Sam nods. “I’ll be right back.”
The last few embers of the fire are burning in the iron pit, and my boots and clothes—or what little is left of them—are drying nearby.
I sit on the bed, leaning against the wood. Sam is standing against the opposite wall of the room, his arms folded across his chest. He is just standing there, shooting me a look every now and then, only to look away again without saying a word. I have no idea what time it is or whether our time together is limited.
“It’s five in the morning.”
What does that mean? Do we have another hour? Half an hour? How much more time have I been granted to tell him what he means to me? At what moment will his feelings for me cease to exist? If I don’t start talking right now, I never will. This is my last chance.
“I will never forget this. I will never forget you,” I say softly. He turns his head and looks me right in the eye. “I have been mad at you, I have been scared of you, paranoid, desperate… and now I love you.”
Sam closes his eyes and his head falls back against the wall. I feel myself choking up.
“Please make it undone.”
He opens his eyes. “I can’t, Laurel,” he says with a thick voice.
“I have seen the kind of power you have.”
“There’s a limit to what I can do.”
I smile sourly and stare into my hands. “I never thought a demigod would break my hea…”
In one seamless move, Sam drags me off the bed and crushes his mouth against mine. There’s no cautiousness this time, and bolts of pain shoot into every part of my body. His heat surrounds me, as his hand slides around my neck and pulls my hair. Sam devours my mouth with so much passion that all I can think of is the fact that this must be a farewell kiss.
His hands slide down to my hips, and a moment later he has lifted me and I find my body all wrapped around him. I don’t know if I am moaning in pain or pleasure.
“Sam,” I say huskily. I don’t know why I call out his name, but probably to encourage him to continue. I want him—need him—to keep doing what he is doing. I want his hands all over me, his scent in my nose, his mouth covering mine, and the timing has never been more lousy than it is right this moment.
“Laurel?” he asks in a hoarse voice. “If this isn’t what you want, you need to tell me. Tell me what you want.”
This is everything I want. Sam is everything I want. “I can’t,” I whisper. My body protests as I say the words out loud, but I honestly don’t believe I would survive if he were to turn around and walk away after we’ve made love.
He kisses me softly on the lips. “Let’s just sit here and hold each other for a while.”
“I’m scared, Sam. Scared to leave the cabin, scared that you will keep your distance,” I say.
“I know,” he says in a hushed tone, lovingly stroking my hair. “Me too. No one has ever made me feel like you do and… I’m scared too, Laurel, scared to lose these feelings, scared because I don’t know how I will respond to you later.”
“Sam…”
“Let me finish.” With me still clinging to him, he sits down on the edge of the bed. “I don’t know exactly what will happen, but I assume that I won’t care about you anymore, that I will completely lose all my feelings for you, without being able to stop it. Maybe it will happen gradually, maybe all at once, I don’t know, just that soon I won’t feel a thing for you anymore.”
“It all sounds so surreal.”
Sam pushes my head back and seeks my eyes. Tears glisten in the corners of his eyes. “Because it is. None of it is real.”
“It’s so hard to comprehend.”
“Not really. On the outside I might love someone else, but on the inside, where it really counts, are my feelings for you. I’m yours, Laurel. Somewhere deep down I knew that we were meant for each other the first time I saw you, there’s no need for complicated formulas for that, or for a god to make it possible. Fate—my grandfather—just decided differently.”
“Will you ever get your real feelings back? Or will this punishment last forever?”
“I don’t know, probably not in your lifetime,” he whispers and gathers me closer in his arms, his body trembling against mine.
I squeeze my eyes shut, and for a while we just embrace each other. Sam’s fingers are all tangled up in the tresses of my hair and our cheeks press together. I could sit like this forever.
“Laurel?”
“Yes?”
Sam looks at me. His face is wet. “It’s time to go, beautiful.”
A sharp wind takes my breath and I hold on to Sam’s hand.
Barely seven hours after my slip, I find myself on the slippery cliffs again, the fear of slipping once again very real. But despite the trauma of the experience, right now I would give anything to fall off the cliffs if it would buy me one more hour with Sam.
Something keeps bugging me. “Apollon fell in love with a girl named Laurel, didn’t he?”
“No, he fell in love with a girl named Dafne and she didn’t love him back. He pursued her anyway and she asked her father for help. He changed her into a laurel tree.”
“So, she was the love of his life, making the laurel tree one of his symbols?”
“I guess. Your point?”
“I was named after a laurel tree.”
“You told me. So?”
“So, what if Apollon wanted you to be the father of this demigod?”
“He doesn’t. Come on, we have to keep moving. It’s dawning.”
I come to a halt. “Was there any clear image of the father of my child in the vision?”
“No, there wasn’t. And stop saying my child.”
“You mean it didn’t have to be Adrian? It could have been anyone of you? The gods just said, “hey, let’s pick Adrian”, and then they influenced my life so that one day I would meet Adrian, fall in love with him and bear his child?”
“Something like that,” Sam mutters under his breath.
“Except that it didn’t happen.”
“No, it didn’t. Let’s keep moving. We’re running out of time.”
“What if Apollon didn’t agree? I’ve been thinking about this. There has to be a reason why I was named the way I was. I think he influenced my mother to name me Laurel.”
“And what if he did, Laurel? So freaking what if he did? Don’t you think I’ve been doing my own thinking? I can’t just figure this mess out, the only thing I know is that a few hours from now I won’t be in control of my own feelings anymore, and I would really like to make sure that by that time you’re safe and sound at the other side of the island.”
“What if Apollon wanted you to be the father, Sam? I wouldn’t mind having a child with you.”
He looks at me with disgust on his face. “If Apollon cares for you, he wouldn’t want that, believe me.”
“How do you know?”
Sam grabs me by my hand and helps me over the rocks. We stop at an open spot and he turns me around so I face the ocean. The mountains emerge majestically in front of us.
“Do you see that mountain over there?” he asks frantically.
“Yes, Mount Olympus. You were born there.”
“Very good!” He points to the left side and I follow his finger. “Right there, on the western flank, just below the summit, lies a sanctuary—a walled area, off the map. If you’re still wondering where I spent the summer, then you now know that it was within those walls. That’s where my cradle stood.”
“Okay.”
“That’s anything but okay. On that flank I had a vision that told me you were our chosen one. Everything in our lives is being dictated for us, for you too. We don’t get to decide what we want in life, let alone for a child.” He takes deep, heavy breaths. “As soon as the Keepers get word there’s a child on the way, they’ll keep you on
Olympus. And once the baby is born, they will take it from you and it will literally have a Spartan upbringing. Can you handle that, Laurel? To see your child suffer at the age of seven because it’s hungry, or because it is getting dumped on some mountain at twelve, where it has to run for its life because it’s being chased by wolves and bears, so that one day it will be a fearsome demigod? Are you really that strong, because I can tell you right here, right now, that you’re not involved in the upbringing and neither am I. It will be raised for one goal, and one goal only, and that’s to eliminate our enemy.”
I feel the blood draining from my face as I look at him. “No god can be that cruel.”
“Mine is, Laurel, mine is. And I know, because what I just described to you was my childhood. Now, you still don’t mind getting this baby?”
“I do mind,” I say hoarsely. “I don’t want that baby.”
“Perfect, neither do I. There’s only one person who thinks this is a great idea, his name is Adrian and he doesn’t give a damn about this child, or about you. He only wants this for himself, for the glory and to gain the respect from our people. Power.” He gives me a nasty look. “It’s all about power and prestige. That’s the reason why I am sending you away, Laurel, to keep you out of his destructive hands. So I’m sure as hell not going to be the reason you are sent to that shitty mountain.
That said, I’d have to be immortal, and I’m not going to be for a long time unless there’s some urgency like a threat from the Titans. Trust me on this, Laurel. I don’t know what Apollon wants, but my best guess is that he forced us to meet—to like each other, not fall in love—so I would protect you. I don’t think he wants another child of the dark side, but I know for a fact that he doesn’t want us to have a child.”
“How can you be sure?”
Sam laughs. “Why do you think the gods didn’t pick me?”
“I don’t know, why wouldn’t they prefer lightness over darkness?”
Sam stares at me for a long time. “Because you wouldn’t survive a child of mine,” he says quietly and stomps away.
Shocked and in disbelief, I walk behind Sam and the distance between us is growing bigger by the second. It almost seems symbolic. I know by now that when he’s absorbed in his own thoughts, he forgets to adjust his pace to normal human beings. I could cry when I think about him having to endure hunger and fear as a young child, and who knows what else.
Much to quickly, we arrive at the entrance of the park.
“I can’t do this, Sam.”
“Yes, you can! You’ll be happy again, Laurel,” Sam says, wiping away my tears with his thumbs. “Come on, I’ll take you to your room. That way you don’t have to sneak up the stairs.”
I hate the tears falling down my face. I don’t want to be a weepy mess and fall apart in front of him. I want to show him that I’m strong, that I can do this just like he can. That we’re in this together.
I clear my throat. “Let’s say goodbye right here.” I stand on tiptoe and softly kiss his mouth. “Go. Go and do what you must do, Sampson. For mankind.”
“Look at me!” He cups my face. “I try to hold on to us for as long as possible. I’ll try so damn hard to fight this and…” His trembling voice falters. “If we ever meet then… then try to remember me the way I was, not what I have become.”
Then there’s that last pained look. That last brightness in his eyes, and that last stroke of his fingers over my cheek. “Laurel.”
That last whisper…
With his beautiful hair blowing in the wind, I stare after him until he’s out of sight. I have lost him. Forever. Every fiber of my being tells me that this time it’s for real. Only his scent, clinging to me like a second skin, and his taste on my lips remind me of him.
I break down.
end of book one
DEAR READER
Thank you for reading House of Guardians. If you wish to find out about the release date of House of Terrors, the second book of The Ambrosia Trilogy, please visit my website or join my mailing list HERE. I would love to hear from you.
If you enjoyed House of Guardians, I would be grateful if you would take the time to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. It would help all the other readers out there to make their choice, and I would love to hear your views on the story. All feedbacks are welcome.
Thank you so much and all the best for you!
Beatrice
www.beatricesand.com
THE AMBROSIA TRILOGY
Book 1 House of Guardians
Book 2 House of Terrors
Book 3 House of Divinity
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There are many people I want to thank for their help on the Ambrosia Trilogy. First, I want to say thanks to my sister Pascale, and Marjolein and Thelma, my first proofreaders with an addiction for sexy supernatural men. I loved all your emotional comments, questions and strong support! Thank you to my mom and dad, Trix and Jan, my most prominent supporters from the get go, love you both. Thank you to Liesbeth, Amsterdam Publishers, for motivating me to publish my own books. Thank you to my Dutch editor, Eveline Broekhuizen, and to my American editors, Lisbeth Agerskov Christensen and Kristen Waldock. Many thanks to Kirsty Hameleers for helping me translating my first book and thinking of ways to get this book promoted. Thank you to Savannah Stelwagen. Thank you to Dr. Shawn Daniels for helping me out with the ancient Greek words. (Sorry for all the profanities.) Thank you to my nephew and niece. Daniel, a big kiss for spreading the word oversees. Hope you’re having a good time in the States. Don’t forget to study! Bodine, a big kiss for the challenge! I hope Sampson can compete with all those vampires out there… And last but certainly never least, I want to thank my husband, Wilfred. Thank you for believing in me and giving me all the space to write this trilogy. Kisses for all the cooking. I really enjoyed the prawn risotto.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Beatrice Sand lives in a tiny green village in the Netherlands with her husband and their adopted tortoiseshell cat. Beatrice found her motivation to write The Ambrosia Trilogy when her niece told her there was nothing better than reading about breathtaking vampires. That same day Beatrice started brooding and created a whole new story with breathtaking but dangerous demigods in an urban setting that resulted in The Ambrosia Trilogy. Beatrice posted parts of the story online, and within a few months the story was read more than 10,000 times. That’s when she decided to self-publish the three books for a broader public.
For more information about Beatrice and the next two books of the Ambrosia Trilogy, please visit her site www.beatricesand.com. Beatrice would love to hear from you and to hear your thoughts about her books. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
For all of you who took the trouble reviewing my book, thank you so much!
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THANK YOU ALL!
Beatrice Sand
House of Guardians Page 42