Entwined

by Elisabeth Naughton

  A protective urge bubbled up in him. A need to find who had hurt her and why and then make them pay. But before he could read anything else in her features, she turned away and the image faded. The glass once again became the same frosted, rippled and cold piece it had been before.

  “No. Wait. Come back.” He shook the glass. “Show me my heart’s desire. Come back!” He said the words again. And again. Only nothing happened. The heat that had been there only seconds before was now gone. Right along with her.

  Knowing it was all he was going to get tonight, he stretched out on the pallet, closed his eyes and cradled the glass against his chest. Tears burned the backs of his eyes. His stomach rumbled again. Never before had he felt as dirty and gross as he did at this moment.

  Maybe she could see back through the glass. Maybe that’s what had upset her and why she’d turned away in disgust. But even as the thought hit, he knew it wasn’t true. The little old lady in the white robe had told him it only worked one way. And yet that was small consolation when just thinking of her reminded him of everything he couldn’t have.

  He liked to imagine she would be proud of him. For standing up to Atalanta, for staying true to what he knew he was deep inside. But the reality was, maybe she wouldn’t be. Maybe all she’d see when she looked at him was the same thing everyone else saw. A grimy, ten-year-old boy no one wanted.

  He rolled away from the food his body desperately needed, fought back the tears that were now sliding down his cheeks and held on tighter to the glass. The warmth that had flowed into him before still resonated in his chest, so he clung to that feeling. And to the hope that someday she’d come for him.

  He didn’t care anymore why she’d let him go. He only wanted her back. If the gods could see their way to send her to him, he would be the best son any mother ever asked for. He promised.

  Sleep pulled at him. He saw her face again. Only this time she was standing in a field of white, her beautiful features lined with worry as she looked, searched. For him, he hoped. And though he knew it was only a dream, he ran to her.

  Because even just the dream of her was better than anything else in his miserable life.

  As an Argonaut, Zander had never been one to just “go with the flow.” It went against his nature. If someone said sit, he stood. If he was told to go one way, he went the other. The only person he took orders from was Theron, and then usually grudgingly, so listening to Callia boss him around right now didn’t just set him on edge, it sent every single hair on his body standing at attention.

  However, he wasn’t stupid. He knew there were times when it was better to bite your tongue rather than let the rage rumble through. And right now—though he hated it with a passion—this was one of those times.

  But there was still no way in Hades he was getting naked in front of her.

  He crossed the room without looking at her, dropped onto one of three velvet couches in the sitting area and reached forward to unlace his boots. Too late he realized the couch he’d picked was the same one he’d bent Callia over one dark and sultry night nearly eleven years before.

  Blood pooled in his groin. His skin grew hot and damp. Her words, the words she’d whispered to him the night he’d intercepted her after she’d been to see the king, echoed in his head.

  Take me, Zander. Fast. Before someone gives me a reason to say no.

  Thirteen simple words. That was it. She’d known exactly what to say to turn his entire world upside down in the span of a heartbeat.

  Perspiration dotted Zander’s forehead as he remembered the feel of her silky smooth skin, the taste of her wet heat, the way she’d come apart around him right in this very spot. He reached up to wipe his brow. Dropped his arm. Then scowled, because that was a memory he so fucking didn’t need in his head while he sat here unlacing his boots so Callia could do her little “examination.”

  And—dammit—the rod of steel now nestled between his legs was an in-your-face reminder she, and not the gynaíka he was about to marry, was his soul mate.

  He let the boot in his hand thunk against the floor. Looked up and glared across the room. Callia had finished setting up and was now looking out the tall windows toward the countryside beyond, her arms folded across her chest and her jaw locked and tense.

  His chest pinched as he watched her. Gods, he’d been a fool. Back then there hadn’t been a single thing about her he hadn’t needed. Hadn’t wanted. He’d been so blinded he couldn’t even comprehend a time when she wouldn’t be exactly what he needed and wanted most.

  But that was then, wasn’t it? Before he’d realized what she really was deep inside. Before he’d discovered Hera had been absolutely correct in picking Callia as his soul mate because she was the epitome of everything he hated most. That past? What he’d done with her in this room? That really was a fantasy. This—he stared at her cold indifference and saw her as she really was and not as he’d wanted her to be—this was reality.

  The erection he’d been fighting since he stepped in the room faded. He dropped the other boot, locked his jaw and stood as he lifted the shirt over his head. He’d removed his weapons before coming into the castle, as was protocol, so he didn’t have to worry about his parazonium or any of the other gizmos Titus was always cooking up. And he was glad. Fiddling with his weapons would mean more time in this room with her alone.

  “Where do you want me?”

  She turned away from the window without meeting his eyes, dropped her arms and pointed toward the end of the king’s now-empty desk. “There. Sit.”

  He crossed the floor silently in bare feet and eased a hip onto the end of the king’s long desk. He tested the piece of furniture for stability, and when he was sure it wasn’t going to collapse under his weight, scooted back until his legs were hanging over the edge and his bare feet dangled inches above the floor.

  She didn’t say anything about the fact he wasn’t completely naked, and he wasn’t about to bring it up again. To distract himself, he stared down at his toes while she moved around the room. She pulled a small side table with her supplies next to her. Seconds later he felt her hand land on his back and couldn’t stop the way he arched in response. When she said, “Deep breath,” he forced himself to relax as she moved the stethoscope around, obviously listening to his lungs.

  The metal against his skin was cold, but her fingers were warm and silky—too warm and silky. His blood was already heating just from being this close to her, and every time she brushed his skin, it set off tremors deep in his body. He focused on his breathing, on the steady in and out, in an attempt to stay calm. When she moved around to stand in front of him, repeating the order, he averted his eyes from her face and focused on the fitted white sweater she wore instead.

  Her gasp brought his head up. “What happened to you?”

  “Nothing. I’m fine.”

  “That’s not nothing.” She focused on his shoulder as she looped the stethoscope around her neck, reached for her bag and came back with gauze and supplies.

  “Leave it,” he said before she could touch him. “It’s just a flesh wound.”

  She dabbed at the dried blood with a wad of gauze. “The muscle’s torn. You need this stitched closed before infection sets in.”

  “It’s already healing.”

  “I see that, but—”

  He grabbed her wrist, stilling her motion. A jolt ran through him at the connection, but he ignored it. The last thing he needed was her hands on his body more than was already necessary. “I said leave it.”

  Her eyes slid from the wound to his face and held. And before he realized it, he was staring into eyes like a Caribbean sunset in the human world. Eyes he’d looked into countless times before as they’d made love. Eyes he’d dreamed about numerous times in the years since, until he’d woken in a cold and aching sweat.

  Thoughts vanished from his mind. The connection they’d had from the first sparked deep in his chest, burned in the bottom of his soul. Tempted him to reach for her and fin
d out if she felt it too. He couldn’t be the only one who remembered, could he? She had to feel something when she saw him. When she stood this close. When she touched him.

  Thoughts, memories, feelings he’d kept buried for a long time pushed in as he stared into her gemlike eyes. A movie of their time together flickered in front of his face. And then, when he got to the part where she betrayed him, that blaze went out. Leaving behind nothing but charred ash and ruins.

  It didn’t matter what she felt. Their past was over and done with. The Fates had screwed him in more ways than one. There wasn’t anything about her now that could change what had happened back then.

  He dropped her hand as quickly as he’d grabbed it. Then glanced back at her sweater. “Finish the exam.”

  Which—dammit—didn’t do shit to cool him down because her breasts were now all he could see. Oh, man, they were as round and plump and gorgeous as he remembered, and he was almost sure he could see her nipples straining against the soft cotton. If he lifted his right arm, just a little, he could touch one. Could feel the nub swell and harden beneath his fing—

  She stepped back slowly. Set the supplies and her stethoscope down. Cleared her throat. The sound brought his thoughts back where they should be. But the quiver to her voice when she spoke told him his harsh command had gotten through loud and clear. And why that made him feel like an ass, he had no clue.

  “We’ll just go on with the brunt of the exam then. There’s no need for the standard poking and prodding.”

  Relief swept through Zander. That suited him just fine. He only wanted out of this room. Preferably sooner rather than later.

  “Sit up tall,” she said. “And close your eyes.” He did as he was told, gripping the edge of the desk with his hands and straightening his spine, thankful her voice was once more level and direct and that now, at least, he didn’t have to look at her. “Good. Now, you’ll likely feel warmth as I search for any abnormalities, maybe a pinch there in your shoulder, but for the most part this shouldn’t be painful.”

  Maybe not for you.

  He drew in a deep breath, tried not to frown, and though Callia didn’t touch him, he felt her hands hovering mere centimeters from his bare chest. As a healer, she had the ability to seek out problems within the body and focus her energies to restore balance and health. Argoleans were less susceptible to disease than humans and healed faster, but at the core they were still mortal. Though Zander knew she wasn’t going to find anything wrong with him.

  “Easy,” Callia murmured. “Breathe slowly, in and out. That’s it. Just let your mind wander and your body relax. Good. That’s…good.”

  There was something oddly calming about her voice—always had been—and the heat radiating from her fingers warmed first his skin, then seeped deep into his muscles, and finally, his bones. She was probing his body, searching for ailments, but it almost felt as if she were reaching inside him with her bare hands, crawling into his skin and making herself at home. Warmth slid through his chest inch by inch as her fingers shifted and her hands moved over him. And oh, man, he liked it. Liked the way she filled him. It felt good. Calming. Complete. The way he imagined the Elysian Fields probably felt when one passed to the afterlife.

  Out of nowhere the pain in his shoulder jackknifed, sending sparks to his brain as if he’d been sliced all over again. He gasped, tensed, dug his fingernails into the wood of the king’s desk

  His eyes flew open. He stared at her as he gritted his teeth in pain. Her face was scrunched up as if she felt it too, but her eyes remained closed and she didn’t pull her hands away.

  “It’s deep,” she said. “Are you sure you don’t want me to fix it?”

  The wound. She was in the fucking wound. “No,” he rasped between clenched teeth, fingers digging deeper into the wooden desk. “It’s…fine.”

  “Ilithios.” Ever the professional, she left it at calling him an idiot and didn’t push again. Soon her fingers were moving once more, sliding away from his wound until the pain lessened and warmth returned to his chest.

  Holy Hades. He blew out a ragged breath. That was most definitely not a pinch. If she’d ever wanted to hurt him, she could have done it with barely a flick of her finger.

  “I need you to focus again, Zander,” she said firmly. “Relax. Close your eyes.”

  Relax. Yeah. That sounded possible.

  He took another deep breath. Tried to think about…nothing, like she’d suggested. And succeeded, for all of two seconds. Until her hands started moving south. Down his rib cage and abdomen, and stopped to hover right over his belly button.

  “Lie back,” she said. “And spread your legs slightly.”

  The command was enough to send the blood straight to his groin. His cock strained against his pants. And oh, yeah, this was wonderful. He was going to have a hard-on in a matter of seconds, and she was telling him to lie back and spread his legs.

  He gritted his teeth again, did as she said and prayed her eyes were still closed. She didn’t touch him, but he sensed her move closer. Felt the heat between his legs as she eased nearer and leaned over his groin, her hands millimeters above him now, moving slowly lower, now over the waistband of his pants, down the zipper, lower still. His skin tingled in the pressure points between his hips and torso. Warmth continued to move south. He held his breath and waited, even as he felt himself grow impossibly hard beneath the fabric of his pants.

  Her hands hovered over his lap. Warmth turned to heat to a white-hot burn in his groin he knew all too well. And oh, fuck, that was her breath against his belly button. She was leaning way over him. Her face so close. Images popped into his mind: Her succulent lips. Her mouth against his skin. Running lower. Her tongue…Her doing this exam and whatever else she wanted to him, naked, with him laid out before her like an offering.

  His breaths came deep and ragged as he fought the arousal. If she so much as bumped his cock accidentally he knew he’d go off, right here on this makeshift examination table. And would that not be mortifying or what? He told himself it wasn’t her. It was what she was doing to him. Any healer doing this exam would have the same effect on him. It was the energy rushing through him that was juicing his libido, not her.

  Yeah, right, dumbass.

  It felt like an eternity before she moved on, down his right leg, and he finally drew a full breath when he felt the warmth spread out of his groin and down his limb. She was now quick and efficient, examining one leg and then the other. And there was only a tiny twinge of electricity in his groin again when she moved back to start at the top of his left leg.

  All that warmth seemed to rush out of the big toe of his left foot, and he heard her push up from the floor, sigh and finally say, “You’re done.”

  She turned away from him, replaced the tools she’d used earlier in her bag. Almost afraid of what he’d see, he opened his eyes, stared up at the three-story-high ceiling with its gilded ceiling plates and tried to calm himself. Didn’t work, though. Yeah, that heat was now gone, but his cock was still stiff as a board and there was no way she’d missed that when she’d opened her eyes.

  Fuck it. She was being professional about this, and that meant he should be too. After all, there was nothing left between them, right? He pushed up with his elbows.

  He shifted to find a more comfortable position—as if there were one. She had her back turned to him and she didn’t look up, not even when she crossed the floor, grabbed his shirt from the couch and tossed it his way. “Everything seems fine. I’ll tell the king you’re able to…” She stopped herself. Seemed to think twice. Then finally said, “That you’re healthy. So long as the sample comes back normal, there’s nothing else you need from me.”

  “Sample?” he asked, catching his shirt in his lap and shifting it to hide his still-raging hard-on. “What sample?”

  She recrossed the floor, reached into her bag and handed him a small plastic cup and lid. “You’ll need to provide a sperm sample for lab analysis.” She set a brown paper
bag beside him on the desk. “Leave it in the bag on the desk when you’re done.” Then she lifted her bag and headed for the door.

  Too stunned to move, he only stared at the plastic cup in his hand as she reached the door. She wanted him to…? With her waiting outside this door while he…? Right now?

  His gaze shot to her, and though he most definitely wasn’t a prude, something about this felt wrong. Really freaking twisted wrong.

  She stopped with one hand on the knob, but she didn’t turn. And there was no way he could read her expression when she said, “I wish you and Isadora…much happiness, Zander. Yeah, I…May you and yours flourish in the tradition of the great heroes.”

  The congratulatory words traditionally offered to an ándras and his bride wedged their way into his head, then slinked down to his chest. Where they settled. Cold. Heavy. Dark. The arousal he’d been fighting since he’d stepped into the room slid out the door right along with her, leaving him unsatisfied and edgy. And irrational as it was, his temper flared as the door clicked shut behind her and silence settled over the room.

  He didn’t want her good wishes. He and Isadora didn’t need her approval. Growing more pissed off at her words, his reaction and what had and hadn’t happened in this room, he glanced down at his lap, where his cock was now fairly shriveled.

  He was over her, dammit. He didn’t need her. And he knew one very clear way to prove that fact once and for all.

  Except…before he went looking for Isadora to do just that, he apparently had to jerk off on command. Or stay locked in this room for the rest of his immortal life.

  Shhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttt.

  Muttering curses at Callia, the king, this whole damn situation, he grabbed the cup and his shirt, tossed both on the couch, then sank down into the cushions. It took several minutes for his heart to stop racing and his thoughts to quit swirling, and when both did, he let his head fall back against the headrest, closed his eyes and pictured Isadora. Pale, petite, pretty, perfect. It was no great secret she was one of the most attractive gynaíkes in all the land. And wouldn’t you know it? His cock didn’t even twitch at the thought.