He stood on long, long legs and walked to stand by the bed. “The demon wounds are not going to heal and here, they will grow worse at a faster speed. There are no spells, nothing that any of us can do to stop the spread of poison. You will die unless you find the one god who can help.”
“So there is someone who can help?”
He nodded, his hair shining, reflecting the light from the lamp beside the bed. “His name is Ninazu. He’s Sumerian.”
“Do we know where he is?”
Again, he gave me the smile that looked so much like my brother’s it made my heart clench “This is his home, which is normally a good thing because the demons who carry that poison are also here.”
I instantly knew what had happened. “Don’t tell me, he’s one of the escapees.”
“He was one of the first to go into your world and he does not want to come back. He must.” King Minos crossed his arms. “I would like for you to make sure he does.”
“So that’s why I get to leave?” Not because I was family or anything good like that. Of course not. These beings walked a different path than humans. It was nothing more than another bargain. Me for the Sumerian god.
“Kampe planned to use you for sport. With your demon wounds, you’d be no good to her.” His gaze moved to Nikolos. “I did not know Kampe had him. I do not usually attend sport and had heard only of the warrior Tholos. Had I known, he would not be so…changed. I knew him before. He is a good man.”
“Can this healing god help Nikolos?”
“Possibly.”
“Do we know what he looks like or, I don’t know, anything useful about him to help find his location?”
“He is short, shorter by far than most of his people were. It seems to bother him because he wears tall feather headdresses to make up for it. The feathers were always red. He loves to garden—something he could not do here.”
Phro broke in. “It’s something, at least. We’ll have to figure out the rest once we’re home.”
I lifted an eyebrow.
She scowled and stood up. “
Your
home. You know what I meant.”
Watching her, I took in her nervous glances at King Minos, the way her steps were clipped as she walked toward the door.
“You could stay here, you know,” I said softly. “Obviously not everything in this world is awful—there’s luxury in this room. And you’d have a body to enjoy food and—” I glanced at the god who was my grandfather but looked no older than forty. “Other things.”
She threw her head back in laughter. “You are talking about sex. Lovely, lovely sex. Which I’m going off to find before we leave. Nobody will bother you two for another day. It’s the longest we can risk before we need to leave. You’re going to need food and we can’t risk any of it here.” She gave King Minos an unmistakable look—one that made me uncomfortable instantly—then looked back at me. “And I have to go back with you. I don’t think I’m done with whatever it is I’m supposed to be doing with you.”
“Right. When you are, you’ll get to go home.”
“I’ll get my freedom. There’s a difference.” She walked out of the room.
“What did she mean?” I asked King Minos.
“Aphrodite was never one to explain anything. She always preferred to remain cryptic—said it gave her an air of mystery.” He chuckled and like his voice, the sound was deep and brushed over the skin.
“Oh goddess,” I said on a groan. “Please don’t tell me that you and she…” I just let that trail off. I couldn’t even say it.
“No. I was not one to fall for her tricks.” He sent a thoughtful look at the closed door. “But she seems to have changed.”
I supposed covering my ears wouldn’t endear me to the god, but I so did not want to picture my spirit guide and my grandfather in that way. Instead, I eyed him closely, opened my mouth and closed it, unsure where to start with the gazillion questions I had for him. I settled for one. “Did you know about us? My brother and me?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.” Anger began to simmer in my gut.
“You wonder why I did nothing to help you. Why you were left without answers all these years.”
“Of course I do.” Frowning, I took in the way he stared at me, the way he seemed to drink me in like he’d been thirsty for a glimpse of me my entire life. That thought gave me pause. “You couldn’t come.”
“I could not. But it is good to look at you, to see my daughter in you.” He smiled, a full one this time. “Though you got your coloring from my side of the family.”
I eyed his dark hair, lifted an eyebrow. A very coppery eyebrow.
“Your color exists in aunts, uncles, cousins. Or…it did. The white, though, that is from your mother.”
My stomach picked that moment to growl loudly. Nikolos murmured something in his sleep and slid his arm around my waist.
King Minos chuckled and stood. “I will let you sleep so you can start home soon. Follow that cord of yours.” His black brows came together. “What a strange gift you inherited. It’s fascinating.”
“That’s one description, I suppose,” I muttered. Exhaustion hit me so hard then, the room spun.
“Lie back down,” my grandfather said, his voice softer, less booming. “Rest. I’m glad to have met you, Bergdis Hildegun O’Dell.”
“Don’t leave,” I murmured, even as I gingerly scooted back down to lie next to the still-sleeping Nikolos. He tightened his arm around me, stuck his nose to my shoulder. “I have so many questions for you,” I said.
He only offered me a soft smile before turning and striding from the room. I stretched out on my back, rolling my head to the side so I could look at Nikolos. I wanted to be awake when he woke, wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be looking into feral, red eyes. Turning my body so I could rest one hand on his chest, I soaked in the warmth of his skin and hoped that he would be my Nikolos when he did wake.
Chapter Sixteen
When next I woke, I faced a pair of glittering near-black eyes as Nikolos stared at me.
“I’m glad to see it’s you in there,” I whispered, touching his cheek. “Happy to see those dark Minoan eyes.”
“You’re here.” He moved to hold me and winced, his eyes slamming shut.
“I hit you in the head. With a chain.” I bit my lip, blinked back hot tears. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“I can remember some of it, Beri.” This time he moved slowly as he pulled me close. I noticed he didn’t use the hand I’d kicked and probably broken. He slid one bare, hairy thigh over mine. “You had no choice.”
“Your poor head,” I whispered, reaching up to touch the ragged tufts that stuck out all over his scalp. Tears sprang into my eyes and I slid my fingers onto the side of his head. “I can’t even begin to explain how good it is to see you. Be with you.” Because I was on my side, the tears from my right eye dripped over my nose into my left. I blinked fast, not wanting to take my sight off him for even a second.
He wiped his thumb over my cheek. “They cut my hair so it couldn’t be used against me in the fights.”
“I loved it before, but this suits you. Or it will when it doesn’t look like someone took a razor blade to it.” I choked on the lump in my throat. “I can’t even imagine what you’ve—”
He put his fingers over my mouth. “Shh. Let’s just lie here and be. Just be.” He smiled. “The hair will grow back.”
But the short did suit him. His high cheekbones, strong nose and slanted eyes stood out more without the hair to cover them.
“I met my grandfather,” I whispered. “A Minoan—like you. They must have been the most beautiful race to walk the earth.”
“The blood runs strong in your veins then.” He offered me another faint smile that faded as his gaze moved down to my neck. He stiffened, guilt pouring off him in waves as he must have realized where the bruises came from.
“Hey,” I whispered, touching his chin. “What happened to just be?”
“I hate that I hurt you.”
“Do me a favor and don’t feel bad for any of this. That wasn’t you.” I stretched my sore neck to lightly press a kiss to his lips. “That wasn’t us.”
“I’ll work on not feeling bad about it. It’s all I can promise.”
“Good enough.” I laid my cheek back on the pillow and held my hand over him, unsure where I could touch him.
He pushed my hand down to his chest.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I whispered. “There are hardly any bruise-free places on your body.”
“It’ll hurt me more if you don’t touch me.” He pressed on the back of my hand. “Touch me more.”
I did. I ran my palm over his skin, feeling the taut ripple of muscle even as he rested flat. “Your body has changed.”
He closed his eyes. Held his breath as my hand brushed over his abdomen. “Not only my body, Beri.”
“But…you do remember me now. Completely, right?”
“Mostly. But my thoughts sometimes grow thin and elusive.” He placed his hand over my heart, his fingers against my breast. “My body knows you. My heart knows you.”
“I’m so sorry I gave you that water. I should have realized, should have paid more attention to all the old stories. I promise I will from here on out.”
“I don’t blame you and neither should you. It was inevitable that I’d be given something here that would change me. I’m surprised I can leave at all.” He stared at me. “Something isn’t quite right with me, Beri.”
My chest hurt. Just hurt. “I know,” I whispered. “Something isn’t quite right with me either. Do you…or could you understand the conversation I had with Kampe in that pit?”
He shook his head. “My only memory is fury and blood.” Something raw passed through his eyes. “And your cries of pain.”
I had a feeling we’d both be remembering our cries of pain for a long, long time.
“She said that something is in me, something bad. You should probably run from me as fast and far as you can.” Again, I stroked his skin, surprised when my elbow moved as if it hadn’t been broken. I wondered if something here had healed that part of me. But why not the rest then? “It scares me, Nikolos.”
“You want me to run fast and far from the very woman who came into the underworld to save me?” He rubbed a finger over my cheek. “I may be missing some memories, but I don’t remember being an idiot. A lot has happened in the last year and a half.”
I gave him a sad smile. “It’s only been a couple of months in our world.”
That gave him pause. He frowned, gaze bleak.
“What she was talking about has nothing to do with the last few months. About a year before I met you, Elsa and I were tracking this killer. He turned out to be a black wizard. Kind of young and more than a little stupid. He’d summoned a fire elemental and lost control of it. The night we found them, somehow that elemental got to me.” I closed my eyes at the pain of those raw, black memories. “I don’t remember what happened, but I woke up covered in blood, my arms had…scratches. I killed that wizard and the only thing I know is he fought back. Sometimes—” I broke off, sucked in a ragged breath. “Sorry, I’ve never told anyone this whole story. But sometimes I have these dreams and I see his face frozen in terror, staring at me.” I covered my mouth with one hand, mumbled into my fingers. “And sometimes, in those dreams, I’m smiling—enjoying the spill of his blood over my hands.”
“Dreams can’t hurt you.”
“Oh yeah?” I gave him a half smile. “I dream traveled to you and did plenty of hurting to us both.”
“Your pain hurts me.” He tucked my hair behind my ear. “We’ve all done things we have to live with.”
“You’ve ripped apart a dumb kid with your bare hands?”
He started to shake his head and instead winced again. “No, but I killed a lot of people, including one who might have made this world a better place.”
“There’s more to this. Sometimes I feel it…this darkness inside me. I’m terrified that…” I couldn’t say it. Couldn’t admit aloud that my biggest fear was that I’d inherited this evil from my father. If Castor and I were more than twins, were more like two halves of a whole, and he got all the good…
Nikolos cupped my cheek, amusement making his eyes glitter more. “You have all these thoughts racing through your beautiful head. So many I can almost see them. One of the things that made me fall in love with you is your compassion. I remember this well. You may grouch and stomp about at times, but you always hesitate to kill, you tear up when others are in pain, and you attract followers like the pied piper.” He leaned close enough to kiss me. “More memories are returning. All your followers.”
“Followers?” I shook my head. “You make me sound like a creepy cult leader.”
“Friends then. Or, even more, family. Tell me something. How many are living in our home? I bet even that silly necromancer is there.”
Heat crept up my cheeks. I bit my lip. “I like the way you said ‘our home’,” I said, my voice low because all these nerve endings were flying to life in me and I was finding it harder to think. The feel of his skin against mine, the slide of his calloused palm over my shoulder. His breathing became ragged, his fingers starting to caress. “Nikolos, we are beat all to hell. Our first time was sort of a quickie on the run and our second was good but—” I broke off.
His eyes narrowed.
I knew he was trying to remember and for the second time, the flood of pain that swept over his features made me wish I’d kept my mouth shut.