging this particular blade and so out of spite had a spell added to the ore.”
Lee was silent for a second whil
e maneuvering a specifically sharp curve but soon began again. “The way it works is that if the blade cuts a person with even an ounce of human blood running through their system, that persons wound will never heal and will ultimately bleed to death.”
Shocked into silence, Juliette could only stare at the side of Lee’s face. It took several minutes but when she could finally speak again, the only thing she could think to say was, “I knew it was me the bastard wanted rid of. I just knew it.”
Chapter Ten
Lee wanted nothing more than to stop the car, take Juliette into his arms and try to make all the pain he knew she was feeling go away, but there was no time. Instead, he took her hand in his, brought it to his lips and tried to kiss away a bit of the sting of having confirmation that her uncle truly did want her dead.
He could feel her pain, agreed with her rage and wanted to pull Ares’ head off and punt it as far as he could into a very deep cavern, but since that wasn’t an option he explained the plan he and his brothers had come up with. “I’m so sorry, my love, but we have a way to beat him. It’s just going to take a little slight of hand and a lot of shuffling.”
“But how?” He hated how small and quiet Juliette’s voice sounded but knew she had to come to terms with what was happening and it was his job to help her through it, so he suggested, “Why don’t you put that seat back and relax? Think about all the ways you’d like to watch Ares die and we’ll talk when we get to the temple.”
“Sounds good,” she murmured, doing just as he’d suggested but keeping a tight hold on his hand.
Driving along with the keeper of his heart by his side, ready to battle a god with his brothers to fight at his back, was the stuff that kept Achilles’ blood pumping and his warrior’s heart alive. He hated that Juliette had suffered so much and would make sure, even if it was with his dying breath, that Ares paid for all he had done to her.
The archer knew that his Unum believed in the gods and thought they would never truly hurt the human race but Lee had a totally different view of the selfish, childish deities. He knew from personal experience that even Zeus used people like toys, pawns in his vicious games just because he could. Lee had unwittingly seen it first hand on the battlefield after his rebirth and swore to never again pledge his fealty to any of them.
The memory played back as if it had happened just the day before…
Achilles was perched atop the city wall along with all the archers he had trained. Because the Athenians believed them dead, the three Kings had crossed the Aegean Sea, making their home in Knossos. It wasn’t long before they were helping to train the army and their bid to protect their homelands from the dreaded Persians.
Training farmers to be soldiers had taken a lot of time and hard work. In the end, they were nothing like the great Grecian army but Achilles believed the people descended from the Minoans had enough power and strength to drive the heathens out of their homelands and defend against almost anyone else who tried to take what was theirs from them.
He watched the Commander and the General ride out onto the battlefield, the tip of his arrow pointed over Romanus’ shoulder to take out any enemies attempting to do his superiors harm. Patience was never a virtue Achilles possessed, except in battle. He could sit for days waiting for the signal to fire. It was as if he had truly been born the day Romanus saved him from a beggar’s life and put a bow in his hand.
Time passed. The sun rose high in the sky. There were no signs of the Persians as all the Knossos forces sat at the ready. Finally, the call of a ram’s horn sounded. The scouts had seen the enemy approaching through the mountain pass. Three short blasts meant they were riding at full gallop. Achilles knew they would begin to see movement over the ridge in less than ten minutes
Giving his archers the ready order, the King calmed himself, settled even farther into his stance and waited. At the precise moment he had predicted, the heathens rode over the ridge and charged straight for the Knossos village.
He could feel how anxious the soldiers were, knew they wanted to fire right away, but was proud that they waited for his command. Watching the Persians approach, Achilles knew the exact moment Viktoras’ troops on the right and Romanus’ from the left converged upon the thundering horde.
The heathens were taken by surprise. The early victory went to the Knossos but just as the Kings had seen so many times, there was a second wave of Persians charging over the ridge. At Achilles’ command, the archers raised their bows from the primary position to point in the air at a forty-five-degree angle.
Counting to five, the King shouted, “Pull!” The archers pulled their bowstrings as tight as they would go.
Watching the approaching army, Achilles waited until he could see their scraggly beards before he bellowed, “Release!”
Arrows covered the skyline, their aim strong, their flight true. Achilles was proud of his archers and immediately gave the order for them to reload. Looking out over the battlefield, quickly planning their next strike the King saw a shadow on the horizon that the longer he watched, the more vivid it became. Soon, he recognized Zeus and his brother, Hades, sitting upon a cloud, casting lots on who would win. The King had no clue how he knew what they were doing, he simply did, with all the conviction of his heart.
Keeping a close eye on the deities as the battle raged on. Arrow after arrow flew through the sky but none hit their mark. It was the same with the soldiers on the battlefield. Their blades bounced off the Persians, having little to no effect, while the heathens were killing the good men of Knossos by the droves. It was then he realized that Hades was intervening on behalf of the Persians and collecting the souls of the fallen even before their hearts had stopped beating.
Thankfully, the immature gods were soon bored and disappeared just as quickly as they had appeared. The tide of the battle immediately turned and by some stroke of luck, the good soldiers of Knossos were able to beat back the Persian hordes.
He had tried to tell Viktoras, who explained it away as battle fatigue and refused to listen. Romanus at least heard what the archer was saying but advised Achilles to keep it to himself, which he had but he never forgot and he never trusted them again.
Arriving at the ruins of Ares’ temple, Lee gently kissed his mate awake, loving how receptive she was to his touch even when sleeping. Watching as she righted her seat and shook off the last vestiges of sleep, he asked, “Feel better, agápi mou?”
“Much,” she answered, looking out the window, she watched his brothers surveying the site. Pointing, she asked, “Shouldn’t we be out there too?”
“In a minute.” He reached across the console and took her hand in his, waiting until Juliette looked at him before continuing. “I want to tell you what we have planned for Ares.”
Shaking her head, she smiled, “I trust you completely, o vasiliás mou. Just tell me what you need me to do.”
Her complete faith in him felt amazing and made him want to show her how much he loved her, it didn’t hurt that she called him her King in the language of their ancestors but making love to her was going to have to wait. Nodding, he leaned over, gave her a quick kiss and grinned, “Then let’s go meet the others and get this show on the road.”
Ares had given both Achilles and Juliette specific instructions on how to call to him when they had secured the dagger and the chalice and were ready to perform both the sacrifice and the ritual. It had taken most of the afternoon and some of the early evening hours to get the ruins set for their rouse. It had been decided they would wait until the stroke of midnight to make sure there was no chance of passersby getting caught in the crossfire.
Juliette had been meditating most of the day, recharging her god powers and trying to keep her nerves at bay. He had finally gotten her to stop apologizing for dragging them all into a fight with a god by telling her of his memory from Knossos. It was the first time he had shared it with anyone and he immediately felt even closer to the keeper of his heart.
Several times after that, he�
��d caught her staring at him and loved the way it felt. He couldn’t wait until their mating ritual was completed and they were one in body, mind and soul.
At the stroke of midnight, Achilles and Juliette joined hands over the remains of the original altar surrounded by the seven large pillars that had miraculously survived after all the centuries of neglect. Saying the words exactly as Ares had stated, the couple then lit the red candle he had instructed them to bring, poured the goblet of wine and broke the round loaf of bread into two halves as was part of the rite.
Looking into one another’s eyes, Juliette and Lee waited, barely breathing for nearly an hour until the King finally whispered, “I think he’s a no show.”
“Oh ye of little faith,” Ares mocked, striding out from behind the pillar directly behind Achilles causing the King to drop his mate’s hands and spin around to face the God of War.
Chuckling with an air of superiority that set the Kings’ nerves on edge, Ares teased, “Oh Achilles, be not afraid. I am not here to hurt your mate. I am only here to collect what is mine.”
“And what exactly would that be?” Lee asked. “Hebe’s chalice?” The King took a step forward. “Zeus’ dagger?” He took another step towards the deity. “Or maybe my mate’s life?” And another step forward, this one taking him to within striking distance of Ares.
Had the consequences not been so dire, Achilles would’ve laughed out loud when the God of War found an artful way to shuffle to the right and extend the distance between them. It appeared the archer made the spiteful deity nervous.
Smiling to himself, as he turned around with the knowledge that Ares was standing right where he wanted him to be, Achilles made his way back to the alter and once again took Juliette’s hand into his. Winking to ease her tensions, he whispered directly in her mind, “Everything is going according to plan.”
Blowing out a breath, she gave him a half-grin and murmured back, “Remind me of this the next time I tell you that I trust you.”
He loved her wit, loved that even when staring down a god, she could joke. They truly were made to be together. Giving her another wink, he said out loud, “Let us begin.”