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“How am I supposed to function with a never-ending hard-on?” he asked, and he meant it.
She flushed and pretended to fluff hair she’d twisted into a series of elaborate knots. “Learn.”
He almost grinned. Oh, but he liked her confident like this. He liked her, period.
Rathbone gathered her close and flashed her to Hades’s palace. They found the king in his throne room, perched atop his golden chair, presiding over a case between two citizens. A cat sat in his lap, and a raccoon played with the hem of a robe worn by the old man with a clipboard standing next to the throne. Pippen, Hades’s most trusted servant. Hisonlytrusted servant. Rathbone had no idea what the spirit had done to earn such a rare gift.
The mirror hung on the wall behind the king, as if presiding overhim.
“May we interrupt?” Rathbone called, leading Neeka forward with an arm wrapped around her waist. Fear tinged the air, the usual reaction to seeing him in the kingdom. “Let me rephrase. We’re interrupting.”
Hades studied their placement and smirked. “If I’m about to hear how right I was and wrong you were, you may.”
“Your Majesty,” the defendant rushed out, nervously shuffling his feet. “Please give me a chance to—”
“Guilty,” Hades interjected, waving Rathbone forward. Armed guards hauled the protesting defendant away. “Everyone out.”
The rest of the crowd followed the same path as if their feet were on fire, disappearing beyond a set of double doors. Everyone but the old man and the animals exited.
In his element, the king reclined, resting an elbow on the chair’s arm, and rubbing two fingers over his mouth. “My, my. Aren’t we cozy together.”
“We are.” Rathbone gave Neeka a little squeeze. “Go ahead.”
Her gaze remained riveted on the mirror, her expression glazing. “I remember now,” she breathed out. “If you wish to save everyone, Neeka, you need only speak with the girl in the mirror.”
Rathbone blinked. The Goddess of Many Futures. She appeared in the glass, a delicate female with long, curling white hair, eyes like a starlit night, and dark skin. She peered at Neeka, both hands pressed against the glass.
Hades glowered. “That isn’t happening.No onespeaks with Siobhan.”
“Let me,” the oracle demanded, unintimidated. “The fate of the world depends on it.”
“Not my world.”
She turned to Rathbone, flattening her palms on his pectorals and batting her lashes at him, expectant. “Go back to the palace and fetch my dueling pistols I’m stealing from you. Don’t worry. I’ll win.”
Muscles hardened, and blood heated. He clasped her waist and squeezed. “You cannot challenge Hades. He’s our ally.”
She slithered against him, saying, “Then he should have let me talk with the goddess.”
He glanced at his uncle, who gave a succinct shake of his head. Rathbone sighed and flashed Neeka to his bedroom. “I will bargain with him.” He tossed her onto the bed. “After we negotiate terms.”
“Do you think I’ll lose a challenge?” she asked, eagerly stripping out of her breastplate.
“I think I love him and want to keep him around.”
“Fine. But you’re gonna owe me so big.” She shimmied out of the skirt. “More than just terms. I’m expecting more jewelry. And gold coins with my image.”
“You’ll have them.” Rathbone kicked off his boots and unzipped his leathers. “But you are not issuing a challenge to him, Neeka, and neither am I. That’s final. He’s more than my ally. He’s raised me after my mother abandoned me.”
“Gah! You can’t just drop an information bomb like that while I’m so hot for you. I can’t concentrate properly, so I can’t react properly.” With her thumbs hooked at the sides of her panties, she slid the material down her legs.
“I’ll remind you. Now, about our terms.” He climbed onto the bed and pinned her with his weight. “I’ll return to bargain with him as soon as you admit you’re mine.”
Neeka petted Rathbone’s chest. He looked so cute when he snored, his hair mussed and his mátia closed. A startling contrast to the animal who’d taken her to bed. Oh, how she lov—liked the many sides of this complicated male.
Though she wanted to do nothing more than cuddle with him, she forced herself to carefully maneuver from the mattress and rise. He didn’t want her challenging Hades—his beloved uncle/father!—so, she wouldn’t. But she couldn’t not speak with Siobhan. And deep down Neeka knew. Hades wouldn’t bend on this, no matter what treasure Rathbone offered him. That left one option: sneaking into Hades’s palace.
The second she’d spotted the mirror, she’d remembered the words she’d heard in the Hall of Secrets. Though the speaker, whoever it was, could be luring her into a trap. Always a possibility. Also worth the risk. And this wasn’t a betrayal of Rathbone’s trust. Neither Rathbone nor Hades would ever learn of her actions. So. No harm, no foul.
