My mouth opened and then closed again, and I swallowed roughly. If I was understanding Despoina correctly, then she and the rest of the Olympians stored here at the Omega site had been living in a simulated world since the collapse of the Alpha site over twelve thousand years ago. They weren’t dormant, as I had been in my lone consciousness orb; they were existing, experiencing new things. Their world may have been virtual, but they were very much still alive, and my heart soared with the realization.
Hades and I weren’t alone. We weren’t the last of our people.
“Yeah, I—” I cleared my throat, then nodded my head. “I'm real. I, uh—a lot has happened since . . .” Since I died, I didn’t say.
Without warning, Despoina threw her arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug. “I can’t believe it’s really you!” After a long moment, she released me and took a step back. “Last time Hades communicated with us, he told us everything was going according to plan, but something in his voice told me he wasn't being entirely honest.”
I laughed under my breath. “As I said, a lot has happened.”
Despoina frowned, but her eyes filled with hope. “Since you're back, does that mean we get to come out soon?”
I inhaled to answer but found I didn’t know what to say. Finally, I nodded. “We're working on it,” I told her, hoping I was telling the truth.
We were working on a lot of things at the moment, saving Earth from the Tsakali threat again, first and foremost among them. But how could I tell her that nothing had changed? That we were right back where we started—or ended—twelve millennia ago, trying to figure out how to evade an imminently invading force?
“I—” I glanced over my shoulder, like I might be able to see the world beyond the simulation. “I should get back, but I just wanted to see you. I never got to thank you for trusting me.” We never would have been able to save this planet from destruction by the Tsakali the last time if she hadn’t supported me. I flashed her a weak smile. “You’ve always had my back, Des. Thank you.”
“Peri,” Despoina said, reaching for me. “Wait—”
I pulled my hand away from the consciousness orb, keeping my eyes closed as the simulated city vanished around me. I hung my head and lowered my hand to my side, my chest rising and falling with each heaving breath. I sensed a presence behind me, both welcome and not. Hades.
My heart beat a little faster, and butterflies fluttered in my belly, my body’s instinctive reaction to knowing he was near.
“I was going to tell you about the simulation as soon as you had settled in a little more,” Hades said, guessing the reason for my somber mood. Within his mind, I could sense the truth of his words—the purity of his intentions and his regret at the lie of omission.
I opened my eyes and stared at Despoina’s consciousness orb, watching the coral-pink ribbons swirl and sway within. She was in there, as alive as me, just lacking a body. What if we could never free her? What if we could never free any of them? What if they were trapped in that simulated reality for all time?
“I didn't realize . . .” Swallowing down my confusing emotions, I raised a hand to activate my regulator. It was hard enough to make sense of my own thoughts without Hades’ thoughts invading my head. I took a deep breath, my shoulders relaxing, and turned around to face Hades, tilting my head back to meet his ice-blue eyes.
His elven beauty was as breathtaking as ever, the sharp contours of his face made more pronounced by the way his silver-blond hair was pulled back and tied at the nape of his neck. During my first few lifetimes, I had found Hades incredibly intimidating, but as I had come to know him better, that sense of intimidation had transformed into intrigue, and in time, to desire and love. Once upon a time, I had been ready to give up everything for him, including the relative immortality cloning afforded my people, for the chance to experience something forbidden to the members of the Order of Amazons: love. But before Hades and I could run away together, the Tsakali had brought the illusion of safety surrounding this world crashing down, and our dream of sharing one last lifetime together remained unfulfilled.
Now, we were together again, but the ground beneath our feet was no less shaky. The yearning I had felt for him so long ago still lingered, but I feared we had missed our chance, that what could have been was lost to the ages, just like our people.
“We could bring them back the same way I was brought back,” I said, latching onto the safer subject—our people. Talking about us was not a conversation I wanted to have right now. My heart was split clean in the middle, and I wasn’t ready to deal with the consequences of loving two men. “With surrogates and—and—”
Hades nodded, his expression thoughtful. “We could revive them the same way.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I’m sensing a but in there . . .”
Hades sighed. “But, I don’t think we should bring them back.”
I sucked in a breath to demand an explanation, to argue.
“At least, not right now,” Hades added before I could even get started. “I think it would be too risky to implant any Olympian embryos into surrogate human mothers at present with the Tsakali on the way here right now.”
Hands on my hips, I pursed my lips, processing his words. “So, what? You think we should wait to see if the Tsakali destroy this planet, then think about resurrecting the others?”
Hades shook his head, his mouth forming a thin, flat line. “I think we need to consider evacuating the planet.”
“But—but—” I sputtered, my thoughts tumbling over my shock. “But that would require a ship . . . or the gephyra. And we don't have a ship”—the Tartarus, which had carried our people here, had been destroyed during the revolution that had claimed my life so long ago—“so you must be talking about the gephyra.”
The gephyra was an Olympian device that could create a bridge between distant planets, allowing people to travel far across the universe in the blink of an eye. Only, there was one big problem with that plan—the gephyra required a power source to run, and the chaos fragments that had once powered the gephyra located at the Alpha site were long gone, jettisoned from this planet to lead the Tsakali away the last time they had threatened Earth. Chaos was a unique, sustainable power source the Tsakali coveted above all other things. A new, human-created chaos stone formed from the orichalcum extracted from a meteor that landed on Earth several years ago was the reason we found ourselves in the same bind once again.
My eyes widened, and my lips parted as I stared at Hades, realizing his plan. “You want the chaos stone,” I said with absolute certainty.
Hades blinked once, his icy stare steady. “I need the chaos stone,” he countered. The way he said “need” sent a thrill through my body. “Regardless of what happens when the Tsakali arrive or what we do to prepare for the invasion, without a chaos stone, the Omega site's power core will fail, and then not only will all the Olympian embryos preserved in the Eberus perish, but I will be unable to transfer the consciousness orbs to the Alpha site should evacuation through the gephyra end up being our only option for survival.”
I shook my head, grinding my teeth together. “Stop saying ‘evacuation’ like it's inevitable.”
Hades inhaled and exhaled through his nose, his eyes never leaving mine. “It may be the only way to save our people.”
“No,” I snapped. “It would only save the Olympians, but you're forgetting that they're not my only people on this planet, and there's no way in hell I'm going to abandon humanity to an enemy we know everything about while they know nothing.” Chest heaving, I took a step closer to Hades, drawn in by his intensity. “If that's what you're planning on doing, then know you'll be evacuating without me.”
Hades clenched his jaw. “Always so idealistic,” he hissed. “And so stubborn.” His eyes searched mine, his gaze flicking down to my lips, and my stomach did a little flip flop of anticipation.
“Isn't that what you love about me?” My eyes widened as soon as the words left my tongue, and I
immediately wished I could suck them back in. My pulse raced, and I flushed.
Hades leaned in closer, his gaze dipping down to my lips once more. “I love many things about you, Peri.” His focus returned to my eyes, his own burning with a tightly reined passion. “Would you like me to list them?”
I gulped, then licked my lips. My breaths came faster, my heart hammering in my chest. “I—”
Hades leaned in even closer until our breaths mingled.
Someone cleared a throat nearby.
I jumped back a step, putting some much-needed distance between myself and Hades, and stared at the intruder.
Fiona stood a dozen paces away, her face a mask of discomfort. She flashed me an apologetic smile before shifting her focus to Hades. “Sorry to interrupt, but an alarm is going off,” she said, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb. “Just thought you should know.”
4
Hades and I exchanged a heated look filled with all the unsaid things that hung between us. He had waited thousands of years for my return, and his look made it clear that the passion we’d left unfulfilled all those millennia ago was still there, simmering just under his polished surface. My breath hitched in my lungs as his longing revived mine, fanning embers into flames. I wanted him now, just as much as I had wanted him then.
Without another word, Hades turned on his heel and strode toward the arched doorway, both Fiona and me watching him go. The door panel slid open, and then shut, and only once he was gone could I draw in a full breath.
Fiona whistled and turned back to me. “That man scares me, but in an arousing way,” she said, fanning herself with her hand. “If he wasn't already part of your harem, I'd be all over that fine alien ass.”
Her crass humor cut through the tension Hades had left in his wake, and my body relaxed. My shoulders slumped, my arms hanging at my sides, and I let my head fall back as I fake cried up at the ceiling. “A, he's not part of my harem. And B, I don't have a harem.”
Fiona snorted a laugh. “Tell that to the choking sexual tension that clouds the air whenever you're around either of your man toys . . .”
I raised my head to meet Fiona’s sparkling green eyes, my stare steady, my expression unamused. “That’s really not helpful, Fio.”
Taking pity on me, Fiona flashed me an apologetic smile and raised her hands in surrender. “Hey, I just call 'em like I see 'em.” She cocked her head to the side, studying me through narrowed eyes. “You know, I think you could do with a little perspective here.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Oh, really?”
Fiona pointed to herself and said, “Zero gorgeous guys.” She pointed to me. “Two gorgeous guys.” She raised one eyebrow. “I mean, how is it fair that the only two beings with penises in this joint are hung up on you? I'm just saying, put yourself in my guy-less shoes. Wouldn't you rather be you right now?”
I laughed under my breath and shook my head. Her logic was refreshing, if dangerously skewed by a single variable. “Thanks, Fio. I needed that.” I sighed, my attention drifting to the door panel. “I suppose we should go find out what the alarm is about,” I said and started toward the door.
Fiona spun on her heel and linked her arm with mine as I passed, falling into step beside me. “Think there's another evil alien race coming to destroy us? Like a two-for-one deal?”
I shrugged. Knowing my luck, I wouldn’t put it past the universe to do just that.
“Think they’ll be hot?” Fiona mused as the door panel slid open in front of us.
I guffawed, and we stepped into the long hallway that led back to the control room. “The Tsakali? Or the new aliens?”
“Either,” Fiona said. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”
“I honestly couldn’t tell you,” I admitted. “I’ve only seen recordings of the Tsakali, and they didn’t look much different from you or me.” I glanced at Fiona sidelong, a smile tugging at my lips. “What if they’re entirely female?”
Fiona groaned. “That would be just my luck—a penis-free invasion of smokin’ hot aliens.”
I chuckled and once again shook my head, grateful for the distraction provided by Fiona’s one-track mind.
Up ahead, the door panel leading to the private quarters slid open, and Emi and Raiden emerged. They spotted us making our way up the passage and paused. Raiden murmured something to his mom, his eyes never leaving me. Emi nodded a hello our way, then turned and headed up the passage to the control room while Raiden stayed behind, apparently waiting for me.
I could feel my cheeks heating the closer Fiona and I drew to Raiden and his appraising gaze.
“Big news, apparently,” he said when we reached him, his eyes locking with mine. “Did you hear?”
Fiona and I stopped and exchanged a look.
Anxiety coiled in my gut, suffocating the amusement of only moments ago, and I shook my head.
The corners of Raiden’s mouth tensed. “Looks like we have an estimated arrival window for the Tsakali,” he shared. “Hades sent my mom to gather everyone.”
My eyes widened, and I exchanged another look with Fiona. Panic danced in her emerald stare, and her hold on my arm tightened. As much as she joked about hot aliens, she was as scared of the Tsakali as the rest of us. Maybe more.
“Did he say when?” I asked.
Raiden shook his head and started toward the control room, Fiona and me falling in step beside him. “But my mom had the impression that it wasn't good,” Raiden added.
“Awesome,” I said, the single word dripping with sarcasm.
The door panel to the control room slid open as we approached.
“Hey, Cora, um . . .” Raiden’s fingers curled around my upper arm, and he pulled me to a stop.
Fiona’s arm slipped from mine, and she hovered just ahead of me in the hallway.
I looked at Raiden, my eyebrows raised in question. At reading the serious expression on his face, I glanced at Fiona and gave her a quick nod to go on without me. Where Hades had a penchant for rousing my passions, Raiden had always had a calming, grounding effect on me. Hades electrified me, but Raiden soothed me. Neither was better than the other. I enjoyed both. Craved both. Wanted both.
But I feared that in the end, I would end up with neither.
“Can we talk?” Raiden asked, drawing my eyes back to him. The question twisted my stomach into knots. “After this, I mean,” he clarified, nodding toward the door at the end of the hallway. “In my room?”
I swallowed, practically choking on my reservations. “Yeah, sure,” I said and forced a smile. My cheeks heated as I recalled the last time we had been alone together in a bedroom—back in Fiona’s castle, half-naked and well on our way to shedding our final few pieces of clothing before being interrupted.
Sensing eyes on me, I glanced up the hallway and found the door panel to the control room open, giving the others a clear view of Raiden and me lingering behind. Hades was watching us.
My blush deepened at the overload of attention, and I averted my gaze to the floor. “Well,” I said, clearing my throat and forcing myself to look up at Raiden, “should we find out what all the excitement is about?”
Raiden held an arm out toward the doorway at the end of the passage and the others waiting on us. “After you.”
I hurried into the control room, Raiden at my side, and the two of us joined the others gathered near the main control panel on the right side of the room.
Hades’ stare lingered on me for longer than was comfortable before he blinked and scanned the rest of the group. “I hoped we would have more time to prepare,” he started, “but according to the computer's calculations, the Tsakali will most likely be here in two months.” He paused, letting that revelation sink in. “Now that Fiona’s translation program is up and running, she has access to the Olympian compendium of knowledge. She’s been searching the database for any information regarding the Tsakali on the off chance that she knows of some human technology that could defeat them, but I think it would be b
est if we all prepared for the worst and readied for evacuation off-world.”
“No!” I blurted, shaking my head. “I already told you, we're not abandoning all of humanity to save a species that is, for all intents and purposes, already gone.” Betrayal was bitter on my tongue as I thought of Despoina and all the other Olympians stuck in their virtual half-life. But the humans were here, alive now, and they deserved a chance to survive this, too.
Hades raised a hand, playing at peacekeeper, but I caught the flash of irritation in his ice-blue eyes. “I mean for evacuation to be a last resort,” he clarified.
I crossed my arms over my chest and cocked a hip, not sure I believed him. “Then what would you suggest as our first resort?”
Hades clenched his jaw, his momentary silence locking the two of us in a tense stare down. “I don't know,” he admitted. “Yet.”
“Well,” I said, “I don't think—”
An ear-splitting alarm blared, cutting off my words. All heads turned to the control panel, then rose to the holoscreen higher on the wall, surrounded by a flashing red border.
In my peripheral vision, I saw Hades close his eyes, a pained expression tensing his features.
“What is it?” I asked, my attention snapping back to him. “What now?”
Hades sighed and opened his eyes, reaching out toward the control panel to tap a button. The alarm silenced, but the holoscreen still flashed red. “The patch on the power core is failing,” Hades explained. “I thought it would last longer, but . . .” He sighed again, raising his hands to smooth back his hair unnecessarily. “Running the base at full power isn't helping,” he added.
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