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CHAPTER THREE
EVERYTHINGHAPPENEDAlittle too quickly then.
So quickly that Nina found herself perilously close to dizzy.
Zeus moved across the vast room, striding like a man with purpose instead of the monument to idleness he usually appeared to be in all things. He swung open the doors to his chamber, said two words, and half the palace staff seemed to flow in. He barked out orders, and for all that he lounged about Europe—acting as if he was too lazy to lift his finger when he could find any number of willing women to lift it for him—it was clear that his staff knew this version of him well. Peremptory in the extreme.
Princely, something in her whispered.A man who is not only used to command, but infinitely comfortable in it.
That made her head spin enough, because that wasn’t Zeus. Not the Zeus the world knew entirely too well.
But the voice within her wasn’t done.
Just like that night, it murmured, so that more of that wild heat charged through her, setting her aflame.
The way it had when she’d seen him again. And when he’d called herlittle hen.
Because the Zeus he’d become that night had been...intense. Demanding.
Different.
But she didn’t have any time to take any of that in as she was marched from his rooms by a phalanx of aides. Who, at least, acted more polite and solicitous than the initial butler and the whole of the palace guard had. They swept her through the halls of the palace, climbing from one fairy-tale level to the next, one of them talking in a low voice into her mobile as they moved.
They arrived at their destination, another suite of graceful, expertly appointed rooms that looked, on the one hand, like every suite of rooms she had ever stayed in at places like this—though she’d never stayed in one quite as lovely. For this was the Palace of the Gods, so everything was that much brighter and inlaid with gold and silver. As if the light filling every room was not the weather, but a part of the planned decor. She was taken to a small salon, dappled with light that poured in from a shaded balcony outside.
“You will wait here,” said the aide with the phone, who Nina suspected was the one in charge. Though the older woman managed to make the very clear command sound as if, maybe, it had been Nina’s idea and she was only confirming it.
“I would love to wait,” Nina replied as she lowered herself down to a settee that was so much more comfortable than the one she’d been sitting on before that she rather thought they shouldn’t share the same name. She sat and smiled up at the woman. “But I’m afraid the baby won’t. If I don’t eat soon, neither one of us is going to be very happy.”
The older woman looked at her moment, then snapped her fingers. Confirming that she was, indeed, in charge of this particular set of staff—and also setting one of her underlings running from the room.
“Then, of course, you shall eat,” she said.
Nina was almost too grateful to bear it. “If you know where my personal belongings are, I can feed myself. I have snacks in my bag.”
“Your personal belongings are being looked over by the palace guard,” her aide said, sounding sorrowful. Though her eyes remained shrewd. “Security will do as they like, you know. But not to worry, we’ll have something from the kitchens shortly.”
And Nina could not have been more surprised when, not five minutes later, the underling reappeared. He was trailed by another staff member pushing a cart, who then began to lay out the makings of a hearty afternoon tea. But in Theosian style, with dishes of grilled fish to go along with finger sandwiches, mountains of vegetables and fresh fruits, hard cheeses, pots of herbed butter, and loaves of fragrant baked bread.
By the time another set of people appeared before her, she felt better than she had all day.
Which was maybe why, when one of the new people introduced herself as a doctor and announced that she was there to check on Nina’s health—and the paternity of the baby she carried while they were at it—she was less outraged than she might otherwise have been. Because, as ever, she was a realist. She had known before she came here, no matter how grudgingly, that there was no possibility anyone would simply take her word for it. That was not how powerful men operated, whether they had their own palaces or not.
She followed the doctor and her cheerful, efficient team into the next room, a small study with stacks of books on whitewashed shelves and bright blue flowers in handcrafted vases. And there submitted to all necessary tests. Whatever it took to make her case in a place where her word wouldn’t do.
The story of her life, really.
“You must be tired,” said the aide from before, coming in to collect her once her exam was done. “After all the traveling, and then such a long day in the palace. Perhaps it would be best if you rested, no? Do feel free to ring should you require anything. Shall we say, a light supper later this evening? The kitchen will bring it up at the hour of your choice.”
“I appreciate the concern for my feelings,” Nina said dryly. “But I’m not the least bit tired.”
“I feel certain you must be,” replied the other woman, implacably.
“You could simply say that I’m to be locked in these quarters until such time as the paternity of my baby can be determined,” Nina said. Then smiled. “I think we’d both respect each other more, don’t you?”
The other woman inclined her head, but her shrewd gaze warmed. “Indeed, miss.”
“You may call me Nina.” And Nina had the strangest sense of vertigo, because she couldn’t recall the last time she’d been the one to offer her first name. She had always been the one who had to mind her manners constantly around her betters.
