“Julian was born a king. It would never occur to him that he didn’t have absolute power over his subjects. So when Julian did want to turn on men and destroy them, I saved them. It was bad enough when I fooled him into accepting the lesser parts of animals for sacrifice. But when I gave man fire—” He shrugged. Theo remembered the horrible twisting scar on his side and shuddered. But Grant was still speaking.
“When the gods fell, I did hide. It’s not surprising Julian thought me dead, because I did my best to fade away. I tried for centuries to die. But I couldn’t. Men kept me alive by retelling my story, comparing me to their Christ because I too had suffered for them. So I couldn’t just fade peacefully away. And my own nature, the one they’d given me, betrayed me. I started to care about them again.”
Theo gazed at him in wonder. Prometheus. She had fallen in love with Prometheus, had teased him and held him and kissed him, presumed to teach him how to love, dreamed maybe of marrying him one day. And he had loved her back. “How did you come here?”
“About a hundred years ago I came to examine America. I liked it here, so I stayed. Mostly I just wandered. Then I heard about the Eleusinian Institute. I came for a visit, and found that a lot of my friends had gravitated there. The Muses, for one—or several. Pan; he loves it up there in the mountains. Several from other pantheons—Thoth, and Ganesha, and others. And Olivia, of course.” He looked at her sideways.
Olivia. “Grant, why didn’t you tell me any of this? If I had known who Olivia was, then—”
“Would you have believed me? If I had taken you in my arms back at Christmas and said, ‘Hello, darling, I’m Prometheus, this is my friend Athena, and I just wanted you to know that you’ve fallen into the middle of the 3025th reunion of Mount Olympus High School, watch out for that Julian character because he’s got an eye for the ladies,’ would you have listened to me?”
Theo bit her lip and looked away. “You’ve changed again. You were so sick before last week that you frightened me badly. Why are you better now?”
To her surprise he laughed. “Better now?” he gasped. “Better now? Oh Theo. I find myself in the grip of mortal illness, and you tell me I’m looking better!”
“Stop it, Grant! What do you mean?”
“But I’m not better now. Oh, I may look better, and it’ll take years to finally finish me off. But unless they find a cure for mortality, I’m sunk.”
“For mortality—but you’re a god.”
“Not any more.” He looked down at the floor and smiled that mirthless smile again. “I am now as mortal as—as you used to be. This is what my Pemberley was all about. When I was ill after Christmas, it wasn’t illness. I went to Italy then because the quickest path down to Hades is there, in Cumae. Don’t you remember your Aeneid? I went there to collect water from the five rivers that flow out of Tartarus. Drinking the mixed water of those rivers was the only way Olivia and I could think of to kill the god in me and make me mortal. We weren’t even sure it would work until just a few weeks ago.”
“But why?” Theo cried in anguish.
“So that I could be with you. So that I could love you as a man, and live my life with you as a man, and die with you someday as a man.” His words, quiet and steady, hit her like a bomb. “Being a god has held little for me for centuries. I had nothing better to do, so I volunteered to come here for the year because we at Eleusinian like to keep an eye on Julian. And then I met you, and did something I’d never done before: I fell in love.
“You joked and kidded me about it, but I was in desperate need of those humanities classes you gave me. Even though you did your best, I failed. I couldn’t love you back enough, or in the right way, or anything. I thought I was about to lose you, so I talked to Olivia over Thanksgiving about this idea I’d gotten from reading Pride and Prejudice. I wanted to become a man so that I could love you, and then one day I would die. The two things I had never done in all the millennia of my existence, the two things that my beloved mankind could do but I couldn’t—and I would do them now with you and be glad of it. I drank that horrible water, and was grateful for every burning, twisting pain it sent through me as it destroyed my godhood, because every drop of it brought me closer to you.”
“Grant—” Theo could feel a similar pain starting to twist her own vitals.
“Isn’t it ironic? I finished becoming mortal just about the same time you finished becoming immortal. I’d planned on proposing to you tonight—telling you all these things, and asking if we could spend the rest of our lives together. Because I finally understood what the worst thing I could suffer would be: it would be to watch you grow old, and die, and know you were lost to me forever.” A tear trickled unchecked down his face, but he wasn’t through yet.
“I failed, though. I was so wrapped up in recreating myself for you that I neglected you, and let Julian walk in and waltz out with you without a murmur.”
“No!” she cried. “He doesn’t have me. He tricked me!”
“Doesn’t he?” Grant shook his head. “After thirty thousand years I thought I knew all about pain. But no one ever told me about the agony of seeing the woman you love taken by another. Yes, you were tricked—and I made it possible for him to trick you. You were distraught and bewildered about me—I was aware enough of that—and he played on those emotions. And now he gets a beautiful consort to bear him children and is able to humiliate me publicly in the process.” Grant’s voice was calm though more tears now slid down his cheeks.
“But I don’t want him! I want you!” Theo said desperately.
Grant picked up her hand and looked at the ring Julian had placed there just an hour ago. “I’m not sure you have any choice in the matter. Maybe if I’d come and put my ring on your finger myself back in December, none of this would have happened.”
His ring! She looked at her right hand. “It’s gone,” she whispered. She tugged at Julian’s ring, trying to pull it off. It would have been easier to pull off one of her fingers.
“Don’t bother. He won’t let you remove his ring. It marks you as his. Do you think he’d have left mine on your hand while he was trying to wipe your mind of me?” The hurt in Grant’s eyes deepened as he looked at her hand. “Was it—was he good? Did you enjoy it?” he continued harshly.
Theo felt like she had been slapped. “Grant!”
They stared at each other. “Oh, Theo,” he said at last, and looked down at his feet. “I’ve succeeded in ruining this beyond repair, haven’t I?”
She reached out and took him by his shoulders. “No, it’s not over! I’m not going to give you up just like that—”
“My darling Theodora,” Julian’s voice said suddenly, from nowhere. She jumped back involuntarily. “If you’re done with your little talk with Mr. Proctor, we would appreciate it if you two could sneak back down here. We have some unfinished business to attend to.”
“When I’m good and ready,” she shouted back.
“Splendid! I’ll see you in a moment, then,” he replied, his voice mocking.
Grant vanished.
With a cry Theo dashed across the few feet that had separated them, but he was gone. How had Julian been able to do that to him?
Grant’s no longer a god, Sherlock. Julian can do what he wants with him.
“Not if I can help it,” she said out loud, and stalked out of the room.
Chapter Fifteen
Down in the Great Room the guests still milled about, though now the fauns were huddled by the door, looking fearful. Theo gave them a reassuring smile as she passed, but they only looked more frightened. She probably had a face like a Gorgon right now. No wonder they were terrified.
Julian still stood in the center of the room, his gold wreath still straight on his sleek head, his tunic and himation unmussed. Renee was being comforted by Dr. Forge-Smythe and Amphitrite, and Theo had the irrelevant thought that Renee’s pink robes would look quite nice on her pale-green companion. Then her attention was drawn back to Julian.
&
nbsp; Next to him was Grant, bound and gagged in a chair. There was a crown of willow twigs set awry on his brow. Theo frowned and moved toward him, hand outstretched to pluck it off, but Julian shook his head.
“No, my dear. I must ask you not to touch him.”
“Must you humiliate him by tying him up and gagging him like a common criminal?” she demanded.
“Alas, yes. I’m afraid I must.” Julian looked sorrowful, but there was a glint in his eyes that belied his words and tone.
“Fine,” she snapped. “What did you want me for?”
“What do you think I want you for? To join me so that we can complete our celebration here, and start our life together.”
“I don’t think you were listening before, Julian. I said no. I don’t want to be your wife or bear your children. You tricked me into being your lover before, but I don’t want you. I love Grant.”
“But darling, you agreed to be my wife. Remember?” He cocked an ear toward the ceiling with an exaggerated gesture, and Theo was horrified to hear the sound of kissing and her own voice saying “Yes, Julian. I am yours” at a level that reverberated and echoed in the room.
Grant winced and shut his eyes.
“That was in singularly poor taste, in my opinion,” Olivia said. Theo had forgotten about her. She came to stand a few feet from Theo, her face grim.
“Taste is not the issue right now, my dear. Winning is.” Julian glided over to Theo and put his arm around her. She tried to pull away and when he would not let her, held herself as stiff and still as a statue.
“No, Julian, the verdict’s not quite in.” Olivia took a few paces forward, hands behind her back, looking thoughtful. “Do you deny that you came to Theo in the form of a cat?” she shot at him. Theo jumped; Olivia had evidently been listening in to her conversation with Grant.
He frowned at her. “No, I don’t deny it.”
“Because you knew how confused she was over her relationship with Grant, and how comforting a friendly, purring cat would be.”
“Perhaps.”
“And do you deny plying her with enhanced ambrosial wine in extraordinary quantities?”
“Really, Olivia, I don’t see that this is any of your bus—”
“Do you, in short, deny manipulating Theo, emotionally and physically, with drugs into bed with you, and keeping her under your will for a week by those same methods?”
Julian turned a dull red as he stared down at the floor, pacing a restless circle around Grant.
“Under those circumstances, I don’t think that Theo’s pledge to you is binding,” Olivia finished triumphantly. “You cannot hold her to a covenant you achieved by trickery.”
Julian glared at her for several seconds. Then suddenly he smiled. Theo felt her heart sink into the ground at the sight of the triumph in it.
“Very well,” he said, and raised a hand. And once again, Grant vanished. The ropes that had bound him slipped limply to the floor. The square of cloth that had stopped his mouth fluttered onto the seat; Theo could see where his saliva had dampened it. The willow crown tumbled down beside it.
“Grant! No!” She lunged toward the chair. But it was too late. “What have you done with him?” she snarled at Julian. “Bring him back here now!”
Julian turned to her. “Olivia may have won a point for you, my dear, but I still hold the rest of the cards. My dear Theodora, I give you a challenge. If you want Grant Proctor, you can have him. Provided you can find him. I’ll be generous, and give you until, oh, noon on commencement day. If you can find him before then, you and he are free to go. If not—”
“No! You mustn’t harm him!” she cried.
“Who said I was going to?” Julian said with another horrible smile. “I don’t have to. If you can’t find him by noon on commencement day, he goes free anyway. But you’ll remain here as my consort and yield to my will in all things. And then we’ll watch while life destroys Grant for me. Too bad it’s considerably less than thirty thousand years this time. But the joy of watching him die of old age and illness, and in the knowledge that you are mine—well, I guess I would call that fair.”
Theo stared down at her feet, too angry and shaken for tears. Oh, Grant—
“Blast it, Julian,” Dr. Waterman said, stepping forward. “This is going too far. We swore not to do anything to call mortal attention to ourselves, and you just made a department instructor disappear. Furthermore, I don’t care for this game of yours. I’m going to help Theo find—”
Julian raised one hand, and Dr. Waterman was struck dumb. “Are you, Arthur?” he said gently. “I don’t think so. You’re my brother, and cannot go against me. That goes for all of you here,” he continued in a stronger voice. “You are my guests here tonight, and are beholden to me. If Theodora’s going to do this, she must do it on her own, without your help.”
“Not entirely, Julian.” Olivia stepped forward. “I’m not your invited guest. I choose to help find my colleague, and you can’t stop me.”
Theo turned to her, feeling hopeful for the first time. “You will?”
“Of course. Grant is my friend.” She nodded calmly at Theo.
“Is this your idea of filial piety, daughter? You sadden me,” sighed Julian. He turned to the room at large. “Well, this seems to have brought my lovely party to a halt. Such a pity. Would you all excuse us?” He turned to Theo and held out his hand to her. “Come, my dear.”
She stared at him. “I don’t think so.”
“Would you do me the courtesy of speaking with me in my office for a few moments? Or do you fear me?”
Yes, as a matter of fact, she did. But it didn’t seem politic to admit it in front of the gathered guests. She glanced at Olivia, who gave her a just-perceptible nod.
“Very well,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster despite her fury and anguish, and started to walk toward the door ahead of him. In an instant she found him at her side, her hand in his.
“Manners, manners. Just because we are temporarily at odds doesn’t mean we should treat each other badly,” he murmured to her.
She snatched her hand away. “Temporarily?”
“Of course. I will win, you know. In time you’ll be glad of it. In the meanwhile, I should hate to see our friendship affected by this momentary discord.”
They were on the stairs. Theo stopped. “If you were so concerned about preserving our ‘friendship,’ as you call it, then maybe you should have thought about that before.”
“Please, my dear.” He propelled her up the stairs and down the hall into his office, shutting the door behind them. He held out a chair for her. “I would offer you wine, if you would take it.”
Theo almost choked. “You dare to offer me your filthy—”
He sighed. “Very well, then. I thought it would be kind if I gave you the chance to yield now, and save yourself several weeks of worry and upset that will only end in your failure. I assure you that Grant will be able to leave here unharmed, which is not something I can guarantee if you insist on searching for him.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. There are dangers in your attempting to rescue him, dangers that are unlikely to harm you as an immortal. But Grant is no longer a god, and is subject to the frailty and weaknesses of mortal men. Furthermore, I only think it fair to warn you that the longer it takes for you to find him, if you ever do, the less able I am to guarantee that he will leave his captivity unscathed and unchanged.”
“What do you mean ‘unscathed and unchanged’?” Theo’s throat suddenly felt tight and dry, so that she almost wished she’d said yes to wine. Almost. “You’re not being very clear.”
“Why should I be? I have no wish to help you in this. I merely thought you should be acquainted with all the facts before you made a final decision.”
“You are too kind.”
With a sudden movement he came around behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. “You seem to think I�
��ve done this as part of some great plot to avenge myself on Grant.”
She squirmed from under his hands. “Haven’t you?”
He ignored her. “If he’d kept away from you, I would never have even known or cared who he was.” His hands tightened, stilling her. “But as much as I will enjoy witnessing his final downfall, my main goal is to keep you.”
“So I can end up like all your other lovers? Dead or transformed into a cow or something?” She tried to laugh scornfully.
“You cannot die now, remember? I never made any of my other women goddesses—only you. Nor do I intend to give you up for anything. Our sons—”
“So I get to live as your brood mare,” she interrupted. “Such an enticing prospect.”
He sighed. “Theodora. Stop being angry with me and listen for a moment. You’re a goddess now, beloved by the Lord of the Sky, the King of the Gods. Just think about it for a moment. As my consort you can do anything. Anything. See the world. Live a life of opulence beyond your wildest imagination.” He bent to murmur in her ear. “Or even go back to Sneed and show them all what they lost through their own blindness and ignorance. Revenge can be sweet, even to gods. I should know.”
Through her fury, Theo felt a flicker at his words. How gratifying it would be to visit Sneed now, in her divine form, and smile pityingly upon the thick-necked dullards who once had scorned her and would now fall at her feet.
“Oh my dearest Theodora, the world can be ours,” Julian whispered. His breath caressed her ear. “Even now it is lying before us. Let us take it together.”
With a faint sense of surprise, she realized that she hadn’t thought about Sneed in a long time. It didn’t matter any more. But Grant did. What would she do with the world at her feet? She didn’t want the world at her feet, but Grant’s hand in hers.
“Is there anything else you wished to say to me?” she said, trying to hold herself stiffly as he stroked her neck and arms.
“Can you deny that you were happy all last week with me, Theodora? Can you say that you didn’t take more pleasure from me than you had dreamed possible with anyone?” He tilted her head back and kissed her hard, then released her before she could even protest.
By Jove Page 17