"And what happened to the raven?" I asked, entranced.
"She worried herself to death over that which she could not change. Forgot to eat. Forgot to rest. Only focused on the impossible task of being like the swan."
I met green eyes that always brought to mind a stalking cat. A large panther, sleek and powerful. His teeth shown, just the edges, when he smiled dryly at me.
I said, "And the swan was ignorant of the raven's jealousy. It lived happily ever after; I am certain."
Alec had watched me watching my sister, and he knew that perhaps I wished for other feathers instead.
"I wouldn’t know," he said, his breath touching my cheek before he sighed a painful sound that was filled with regret as he pulled away. "I never cared for swans."
Chapter 12
I knew I only had moments to read my sister’s letter and it was already too late. She was in her rooms before I arrived. She’d gone from dancing with Apollo in the moonlight to stooping over yet another letter in an instant. This one was addressed to her. She refused to let me see it.
But I would not be deterred.
Pushing my power into Cenia, I plucked the letter from her grasp. “What are you hiding?” I practically growled as I read it at lightning speed.
Again, the wording was filled with lust, but tastefully written, and my mind shied from the vision of my sister being seen in such a carnal way.
“Who wrote this?” I knew for a fact Apollo had neither the will nor need to write her pretty letters. They’d been in each other’s arms moments ago and I’d been jealous of their affection but now I was in a rage.
Alec’s voice echoed to me now… I never cared for swans…
“Who is sending these?” I asked with dead calm. “And does he know you are too young to be bedded in this way?”
Cenia grew exasperated. “Of course, he does! Why else send the letters? We want to be together in that way, but he’s willing to wait, sister.”
“And who is he?”
She closed her mouth and she turned away. “Does it matter?” she muttered with a pitiful pose. “Your king will put me in the bed of a human. And that will be that.”
Stubbornly Cenia refused all of my queries after that. I could have abused her, but she’d just sung for Arman. She’d just done a thing I never thought possible…which was be there for me during a time of need.
Once I left the room, I lifted the letter and turned it into nothing with my mind. Then I stalked down the halls, my wrath still boiling beneath my skin turning it a moonish hue.
I was almost back to the gathering, distracted, when I nearly crashed into Apollo.
He looked as startled as I felt, his brow furrowed as if he’d been deep in thought.
I hugged myself to keep from throttling the immortal. “Did you write it?”
He didn’t have time to fake his lies, so when he said, “What? What do you mean?”
I assumed he wasn’t pretending.
My posture relaxed. “Nothing. Never mind.”
I was too tired not to be blunt. “Do you want to marry her?” His golden eyes locked with mine and something stirred within, making me step slightly to the side.
A feeling remained, that I squashed harshly, angry with the reaction to the Olympian. Was that all it took? A pretty face and I was ready to latch onto any immortal male? I wasn’t angry with him. I was angry with myself. With Alec. And a little bit with Milos too.
He sighed a deep sound that vibrated through my limbs. “I’m not sure your sister will have me.”
“Don’t be insane,” I said. “She’s besotted. Are all males idiots?” I covered my mouth realizing I hadn’t meant to say the last part out loud.
His lips curved and the one and only Apollo graced me with a valuable blessing indeed. The god of the sun veritably shone rays when he smiled. For once, there was a fondness instead of censure, and it was so unexpected I felt nearly marked by his golden graces.
I tried not to gape like a child, but it didn’t matter. My body would betray me, I soon realized, and my eyes would reflect his light, of that I was sure as I felt a burning that was nearly painful, deep within my sockets.
Comfortably we stared and left our joined gaze that way for far longer than should’ve been easy. But it was.
And then I knew…this was no ordinary thing between us. The sun. The moon. We were made for each other… In the heavens I was a mirror to the sun, and here on earth, I reacted immediately to him as if born to do just that without trying.
How had I missed this? A torch to Apollo…? No one had warned me of the connection…not that they would have.
I had so many questions.
“Freya,” he said, his face now serious.
Ah. So, he felt it too.
“Apollo,” I replied.
“Forgive me,” he said, bowing at the waist and then clumsily glanced about for an explanation as to why he was bowing to me.
I thought to bow as well but then realized equally how stupefied we had both become.
“Sister?” my bright one called from behind me, a harshness to her voice I’ve known all too well.
“Cenia,” I replied, turning, and she gasped.
She glanced from me to Apollo, her expression outraged, and then stormed off.
After I murmured some excuse, I left as well. I longed to cover my eyes from all that would pass me in the halls of the palace. Would they know it?
Would Alec see it as well when he next met with me?
The gardens were a welcome coolness, even if I smelled the ashes still smoldering that were once the great proxy, Arman. Gods, how I missed him. His strong arms around me while I rode were a memory I would take fondly to my own grave.
Without thinking, I moved to the tree with the twisted faces hidden within. I found Milos there, though, at first, he was part of the night until he shimmered and separated from it, letting himself be seen. He, like his brother, was only one foot in the light at all times.
“Milos,” I said, and he turned, unsurprised to find me there, as if he’d known all along.
I wanted to test my theory about them knowing my new role for Apollo. It wasn’t right that I should be bestowed this…honor. I was a titan…then again, wasn’t that a lie by halves? Olympian blood flowed through my veins, too. My mother…
Though my father made drunken speeches to me about mounting a star that gifted him a strange aurora instead of a child, I knew that he couldn’t possibly mean it.
And now…a torch? Could it really be? If I remembered correctly, the torches were rare indeed, and coveted above all. Apollo would bring it up eventually even if I did not. Best to get it out.
I opened my mouth to speak but Milos was far too distracted, and he grabbed my shoulders, shaking me slightly, his face stricken. “It’s Alec,” he said, glancing at the tree as if the king would jump out from behind it. “He’s taken the guilt too far this time. The loss of Arman has struck too close to the bone. All of his revenge against your father…he’ll never let it go. He knows it’s cost him a friend’s life.”
“What are you talking about?” I tried to extract myself, but his hands were firm. “I just saw him. He was fine.”
Milos let me go when I winced at the grip. “Yes. I know. Perhaps he hoped that would be your last image of him well and hardy.”
Last image? Panic gripped me and I had no time to wonder at it. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know. He’s gone.”
“Gone? What do you mean?”
My mind seized and immediately I became sick at the very thought. Of course, I should be sick over my own jailer who’d held me captive. My heart sped up and I covered it. “Gone where?” I almost tried to force it out of Milos as the tumbling in my stomach continued.
Why was the red head so bleak? Dread pooled making my limbs numb.
“I’m not sure. To the underworld maybe.”
“Oh.” I relaxed.
“No!” He pushed a hand through is hair maki
ng it stand. “You don’t understand. He’s forbidden to return.”
“All right,” I said slowly, my relaxation sliced through with alarm. “Let’s find Persephone.”
Together, we managed to find her and Hades near the water and in each other’s embrace. When I first saw the two entwined, I made to make Milos turn back, but he pressed on as if finding the king of the underworld disheveled and sweating wasn’t much of a surprise.
Hades and Persephone were naked under the stars, their milky skin glowing on the sand, the warm air making a nude swim delectable, no doubt. But these two were not swimming.
I glanced away as I was drawn closer. Their affection was palpable, their ardor thick enough to taste, and I longed to watch their coupling like one sits before great art, soaking it in. Not because it was lust-filled, though certainly there was passion, but because Hades, who terrified me as a brute that might send me to Tartarus, was obviously besotted with his young bride, and perhaps a little crazed by his love for her. One look at his open and unbridled expression was to know what true love and longing meant.
Persephone was smiling and also moaning with the knowledge that yes, she was the giver of this great gift to him, her love and body and mind.
What would it be like to have this?
I hovered not too near, and Milos too had paused, unsure of how to interrupt the majestic scene.
But Alec….
My shaky voice called out and sounded overly loud.
The two were dressed and standing in an instant, as if they’d never been legs in the water, bodies in the sand, rolling around and becoming one in a way that only powerful immortals could summon the energy for.
Persephone didn’t blush, but Hades did brood at the interruption. I hadn’t missed how he’d stepped in front of her at first as well, probably worried that some other lusty god had come along and his bride’s body was for his eyes alone.
For the second time I was in awe at such a chance. Had any other immortal chained themselves so willingly to their marital vows?
But Milos, despite seeing his fill of a nubile Persephone in her purest form, was as honorable as he’d always been. He bowed deeply and I followed. “Alec,” was all he said, and Hades frowned.
“We think he might have gone to the underworld,” I told Persephone and she nearly shouted, “No!”
A hiss of black smoke heralded their exit and then we were alone.
Milos and I returned to the gathering just in time to hear the screams.
The humans must have noticed first because they came rushing from every part of the palace. But they might have been used to it all because they were quiet and hushed as they fled.
The screaming came from the nymphs thereafter.
“What is happening?” I asked Milos but he only pointed at the vines now climbing from inside the palace to the outside. “Oh my,” I said quietly. “What is it?”
A trill escaped from inside, high and pitched. No one could have stopped me then as I rushed into the main room only pausing to gape on my way to Cenia who must’ve still been in her rooms.
The plants---Alec’s plants—were filling the palace. Its blooms were deadly poisonous things that snapped at everything that moved. Before, when he’d held me in his bedroom, they’d been almost pretty, but these were wild and had mouths and teeth.
I rushed past it all towards my rooms. The plants lunged for me but missed me by inches.
The hallways were much worse, thick with vines and branches and flowers, all gilded with large sharp thorns.
Soon, I was caught in a web of dark green, the smell of something making me claw at my throat. A cloying, poisonous gas filled the air from their petals.
They were ruthless with me now, ripping my dress, tearing my hair out at the roots.
No wonder Cenia had screamed because I was now hollering my head off in a deep shout of terror and frustration.
Fire blossomed in front of my eyes, a blinding spark. I had to close them before strong hands were pulling the plants aside and freeing me. Someone held me in their arms, their muscular chest against my side.
I squinted through the glow.
Apollo.
He was using his sun-like powers to blast through the weeds and I pressed on his chest as he let me down. His golden eyes were bond fires in his skull as we gazed at one another. It made my eyes water, but I smiled in gratitude as I reached out and touched him. The skin was molten lava but still, it did not burn me.
In surprise, his hand of flames covered my own and I could tell he’d expected me to burn but I did not even so much as pull away.
I think he smiled but it was hard to know because the center of him, his core, only burned all the brighter.
Cenia’s screams broke the trance, and I was running again towards her room.
Cenia had managed to shut the door and keep the plants out but they must have gotten her before that happened. Her golden dress was ripped, and her thigh bore a large mark that was bleeding furiously onto the rug.
I lunged for her leg, “Does it hurt?” My motherly instincts had not left. Since she was a day old, I’d held her and cooed her to sleep.
Since she was a toddling nuisance, I’d held her in my arms during every single injury, and even now I stood and wrapped my arms around her once more.
Cenia was shaking and terribly afraid. “What is happening?” she whispered.
“I don’t know,” I said. Lying.
These were Alec’s monsters.
The door burst open, but we all turned to find not plants, but a large black coiling cobra. It shot its head through the door, just barely fitting, hissing at us, revealing its long white teeth before a longer purple tongue tasted the air.
Cenia screamed and the thing jerked as if stung.
“The balcony,” Apollo shouted, seeming unsure if his fire could defeat the snake.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out either.
We ran for the balcony and once there, I latched onto Cenia’s arm to make sure she’d be brave enough to do it. “We must jump.”
She bit her lip and nodded but Apollo wouldn’t hear of it. He gathered us both in his large arms---big enough to wrap us with ease, and we were then on the sand, our stomachs in our throats from the instant travel.
“Thank you,” I whispered, knowing he could hear me.
He nodded, now, at once, himself as I’d known him. Tall, golden, proud, only this time, when Apollo looked at me, I felt fond curiosity.
I glanced away, embarrassed at the state of myself. The plants had turned my dress to rags, and I mourned the gown. If it hadn’t been Alec’s plants, I’d be worried that he’d be angry over the loss of his mother’s dress. But it was I who was angry now.
I covered my midsection as one underside of my breast was visible while the skirt below was also split to reveal one entire leg.
We walked along the shore once we were certain that the snake did not follow us down.
In front of the palace, we met Heracles and his lot.
Hades and Persephone had returned. “He’s not in the underworld,” Persephone said, but she watched the plants growing and knew.
“What exactly did he say to you?” I asked Milos.
“Strange promises about me taking care of you if something went wrong.”
“Care of me…?”
He nodded.
Apollo joined us and I tried not to feel threatened by the automatic awareness his powers created now within me. Like a strange echo that only I could sense. Muted, well, normal for him. He was no longer a walking fire ball. He watched the exchange carefully until I gave my head a slight shake. No, this had nothing to do with our newfound torching. No, I had told no one.
His mouth thinned but he nodded once.
Funny, I could read an entire dialogue in that nod. He would give me time to tell them. He would let me decide.
“If you really are that worried, we should get to him,” I said to Milos, putting a hand up.
; He nodded. “Heracles.”
“I am aware,” the warrior growled in answer.
He pulled out his sword and the rest followed.
Together, we approached the plants, and carefully, Heracles and his men, as well as Milos, and I, entered the main room.
I was shocked to turn and find Apollo there, hovering at the door.
Twice as shocked, to see Persephone appearing from the air right next to me. “Hello, little darlings,” she said with a smile.
I almost answered until I realized she was speaking to the plants. She moved about the room, and we watched her as she gently turned the poisonous ones away.
“I can do something about these,” she said, still brushing her pale hand against the flora. “But I’m not sure what to do about the other.”
“What other?”
“This one.”
The snake! It rushed in and bit Persephone…or through her, rather, as she disappeared in a poof as the thing snapped at air.
I grabbed my chest as Milos dove in front of me followed by Heracles and his men.
The line before me was ten men deep now. I was weaving around them when warm hands snatched me up and dragged me outside.
Apollo’s eyes were wide, and even a little embarrassed. His breaths were fast, and the usually very composed immortal king looked quite disheveled. “I can’t let you just go in there now. You have to stay with me.”
“What are you talking about?”
I stiffened as I heard Milos shout in pain.
I ran for the doors once more, but Apollo was a ball and chain, slowing me down. I drug him a few feet as he held my arms behind my back. Milos cried out a pitiful sound, and I bellowed in answer. “Milos!”
I spun on Apollo and threw my powers into a shove. He rocked back while still latched onto my shoulders. “Let go of me! Are you insane?”
Beware the Fallen: Young Adult Mythology (Banished Divinity Book 1) Page 14