by Tina Folsom
“You have some nerve coming here,” Triton hissed under his breath, casting a glance at Sophia next to him in bed. She was still asleep, and he wanted to keep it that way.
He swung his legs out of bed and stood up, grabbing Eros by the shoulder in the next instant before dragging him into the bathroom. Only after he’d shut the door behind them did he speak again. “You’ve got some explaining to do.” Triton raised his fist.
Eros put his arms up in defense. “Before you hit me like Hermes did, hear me out.”
“You have two minutes. And to give you fair warning, my powers are back, so you’d better be prepared for a good beating if I don’t like your explanations.”
Eros gave him an exasperated look. “Why is it that you guys all think you can beat me whenever you’re frustrated with something? I’m as big as the rest of you and pack just as much muscle.”
Triton crossed his arms over his chest. “One and a half minutes.”
“Great, that’s the thanks I get? Why do I even bother?”
“Thanks? For what? For sabotaging me and working with Orion behind my back?” Triton mocked.
“Would you mind covering up?” Eros asked with a glance at Triton’s naked body.
Triton snatched a towel off the rack and wrapped it around his lower half. “Enough stalling.”
“So you’ve got your powers back. Guess that means you’re in love with Sophia.”
Triton narrowed his eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just what I said. You’re in love with Sophia, that’s why your powers are back.”
“My powers are back because Sophia loves me. Granted, it took a little while for Zeus to give them back to me, but they’re back.”
Eros shook his head. “He didn’t grant you your powers because Sophia loves you, but because you love her.”
“Weren’t you listening?”
“I was, but unfortunately Zeus changed the rules of the game on you.”
“What?” Panic coursed through Triton. What had Zeus done?
“Okay, here’s what happened. Just don’t hit me, or you’ll never get the whole story out of me.” When Triton didn’t answer, Eros went on. “Zeus and Poseidon had this idea of teaching you a lesson, so—”
“My father was in on this?”
Eros shrugged. “Can you blame him? You were a total brat, chasing after every skirt. Are you even aware of how many times your father had to calm down some pissed off husband or father?”
Triton cringed. He had been pretty bad now that he thought of it. But all this was behind him. From now on, only Sophia existed for him. She was the only woman he wanted.
“I see, you do remember,” Eros remarked dryly. “When I heard of their plan, honestly, I thought it was good.”
Triton took in a deep breath, ready to deck Eros with his fist. But the love god raised his hand. “Hold it. Yes, I thought it was a good plan. I figured if you had to be nice to women for once, it would teach you something: humility. I should have known it wouldn’t work. So, after a couple of weeks, I took pity on you. I was going to shoot one of those women with my arrow so one would fall in love with you.”
Triton listened up. Eros was on his side?
“Unfortunately, Zeus got wind of it. So he took away my power to shoot arrows. I tell you, that really sucks. Now work’s piling up and I’ll have to do a few really long shifts to catch up.”
“You poor soul,” Triton said sarcastically.
Eros ignored his remark. “Anyway, that’s when Zeus decided to rig the game and change the rules. He and your father figured it would be much more effective if you were the one, who had to fall in love, not the woman. And what’s even worse, he decided not to tell you about it.”
“Son of a god!” Triton cursed. Zeus was more devious than he’d expected.
“That’s when I had the idea with Orion. I knew he’d wanna sabotage you, but Orion didn’t know about the rule change either. Since I couldn’t shoot any arrows anymore, I figured I’d have Orion do it.”
“He shot Sophia with an arrow to make her fall in love with me?” Triton felt deflated. Was that the reason she loved him?
Eros shook his head. “Orion shot you.”
“Me?” Why would Orion have shot him?
“Yes, I convinced him that if you turned into some lovesick puppy, women would run from you. Nobody wants a douchebag.”
“I’m not a douchebag.” Triton raised his fist again.
“Nobody says you are. I was merely fooling your idiot brother.”
“Half-brother,” Triton corrected hastily.
“So, as you can see, it all worked. You fell in love with Sophia. Zeus gave you your powers back. End of story. Time to go home.”
“I’m not going home. I am home.” The moment he said it, Triton remembered what his father had said to him that night out at Fort Sumter, that he would find his home. He’d found it with Sophia.
“I don’t think you understand. You’re a god again. It’s time to go back.”
“And I don’t think you understand. I love her, and I’m staying. Thanks for the help. I’m sorry I misjudged you. But if you don’t mind, I’d like to go back to bed.” And hold Sophia in his arms, wake up with her in the morning, and make love to her again. But he didn’t say that—it was personal and only between him and Sophia.
“Do I have to spell it out for you? You are a god again. My arrows don’t work on gods.”
“So? I’m in love with Sophia, so obviously the arrow worked on me.” Did it really matter why he’d fallen in love with her? For a moment, Triton wondered if it was all a fraud, but he dismissed the thought. He loved her, no matter what.
“Because Orion shot you while you were without your powers. Now that you’ve got them back, the effect will wear off.”
“What effect?” Triton didn’t like the direction the conversation was going in. A twinge of doubt crept into his chest.
“The effect of my arrow. You’ll soon realize that you’re not in love with her. She’ll mean nothing to you. Gods aren’t affected by the magic of my arrows. You’ll fall out of love.”
Triton took a step back, bumping against the tile wall. He’d fall out of love? No! It wasn’t possible. No, he would love Sophia forever, he knew it. “No.”
Eros put a hand on his forearm. “I’m sorry. Truly, I am. But you have to leave her now.”
Leave Sophia? How could he? She loved him. He would break her heart. And she needed him, now more than ever. Who would take care of her if he was gone? Triton swallowed hard, but the lump in his throat didn’t loosen. And if he stayed? If what Eros had said was true?
“How can you be so sure?”
“You have to trust me on this. You have to leave now.”
Triton shook his head. “No. I’ll stay. We’ll see if it wears off, and if—I say if it really wears off as you claim, then I’m leaving. And only then.”
The grave look Eros gave him tightened the knot in Triton’s stomach.
“Triton, you don’t understand.” He exhaled. “Not only don’t I know exactly whether it will take two or three hours or two or three days until it wears off, but because somebody other than myself shot you, the arrow was contaminated.”
Triton stared at Eros. “What does that mean?”
“Your memory of her and your time with her will vanish from one minute to the next. You might wake up next to her tomorrow and not even know who she is.”
Triton’s knees buckled, and he slid to the ground. “How could you do this to me?”
Eros’ hand on his shoulder was no consolation. Triton shook it off. “I’ll hurt her if I stay. I won’t love her anymore. I won’t even know her.” He couldn’t do that to her. He loved her too much to see her in pain. It was better if he left her now. Maybe she would get over it, forget him quickly. He hoped she would.
“Forgive me, Sophia,” he whispered, even though she couldn’t hear him.
Thirty-Five
Sophia s
nuggled deeper into the warm sheets. Her entire body hummed pleasantly with the aftershocks of making love to Triton. She’d never felt better in her entire life. And finally, one big worry had been lifted off her shoulders. She wasn’t mentally ill. The creatures she’d seen—even Poseidon who’d saved her from drowning—were real. And if they were real, it meant that her mother hadn’t been crazy either.
Everything made sense now. She’d inherited the gift of seeing otherworldly beings from her mother. And now she’d fallen for a god. Triton. She rolled to the other side of the bed, trying to get closer to him. But the bed was empty.
Sophia sat up with a start and listened to the sounds in the house. She could hear faint noises coming from the second floor. Quickly, she swung her legs out of bed and found her bathrobe.
As she walked along the second floor corridor, she heard a news anchor on the TV. “Meteorologists have not been able to explain the phenomenon as of yet, but it is clear that the storm took an abrupt turn last night and veered off the coast. Radar was unable to track the storm’s path …”
Sophia walked to the kitchen where she heard somebody tinkering with pots and pans. “Triton?”
“Good morning, Sophia,” Alice greeted her cheerfully.
“Good morning, Alice. Have you seen Triton?”
“No. Nobody’s here except for me.” There was the sound of the front door opening. “Oh, maybe that’s him now.”
Sophia took a step back into the hallway as somebody walked up the stairs. “Triton,” she called out.
“No, it’s me, Jonathan,” the voice replied. “Sorry, I’m a little late this morning. I was watching the news about the storm. Quite something, wasn’t it? For it to just turn off like that.”
Sophia nodded. Triton had done that. She was proud of him, but of course she could never tell anybody what he’d done. “Good morning, Jonathan.”
“Good morning. Oh, nice, who got you the flowers?”
“What flowers?”
“The ones on the sideboard. Looks like there’s a card with it,” Jonathan explained.
Sophia heard Alice come out from the kitchen. “They were already here when I got here this morning.”
“Can you read the card to me?” She knew instinctively who the flowers were from. And surely Triton knew that she couldn’t read the card herself, so he wouldn’t write anything too intimate on it, knowing somebody had to read it for her. Maybe he’d just had to leave to take care of something and would be back soon.
Jonathan walked past her. She heard the rustle of an envelope being opened.
“Sophia, all I said last night is true, but I can’t stay. Forgive me. Triton,” Jonathan read.
He’d left her? An ice cold hand gripped her heart and squeezed the last drop of blood from it. Her lungs fought for air, but she couldn’t get any. She closed her eyes shut, seeking comfort in utter darkness, trying to shut out the rest of the world. Triton was gone. His words had a finality to them that she understood.
She felt Jonathan’s hand on her elbow, steadying her. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I know you liked him.”
Like didn’t even come close to what she felt for Triton. She’d opened her heart to him. Sophia took a gulp of air. With it came the first sob, but she bit it back. No, she couldn’t allow herself to cry, not here, not in front of Alice and Jonathan.
“I’ll get you a cup of coffee,” Alice said from the kitchen, the pity in her voice the final stab to Sophia’s composure.
***
Triton turned away from the pool of water and the images playing on its surface. He couldn’t watch Sophia cry herself to sleep for a second night. It hurt too much. Already last night, he’d wanted to run back to her and comfort her, tell her he’d come back to her, if only she stopped crying. But he’d held himself back, knowing he couldn’t offer her what she needed. She deserved a man, who’d be true to her for the rest of her life, and he couldn’t guarantee that.
“What’s wrong, son?” his father’s voice came from behind him.
Triton spun on his heels. “Everything is wrong!”
“Don’t you think that’s a little melodramatic?”
“I’ve not forgiven you and Zeus for what you did.” In fact, Triton was still seething with anger. Anger not for his own pain but for the pain that Sophia had to suffer now. His own pain, he deserved. It was time that he paid for all his youthful indiscretions and his callousness. But it wasn’t fair to let Sophia suffer for it.
“We only tried to teach you a lesson, one, if I might add, you needed desperately. All your actions were your own.”
Triton glared at his father. But Poseidon’s expression didn’t turn to anger. Instead, his face remained calm, which irked Triton even more. “I’ve learned my lesson, I assure you. But you and Zeus have gone too far this time. Sophia is an innocent. She doesn’t deserve to suffer.”
“She suffers?”
Triton crossed the distance to go toe to toe with his father. “She cries every night, she doesn’t eat, she has no hope left,” he hissed.
“Maybe you should do something about that,” Poseidon said innocently.
Triton narrowed his eyes. “What are you saying?”
“I assume she suffers because of you?”
He didn’t like his father’s accusation—most of all because it was true. Sophia suffered because he’d left her. Left her with barely a word, without an explanation, and in the middle of the night. Like the thief he was, the thief who’d stolen her heart and then tossed it aside. By the gods, how he hated himself for it.
Without another word, he turned and walked toward the palace.
“Son,” Poseidon called after him, “you have to trust in what you feel. Only you know what that is. Nobody else.”
What did his father know what he felt? His heart was being put through a wringer twenty-four hours a day. There wasn’t a moment since he’d returned from the mortal world, when he didn’t feel the acute stabbing pain that sliced his heart into pieces. Not even at night did he get reprieve. He hadn’t slept since he’d left Sophia’s arms. Whenever he tried to close his eyes, images of Sophia flooded his mind, intensifying the pain in his heart.
How long would it take for Eros’ arrows to lose their effect? Hadn’t Eros said it was only a matter of hours? Maximum three days he’d said. Well, maybe he was being punished some more. He sure deserved it. And he was fully prepared to take more punishment if only it meant Sophia would be happy again.
He needed to do something for her, to help her.
***
The god of healing, Aesculapius, only raised an eyebrow when he heard Triton’s question. “Surely you know I need a good reason to heal somebody. Otherwise everybody would expect to be healed from any ailment and there’d be no illness and disease in the mortal world.”
“This woman is special. She needs our help. Because of the gods, she’s suffered unduly, and it’s only right to give her something back that will help her restore her hope in life.” Triton glanced at the staff in the god’s hand. A single serpent coiled around it, its tongue flicking out now and then. He knew that if Aesculapius willed it, his staff could heal any disease.
“Ah, so that is the woman everybody is talking about on Olympus.”
Triton didn’t hide his surprise. “What do you mean?”
The healer god chuckled. “Finally a mortal woman has brought you to your knees.”
The assessment was right, but Triton wasn’t in the mood to discuss his feelings with him or anybody else for that matter. “It doesn’t matter what everybody says. Will you help me?”
“Help you? I thought you wanted me to help her.”
“Helping her is helping me.”
“I see. As you know, nothing is for free, not even here on Olympus. What have you got to offer me in exchange?”
Triton hadn’t thought about it. He had nothing the god of healing could possibly want. Panic spread within him. If he couldn’t offer Aesculapius something of great v
alue, he wouldn’t restore Sophia’s eyesight. Frantically, Triton combed his mind for anything he owned that was of value. He drew a blank.
“What do you want?” he asked in desperation. “I’ll give you anything you want, whatever is in my power.”
“Anything?” Aesculapius asked. “Just as I thought.” A crooked smile crept onto his lips. “It looks like I might just win my bet after all.”
“Your bet?”
“Your friend Hermes has turned into quite a bookmaker ever since you came back. I’ve got quite a treasure riding on you.”
“What in Hades is going on?” They were making bets on him?
“Well, I can’t tell you that, of course. Otherwise I might be accused of rigging the bet. But I tell you what, I’ll grant your wish and give the woman her eyesight back. And if I win my bet, you owe me nothing. If I lose, I get to take whatever I want from you.”
Triton had never been a gambling man, and not knowing what the bet was even about, he had no way of knowing what, if anything, he would ever owe the god of healing. But it didn’t matter. Aesculapius had agreed to heal Sophia—it was all that mattered. Whatever he wanted from him in the future was worth it. Triton didn’t have to think it over. His decision was clear.
“Agreed.”
***
Sophia felt a burst of light in her face as if someone was shining a spotlight on her. Out of reflex, she closed her eyes shut, only to open them a second later.
The shock of what she saw knocked her back against the wall.
She screamed.
Instantly, Jonathan came running from the kitchen. “Sophia! What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
She stared at him, running her eyes from his head to his feet. His skin was the color of milk chocolate, but his eyes were a mixture of grey and blue. “You have grey eyes,” was the first thing that came over her lips.
Jonathan’s jaw dropped. “You can see me.”
Sophia turned in a slow circle and took in her surroundings. She could see everything: the wainscoting on the walls, the tasteful runners on the smooth wooden floor, the pictures that had been hung. She could even read the artists’ names.