Sera is approved to use her door. Take her home for healing.
I waited, heart in my throat. The seconds ticked by so slowly. One hot tear fell on my cheek, then another. When my phone vibrated with an answer, it was Max, not Sera. My hand clapped over my mouth to quiet my sobs.
Took you long enough to ask them. Don’t think about using this as leverage for anything. We’re not coming back.
I shook with anger, but also sadness. I couldn’t deny that I’d made mistakes. Too many to count. I’d never wanted to be my cohort’s leader, and when the plan to send the Maere into the open world was conceived, I believed Rhiannon would be chosen.
She was a princess, after all, and I was a mere soldier. But her mother had not seen fit for her to lead. Silea had always been concerned with nepotism, forcing her children to earn their way, no matter how hard that was for them.
I wrapped my arms around my knees, hugging them to my chest, and sobbed. Years of resentment seeped out in my tears. I had to let it go. Accept what was, not what I wished things could be. My body rocked back and forth, soothing the harsh edges of my mind.
There was no way out of destiny. Only through. I would get our swords back, and then, when Sera was well, I would get her and Max back, too. Amarante had deemed me the leader of my cohort, and I could no longer choose against the goddess herself.
Relief flooded my body as I accepted my place in this. My eyelids drooped and my limbs were heavy as I pulled myself off the floor and into bed. My phone buzzed with some alarm, but all I wanted to do was close my eyes, just for a few moments.
CHAPTER 25
ARES
My palm burned,agonizing in its intensity. It was as though the plinth meant to devour me whole. I was back in the library, in the little room. But I was alone this time. Rhiannon was not here, and my hand was stuck to the plinth. I tried to yank it away, but it would not come. Somewhere within the library, there was a noise—an alarm of some kind—but it sounded very far away.
The burning sensation in my palm intensified, and the horrific smell of burning flesh filled the room. I pulled harder, but my hand was stuck tight. “Fuck,” I snarled, trying again.Where was Rhiannon?
The door burst open, cracking down the center. On the other side stood Ember Verona, dressed in a three piece, emerald green velvet suit, carrying a godsdamn labrys. With one lovely, lethal motion, she embedded one side of the axe’s double-headed blade into the door, right underneath the swan.
“Stay calm,” she cautioned.
I nodded as she approached.
“You’re not calm,” she whispered as her hands closed around mine. “Be calm, Ares. I am here to help.”
I looked down into her hazel eyes. There was no emotionbut pure confidence in them. I saw what Rhiannon had revealed to me now, a warrior through and through. I was panicking, if just a little. She took an exaggerated deep breath, ducking beneath my outstretched arms and between them, sliding her slender body between the plinth and my chest, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“Be calm,” she breathed, pressing her long fingers to my chest.
She wasn’t wearing a blouse underneath her waistcoat. I swallowed hard, forgetting for a moment about the fact that my hands were searing with pain as she pressed her body to mine. Her head tipped up, her eyes hooded with either desire or fear, I could not tell, but as her lips parted, she raised up on her tiptoes. “If you can’t breathe deeply on your own, maybe it would help if we shared breath.”
I lowered my head to hers, the pain of my hands all but forgotten as her mouth met mine. We shared breath for one long inhalation, followed by an exhalation before her tongue slid past mine, her arms tightening around my neck as her long body pressed against me.
A soft whimper passed from her mouth into mine as I deepened the kiss, every throbbing beat of my heart sending unbearably lovely heat through my body, mixing with the pain in my hands as the plinth consumed them. I wanted nothing more than to touch her, to run my hands over her body.
And then they were free.
She smiled against my mouth as I tentatively pressed my palms into her back. They did not sting as though they were burned. They didn’t even hurt. I didn’t know what to make of the moment, but Ember seemed pleased as she pulled away from me. I glanced over her shoulder at my palms. They showed no evidence of having been injured, but I had no doubt of the danger I’d been in. Rhiannon appeared behind us, skin pale, eyes haunted.
“Wonderful,” she muttered. “You’re making out.”
“Hi, Rhi,” Ember said as she stepped away from me. Her movement was casual. It wasn’t a jump away, trying to hide what we’d been doing. In fact, she still stood so close to me that if she leaned back, even slightly, her back would press into my chest.
Visions of wrapping my arms around her waist and exploring her body danced through my head, distracting me from all that had happened. The mere heat of her was enough to send me beyond reason or good sense. I had to get this under control, and fast.
“I took him to the island,” Rhiannon said as she crossed her arms, glaring at the labrys. “And you broke my door.”
Ember shrugged. She was different in some small, but significant way. The set of her shoulders was stronger somehow, her spine a little straighter. “I’ll get him home. You can go.” Rhiannon rolled her eyes at Ember’s imperious tone as she stalked out, but Ember called to her. “Sunrise, Brontë. I’ll see you at sunrise for penance. You and Achilles both.”
A delicious chill ran down my spine, remembering what Rhiannon had said about their life on the island. Ember Verona was not just a legendary fighter, she was a true leader. Somewhere under all of the bullshit she’d been through for centuries, there was a commander. And it seemed she was emerging once more.
Something stirred deep within me, and the desire to pin her against my chest and make her scream with pleasure returned. She was all messy heat and imperfect glory, and I had the distinct feeling that I wanted to drink her in, absorb as much of her as I could. She felt like a part of me that had been missing for my entire life, and now that I found her, I didn’t want to let her go.
