Weighing of the Heart (Volume 1)

by Jessica Florence

  “Okay, let’s hear this story,” I told him. Why not? If all mythology was real then I guessed this aspect of it was real too.

  “My dad is Ares, which is why I am really good with weapons and things dealing with battle. It’s in my blood. My mom met him when she was a nurse in Vietnam. They fell in love and poof, little baby Leander was born. I met him a few times. He likes the work I do, otherwise I don’t hear from him much. After meeting you and what happened with that dick, I was told to protect you from Ares himself. But I had already planned on doing that anyways. Although once you are done with your transition you’ll see you don’t need any protection once all of your ninja, Spartan skills resurface. Like when you kicked that guy’s ass outside of the supermarket. That was only a taste of your skills.” I sat there stunned.

  This was unreal. I kissed him on the head and stood up. “I need some time.” He looked at me with a desperate look on his face but he nodded.

  I left and went into my room. But suddenly, I didn’t want to be there anymore. I needed a break from all of this. I walked back out into the apartment, and grabbed my things. “I’m going out.” I told him. “Be careful.” He said as I walked out into the hall.

  I didn’t know where to go. I looked down the hall towards where Orion lived. I could go see him, but Leander and Tristan both said to stay away from him. So I should. I took the stairs and left the building. I didn’t know what I was doing or where I was going so I just started walking.

  I found myself in front of that new age shop. It was late but it looked open, I went inside and sought out that lady I talked to.

  “Hello. Welcome to Mindful Soul. How can I help you?” A little, plump woman with red hair came out from behind the desk towards me. She looked absolutely nothing like the other lady.

  “Um, sorry I was looking for a woman, a psychic. She was tall, and really beautiful. With golden hair.” I was desperate to see this woman; I thought maybe she could give me answers.

  The lady looked confused. “Sorry, sweetie, but there isn’t anybody that works here with that description.”

  I stared at her in disbelief. I shook my head. “Oh, okay.” I turned and ran out the door. I fumbled through my purse for my phone. I found the number I wanted and hit send.

  “Hello?”

  “Lacey! Lacey, I need a place to crash. Can I come over to your place?” I needed somewhere to go.

  “Of course! Come on over.” I hung up and walked to her apartment, which thankfully wasn’t too far away. And she lived over an ice cream shop.

  She opened the door and welcomed me in. “Oh, Thalia, you brought ice cream. Bad day?” I walked in and set my stuff in the fridge. “Thalia, what is the matter?” She looked concerned.

  “I just need to not talk about it right now and relax. Can we watch a movie or something to get my mind off things?” I pleaded.

  She just wrapped her arms around me. “Let’s do it.”

  We watched The Matrix, and ate ice cream, and did not talk about boys. I was almost scared to go to sleep. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see any more stuff. I snuggled into her spare room and drifted into an exhaustion coma.

  I woke up with the scent of cinnamon surrounding me. I didn’t know if I wanted to cry or snuggle more into the pillow. He must have been here. I took the crying route.

  When the tears finally ceased, I got up and trudged out to get some coffee. “Here.” Lacey set out a cup of coffee.

  “Thank you,” I mumbled and took a sip.

  “So, Leander called me. I’m sorry Thalia.” I looked at her curiously. I doubt Leander just whipped out the truth to her so I was curious about what he told her.

  “What did he say?” She looked at me with a sad smile.

  “The truth.” I still didn’t believe he told her the truth, truth. I motioned for her to go on.

  “The real truth, which you know. Tristan’s real identity.” I stood up.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?!” I yelled. I couldn’t help it.

  “Why would he tell you that?” I was cursing him. This was a huge thing even for me and I was involved, but Lacey? She wasn’t! Why wasn’t she freaking out? She looked nervous.

  “Um Thalia, why don’t you sit down?” I shook my head. “No I think I will stand.” She took a breath.

  “Well demigods are more common than you would think. I um...I’m one too, and he wanted to let me know you knew the truth.”

  And I fainted.

  “Get out of here; she will freak out even more if she sees you right now.” I heard Lacey’s voice as I was starting to come back to reality.

  “I had to make sure she was okay. Her heart is in pain.” Tristan? His voice sounded strained. I opened my eyes. I was staring at her ceiling.

  “Get out of here,” Lacey said to Tristan. I rolled up and looked around. I didn’t see Tristan. He must have disappeared.

  “Here, let me help you.” Lacey’s small hands wrapped around my arms and helped me up and over to the couch. My head was hurting. She set me down and ran away. Seconds later she was back with a glass of water.

  We sat there in silence. My mind was trying to process this new information. So demigods were common. Was everyone I knew a demigod? “Thalia?” she spoke.

  “Who is your godly parent?” I was curious. She gave me a little smile.

  “My mother is a muse. My dad was an artist. Hence, why I love working at the museum,” she gushed. I shook my head. I was starting to absorb everything. I mean, I should be excited, right?

  “Thalia, it’s going to be okay. Just think about how cool it is that everything that you love is real. I mean, like, you obsess over mythology. And we are still the same people. Just with a past and cool parents.” She made a point. Did it really change who they were? No it didn’t. But it didn’t mean it was any easier to grip.

  “I’m not mad at you. I just, we need to go to work.” Yeah, that was great, Thalia.

  She nodded. “Okay, you can borrow one of my dresses for work.”

  We rode into work together. We didn’t speak in the car, and it was awkward, but I didn’t feel like talking. Before we went inside, I stopped Lacey.

  “Is anyone else a demigod at our work?” I had to know.

  She shook her head. “Nope.” I took a breath and walked in.

  Work went by in a flash. I was definitely on auto pilot. Just going through the motions. Looking at everything around me, all of the artifacts were making it worse. What if one of those things was mine, back in the day? Or the fact that when I talked about gods and goddesses, they were real people.

  Lacey drove me home but didn’t come up. I hadn’t seen Tristan, and I missed him. But I wasn’t ready yet. I walked up the stairs, enjoying wasting some time instead of the quick trip up the elevator.

  Chapter 27

  Leander was waiting there for me when I opened the door. He looked like crap still. I felt bad for making him look like that, but a girl has her limits. “Hey.”

  He looked at me like he was waiting for me to freak out. I shrugged, I was already past that. “Hey, look I’m-” I held up my hand for him to not say anything.

  “Look Leander, I’m tired, and hungry. Can we eat something, and play Call of Duty or something? We can talk after I get something in my stomach,” I pleaded.

  He looked like he wanted to say something but held back. “Sounds good, dove.”

  We both went to work on something for us to eat. We came up with macaroni and cheese with steak. It was heavenly. We sat down on the couch and played some games for a couple of hours and then settled down to watch T.V.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to keep anything from you. No one knew what it would do to you if we just jogged your memory right away,” he blurted out. I smiled; he had been good by not mentioning anything to me until now.

  “I’m starting to see that. Those headaches were no joke,” I confessed.

  He smiled. “Everything is going to be ok, don’t worry.”

  Despite Lea
nder telling me about his true identity, he was actually making me feel better. I leaned in and let him hold me. “I love you Leander, even if you are a demigod. It’s weird, but you are my best friend.” Silence filled the air as he just sat and comforted me.

  “So you knew about Tristan in the beginning?” I broke that silence.

  He nodded above my head. “Yeah. I heard the story about you and him from back in the day. I tried to warn him off at first but I could see that eternal love between you guys. There was no stopping it. Plus, he’s a pretty cool dude.” He shrugged. I laughed. He was easing my mind.

  I felt so exhausted from everything that had happened. It was amazing, and scary. The world I thought existed still did, but now with gods and demigods. Demigods…

  “Do you have like any cool powers?”

  He laughed. “I have very extensive skills in fighting. I can eat junk food and never lose my manly figure.” He waggled his eyebrows, which in turn made me laugh.

  “I have a canny ability to always know where my enemies are in battle. And as you know I am skilled with weapons.” He did design them for a living.

  “So nothing crazy though, like lightning doesn’t come out of your fingers?” I felt dumb for asking it but I had to know.

  “Well some do, it all depends on who your parent is.” That made sense. I yawned against him.

  “I think I am going to go to bed.” I got up and slowly trudged towards my room.

  As soon as I turned on the light, I turned it back off and spun around towards Leander. “Can I sleep in your room? I don’t want to be surrounded by all of that.” I pointed to all the décor in my room.

  “Sure thing. But before you go, you aren’t mad at me are you?” He looked scared; he never liked it when I was mad at him.

  “I can’t even tell you what I am. Today has been so exhausting, I think I’ll be ok once I hopefully have a memory free night.” I answered honestly. He just nodded and I went to his room and snuggled in the bed. I fell asleep instantly and thankfully, no memories or people entered my dream.

  I stretched as I woke up; I slowly move out of bed and made myself a cup of coffee, which thankfully Leander had made me before he left for work. I sat down on the couch and took a deep breath.

  This morning, I felt resolved, and more in control of myself. I didn’t know how this was supposed to work, but I wanted to see Tristan. I missed him. He had ingrained himself in all of the corners of my soul.

  “I’ve missed you too, Thalia.” Tristan’s voice interrupted my thoughts, and I am not even going to lie that I totally jumped and shrieked at his sudden appearance. I wasn’t expecting him yet. I was going to call him. As my heart calmed itself I remembered he said he could feel my soul and my heart. I guess they were calling out to him.

  I took in his form as he stayed a few feet away from me. He looked unsure of what I was going to do, but yet he came. “I’m sorry, Tristan.” My voice was low and vulnerable. He took calculated steps towards me and crouched in front of my face.

  “You have nothing to be sorry about, love. I wish I could have told you, but my hands were behind my back on this.” His hand reached out and ran his fingers along the side of my face.

  My heart exploded. Everything that happened was forgiven with that single touch. He was so tender. I leaned in and crushed my lips to his taking him by surprise. He stayed there unmoving for a few moments with his eyes wide.

  Then he groaned into me as he wrapped his hands around me and pulled me down to join him on the floor. This kiss was demanding and passionate. My tongue snaked out into his parted lips taking the kiss deeper. My body moved against his, giving into what it really wanted.

  Him.

  My hands were greedy as they roamed over his hard body. My body craved him like the sweetest drug. His hands dug into my hips, bringing me closer. I was panting and moaning into him as we ravaged each other.

  I slipped my fingers under his shirt and pressed my hands to his rippling muscles. He was so warm. I gripped the edges of his shirt and together, we ripped it off of him. I just sat there on top of him as my eyes raked over his body, savoring him.

  I saw the hieroglyphics on his chest and my heart once again swelled. I ran my fingers over them; he did this for me and kept it for me. I leaned over and kissed them.

  “Is that really my name?” I wanted to hear it. He nodded. “Yours forever, love.” I whispered into his chest, and sealed it with another kiss to my name upon him.

  A growl escaped his mouth and his mouth attacked mine. Ferocious, and exciting. We were practically ripping each other’s clothes off until finally he rolled us over and was cradled between my legs. He ran sweet kisses over my breasts, my neck, and finally to my lips as he pushed into me.

  I cried out as tingles of pleasure consumed me as I clenched around him. He completed me in a way only he could. His lips grew more demanding, feeling what I was through my heart and soul. I put every ounce of love into this kiss in hopes he would feel it.

  His hips pulled back slowly and then slammed into me, hard; his hips rocked with relentless speed as he drove into me. I groaned. “Tristan. Ah! Oh God, Tristan!” His hand curled around thigh, lifting it towards his hips, giving him deeper access. My legs wrapped around his. He groaned though his breaths.

  “You feel so fucking good, Thalia.” I moaned. Oh God, hearing him speak was pushing within inches of climax. “Your pussy is so fucking wet; I love the feel of you around my dick.” And I was a goner.

  “Tristan!!!!” I screamed out as the earth-shattering orgasm took me. He slammed into me even harder, burying me into the floor. I felt him grow harder and swollen inside me, throwing me into another wave of pleasure. “Fuck, Thalia!” he gasped as he came. He pressed into me one last time, burying himself as far as he could before lowering himself above me.

  “I am yours forever, love,” he whispered to me, and sealing his words with a kiss.

  We just lied there, wrapped in each other’s arms. “I didn’t think I was going to ever have you again like this,” he confessed. I didn’t want him to be upset.

  “I would have come around; a girl can only resist you for so long.” I kissed his cheek, hoping I was lightening the mood. He gently pulled out of me and stood up. I sat up and stared up at him curiously. He reached a hand out for me to take. He helped me to my feet and led me to the bathroom.

  “I want to take you out. We can go anywhere you want! Paris? Rome? Greece? Whatever you want, love, it’s yours.” He was beaming like a child. I couldn’t help but smile at him. His level of excitement was off the charts as we showered, and I savored the happiness that surrounded us.

  Everything I was obsessed with and loved was real, and that was pretty cool. Especially now that my obsession with Greek and Egyptian things had been explained. Now I was just going to spend my time with the man that I loved, a man that had been waiting for me for so long.

  He disappeared for a moment as I stood in front of my closet trying to decide what to wear. As soon as he reappeared, his arms snaked around me, bringing me closer. I hummed in delight. I turned in his arms to face him. His eyes were lit up and he had the most breath taking smile, and I was the one that made him like that. My fingers stretched up and grazed the contours of his face. He was so beautiful.

  “You are beautiful,” I told him. His smile turned into a smirk.

  “Glad you like what you see.” I shook my head and went back to trying to figure out what to wear.

  “Have you decided where you would like to go?” he asked me as his hands distracted me from my simple task of getting dressed.

  Stupid, sexy, roaming hands.

  I had thought about where I wanted to go. I didn’t know how he would react, but hopefully, it would bring back happy memories for both of us.

  “I want to go back to where we met. In Memphis.”

  His hands grew greedy as they dominated me. “I would like that.” He purred into my neck as he pressed his hot mouth to me. Shivers ran up and d
own my skin. Oh Lord.

  “Ok, you need to go sit over there and keep your hands to yourself if you want to go; otherwise I won’t be responsible when I attack you,” I warned. He chuckled against me and did as I said and sat on the bed. I tried not to think about him on my bed. Even in his grey shirt, light wash jeans and boots, he was still sex on a stick, and I really wanted sex on his stick.

  I settled on a pair of shorts, light short sleeve shirt, and some hiking boots. I put my hair up into a pony tail and went without make up today. I was so excited about this little excursion with him. “Don’t worry, Thalia. I will always protect you,” he chuckled. He was laughing because I mentioned out loud how I was nervous about disappearing long distances with him.

  “Okay, let’s do this.” I walked over to the bed where he was and laid down with him. His arms wrapped around me as he kissed my head. “Just breathe.”

  Chapter 28

  I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and we were no longer lying on my bed. “Open your eyes love.” I slowly opened my eyes and was shocked. He did it! We were really here!

  We were standing in the very same spot where I found out who he was, and our first kiss by the Nile. It was very sunny, and hot. But it felt familiar. I suddenly burst into tears at the sight.

  “What is the matter, Thalia? Are you in pain?” He panicked behind me.

  “I’m okay. I just feel like I’m home,” I said through my hysteria. “I can feel it, inside me. I recognize it all. Oh, Tristan.” I turned to him and kissed him with all the love I possessed.

  “Thank you.” I murmured against him. He pulled back and smiled at me.

  “Things have changed a lot, but I can still show you around.” I nodded excitedly at him. I was happy beyond belief. He interlaced his fingers with mine as we walked towards the city. We walked through the Gardens at Memphis, saw old ruins, ate lunch along the Nile, and it was amazing.

  “This has been amazing. Thank you for taking me here oh Anubis, god of the Underworld,” I teased.

  He smirked at me. “Are you teasing me, Ms. Thalia?” His eyes held a slow simmer.