Goddess Bound: Goddess Series Book 6 (Young Adult / New Adult)

by Muse, M. W.

  “Me?” Legacy asked, startled. She looked at Seth and he was sporting a righteous look. Gods, his uppity attitude was grating on her last nerve.

  “Everybody wants you, cupcake.”

  “Stop calling me that!”

  Seth rolled his eyes and looked back into the odd fire as Thad started talking again.

  “I know, dude. We’ll get her. I told you Seth was behind this. I told you. And he’s not someone to screw over.”

  “Hmmm.” Seth frowned. “How the hell did Thad know?”

  “You two hung out all the time,” Kate mumbled. Legacy looked at her and then looked at Seth to see if he’d yell at Kate for saying something that could be challenging to him, or if he’d act besotted again.

  “True,” he mumbled, and Legacy breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn’t acted out toward Kate. She wasn’t sure if that girl could handle him like she could.

  “What are we going to do? I chose Legacy. She will be my wife.”

  “He is out of his mind!” Legacy yelled. “What the hell is wrong with all of you?” She looked at Seth and struggled to find words. “I-I mean, seriously? My vagina isn’t laced with gold!”

  Seth laughed, and that just pissed her off more. Why was she the object of so many men’s desire? Though, honestly, she knew the answer to that question was because of her destiny, but it still irked her.

  “Might as well be,” Kate whispered.

  Legacy looked at her. “I didn’t ask for all this.”

  “Quiet! Thad and Ric are still talking and I want to hear.”

  Legacy looked at Seth before setting her gaze to the fire again. The two brothers were arguing as Thad paced.

  “I will go after her myself,” Ric said. “You can stay here and do damage control with Ellen.”

  “No. We’ll both go. We can leave in the morning after we talk to Dad. He’ll need to make arrangements with Charon to get us passage to the underworld.”

  “Will that work?” Ric asked.

  “It’ll have to.” Thad started walking toward the door of the room they were in. “I have a date with Ellen. We’ll talk to Dad tonight when I get back.”

  Seth swiped his hand through the fire, and the images dissipated.

  “Assuming you didn’t just conjure that stuff out of thin air, what the hell was Ric talking about?” Legacy asked.

  “Jeez, woman, I thought you said you’d been researching about yourself.” When Legacy opened her mouth to spout off her defense, Seth’s hand flew up. “Stop. Never mind. Here’s the short version. Thad’s original god is Theseus and Ric’s is Pirithous. Those two original gods pledged to kidnap and marry Zeus’s daughters. When Hades took Persephone, Pirithous planned to get her out of the underworld and marry her himself since he’d already decided she would be his. That’s the history. My theory is their father told them they were destined to marry a daughter of Zeus and maybe even told them which one to seek based on the pasts of their original gods. Since Pirithous attempted to take Persephone from Hades, it seems Ric wants to take you from me. Only now, I know how he’s going to go about it. I’ll just talk with Charon and make sure it doesn’t happen.” A knock on the door sounded, and they all looked toward it. “Come in.”

  Legacy watched as a scantily clad, very beautiful woman walked in. Then she looked at Seth. His initial impassiveness changed to irritation very briefly. Then his eyes glazed over, taking on that chillingly cold emotion he’d sported a few times now…usually before he’d done something particularly hateful.

  “Who’s that?” Kate whispered to Legacy. Uh-oh. She’d been worried about Seth’s reaction the last time her prison mate had spoken, but with her learning when to expect Seth’s mood changes, now she knew the backlash was coming. She hid her wince as the woman approached Seth, swaying as if she were a high-class, high-dollar hooker.

  “This is my real lover, pet,” Seth murmured as the high-class whore sat on his lap and started nibbling his ear.

  “I’ve missed you so, my lord.”

  Kate’s shocked sob was so quiet that it could hardly be heard…unless in a room of gods. Seth looked over at her and winked, seemingly enjoying her pain. Then he grabbed the blonde’s hair, yanked her head back, and devoured her mouth, kissing and groping her.

  “You asshole!” Kate jumped up and ran. Legacy followed after.

  She wasn’t sure if it was a good sign or a bad one that Kate was hurt. Either Kate wasn’t as impartial to Seth as she’d led people to believe, or it was just her pride that was hurt. If it was because of the first reason, Legacy was definitely going to have a major fight on her hands when it came time to attack Seth.

  But if it was because of the second reason, Kate might try to beat Legacy to it. That thought had her fighting a smile as she ran after Kate.

  Chapter Four

  “We need to talk,” Legacy said as she sat on the corner of Kate’s bed. It had been almost a week since they’d been kidnapped, but ever since Seth’s little stunt with this lady friend, Kate had been moping around, avoiding all conversations. Legacy had tried several times to get her to walk around the estate since Seth had allowed them free range of the complex—it was hard to make a run for it with a three-headed demon dog watching their every move—but Kate had stayed in her room, refusing to do anything but sulk. Legacy understood why.

  She was just tired of it.

  “Go away.”

  “Are you hungry yet?” Legacy asked. It had been one of the few questions Kate had responded to, but she’d ignored most of the others Legacy had hurled her way.

  “No. You?”

  “No.”

  Kate rolled over and looked at Legacy. Well, at least that was progress. Usually, she avoided eye contact too. “How long do you think it’ll be before we get hungry?”

  That was a good question, but she didn’t have an answer for her. “Maybe it won’t ever set in. We’re both bound to the gods. Maybe hunger isn’t something we’ll experience when not in the earthly world.” It was a complete guess, but the best she’d been able to come up with.

  “That makes sense.”

  “I’ve been thinking,” Legacy started quickly, wanting to use this new window of opportunity Kate was finally allowing. “I’ve been watching things around here. Seth usually leaves around midnight by my watch and doesn’t return for about an hour. He takes a couple of guards with him and suits up wearing weapons. I think he does some kind of patrols. He also does it twelve hours later—midday Arkansas time. When we try to escape, we need to utilize one of these two timeframes that he’s away from here.”

  Kate sat up and rubbed her face. “How are we going to get away? We’re in the underworld. Seth doesn’t keep us locked up because he knows we can’t get far if we try to run.”

  “I know. We have to have a plan first. There’s something I’d like to try if you’re up for it. He should be leaving any minute now for his evening check, so we’ll have to act fast.”

  Kate licked her lips, and little bit of life came back into her eyes. “You think he’s going out to screw his whore?”

  Uh-oh. That wasn’t the kind of life she’d hoped to be seeing in those eyes. “I don’t know. C’mon, I need you to help me keep watch while I try this.” Legacy stood up, not even going to entertain Kate’s thought process on the blonde competition she hadn’t realized existed before their little trip to Hell.

  Kate took a deep breath and crawled off the bed, looking resigned. “Where are we going?”

  Legacy smiled. “That’s the spirit. We’re going to the den. The room off the kitchen.”

  Kate groaned as she followed Legacy out of the bedroom. Legacy understood Kate’s reaction. That had been the room she’d witnessed her boyfriend making out with another woman. If there could be any other way, Legacy would have avoided bringing Kate along with her, but she just couldn’t risk it.

  “Act natural.”

  “As opposed to…?”

  Legacy looked over her shoulder. “We can walk arou
nd wherever we want. Once we get in and see we are alone then we can work quickly. Don’t rush or act sneaky until we know we’re alone,” she whispered.

  “Got it.”

  Legacy opened the door and walked in. Kate followed behind. The room was empty, so she shut the door and rushed over to the window that faced the south entrance of the main house. Seth was outside, talking to members of the guard, just as she’d suspected. She turned around and faced Kate. “He’s leaving. Let’s hurry.”

  “What are we doing exactly?” Kate asked as she followed Legacy over to the fire pit.

  Legacy smiled at her. “I’m going to try my hand at Seth’s little crystal ball trick. Since we could see Thad and Ric, maybe we can see other people. Who knows…maybe even we can communicate with this thing.” She motioned toward the fire as she stepped up to it.

  “But he stuck his hand in it. You might get burned.”

  Legacy glanced at her. “True, or I might not feel anything. I haven’t felt hungry.”

  Kate gaped at her. “But you can feel pain! I know I can. That freaking hurt when Seth was pulling my hair.”

  She had a point, but it didn’t matter. “Well, it’s a small price to pay then.” Legacy cleared her mind and visualized the one man she wanted—Adin. Gods, she missed him so much. She’d fallen asleep thinking about him every night, but while she’d slept, she’d been in a completely dreamless state. Not that it had helped her relax. She’d wake up thinking about him as if she’d never stopped. He’d just gotten back when she’d been taken. They still had a lot of lost time to make up for, and she’d planned on earning that time back by learning all the secrets of his body while he’d mastered hers. Her being ripped away from him was monumentally unfair. She squeezed her eyes shut and ran her hand through the fire as she focused her thoughts on Adin.

  Kate gasped. Legacy’s eyes opened.

  “Oh my gods,” Legacy said. “River.” Why had he shown up? She hadn’t been thinking about him just now.

  “It worked!” Kate whispered heatedly.

  “Not quite—” She stopped in mid-thought when Adin walked into view. “O-oh, I guess it did.” He looked so hot! Gods, she wished she was back home with him. Except for the bags under his eyes and the grooves in his hair as if he’d been running his fingers through it repeatedly, he looked to be doing well. All things considered. He’d just died, gone through a rebirth, and ascended, and now he was dealing with the stress of Legacy’s abduction. He could definitely look a lot worse.

  “…And what did he say?” Adin asked as he stepped up to River.

  “We’re screwed. He talked to the oracle and got nothing but riddles. Basically, we can’t get her out. Either one of us goes and we’ll be stuck there.”

  “I don’t care!” Yep, Adin ran his hands through his hair, proving her point. “I would much rather me be there than her.”

  “Look, man, I’m with you on that. She can’t stay there. No way. But we can’t do it. Dad did say there was someone who could help us based on what he’d learned.”

  Adin sat on the edge of the chair and rubbed his face. “I’m all ears, man. Hit me. Give me some good news.”

  “Dude, I’m not saying this is the answer, but it’s worth trying out.”

  Adin looked up and glared at him. “Enough with the disclaimer already. Spit it out.”

  “Yeah, okay. The message Dad got was something like this, ‘the cat will lead her by finger’s light before spring at best, but that which is thicker than water will rival to be her ultimate test.’ See, there’s a goddess who helped Persephone escape from the underworld by use of torches. I think the riddle has something do with her. We find her, or her likeness, and we ask her to help. If she agrees, we’re golden.”

  “So you’re suggesting we find someone else to rescue Legacy?”

  “Hey!” Kate pushed Legacy’s shoulder. “What about me? Are they planning on rescuing you and not me?”

  Legacy shook her head. “They probably don’t know you’re here against your will. If they did, they’d plan on helping you too. I won’t leave without you,” she whispered hurriedly so she could focus on Adin again.

  “Hell, I wish it could be any other way. Spring doesn’t officially start for another couple of weeks. That doesn’t give us much time to locate the goddess to seek her help before winter ends.”

  “Two weeks? Are you insane? It’s already been a week! She could die! She knows not to eat anything while in the underworld. She’ll starve.”

  River took a deep breath. “It’s not ideal. But she’s strong. There are cultures of people who fast for months at a time with no special abilities. If she mediates and channels her energy, she can do it much easier than the average person.”

  Adin stood. “I’m going to go crazy if I have to wait two more weeks.”

  River walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. They were in a room that didn’t look familiar, but that wasn’t a big deal. River had a huge house and she hadn’t seen all the rooms. “It’s killing me too. And Calli. She’s been crying for days. We all love her. Whether we do it ourselves or get someone else to physically do it, we will get her back. Don’t worry about that.”

  Adin stared at him for several seconds. Then he finally nodded. “Okay. We need to find that goddess. Who knows…maybe she could go in early?”

  “True that.” He patted Adin’s shoulder before letting go of him. “I’m going to grab my laptop so we can start researching her.”

  Adin nodded. “I’ll get mine too.”

  “Cool. With the both of us looking, surely we’ll find something on that chick and fast.”

  “Gods, I hope so. What’s her name?” Adin asked as they both started to leave the room.

  “Hecate.”

  The flame suddenly returned to normal. Both Adin and River were gone from view and only stone and flames remained in their place.

  “What?” Kate asked, looking at Legacy incredulously. “I’m supposed to help you?”

  There was so much to take in and they were not in a good place to do any data analysis. She walked over to the window to peer out. No one was on the ground below, so that was a good sign. She walked back over to Kate. “Let’s go. We’ll talk about this in your room.”

  They both quickly made the way back down the hall without talking. Legacy locked Kate’s bedroom door once they were back inside the safety of the room.

  “Um, so just how am I supposed to help you, er, I mean us escape?”

  Legacy started biting her thumbnail as she paced. “I don’t know.” More importantly, did Seth know about this? But almost immediately she knew the answer to that question. “That must be why Seth took you. To keep you from sneaking in and rescuing me.”

  Kate dropped to the bed. “I-I…” She shook her head. “This is just too much.”

  Wrong. It wasn’t enough. Not near enough. But it was more than they had before going into that room. “We need to figure out how you’re able to get us out of here. Too bad we don’t have access to a computer.” As if Hell would be a wireless hotspot. Hotspot. She shook her head before the corny joke could even come out of her mouth. She really needed to work on humor being her go-to reaction in bad situations.

  “I don’t see there being any way for us to reach the outside world.”

  She knew there wasn’t. While Kate had been moping around in her assigned room, Legacy had been looking for ways of reaching somebody, anybody. She’d looked for physical resources like phones and computers to contact someone back home, and she’d even tried metaphysical methods like telecommunication with her mother. Nothing had proved helpful. There was only one person who could help Legacy understand, and that person didn’t even know the answers herself. “Kate, I need to you tell me everything about your family.”

  “Why?” Kate asked as Legacy sat beside her.

  “If we’re going to get out of here, I need to understand who exactly you are and just what kind of abilities you have. Since you were so surprised
about your mythology connection, I assume you don’t consciously know what all you can do.”

  “What do you mean? I take it you’re not talking about how fast I can text.”

  “No. I mean special abilities.” Kate stared at her unspeaking. Legacy sighed. “Remember when we talked about everything the other day and I told you things I can do? I mean stuff like that.”

  Kate shook her head. “Seriously? I’d think I was a freak or something.”

  “I know. I had to ask.” Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. “But that’s also why I need you to tell me everything you can about your family. River said something about a ‘cat’ helping me get free. I think that’s a play on your name since he also said Hecate is the one who had helped Persephone escape Hades before. We need to figure out how you can help get us free.”

  “He also said something about blood rivaling you.”

  Yeah, Legacy didn’t know what to make of that. “I’m not sure if that has anything to do with us getting free. I think it might be more about my ascension.” And if that was the case, she had bigger problems to worry about right now.

  “But you don’t have any siblings.”

  Legacy frowned at Kate. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Blood rivaling? Sibling rivalry? I don’t know anything about mythology, but even I can see the connection there.”

  She gasped. “I hadn’t tried to analyze it yet, but that makes sense.” And Kate was right, she didn’t have any siblings. None of the mortal kind anyway. “Ellen,” Legacy breathed. “Seth said she was, for lack of a better word, my sister through Zeus.”

  “And she hates you,” Kate said a chuckle. “Lord, she talks trash about you all the time. I never understood why she hated you so much.”

  “Do you think she knows who she is?”

  “I’m not sure. But she’s never let on that she knows anything about Greek mythology. She’s either really smart and careful or she’s totally clueless and her hatred of you is just a coincidence.”

  But Legacy knew that there were no coincidences, that everything happened for a reason. Kate had to play some part in this, and by the way the riddle had been phrased, her part was going to be some kind of test or challenge. But that still didn’t matter now. If Legacy didn’t get away from Seth, her ascension—and Kate’s test—was irrelevant. If he didn’t kill her, he could keep her here. She could be all-powerful, but what would it matter if she had to live out eternity in the underworld?