“It’s all going to be okay,” he said when he eased back, trying to reassure her.
“You do too much for me.”
“I would do more if I could. I love you.”
Her eyes darkened as she brushed soft fingertips over his cheek. “I love you, too, Gryphon. So much more than I expected. So much more than I can even explain. This…it’s sudden and crazy, but…for the first time in my life, everything feels right. Being with you feels…like home.”
She eased up on her toes and kissed him again. Wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held on tight. And in her kiss he tasted relief and desperation and hunger. The same things he’d been feeling the whole damn day.
“What an attractive couple you make.”
Gryphon pulled back from Maelea’s mouth and whipped around. Only to falter when he came face-to-face with Persephone.
“Oh, gods,” Maelea muttered at his side.
Oh, gods was right. Not only was the goddess Hades’s wife, she was also Maelea’s mother. What the hell was she doing in Argolea?
Gryphon pushed Maelea behind him. Reached back for his blade, but as soon as he pulled it from his scabbard, some sort of power latched on and yanked. The weapon flew through the air and landed in the trees to his right.
Persephone lowered her arm and grinned. “You won’t be needing that.”
“What are you—?” Gryphon started.
“Doing here?” Persephone finished for him, stalking across the forest floor in a long, black gown, her jet-black hair so much like Maelea’s tumbling down her back, like a river of onyx silk. She looked past Gryphon toward Maelea. “Should I tell him, darling, or do you want to?”
“Oh, gods,” Maelea whispered again, growing tense against his back.
Unease made Gryphon looking over his shoulder. “Tell me what? What’s going on here?”
Guilt rushed over Maelea’s face.
“What’s going on here,” Persephone answered, drawing his attention her way again, “is that I’ve come for the Orb. I’ll take it now, darling daughter.”
“The what?” Gryphon’s eyes shot to Maelea.
“I…I don’t have it,” Maelea sputtered, looking past him toward her mother.
His brow lowered. “Why would she think you would?”
“Because…” Her eyes darted around like a cornered animal, searching for an escape. And in the silence that followed, that tickle in the back of Gryphon’s throat grew to a roaring vibration that echoed all through his skin.
“Because,” Persephone said when Maelea wouldn’t go on, “we made a deal. She gets the Argonaut to trust her, gets him to take her to Argolea, gets the Orb for me, then I get her into Olympus. You gave him the elixir, did you not, daughter? That’s why he’s so besotted with you, right? So where is it? I grow tired of this delay.”
Maelea’s gaze darted to his. And fear erupted in her eyes. A fear that said she knew exactly what Persephone was talking about. Because she’d made that deal.
I would do anything to get to Olympus.
Her words from the beach house ricocheted through his mind. Stole his breath. Words she’d spoken with conviction. Words he thought meant nothing after their week together. But now he knew that had just been an act. The anything she’d needed to say and do to get her here. To Argolea. To the castle. To the Orb.
Holy Hades. He thought back to how groggy he’d been after using his gifts at the motel. Way groggier than he should have been. To that drugged-out feeling on the boat. To being hornier than hell. And now he knew why. Because she’d fucking drugged him with some potion her mother had given her.
Fury erupted inside him. Obviously, screwing him blind and professing undying love was no big deal to her. After all, she’d tried to kill Orpheus to get to Olympus months ago. And thievery…well, that was way easier than going after Zagreus, Hades’s son, as she’d told him she’d planned to try next. All this time he’d been telling himself she was different from any other female he’d ever met. And now he knew why. Because she was the daughter of the Queen of the Underworld. The most conniving, backstabbing, and licentious goddess ever to walk the planet. And obviously, she was just like her mother.
His heart shattered at his feet. Leaving behind a black, gaping hole, as deep as the darkness that lived in his soul, all thanks to Krónos and Atalanta.
Skata. Could he be more fucking gullible? He’d left her alone in the castle. Others probably had as well. Could she have found the Orb so quickly? Knowing her and her desperation to get to Olympus, yeah, she probably had.
“Where is it?” he asked in a low voice, fighting back the darkness bubbling up from the depths of his soul.
“Gryphon.” She stepped toward him. “I didn’t take it. I promise. I didn’t make that deal. I wouldn’t use you like that. She offered, but I didn’t agree to it. I only used the potion because I needed you to cooperate so we could get away from those daemons. You weren’t listening to me and I needed your help. I didn’t…What are you doing?”
His hands landed on her shoulders. Harder than necessary, but he just couldn’t seem to be gentle as he patted her down all the way to her feet, ignoring the curves at her waist, the softness of her breasts, fighting back—even now—the desire building inside when he touched her.
Dammit, he was such a fucking idiot!
He didn’t find the Orb. Which only inflamed his anger. As he pushed to his feet, Persephone chuckled at his back. “Where did you hide it, daughter? Tell me and we’ll be on our way.”
“Go back to hell!” Maelea yelled at her mother. “I didn’t take it!” She looked at Gryphon, heartache and panic alive in her eyes. “Now do you believe me?”
He wanted to. Needed her to be telling the truth. Prayed he wasn’t the fool he suddenly felt.
A beeping sound echoed around him. Gryphon looked right and left, then realized it was coming from him. He pulled the high-tech gadget that Orpheus had given him from his pocket and pressed a button. Orpheus’s voice boomed through the clearing. “Gryphon, shit, where are you?”
All kinds of chaos could be heard on Orpheus’s end of the line. Voices and footsteps and the beep of several machines. “Why? What’s going on?”
“What’s going on? I’ll tell you what’s going on. The Orb is fucking missing. They think you took it, you dumbass. Please tell me you didn’t touch the damn thing. Because if you did—”
Gryphon didn’t hear the rest of his brother’s words. Because rage and anger and darkness erupted as he stared at Maelea’s guilt-ridden and now very panicked face.
He’d been so naïve to think there was any kind of happily-ever-after for him. She was his soul mate, after all. And like all the Argonauts, he’d been cursed by Hera because of her hatred for Heracles—the first guardian. Fated to be drawn forever to the one woman who would torment his existence. That right there was a great big red warning flag he should have paid attention to.
“Gryphon,” she whispered. “Just listen to me. Please. I—”
“Maelea has it,” he said to Orpheus. Her face blanched, but he didn’t care. He suddenly didn’t care about anything anymore. Anything except revenge.
“What?” Orpheus said in a shocked voice.
“She took it. Was planning to give it to Persephone in exchange for entrance to Olympus. I just found out. We’re standing outside the tunnel that runs from the undercroft. Get here now.”
Persephone swore at his back.
He clicked the end button before Orpheus could ask anything else. And in the silence, tears filled Maelea’s eyes as she stared at him. Tears that only enraged him more.