by L. J. Stock
“My ankle. I don't know how it happened.”
He looked down at my feet and back up to me.
“What?” I asked.
“I think it was in the bathroom. There was so much water in there. When I arrived, I skidded halfway across it trying to get to you. All of you were pretty much in a heap together.”
“Probably. Everything happened so fast I can't remember most of it with any kind of clarity.”
With his free hand, Damon brushed my hair back from my face and kissed my forehead with a sigh. I knew he felt as useless as I did, but his reasons were a whole different set than my own.
We moved slowly at first. Damon stood on the side of my bad ankle and acted like a crutch, taking my weight for me. When we finally made it out into the hall and the smell of the food permeated the air, I knew I wasn't that patient. I almost wished that I wasn't so prideful. I would have asked Damon to help me out. Thankfully, when we reached the top of the steep stairs, he took matters into his own hands and swung me up into his arms before descending. I dropped a kiss to his neck in thanks and held still as he moved us both.
He didn't let me go until he settled me in a chair and took the one next to me. All eyes seemed to be on me but I couldn't have cared less. I was distracted by the food in front of me. The aromatic spread was like my own version of wonderland.
“That color suits you, Cass,” Zander said quietly with his usual bright smile. “Purple is, after all, a very royal color.”
“Screw you,” I said, maturely sticking out my tongue and giving him the one-fingered salute. I finally looked around the table and took everyone in. Acantha was eyeing me with a worried crease along her brow. Rasmus looked like he had more color as he sat with his arm along the back of Shannon's chair, and Alexa and Zander were grinning at me expectantly.
We all sat quietly, though I was more impatient than quiet, waiting for someone to start piling their plate up with food. After a moment’s hesitation, I obliged. Grabbing an eggroll, I bit into and almost rolled my eyes in raw pleasure. The tastes all mingled on my tongue as everyone else started grabbing for food. Damon shuffled his seat closer and dumped spoonfuls of food on my plate as he filled his. It was normally something that would have irked me, but I was too hungry to notice.
Most of us ate in silence, and it was only the occasional question shot at me that broke it up, my answers one word and pushed out between mouthfuls. Zander was curious about what had happened and how we’d escaped, but I constantly reminded him that it wasn't the time and that he was invited to be at the palace when I finally felt like I could tell the story with some semblance of lucidity. I knew I would have to have Shannon and Rasmus with me when I did. They needed to fill in the blanks if it became too hard to remember, or those rare moments when I’d been asleep.
Shannon couldn't stop her eyes from traveling across the table to Acantha, starstruck by her very presence. For a while my grandmother didn't notice at all because her worried glances were trained on me. When she finally noticed the big, blue eyes on her, she offered a genial smile.
“I'm sorry for staring,” Shannon finally said, after being caught for a third time. “I just can't believe I’m here with you. My sister told me stories of you as we grew up.”
“Who were your parents?” Acantha asked gently, pushing rice around her plate. I could see that her infamy made her uncomfortable. It wasn't often that she blushed, but the pale pink on her porcelain skin made her look so young I couldn't help but grin.
“Our father was Vulcan, and my mother was one of Hecate's torch bearers. That was before my father married Venus. That was when he decided not to recognize us as his children.”
Acantha nodded politely and took another forkful of food. Shannon watched her as she chewed, her smile almost bemused. I couldn't imagine what it would have been like to have a Greek God as a parent. None of them seemed to think much about it, but then again it wasn't as though there were a lot of Greek Gods around these days. Which was exactly why the nymphs tried to protect themselves. They would live for thousands of years, but their only legacies would be the vis liberi.
“Where is your sister now?” Acantha asked, setting her silverware down.
“Murdered.”
“I'm so sorry, sweetheart.”
Shannon nodded her head once in a short burst of movement. I knew she didn't like talking about it. It was hard for her to dredge up the memories because she'd believed they would have thousands of years together. The brutality of her sister's end hadn't been easy for her. You could see it in her eyes as she looked anywhere but into anybody's eyes.
“Acantha, are you the daughter of Poseidon?” I blurted, making Alexa drop her fork so it clattered to her plate. She stared at me then Acantha, and then back at me again. If I hadn't been so interested in an answer, I was certain I would have been laughing too hard to hear anything more.
“Cass…” Damon whispered under his breath, and I realized I'd been rude.
“I'm so sorry. I never meant to be rude about it. I was just curious.” I wriggled in my seat and leaned into Damon.
“Don't be ridiculous, Cass. You're my blood, my grandchild. Of course you're curious about your heritage.” She grinned. “Contrary to the speculation of my past, no, I am not the daughter of Poseidon. Although, he was my brother in law if that counts? Amphitrite and I were included in the many daughters of Oceanus and Tethys.”
“Many?” I asked.
“You haven't heard the legend?” Shannon asked excitedly. “It was said that Oceanus and Tethys had three thousand daughters. They became known as the Oceanids. People seem to misconceive that Acantha was a Napaea, because of the whole Acanthus tree thing...”
Shannon tapered off and her cheeks grew pink enough to be distinguishable even under the bruises. I could see she was just as curious and excited as I was about all of this. Acantha laughed gently and held her hand out to Shannon. Shannon took it without question and smiled back at her.
“Thank you, Shannon. It's refreshing to see someone with such passion for our histories.”
Shannon beamed at her before releasing her hand and almost burying her face in Rasmus' shoulder. It was unusual to see her so demure, but Rasmus certainly wasn't complaining. His arm encircled her shoulders and pulled her in tighter as he whispered into her ear. They were good together and good for one another and I hoped it stuck.
“Was there any particular reason you asked?” Acantha questioned, turning to me.
“No, not really. Just something I heard. I was curious about what all of this meant, and not for the first time I was questioning why it was me when it could have been anyone.”
“No, sweetheart, it couldn't have been. Even if you weren’t my granddaughter, I'm not sure whether or not you realize how rare a child of water and fire actually is. The three other elements work well together. Any combination of the three is commonplace, but water and fire, it's... special.”
This was news to me. I leaned forward and let my elbows rest on the table.
“You mean unnatural.”
“No, I don't think that's an accurate representation,” she said thoughtfully. “All four elements coexist side by side for a reason. Some work together, and some work against one another. It's the natural progression. It has always been, and will always be. Just because it's not commonplace doesn't make something unnatural. It just makes it all the more important in the light of things. Nature saw fit to gift you with both elements. It's not a punishment.”
“So, for example, if Rasmus and Shannon were to have children...” Rasmus almost spat his water out as I said the words, but I chose to ignore him. “You're saying they couldn't produce a child with two dominant elements?”
“Not at all. Shannon is a full-blooded nymph, a descendant of a deity. Should they choose to take that course, their child will have the element of fire and water, depending on how strong Rasmus’ genes are.”
I nodded thoughtfully. It didn't make much more sense than it had
before, but at least I knew a little more about my heritage.
“I taught her some things,” Shannon said quietly. “She needed to know them to stay alive. My nephew, Grigori, he taught her magic.”
“Fire?”
Shannon inclined her head.
“Water?”
“Very little. I don't know very much, but I taught both of them what I knew.”
“The healing?”
Shannon furrowed her brow and shook her head. “Beyond my boundary of knowledge.”
“Come to me,” Acantha said gently, reaching her hand out to Shannon. “All of you should take note of this, even if your element is not water. You should all know that your elements have benefits.”
Shannon got up from her seat and headed toward Acantha. Gone was the swagger she normally used and in its place was the floating movement Acantha had always seemed to use. She kneeled in front of her, and their hands came palm to palm.
“Most of you are second generation nymphs. You have gifts far greater than once believed. We have held this a secret by order of the Royal Chalice. Before her death, the mother of Thánatos and Layland revealed her true self to the nymphs. She gave each of her sons a secret to keep. Secrets that even we nymphs didn’t know about. She knew of the prophecy, just as she knew she would die at the hands of her own son. So she entrusted to us both secrets that we were never permitted to share until the right time came… until the war was upon us.”
“You're in the royal order?” Shannon asked in awe.
“I was one of the founders along with King Layland.”
“Holy shit...” Shannon ducked her head and blushed. “I'm sorry. I just...”
Acantha laughed and bounced one of Shannon's palms in her own. My grandmother looked tired, more tired than I'd ever seen her, even after her haunting moments during the battle of my accession. Her ethereal glow seemed dimmed with what she was now tasked to do.
“What does that mean?” Zander asked, feeding from Shannon's reaction. He was leaning forward, and Alexa, sat next to him, was rubbing his back gently, her eyes wide as she watched the two women at the end of the table.
“Layland shared his secret with me after he made his decision to not seek eternal life as his brother had.” She turned to me. “That eternal life is unnatural. Layland knew his secret would protect our kind from Thánatos. His mother had made it very clear that should Thánatos learn his secret, the war would spread to both dimensions and the very fabric of life would fold in on itself. Some of the secrets you already know—others, only we nymphs know. Then there is the healing power. I was one of only two nymphs with this knowledge. King Layland made it known that I was to only share it when the time was right. When the prophecy would lead to the war. There was also another prophecy only he and I knew about.”
“Which was?”
Acantha shifted uncomfortably. Her eyes moved from me to Damon and finally down to Shannon, who looked equally as confused. The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. No one seemed inclined to interrupt her. As though sensing it, Acantha took a deep breath and looked directly at me.
“Your abduction. It was the test of the child born of fire and water. There were only two other women with the same genetics. Both were born into royalty. They were captured as you were, and murdered.” Damon stiffened in his seat beside me but let her finish. “I believe Thánatos was using it as his own detection. This was one of the prophecies he was privy to, even before he really understood it.”
“What was the prophecy?” I asked, sitting forward. Damon's hand tangled with mine, his fingers squeezing almost painfully. I knew this was hard for him to hear. Having an inkling that he could have stopped it was upsetting him. I could see it in the way he glared at my grandmother. I squeezed his fingers in return to reassure him, but his eyes burned a hole in the woman at the end of the table.
“The birthright of the fire and water will come with a price. Each will be tested, but only one will suffice. To survive what will come will need knowledge and skill, and an accomplice born in chains with a thirst for free will.”
“Grigori,” Shannon, Rasmus and I said in unison, our voices ringing out in the silent room.
Unfortunately, our understanding had not spread to the man I loved. I felt him tense again. He was fighting his own inclination to comment. Before I could move to stop him, he reacted.
“You mean she could have died?” Damon shouted, thumping his free fist on the table and making everyone jump. There was a clatter of silverware and hands steadying cups. He'd used a lot of force. I cringed an apology to Acantha. There wasn't much more I could do. “And you knew about it!” he directed at Acantha. “Am I the only one who is not all right with this?”
I rubbed his arm gently, coaxing his glare from Acantha so I could calm him down. He was more than mad; he was pissed as hell and it was promulgating itself in the form of shaking. I leaned closer to him and pressed myself against his side. I wasn't sure what it was going to do other than reassure him that I was here and still alive.
“Damon, relax. It's over with,” I whispered.
“You could have been killed, Cass,” he said with an edge of desperation in his voice. “If there was an inkling that they were at all wrong about you being the prophesied, you wouldn’t have made it out of there alive.”
It was then that he unleashed all of the pain he'd suffered on me. His eyes darkened, his soul was bared, and he bled with vulnerability and anguish. The full weight of it stole my breath. I could feel the sting of tears forming in my eyes before he closed his to cut off the connection. When he opened them again, the emotion was locked away again and just love and anger battled for dominance. His hands cupped my cheeks as the myriad of colors coalesced in his eyes in an attempt to find an emotion to settle on. When his confidence was back in place, his eyes locked on mine.
“They knew you would be taken. They knew your life would be on the line and would be taken if they were wrong. Don't you see they keep setting you up for failure?”
I heard the sigh from Acantha as the room seemed to take a breath. They'd all been nervous about his reaction and how it would manifest.
“She passes every time, taking every second of it in her stride. In fact, it makes her stronger. Do you honestly think I would have let this happen if I had an ounce of doubt, Damon?” Acantha asked, her own brand of anger tainting her normally placid tone. “She's my granddaughter.”
Damon turned his head to look at her. “It was still a risk that could have gotten her killed.”
“One we had to take.”
“Bull. Shit.”
“Damon. Stop,” I said gently, coaxing him to look at me again. “I'm never leaving you again. I'm here, I'm alive, and that's all that matters now.”
God, I hoped that was true. I wasn’t sure how many of these tests I could battle through.
“Did the king know?” Damon asked in a calmer tone that cost him some effort. His hands dropped from my face and into my lap to tangle with mine.
“No. No one knew,” she responded quietly.
He nodded as though confirming something to himself, and I knew this wasn't going to be dropped. I let my thumbs rub the backs of his hands gently as I watched him mull over this new information. The room was silent in the wake of his explosive temper.
“The healing?” I asked, trying to coax the conversation to begin again. “What is it?”
Acantha took a deep breath to compose herself before she concentrated on Shannon still kneeling in front of her. She closed her eyes, her breathing evening out in the silent room. Slowly, the bruises faded from Shannon's face, leaving her alabaster skin clear of both the swelling and abrasions. Shannon gasped the moment Acantha released her hands, and her fingers touched where the bruises had been. When she found nothing, her face broke out into a smile.
“How did you do that?” she exclaimed, both hands now smoothing over her flawless skin.
“I will teach you all. It's the one thing that wil
l keep us refreshed when the fighting begins.”
“Do you know what Thánatos' secret was?” I asked, still making idle circles on Damon's skin.
“Magic.”
“Well, it seems we're on an even footing then.” Shannon laughed, rolling her shoulders. “Because Cass has that, too.”
The room went silent as every eye in the room looked at me. I guessed it was time to do some talking of my own.
Chapter Sixteen
Once we were all translocated back to the palace, Shannon and I broke off from the group. I'd asked Damon to gather everyone he thought needed to hear about the revelations and my experiences, and promised to meet him as soon as I could. He knew where I was going, but not once did he admonish my decision or try to dissuade me. He trusted me, and his renewed faith in not only me, but us, made me proud.
“Shannon?” I whispered, stopping her outside of the door leading to Grigori’s suit. “Did you know any of this? You know, about Grigori, I mean?”
“Not a thing,” she said earnestly. “I promise. I was just as surprised as you were to discover his part was prophesied.”
I nodded my acceptance. Shannon was one of those rare people who had no problem being honest. Even if she knew I would get angry or upset, she spoke her mind and laid it all out there. To her, her word was her bond and honor, and I trusted that, so I didn't have to question her any further.
“Your man was not happy. I think that thump was heard around the world.”
“I know,” I replied, running my fingers along the grain of the wood on the door. “I understand where he's coming from and why he’s so upset, but I trust Acantha. She’s my grandmother. I have to believe that if she’d had any doubt whatsoever about my part in all of this, she wouldn't have even speculated that I could have been the woman in the prophecy. I think she’s always been certain about it. She just hasn’t vocalized it.”
“Again, you're a smart woman, but hey, you can't deny that seeing a man getting all hot and protective like that isn't flattering.” She laughed, bumping me with her shoulder. I rolled my eyes playfully and gave her a smile in response before pushing open the door to Grigori's room.