Doors clanked open and Kampe strode into the arena, her nasty shark grin full of happiness. “That was magnificent! But it is a fight to the death, is it not?”
I pressed on the material, hoping I gave his wound enough pressure. “How could it be a fight to the death when I’m the one who fought for his freedom?”
She made a tsk sound and waved one claw in the air. “Ariadne was so much brighter. I can’t help but wonder if the other half of you got all the brains.” She started toward me again.
I held up my free hand. “Don’t come any closer to him. How long has he been here like this? How long have you made him a spectacle of your barbaric sport?”
She tapped that claw on her chin. “He wasn’t a very good warrior at first, of course. That took time. Training.” She grinned. “Torture. But he has been my champion for more than fourteen turns of your full moon.”
It was a wonder my heart could beat, my lungs could breathe with the fury taking up all the space in my chest. “I’m going to kill you.”
She shook her head. “You could try. Would be pointless. Besides, I prefer a good challenge, so we’ll let you rest up…let that arm heal first.”
I touched one of the scars on Nikolos’s forehead, wiped blood out of his eyebrow. “I won’t be here that long.” I looked back up at her.
“Won’t you?” She raised her face to the audience, elevated her voice until it bounced off the walls in a dull roar. “For whose freedom did she bargain?” she yelled.
The response was loud and enthusiastic. “Tholos!”
“Yes, Tholos.” She turned to face me. Still with the raised voice, she addressed the audience without looking away. “And did she bargain for her own?”
“No!”
I could only stare for a long moment, then I shook my head. “I’m not a prisoner here, I came of my own free will.”
“And that somehow makes you exempt from our laws?”
“What laws?” I laid Nikolos’s head gently on the ground and slowly got to my feet. Every muscle in my body hurt and my arm was still numb. Gritty dirt crunched in my teeth. “I came here to get him back. You speak of laws.” I snorted. “Is this not the Realm of the Discarded? The place for those who are unredeemable? He gave up his life to save many. He doesn’t fit the profile.”
“He also took the life of a being of perfect light.”
I narrowed my eyes, then spit some of the dirt out of my mouth. “You could never convince me that that is something that matters to you.” I waved my hand at the audience. “To them either.” I took a step toward her, lowered my voice. “You punished him all this time because he thwarted your escape attempt. This is nothing more than petty revenge. You’re nothing more than a silly creature who feels sorry for herself.”
Her features tightened as she flushed red with rage. Ten claws snapped out as she threw out her arms. I braced to fight, knowing there wasn’t enough energy or strength left in me to live through this, but I wouldn’t go down easily.
“Enough!” came a roar from above.
I didn’t risk taking my eyes off her as she looked into the stands, the red flush leaving her face so fast she grew unnaturally pale. Whoever had just spoken scared her. I could see it in the sweat that popped up on her throat and forehead, in the sudden cornered-animal stare. She backed away from me far enough to make me feel safe to look up.
The jet-haired man stood, arms crossed, power blaring from his body like radioactive waves. All eyes were on his thunderous expression.
Kampe moved and my gaze whipped back to her so fast I got dizzy. I kept from falling over by sheer will alone.
“Put her in with Tholos.” She told the guards. “Give them a night together before summoning Charon.” She made a slashing motion with her claws. “You would have lost in the end if it were not for his love for you. Guess the waters of the Lethe and Phlegethon are no match for what lies deep in the heart. I’m actually quite touched.”
“What you are is dead.”
Her expression closed up as she stared at me for a long moment. “We’re in the Realm of the Discarded. I’ve been dead a long time.”
When I came to I was on a soft bed next to an unconscious Nikolos. I touched his arm to see if he was real, waited for his eyes to open, to shine blood-red. When he did nothing but let out a soft snore, I turned my head the opposite direction because I could feel someone’s gaze on me. Phro sat in a chair by the bed, her feet propped up, her arms around her knees.
She wasn’t the only other person in here. My gaze was drawn to the power that spread out from one corner of the room. Sprawled in a red velvet chair in the corner with his long jean-clad legs stretched out, one hand on his massive thigh, the man—no, god—with the black hair stared back at me with my own eyes. His hair was like Nikolos’s had been—thick and falling down his chest.
“Who?” I croaked out, then raised my fingers to gently poke at my neck. I imagined it looked pretty bad from where Nikolos had tried to strangle me.
“Your neck is one massive bruise,” Phro said. “Gods, your body is one massive bruise.”
My attention went back to the god and when he leaned forward, one corner of his mouth went up. I gasped because in that moment he looked like Castor. If Castor had long, silky black hair and shoulders the width of a small closet.
I knew who this was.
Ariadne’s father. King Minos. I also didn’t know what to say. It’s not every day you meet your grandfather. I started to sit up, then winced at the pain, even as I grimaced in embarrassment to see I wore no clothes. Tugging the sheet up, I frowned at Phro.
“Don’t look at me,” she snapped. “I didn’t undress you both and pop you into bed.”
This time, I sat up slowly, careful to hold the covers over my chest. The room was nothing like the dirty pit I’d expected to wake in—the one I’d found Nikolos in before. We were on a huge canopy bed with luxurious burgundy blankets and black sheets. I carefully moved my legs under the covers, feeling the soft material against my bare skin.
“Kampe said I couldn’t leave.” I put my hand gently on Nikolos’s chest, happy to feel his warmth and the movement of his ribs as he breathed. I had no intention of staying in this world. None. I planned to go home. With Nikolos. “I’m not staying here.”
Phro shook her head, hair swinging softly against her cheeks. I noticed then she had bathed and now wore a long skirt and sleeveless top in a beautiful royal-blue color. Matching sandals wrapped her feet and ankles, and disappeared under the skirt.
I looked again at myself and Nikolos, felt a thread of panic enter my chest. “We’re both clean. You’re clean. Please tell me it wasn’t water from the Lethe.”
“It wasn’t.”
Something in her expression raised a bell of alarm in my head. I glanced at the silent god who watched me with a steady gaze that had me fighting the urge to squirm. Squirming would hurt.
“Phro, what’s going on here? Apparently I only bargained for Nikolos’s freedom and not my own. I didn’t know I had to bargain for my own freedom because I came here of my own free will.”
She briefly glanced at the god. “You no longer have to bargain for your freedom. We are all free to go.”
Stunned, I waited for more information, then couldn’t stand the silent regard from that corner. I clutched the covers to my chest and stared back at him. “Why do I not have to bargain for my freedom?”
Phro started to answer but I shushed her. “No, I’d rather hear it from him.”
“Bergdis, this is—”
I cut her off with a look. “I know who he is.”
“The resemblance give me away?” His voice—that incredibly deep voice—was so full of power it resonated throughout the room, raised goose bumps on my arms.
I nodded, completely overwhelmed by everything. The bone-deep pain I felt all over, the fact that I faced King Minos, once the ruler of Crete and now underworld god of judgment, and this new twist—the fact I wouldn’t be stuck here.
>
When King Minos didn’t speak right away, Phro started up again. “You can’t leave by the Styx. Nikolos can, but he would end up on the opposite side of the Earth and he’s”—she took a deep breath—“he’s going to need healing time and he’s going to need you. The effects of what he ate and drank here won’t wear off altogether. In fact, Tisiphone doesn’t believe he can recover fully at all.”
I ran my hand up to his shoulder. “He will. He’s strong. Look at what he did for centuries, what he did here. He will be fine.” I tightened my fingers on his skin. “If we can’t leave by the Styx, do we have to go back the way we came?”
She nodded.
Closing my eyes, I worked to keep from losing it in front of my grandfather. I couldn’t make that trek, not in this shape. Everything hurt. When I opened my eyes, I looked right at him. “Is it your doing? That I can leave?”
He inclined his head. “You could not stay here anyway. Look at your arm.”
I pulled it out from under the covers and gasped. Black lines crawled from the long scar to wrap my entire arm from elbow to shoulder. They weren’t pretty lines, like some kind of tattoo, but ugly, harsh lines of infection. Demon infection. The wound itself ached like it had been reopened. “What’s going to happen to me?” I whispered, my fear so strong I couldn’t raise my voice in that instant.
He stood on long, long legs and walked to stand by the bed. “The demon wounds are not going to heal and here, they will grow worse at a faster speed. There are no spells, nothing that any of us can do to stop the spread of poison. You will die unless you find the one god who can help.”
“So there is someone who can help?”
He nodded, his hair shining, reflecting the light from the lamp beside the bed. “His name is Ninazu. He’s Sumerian.”
“Do we know where he is?”
Again, he gave me the smile that looked so much like my brother’s it made my heart clench “This is his home, which is normally a good thing because the demons who carry that poison are also here.”
I instantly knew what had happened. “Don’t tell me, he’s one of the escapees.”
“He was one of the first to go into your world and he does not want to come back. He must.” King Minos crossed his arms. “I would like for you to make sure he does.”
“So that’s why I get to leave?” Not because I was family or anything good like that. Of course not. These beings walked a different path than humans. It was nothing more than another bargain. Me for the Sumerian god.
“Kampe planned to use you for sport. With your demon wounds, you’d be no good to her.” His gaze moved to Nikolos. “I did not know Kampe had him. I do not usually attend sport and had heard only of the warrior Tholos. Had I known, he would not be so…changed. I knew him before. He is a good man.”
“Can this healing god help Nikolos?”
“Possibly.”
“Do we know what he looks like or, I don’t know, anything useful about him to help find his location?”
“He is short, shorter by far than most of his people were. It seems to bother him because he wears tall feather headdresses to make up for it. The feathers were always red. He loves to garden—something he could not do here.”
Phro broke in. “It’s something, at least. We’ll have to figure out the rest once we’re home.”
I lifted an eyebrow.
She scowled and stood up. “Your home. You know what I meant.”
Watching her, I took in her nervous glances at King Minos, the way her steps were clipped as she walked toward the door.
“You could stay here, you know,” I said softly. “Obviously not everything in this world is awful—there’s luxury in this room. And you’d have a body to enjoy food and—” I glanced at the god who was my grandfather but looked no older than forty. “Other things.”
She threw her head back in laughter. “You are talking about sex. Lovely, lovely sex. Which I’m going off to find before we leave. Nobody will bother you two for another day. It’s the longest we can risk before we need to leave. You’re going to need food and we can’t risk any of it here.” She gave King Minos an unmistakable look—one that made me uncomfortable instantly—then looked back at me. “And I have to go back with you. I don’t think I’m done with whatever it is I’m supposed to be doing with you.”
“Right. When you are, you’ll get to go home.”
“I’ll get my freedom. There’s a difference.” She walked out of the room.
“What did she mean?” I asked King Minos.
“Aphrodite was never one to explain anything. She always preferred to remain cryptic—said it gave her an air of mystery.” He chuckled and like his voice, the sound was deep and brushed over the skin.
“Oh goddess,” I said on a groan. “Please don’t tell me that you and she…” I just let that trail off. I couldn’t even say it.
“No. I was not one to fall for her tricks.” He sent a thoughtful look at the closed door. “But she seems to have changed.”
I supposed covering my ears wouldn’t endear me to the god, but I so did not want to picture my spirit guide and my grandfather in that way. Instead, I eyed him closely, opened my mouth and closed it, unsure where to start with the gazillion questions I had for him. I settled for one. “Did you know about us? My brother and me?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.” Anger began to simmer in my gut.
“You wonder why I did nothing to help you. Why you were left without answers all these years.”
“Of course I do.” Frowning, I took in the way he stared at me, the way he seemed to drink me in like he’d been thirsty for a glimpse of me my entire life. That thought gave me pause. “You couldn’t come.”
“I could not. But it is good to look at you, to see my daughter in you.” He smiled, a full one this time. “Though you got your coloring from my side of the family.”
I eyed his dark hair, lifted an eyebrow. A very coppery eyebrow.
“Your color exists in aunts, uncles, cousins. Or…it did. The white, though, that is from your mother.”
My stomach picked that moment to growl loudly. Nikolos murmured something in his sleep and slid his arm around my waist.
King Minos chuckled and stood. “I will let you sleep so you can start home soon. Follow that cord of yours.” His black brows came together. “What a strange gift you inherited. It’s fascinating.”
“That’s one description, I suppose,” I muttered. Exhaustion hit me so hard then, the room spun.
“Lie back down,” my grandfather said, his voice softer, less booming. “Rest. I’m glad to have met you, Bergdis Hildegun O’Dell.”
“Don’t leave,” I murmured, even as I gingerly scooted back down to lie next to the still-sleeping Nikolos. He tightened his arm around me, stuck his nose to my shoulder. “I have so many questions for you,” I said.
He only offered me a soft smile before turning and striding from the room. I stretched out on my back, rolling my head to the side so I could look at Nikolos. I wanted to be awake when he woke, wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be looking into feral, red eyes. Turning my body so I could rest one hand on his chest, I soaked in the warmth of his skin and hoped that he would be my Nikolos when he did wake.
Chapter Sixteen
When next I woke, I faced a pair of glittering near-black eyes as Nikolos stared at me.
“I’m glad to see it’s you in there,” I whispered, touching his cheek. “Happy to see those dark Minoan eyes.”
“You’re here.” He moved to hold me and winced, his eyes slamming shut.
“I hit you in the head. With a chain.” I bit my lip, blinked back hot tears. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“I can remember some of it, Beri.” This time he moved slowly as he pulled me close. I noticed he didn’t use the hand I’d kicked and probably broken. He slid one bare, hairy thigh over mine. “You had no choice.”
“Your poor head,” I whispered, reaching up to touch the ragged tufts that st
uck out all over his scalp. Tears sprang into my eyes and I slid my fingers onto the side of his head. “I can’t even begin to explain how good it is to see you. Be with you.” Because I was on my side, the tears from my right eye dripped over my nose into my left. I blinked fast, not wanting to take my sight off him for even a second.
He wiped his thumb over my cheek. “They cut my hair so it couldn’t be used against me in the fights.”
“I loved it before, but this suits you. Or it will when it doesn’t look like someone took a razor blade to it.” I choked on the lump in my throat. “I can’t even imagine what you’ve—”
He put his fingers over my mouth. “Shh. Let’s just lie here and be. Just be.” He smiled. “The hair will grow back.”
But the short did suit him. His high cheekbones, strong nose and slanted eyes stood out more without the hair to cover them.
“I met my grandfather,” I whispered. “A Minoan—like you. They must have been the most beautiful race to walk the earth.”
“The blood runs strong in your veins then.” He offered me another faint smile that faded as his gaze moved down to my neck. He stiffened, guilt pouring off him in waves as he must have realized where the bruises came from.
“Hey,” I whispered, touching his chin. “What happened to just be?”
“I hate that I hurt you.”
“Do me a favor and don’t feel bad for any of this. That wasn’t you.” I stretched my sore neck to lightly press a kiss to his lips. “That wasn’t us.”
“I’ll work on not feeling bad about it. It’s all I can promise.”
“Good enough.” I laid my cheek back on the pillow and held my hand over him, unsure where I could touch him.
He pushed my hand down to his chest.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I whispered. “There are hardly any bruise-free places on your body.”
“It’ll hurt me more if you don’t touch me.” He pressed on the back of my hand. “Touch me more.”
I did. I ran my palm over his skin, feeling the taut ripple of muscle even as he rested flat. “Your body has changed.”
Blood of an Ancient: A Beri O'Dell Book, Book 2 Page 22