by Sable Grace
“Are you ever going to stop being a mystery?” Ryker asked, his breath whispering against her ear. “You’re never going to give up on her, are you?”
“No more than she’d give up on me. I can’t save her, but I can give her time to try and save herself.”
“I wasn’t sure you’d be able to keep your promise.” Artemis linked her arm with Kyana’s and led her inside the temple. “I’m impressed.”
“What promise?”
Artemis smiled. “The promise you made to save Haven. To protect the gods.”
She swallowed, easing out of Artie’s grip. “I didn’t stop Cronos. He still has his ring. His followers. He’s going to come after his sons.”
Ryker pressed a calming kiss to her forehead and pulled her into his arms. “He can’t get off that island, Ky. Not without a port from me or Ares.”
She hugged him briefly before stepping back and admitting her deepest fear. “I’m not sure I’m the person meant to finish this mission if he does show up.”
Artie’s dark brows rose. “You’re going to quit now?”
She shrugged, not liking the burn of regret in her belly. “I don’t . . . I don’t know how . . .”
“Training, Kyana,” Artemis said. “You’ve yet to begin. But once you’ve mastered what it means to be the Goddess of the Hunt, you’ll not doubt yourself any longer.”
Ryker forced her to look up at him. “You have to stop hating yourself. It’s going to fester, rot away the goodness in you. Hate is what feeds Cronos. Don’t become like him.”
She sighed. It was good advice, but she wasn’t sure she could follow it. There was only one way to forgive Haven, and in turn herself. She was going to have to find Cronos.
And kill him again.
But how did one go up against the most powerful god in the world and win?
Ryker gave her another light kiss before leaving the temple to follow after Ares. He’d make sure Haven was settled as a favor to her. But as he walked away, an emptiness filled her, making her ache to follow him, to ask him to stay with her for the night.
“You know, you’re only what you think you are if you choose to believe it,” Artemis said.
Kyana blinked. “Huh?”
Artemis’s laugh lit up her eyes the way Kyana imagined a mother’s might when cast upon her daughter. “This belief you have that you’ll never lose your Vampyric sensibility to remain unattached to others . . . it’s only true if you make it so. You’ve attached yourself to Haven. To Geoffrey even. I see the way you look at our new Zeus, and Kyana, it is all right to want a future with him.”
She shrugged, uncomfortable with the topic but determined not to show it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“All right, then. But I see no harm in the temples of Zeus and Artemis becoming one, if both parties choose it to be so. Just because I was a virginal goddess does not mean you have to be.” Artemis placed a hand on Kyana’s shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. “An eternity is a very long time to be lonely, Kyana. Trust me. I speak from experience. An even longer time to pine after the one who owns your heart.”
“No one owns my heart but me.”
This time, it was Artie who shrugged. “So long as that’s how you choose it to be and it’s not what you believe you deserve. You’re not Vampyre anymore, Kyana. Do not be afraid to explore what that might mean.”
And with that, she walked back outside, leaving Kyana standing alone in the vast, empty temple. She stared blankly into space, her heart pounding in her chest. Part of her wanted to tear off after Ryker, but fear held her in place.
Could she abandon a lifetime’s worth of beliefs and trust Ryker with who she really was and what she really wanted? And if she chose to take the next step, what exactly did that mean?
“You look ill.” Ryker’s voice was suddenly in her ear again, and she looked to her left to see him smiling down at her. “Artemis said you wanted to talk to me before I questioned Haven?”
From the main entrance, Artemis turned and gave a friendly wave.
Traitor.
“She lied,” Kyana muttered. “Go on. I’m all right.”
He eyed her with suspicion. “You don’t look all right.” He nuzzled her neck. “Stay at my temple tonight? Or, if you prefer, I can stay at yours. I know a hundred ways to make you all right again.”
She opened her mouth to say no, but Artie mentally scolded her.
“Mine,” she heard herself say. “We stay at mine.”
It wasn’t a commitment of forever, but it was one hell of a huge first step.
Ryker grinned, kissed the back of her hand, then headed back outside, where Ares was waiting for him to finish their escort of Haven.
Her heart thudded in her chest as she watched him go, and she couldn’t help but feel a tremor of excitement over the possibilities of what the night might bring.
She let her gaze linger on Haven’s escort, her heart suddenly so full that it left no room for fear and worry. But as Haven and her guards disappeared, another sight grabbed Kyana’s attention, and she had to blink to make sure she was truly seeing what she thought she was.
A ghostly little girl followed behind the procession, her body transparent, but her eyes sparkling blue. The child stopped, looking over her shoulder at Kyana. After several seconds, she smiled a big toothy grin, offered a friendly wave, and skipped off after Haven.
Kyana felt her face break into a grin worthy of a true goddess. “You’re wrong, Haven,” she whispered. “She’s not gone. She’ll always be right there with you.”
“Who will be with her, Goddess?” someone asked from nearby.
Kyana didn’t turn away. “Hope. Hope will always be with her.”
As she mumbled the words, her mind’s eye brought forth images of the things that gave her hope. Ryker and Geoff. Even Silas, slutty Sixx, Nettles, Ares, and her minions, Farrel and Crag. Artemis. Perhaps even Haven again one day. Friends. They were her family now.
It didn’t matter that she didn’t know how to end Cronos’s miserable existence for good this time. Even though she’d failed once, and might again before they saw this through, her family would still be standing by her side, ready to help her every step of the way. Ready to die beside her if it came to that.
A calming warmth settled around her as the realization struck her. She did know how to go against the toughest god in the world and she knew how to beat him.
With family.
With hope.
That night, Kyana waited for Ryker in her bed, her body warm and drowsy from an overindulgence of much needed ambrosia, while her nerves twitched in anticipation. In the hours since retiring to her chamber, Artemis’s words had plagued her until finally, now, she knew what needed to be done.
She wasn’t Vampyre anymore. Who was to say that she had to behave like one?
When her door creaked open, she propped herself up on her elbow and smiled at the man who had entered her world with far less subtlety than he entered her room now. He’d more or less crashed into her life. Unasked for. Unwanted.
My how things have changed.
“I thought you might be asleep by now,” he said, tugging his shirt over his head and easing onto the bed beside her.
Kyana rolled over, pressing her chest to his as she lay atop him and forced him to meet her gaze. Thanks to his godly blood, the bruises on his battered face had faded to a faint yellowish-green. The swelling had completely disappeared. Only the ambrosia-inflicted wound on his forehead remained red and raw-looking, made her grimace over the pain he’d endured at Haven’s hand.
She pressed her lips gently to the wound. “I might break your heart,” she said.
He shrugged. “I could just as easily break yours.”
She swallowed. “I don’t know if I’m okay with that.”
Something flickered in his eyes as he watched her and traced his thumb over her lips. “What? Breaking mine or yours?”
“Either.” She sighed and laid her h
ead against his chest. “I’m afraid it’s not me you want, Ryker. I’m afraid it’s this crazy notion you have of me. I’m terribly flawed, you know. Proud and stubborn—”
“I hadn’t noticed.”
She poked him in the rib. “I’m serious. I won’t change.”
He took her head gently in his hands and lifted her gaze to his. “I hope not.”
Swallowing down that stubborn pride she’d been speaking of, she tried to find the truth in his eyes. She found them smiling up at her with a slight twinkle. For now, her flaws were all right, just as she was able to bear his. Overthinking, duty-bound, morally righteous though they might be. But one day . . . one day they might get tiresome and one of them might not choose to stay anymore.
What then?
“Does it make you happy?” he asked. “To have me here?”
She nodded.
“I love you, Ky. I’ve loved you for ten years. Can you deal with that?”
Her heart was racing and the urge to flee from his arms was nearly overwhelming. But this time, she wasn’t going to listen to her head. She was going to listen to her heart.
“I can’t promise you forever. I can’t even promise you all of me,” she said, kissing his cheek, his nose, his mouth.
“I know.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
His lips thinned and his expression turned solemn. Kyana ran her hands through his hair, brushing the golden strands off his face so she could better see him.
“If you can look at me now and tell me your feelings for me are strong and have potential, then yes, I’m okay with that. But Ky, I don’t just want you in my bed. We can’t give this a shot if you keep closing me out.”
She sighed, content as he gently rubbed the small of her back, his arousal waking her from her drowsy state. He was right, and she’d been trying. Little by little, she was becoming more of herself around him.
“I’ll try,” she conceded, nuzzling his neck. “But Ryker . . . tit for tat.”
“Deal.”
“This,” she said, as he slid his hands down her back to cup her ass and his tat strained against her belly, “is about to get really interesting.”
Acknowledgments
A special thank you to our husbands for never reading what we write and, therefore, assuring we stay happily married.
We’d like to thank our agent, Roberta Brown, for her unrivaled support, and our editor, Erika Tsang, for liking Kyana enough to let her return to the page.
Brandy, Jess, and Kat—for always being there. Love you, Mom.
And Sydney and Hunter—for growing up so beautifully. Mom.
About the Author
SABLE GRACE is the writing team of Heather Waters and Laura Barone, long-time critique partners and friends who came together by fluke to discover their voices fit quite nicely during a writing experiment. The story became far too interesting to put down and Sable Grace was born.
Both Heather and Laura reside in Florida, are happily married to their real-life heroes, and are, well, complete opposites. Still, there’s enough common ground for them to weave their words together in the voice of Sable Grace.
You can reach them both at [email protected] or visit their website at www.sablegrace.com.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
By Sable Grace
Bedeviled
Ascension
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
BEDEVILED. Copyright © 2012 by Heather Waters and Laura Barone. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition JANUARY 2012 ISBN: 9780062096319
Print Edition ISBN: 9780061964411
FIRST EDITION
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au/ebooks
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollins.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollins.com