His jaw flexed. “This isn’t a game, Miranda.”
Unable to stop myself, I smoothed a hand over a sculpted shoulder. “All the same, I plan to win.” A smile quirked the edge of my lips.
Xander blinked.
“Weplan to win,” Aoiki corrected.
“See?” I chirped. “We are all playing on the same side.”
“You lose all the time,” Xander said.
“As you’ve pointed out in the past, I usually win in a different way.”
From Monopoly to our billiards game, I’d won in a very physical sense. I didn’t want to admit it before, but I could now. I threw all the games. For a woman who was fiercely independent, I kept handing over all the power time and time again to the beast in the cage. I’d been too afraid to admit what I was doing to myself, even as Xander teased me about it.
But I wasn’t afraid anymore.
And I was wondering what would happen if we played on the same side for once.
He was about to find out.
To prepareand get Xander’s strength back, we stopped by Sinopolis so he could immerse himself in the pools of his primordial water. He tried to tempt me to join him but I had other plans.
“I want to take you somewhere,” I explained, keeping out of his reach and splashing zone.
After he’d thoroughly bathed, he emerged with healed skin, dripping wet. I had to turn away and focus very hard on the rock formations so as not to be deterred from my plan.
My plan didn’t involve licking the droplets of the Red Sea off of his chiseled abs. Not right now anyway.
My grip on his hand was unwavering as I led Xander back through the neon-lit chaos of the Strip. Echo assured me we would be scrubbed from Aten’s radar and that we could move freely as long as the god didn’t set his eyes directly on us.
My heart pounded until we crossed the grand entrance of the Atlantis hotel and were no longer out in the open.
I wondered if Xander sensed my intentions. His shoulders stiffened and he tugged at the barely buttoned Hawaiian shirt.
The lobby sprawled before us, vast and opulent, yet I didn’t pause. I led him to a secluded set of elevators, retrieving a small ring of keys from my pocket. “It closed hours ago, but I used to help with security here so I still have a key,” I explained, unlocking the private access to the elevator.
As the doors sealed us from the world outside, I caught Xander's gaze, his breath quickening, mirroring my own racing heart.
“How did you know?” he asked.
“Timothy told me,” I said, wondering if Xander would turn volatile. I wouldn’t leave him if he did. But this was something he needed to face, needed to own at the very least.
The elevator's chime signaled our arrival and we stepped into a dimly lit corridor that opened up into an awe-inspiring room. The glass walls and ceiling revealed the expansive blue of a vast aquarium. Fish glided overhead, their vibrant hues blurred by the curved glass, bathed in a serene, underwater light that enveloped us in an ethereal ambience.
I carefully studied Xander’s reaction. His eyes glazed as his mouth softened and parted in awe. I could feel a soothing thrum over my skin, as if I could get a second hand feel for the way the water seemed to call to him, harmonizing with his soul.
“It’s yours if you want it,” I pointed out.
“I know,” he said airily, eyes still fastened on the giant aquarium surrounding us. His reaction tugged at my heart. Here was Nun, the god of primordial waters, visibly moved by the semblance of his elemental realm.
“I thought you might like it,” I murmured, closing the distance between us and slipping my hand into his. Fingers squeezed back around mine. His reaction to the aquatic surroundings confirmed I’d made the right choice. This felt like a rare moment of connection, a bridge to the divine part of him he so often kept guarded.
“If you step up amongst the gods and claim your inheritance you would own this place. You could move out of Grim’s basement and live here. Play with the sharks in your downtime.”
I expected him to laugh at my joke but the way he stared at the life teaming in liquid told me that might be a very real pastime for him.
When he still didn’t answer, I asked, “Why don’t you take what’s yours?”
