Tempted (25 page)

Love blossomed in her soul. The kind she’d always hoped for but never expected. And as her mind swirled with the possibilities, she thought of her mother. And the cost of love.

She looked back to the Fate and knew this was her one chance to know the truth. Even though the Fate probably wouldn’t answer, she had to ask. “Did she know? My mother? About my father’s indiscretions? Is that why she left?”

Sympathy crossed the Fate’s face and she glanced to the ground, pursing her lips as if choosing her words carefully. “Your mother loved your father deeply. And she was a good queen. A good wife to him. But your father…what does he love above all else, dear one?”

“His kingdom.” The words left Isadora’s mouth on a whisper, without a question in her mind.

The Fate’s sad eyes lifted to Isadora’s. “He still does.”

He did. Isadora knew that better than anyone.

Sacrifice. Her father was always preaching about the responsibility of the monarchy and the level of sacrifice it took to rule. She’d never believed him before, but now…? Did it matter if she was Demetrius’s soul mate? If he didn’t want to bind himself to her because she was of the royal line, then she couldn’t force him.

She looked down at her hand, opened her fist so the diamond sparkled up at her. She wasn’t good at dealing with emotions. Her parents hadn’t exactly taught her about never-ending love or what a good binding should be. She knew now that she did care about Demetrius, deeply, even with his dark moods and endless secrets and the way he kept himself closed off for reasons that didn’t seem to make sense, but she couldn’t walk away from her destiny either. She and her sisters…they were important. They were needed now more than ever. The face-off moments ago with Hades had reinforced just how important her position in this war really was.

The ground’s trembling increased in intensity and the Fate began to fade. “Look within yourself for the balance you seek, dear one. I promise all your questions will be answered there.”

Isadora didn’t know what that meant, but the shaking walls jolted her out of her reverie. Rock and marble cracked, broke free to tumble down in a horrendous crash. Shielding her head with her hands, she ran out the entrance and down the three marble steps, sprinting across the dark cavern for the tunnel. From somewhere above she heard Demetrius’s frantic voice calling to her, but the explosion of rock and granite at her back drowned out all other sound.

She reached the tunnel, darted through the long domed corridor, and spotted the stairs that led up to the surface. Rocks and debris tore into the flesh of her feet. She pumped her arms, gripped the diamond tight in her fist, and ignored the burn in her lungs, in her legs, as she ran harder. She wasn’t going to die here. She had a purpose now, even if it wasn’t the one she’d always wanted. Light shone down from the surface, a golden glow that urged her on.

Yes. I’m going to make it.

A thunderous clap echoed from above. She reached the first step and looked up just as the ceiling collapsed.

Chapter 19

“Isadora!” The force of the explosion shattered the invisible force field holding Demetrius back. He stumbled forward, caught his balance, and immediately began lifting pieces of debris out of the way.

Please, gods.
He hurled rocks right and left. “Isadora!”

No sound met his ears. No answer. Great fissures had opened up in the earth, tearing through the grassy hillside, showcasing the mighty stones and pillars that had been hidden below. Jagged edges of rocks and marble ripped through the flesh of his hands as he dug deeper.

“Isadora!”

Sweat slid down his face, dripped onto his chest. The heat of the sun scorched his back as he kept moving massive pieces of stone, one at a time, searching. He’d heard her talking to Lachesis, damn it. Had heard every word they said. She’d been running for the exit when the ground collapsed. She couldn’t be far from the steps that used to be right where he stood now.

Where
is
she?

Time seemed to drag on. Five minutes? Twenty? An hour? He wasn’t sure how much time passed. All he knew was that she was here. Somewhere close, she was here.

Breathing heavily, his muscles sore from exertion, he stopped digging, wiped his forearm over his brow. A renewed sense of panic gnawed at his belly. Why couldn’t he find her? Why couldn’t he—

His
spells.
He could lift the rocks away with witchcraft. But which spell? His brain ran blank. He looked down at the amount of debris around him. A spell of this magnitude would drain him not only of physical strength but of mental strength as well. And if he was wrong, if he wasn’t strong enough to cast it, he’d waste precious time he could use searching for Isadora with his bare hands.

Indecision warred as he raked his hands through his hair, grabbed on to the strands, and pulled until pain shot across his scalp.

You’re not weak, Guardian, contrary to what you think. What you fear most may just have the power to save you. But only if you let it.

Lachesis’s words from that night on the cliff—the night he’d taken that first step toward Isadora—ran back through his mind. Where they settled in. He took a deep breath. Then another.

Okay, focus. You can do this.

Closing his eyes, he held out his hands and regulated his breaths as words, phrases, chants tumbled through his mind. Spells he hadn’t uttered in years but once had been as natural as drawing air. One grew stronger in his thoughts, like a beacon dragging him forward, casting shadows and darkness over all the rest.

His lips moved. Words spilled from his mouth. Rock scraped rock as he chanted in the warm, moist air and drew on the power of his ancestors.

His muscles bore the weight of the rocks. He gritted his teeth, lifted, and directed them away from the rubble with the sweep of his hands. One by one he moved broken pieces of marble and granite until his arms and legs screamed in protest. Until he could see the first few steps beneath the rubble.

Sweat poured down his temples. Fatigue settled in as time slipped away. But he fought against both. He had to find her. He wouldn’t give up. He readied himself to start again, only to stop short when his ears registered the slightest sound.

A whisper. A squeak. Coming from somewhere in the rubble. A rasp. A voice?

He dropped to the ground, placed his palms on the warm rocks beneath him, and turned his head to listen closer.

There. He heard it again. It sounded like…

“Isadora?”

The squeak echoed again. So faint he barely heard it. His pulse picking up speed, he cleared away a handful of rocks until his progress was stopped by a large slab of marble that was as long as a car and too heavy to move by sheer force. “Isadora?”

“Here,” a small voice called. “I’m here. Down…here.”

Relief flowed through his veins, as sweet as wine. “Hold on,
kardia
. I’m going to get you out. Keep talking to me so I know where to dig.”

She did. Mumbling words he couldn’t hear but which vibrated all the way into his chest and gave him the extra strength he needed. Closing his eyes, he focused again, letting the chant flow from his lips at lightning speed while he moved debris away from her voice.

“I’m here.”

His eyes opened at the sound of her voice, clearer now, and he realized enough material had been moved to open a dark hole into the rubble. He rushed to the right of the great marble slab and fell to his knees. Inside the hole, covered in a layer of thin white dust, she looked up at him, blinking into the bright light.

Holy
gods. Thank you.

He pulled her out of the hole as carefully as he could, but with a frantic need to make sure she was in one piece. Once she cleared the lip, her weight shifted into his and he stumbled backward, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her close.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered as he tucked her head under his chin and moved away from the debris.

“I’m okay,” she said against his chest. Her body was warm. Her breath a soothing wind across his overheated skin.

He eased down to sit on the hard earth. Seconds later, a massive crashing sound echoed from the rubble and they both jerked around to see the marble slab she’d been hiding under collapse into the hole.

“Gods.” He pulled her back in tight and just held on.

Seconds passed in silence during which he worked on regulating his rapid-fire pulse. If he’d been any later…If his magick hadn’t worked…If he hadn’t moved those rocks first…

“I’m okay, Demetrius.”

Yeah, but he wasn’t. Not even close.

He pushed back so he could see her face. Dust covered every inch of her skin except where it had rubbed off one cheek that had been pressed against his chest. Her sun-kissed skin shone through to remind him she wasn’t the ghost she appeared to be. She was real, alive, whole.

“I’m not hurt, Demetrius. I’m fine.”

He wasn’t entirely sure how that was possible. “What were you thinking?”

Her brow wrinkled to form deep lines in the powder. “What do you mean?”

He swiped at the dust on her forehead, her cheeks, her gently sloped, perfect nose. “Down there. With Hades. Don’t you know what he can do to you?”

Fire flashed in her eyes. “Oh, I know. But I’ve finally wised up. He can’t go against the natural order. When I’m dead, then he can do whatever he wants to me. But not while I’m alive. And he can’t kill me to get me there faster.”

Just the thought of her dead left a hitch in his gut. He motioned to the rubble behind her. “What the hell do you call that?”

She looked over her shoulder, then turned back to him. “A temper tantrum?”

He wasn’t in the mood for jokes. His heart couldn’t take it right now. “Isadora—”

“Okay, yeah,” she said seriously. “He can cause natural disasters and send his minions after me if he wants, but he himself can’t kill me. He can taunt me and show me what he plans to do to me when I cross over, but you know what? I’m not afraid of him, Demetrius. Not anymore.”

“He offered you your soul back. And you said no.”

“You heard that?”

“I heard everything.”

A wary expression passed over her face, but she covered it quickly by glancing down at his chest. “Some souls aren’t worth saving.”

He tipped her chin up with his finger. “Yours is.”

“No one’s is. Not in spite of this.” She lifted her hand, opened her palm. He sucked in a breath at the Titan symbol sparkling up at him.

The power of the earth element radiated from her hand and seeped into his skin even though he didn’t touch it. As she turned the diamond in her palm, the confrontation he’d overheard between her and Hades rushed through his mind all over again. Even when she was trapped she fought. And not just for herself—she fought for her race. For people she didn’t know and would never meet. For her sisters, for her warriors, for him. And sitting there on his lap, covered in a layer of grime from head to toe, she’d never looked more the queen she would one day become.

“
Kardia
—”

“I thought you didn’t care, Demetrius. That’s what you told me. What you’ve told me more times than I can count. And yet here you are. Whenever I need you, here you are.” Her voice dropped to a husky whisper. “Tell me you don’t care.”

His heart picked up speed under her mesmerizing gaze and one by one, though he’d fought it for so long, he felt the last barriers of his restraint shatter and break.

“I do care,” he whispered. “I care too much. That’s the problem. That’s always been the problem.”

Her gaze roamed his face so long he tensed. “You hurt me.”

Regret stabbed like a hot, sharp knife. But he deserved it. That and so much more. “I know.”

“Don’t ever do it again.”

He swallowed hard. Didn’t answer. Couldn’t. Just as he couldn’t tear his eyes from hers.

She braced a hand on his shoulder and pushed up to her feet. Warmth gathered beneath her fingers to trail a line of heat straight to his abdomen. He wanted to reach for her, pull her back into the circle of his arms, but stopped himself.

She took a wobbly step, caught herself from going down, and shot him a look before he could jump to her rescue. “I’m fine.”

Not fine. She was weaker every day, and this situation with Hades and Apophis hadn’t helped.

She took several steps down the dirt path, stopped, and looked back. “Dusk will be here soon. Aren’t you coming?”

It took seconds to figure out what she meant. But when he realized she meant back to the ruins, instead of home to Argolea, he glanced at the rubble. At what was, technically, the holy ground they both knew they were looking for.

He had to take her home. It wasn’t even a question. And yet…

And yet she obviously didn’t want him to. And he wasn’t nearly as ready as he thought he’d be. Now that they were faced with reality, he wanted more time. Just one more night to make up for all the shitty things he’d done and said to her over the years. She deserved that much, didn’t she? If he took her home now, he’d never have the chance again.

He glanced back at her and knew the choice he made now would change his life. Once he gave himself to her freely, there was no way he could go back to pretending he didn’t care. Knew also, because of who and what he was, if he made this choice, he was most likely sacrificing any kind of future he had with the Argonauts forever.

He pushed to his feet and stopped when he was inches from her. She craned her neck back to look up at him. “Ready?”

He scooped her into his arms and reveled at the gasp of delight that stole from her lips. “Yeah,” he said as he moved down the path with her in his arms. “Yeah, I’m finally ready.”

***

The warm sun, the heat of Demetrius’s body, and the gentle rocking motion as he walked the path back to the ruins all coalesced and dragged Isadora toward sleep. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been out, but when she awoke she was back in the Hall of Heroes, lying on the makeshift bed. Groggy, she sat up, rubbed her eyes, then gasped at the hundreds of flickering candles spread out around the room.

Her heart beat slowly at first, then picked up speed. The stone table in the center of the room was covered in a layer of blankets that were folded in half to lie across the middle, overhanging each side. Food was laid out over one end: a collection of fruits and berries of differing shapes and sizes, and more fish. Candles sat on the other end.

She heard footsteps to her right and Demetrius appeared at the bottom of the steps, holding two plastic buckets in each hand.

His face lit when he saw her, a reaction that warmed her deep inside. “You’re awake.”

She couldn’t stop the smile on her lips, didn’t even try. “I must have heard you coming down.” She motioned to the room. “What is all this?”

“Oh.” He looked toward the middle of the room, and she wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw his cheeks turn just the slightest shade of pink. “Trickery, really.” He set the buckets on the end of the table and waved his hand through a nearby trio of candles. The image flickered and faded as his arm moved through, then solidified again when he was gone. He shrugged. “Optical illusion.”