Avenging Heart

by Desni Dantone

Besides, I was still a demigod, and forced to go on without him for an eternity.

  And Alec.

  And possibly Callie . . .

  “What about Circe’s immortality curse?” I rasped.

  Hecate smiled tenderly. “I believe I have nearly unraveled it. I have some more research to do, and only wanted to check on you. When you are capable, we will end it. Together.”

  I wanted to end it now. I pulled together as much bravado as I could muster, and started to pull myself up. Hecate stopped me with a gentle hand on my shoulder.

  “You need to rest more, let the bind weaken,” she protested.

  “What bind?”

  “I had to bind you,” she explained softly. “I am sorry. It is only temporary. I did not want you to teleport your other friends.”

  I shook my head rapidly. Was it just me, or was the room spinning? And what was she talking about? Had I accidentally teleported myself here?

  Where was I anyway?

  For the first time since I had woken, I looked around the room I was in. I recognized it as Hecate’s chamber. We were back in Mount Olympus. Jared, Bruce, and Lillian hovered by the foot of the bed, watching me with worry-lined eyes. Lillian’s were red and puffy, and I had to look away from the grief I saw in them.

  “I am so sorry,” Hecate whispered hoarsely, forcing my eyes to hers. “I have not been there for you, as a mother should be for her child.”

  I shrugged. Not like she had chosen to be kidnapped by Hades. Not like I had even known about her until a few months ago. Sadly, I had resigned myself to being motherless.

  “They took you from me soon after you were born,” she continued softly. “I should have tried harder to protect you. If you let me, I would like the chance to redeem myself, and be the mother that you deserve.”

  Eighteen years’ worth of emotion caught in my throat, and prevented me from speaking—not that I knew what to say. It wasn’t until recently that I realized I wanted a mother. Now that I had her, I had no words. I settled for a nod, and soon found myself resting against her shoulder, her hands cradling my head. A muffled sob erupted out of me as I buried my face into the layered fabric of her robe.

  I had gained a mother, but lost two people I loved in the process. Two whose losses I would carry with me for an eternity . . .

  Hecate pushed me back to regard the renewed surge of tears that rimmed my eyes with concern. “You love him, yes?”

  I swallowed the cotton balls that had settled in my throat, and nodded. I had loved them both, yes.

  “And this?” She lifted my hand to study the ring on my finger. “He gave you this?”

  “Yes,” I choked.

  What would I do with it now? Give it back to Gran? Perhaps she would insist that I keep it. I liked that idea.

  Hecate patted my hand tenderly. “Then you rest up, dear. Your groom will want to see you once he is well, and then we will undo the curse.”

  “What?” I pushed myself up, against Hecate’s demands for me to stay still.

  “You need your rest first,” she insisted.

  “No, he’s . . .”

  My eyes darted to Lillian. The tears in her eyes were highlighted by the slight curve of her smile. Happy tears.

  Jared rounded the corner of the bed, stepping closer. “You teleported him just in time, Kris. You didn’t know?”

  I shook my head. “I saw . . .” Words jumbled in my throat at the recollection of the last thing I had seen. The beast’s paw pressed down on Nathan’s chest, its claws shredding his bloody shirt.

  I didn’t know how he was alive. At the moment, I didn’t care. Nor did I care to know how I had managed to teleport him. All that mattered was that I had, and he was alive.

  I pushed against Hecate’s hand, and pulled myself out of bed despite her attempts to keep me there. I was dressed in a short, thin gown reminiscent of the paper sheets prevalent in doctor’s offices. I didn’t give a damn about the peep show I gave Jared and Bruce while scouring the floor for my clothes.

  “I have to see him,” I insisted. “Where is he?”

  “He is in the healing chamber,” Hecate replied. “He has to recover from his wounds yet. You do not—”

  “I have to see him now!” I found my jeans, and nearly toppled over as I pulled them on. The gown was promptly replaced by my tattered and stained t-shirt. Finally dressed, I turned to Hecate. “Where do I go?”

  She nodded compliantly. “I will show you.”

  “Kris?” Bruce’s voice stopped me before I reached the door, and I turned to find him regarding me nervously. “Is Alec here?”

  “No, but I can—” I gasped when an unwelcome thought occurred to me. I turned to Hecate. “How long was I out?”

  How much time had passed while we were in the underworld? Had it been three days already? Had I lost the ability to summon Alec whenever I wanted to?

  Would I ever see him again?

  Hecate placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “He is here.” I looked around the room—still no Alec. “He is within the mountain, where he is protected. But he will not leave his post.”

  “What post?”

  Hecate’s lips curved into a ghost of a smile. “You will have to see for yourself.”

  “What about Jas? Or Kira?” Jared questioned.

  My eyes lowered to the floor, and I shook my head. “No.”

  “Alec was the only soul who made it through the portal with us,” Hecate added solemnly.

  “So Kira and Jas?” I prompted.

  “Will soon be receiving their judgement,” Hecate finished.

  They were gone. Unless they found a way to slip out, as Alec had done. Maybe I could try to summon them? But then what? I would be the only one capable of communicating with them . . . and it would only be temporary. It wouldn’t bring them back.

  That thought only saddened me, to know that my time with Alec would eventually run out. He would have to go back, to join Jas and Kira, and Isatan and Permna, and everyone else lost along the way.

  I shared mournful glances with Jared, Bruce, and Lillian. Jared nodded decidedly. The outcome could not be changed. We all knew that. Yet, as saddened as we were to lose so many, we still had much to be grateful for. The four of us had made it, and Nathan would make it. We still had each other.

  I desperately needed to see Nathan, now more than ever. Jared noted the look on my face, and nodded his head at the door.

  “Go get him,” he ordered with a smile.

  I didn’t need to be told twice. I flew through the door, and Hecate followed to show me the way. It took mere seconds for the healing chamber’s golden door to come into view. I couldn’t believe he had been that close to me, and I hadn’t known.

  My excitement was temporarily put on hold when I spotted Alec, propped against the door like a sentry—at his post, as Hecate had described it—while he stood guard over Nathan. My cheeks ached from the wide grin on my face as I pulled him into a tight hug.

  “I’m only here to catch a glimpse of Aphrodite when she stops by again,” he explained to me in defense, as if he suspected my thoughts on why he was there.

  “Aphrodite?” I laughed as I pulled away from him.

  He nodded eagerly. “I wish I could get hurt so she would nurse me back to health. That Nathan’s a lucky son of a bitch.”

  “You’re a real charmer, you know that, Alec?” I shook my head, but couldn’t hide the smile on my face.

  “That’s what you love about me.”

  His finger tapped the tip of my nose to add a hint of playfulness to the heaviness that settled around us. But the longer our eyes remained locked on each other, the harder it became to ignore.

  “I do love you,” I croaked.

  I should have been grateful that I had the opportunity to make sure he knew that, when so many never had the chance to say the things that needed to be said before death intervened. But all I could think about was that this wouldn’t last.

  I would have to say goodbye to him
.

  “How much longer do you have?” I asked, though I dreaded the answer.

  His hand cupped the back of his neck as he gave Hecate a sheepish smile. “Actually, uh . . . my time is already up.”

  I started to smile—did that mean he could visit whenever he wanted, because that would be awesome—but stopped when I saw the look on his face. “What’s wrong?”

  “Your mother won’t let me leave,” he explained, nodding his head in her direction.

  Her voice chimed in from behind me. “I apologize that I will not allow you to endure an eternity in Tartarus for your deception against Hades.”

  “You can see him, too?” I asked Hecate. She nodded, and I turned back to Alec.

  From the look on his face, I suspected that he wished she couldn’t see him. I wondered if she had forced her protective maternal instincts on him. Perhaps she was one of those overbearing mother types.

  Which I was grateful for if that kept Alec out of Tartarus.

  “She’s got me warded from the hounds,” Alec said. “For now.”

  “The hounds?” I shrieked as I looked between the two of them. And what was ‘for now’ supposed to mean anyway?

  “Apparently Cerberus won’t let them stop,” Alec explained. “They will never give up trying to drag me back.”

  “They cannot get you here,” Hecate added decidedly.

  As if accepting Alec’s death wasn’t enough. I couldn’t bear the thought of him suffering in Tartarus for all eternity. One more thing to add to our to-do list—get Alec out of his prison sentence. I wondered if Hecate had an idea.

  “Hey,” Alec chided, interrupting my thoughts. “We’ll figure something out. It’s going to be fine. Go.” He nodded his head at the door behind him. “I don’t think he’s awake yet, but I doubt you’ll care.”

  “Not after just finding out he’s alive.”

  With a parting smile for Alec and my mother, I slipped into the room. Seeing the wounds that Nathan had suffered, I concluded that he had been the lucky recipient of a miracle. One of the claws that had ripped his chest should have been enough to kill him. He had three. The bite that encompassed a large portion of his shoulder and neck should have severed major arteries.

  He was pale, and still asleep, but alive. Perhaps thanks to the god that stood over him now.

  He looked up as I approached the bed, and I saw that he was older, with dark hair and crinkly eyes that promised compassion.

  He smiled, and extended a hand to me. “You must be Kris.”

  He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. He must have noticed my struggle, because he volunteered, “I’m Asclepius.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath. My mother’s lover . . . the healer . . . Micah’s father. He looked precisely like I would have imagined Micah to look someday.

  “It’s nice to finally meet you,” I managed before dropping my gaze to Nathan.

  “He’s recovering well, considering . . .” Asclepius offered.

  “Considering what?”

  “He has lost his supernatural ability to heal. Wounds like this would normally kill a mortal.”

  Because I had freed the hybrids. They were mere humans now, with no superior strength, special powers, or unnatural abilities to heal. No powers, no ties, no war. What I had been meant to do, though it could have contributed to Nathan’s death.

  Definitely a miracle.

  “Your mother got him here just in time. Of course, being tended to by the god of healing doesn’t hurt,” Asclepius boasted, and I couldn’t help but laugh at his joke.

  The laugh quickly gave way to sobs, and I didn’t even know why. I’d heard that people often cried happy tears. I had never had a reason. Until now.

  Asclepius placed a hand on my shoulder as I sobbed over my relief. “I will leave you to have some time alone. Aphrodite or I may return to check on his progress periodically, but you may stay as long as you wish.”

  I nodded my gratitude, and Asclepius let himself out. Then I crawled into the bed beside Nathan, where I vowed to stay until he woke. However long it took.

  ~ ~ ~

  I did fairly well, falling asleep myself for a few hours, until later, when the call of nature forced me to grudgingly leave the bed. Hera cornered me while I was searching for a bathroom. Despite my protests, she coerced me into the Spring of Clarity for a bath, and provided me with a clean pair of cotton pants and a comfortable t-shirt to change into.

  When I returned to the healing room, Nathan was still asleep, but looked noticeably better. He even smelled good. Asclepius returned shortly after, and informed me that Aphrodite had cleaned him up in my absence. After checking the status of the wounds, Asclepius told me that Nathan would likely wake soon.

  I watched the rise and fall of his chest, eagerly waiting for that moment. When it finally happened, I was on him before his eyes were fully opened.

  “Thank the gods you’re okay,” I murmured against his neck before I kissed him.

  My lips skimmed over his gently, tentatively, as I allowed him to come into his surroundings, and the fact that he had just woken up to me kissing him.

  Within seconds, his arms snaked around my waist and he drew me to him with a grip impossible to escape. Not that I wanted to. I was exactly where I wanted to be.

  “I think . . .” he mumbled against my lips between kisses, “I owe you . . . another thank you.”

  I pulled back long enough to ask, “For what?”

  “You saved me again,” he responded. “You got me out of there before the hound finished me off.”

  I grimaced at the images that flooded me at the mention of the hound. I had to remind myself that I had prevented the inevitable. Somehow.

  “Where did I send you?” I asked curiously.

  “The beach in Areopoli,” Nathan chuckled. “I don’t think anyone was around. I’m not sure how long I laid there before Hecate came for me. I don’t know how she found me.”

  “She is the goddess of magic,” I pointed out.

  “I was pretty out of it,” Nathan continued. “Asclepius came in, and gave me something. That’s the last I remember.”

  “You lost your hybrid superpowers,” I told him.

  “So I’ve noticed.” He smiled. “I guess that means it’s over?”

  “That’s what Hecate told me,” I shrugged. “Prophecy fulfilled. No more hybrids, no more war.”

  “We’re all human,” he mused quietly. His brow furrowed.

  It didn’t take me long to guess what troubled him. “You’re going to age like a human now,” I concluded. When his eyes darted to mine, I added, “And I won’t.”

  “Kris . . .”

  “You’re going to turn twenty-three in a few months, then twenty-four, and then

  twenty-five . . .” My fears rushed to the surface, impossible to stop once they started. “And I’m going to be eighteen forever.”

  “Kris, stop.” He was surprisingly calm despite the realization that our time together would be cut short. A lot shorter than it would have been when he was a hybrid. “We’ll figure something out.”

  “How? There’s nothing—”

  His lips silenced the rest of my argument when they crushed mine. It was a damn good way to forget about everything, and I leaned into him with a content sigh. A laugh rumbled from deep in his chest, and he leaned back to give me a pointed look.

  “That’s all it takes to get you to quit arguing with me?” he wondered. “I’ll have to remember that.”

  “Then why would you stop?”

  My eyes narrowed playfully as I pulled Nathan in for another kiss. He froze an inch from my lips.

  “Wait a minute.” He lifted the sheets, and sniffed. “Why do I smell like flowers?”

  “You were covered in blood,” I explained. “Aphrodite washed you up. She must have used some special soap, or something. You do kind of smell like a girl.”

  “Aphrodite?”

  The way he said her name caused me to roll my eyes. What
was it with guys and Aphrodite?

  “Let me get this straight. Aphrodite gave me a sponge bath . . . and I was unconscious?” He grinned at my narrowed eyes. “I’m surprised you let her.”

  “I didn’t. She waited until after I left to find a bathroom.”

  “Huh.” His eyes took on a distant, distracted look. When the start of a grin spread across his face, I smacked him on the arm. “What? You can’t be mad at me. I wasn’t even awake.”

  He edged closer to me, his dimple on full display.

  “You’re daydreaming about it,” I grumbled, only half serious.

  Regardless of the fact that we were talking about the most beautiful creature on earth, I had no worries. Especially not with the way Nathan looked at me now. His eyes traveled down from my face, soaking me in.

  A deep rumble sounded from the back of his throat before he said, “You have no idea what I’m daydreaming about.”

  One hand hooked around my waist, tugging me toward him, before his mouth finally claimed mine. Pressed against him as he teased my lips with soft and sweet kisses that conflicted with the gruffness of his hands that roamed over me, I had an idea of what he was thinking.

  A very good idea.

  ~ ~ ~

  Much later, I rested my head in the crook of his arm. My eyes wandered around the room as I absorbed the melancholy. Though it wasn’t as impressive as Hecate’s, this room contained dozens of candles that cast a subtle light that was neither too bright, nor too dark. Romantic. Perfect.

  This was how I wanted to spend my life. Comfortably with Nathan . . . anywhere, as long as we were safe. Carefree days, cuddly nights. Mornings when we didn’t get out of bed until noon.

  Speaking of which, I needed to find out what Aphrodite put in her soap. Whatever it had been, I wanted to bottle some of it up.

  Because . . . wow.

  Nathan chuckled, and his chest vibrated under my splayed hand.

  “Did I say that out loud?” I gasped.

  He planted a kiss to my temple. “Uh-huh.”

  “Oops.”

  He pulled me to his side, welcoming my head on his chest. His free hand took mine, and he held them up together. The ring shone brightly on my finger.

  We were closer now. So close to the future we wanted. Just a few more hurdles, but after what we had just pulled off, they felt more like tiny bumps in the road.