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Don’t worry about my mission. I know you panicked about the letters when you heard I have to go to D.C. H won’t touch the mail. No one will. And I won’t be gone more than seventy-two hours…unless you raise the gate and let me loose.
Give me another chance at my primary mission and I won’t let you down again. I swear it, baby. For the first time, I understand why men fall on their swords at the command of another. I’d give my life for a mission. I’d give it to you for nothing.
I ask you again. Beg you. Give the word, Temptress.
How was she supposed to reply? There were so many things she ached to say. So much love that had to remain contained. Any hint of weakness or vulnerability could lead to him ruining everything by rushing across the Atlantic.
In her letter, she tried to make that clear to him. Coming to terms with their lack of a future threw so many emotions into the melee. All she wanted was for him to be safe. Happy. That meant cutting her out of his life as soon as possible.
Every day it grew more difficult, every minute. How much longer could she endure it? Her heart hurt. Every night, the tears came. How she wished to be in his arms again. In the Beast. In the night. Just them. Together. Alone.
It wasn’t easy to hold onto hope. She wanted to see him again but had to face reality. It may not happen. Maybe they’d be apart forever. One day, if she ever got a chance to walk away from Olympus, she’d have to walk away for good. That meant walking away from her Heart.
London was a wonderful city. Beautiful and vibrant. But she didn’t care. Couldn’t care.
Styx was some comfort. It had been nine days since they’d first met on the park bench. So far, they were no further forward in figuring out what Zeus wanted. Every once in a while, he’d bring up the assassination and she’d argue against it.
Until reading Daire’s letter, she’d had no doubt he yearned for Olympus. Zeus was Olympus. It was that simple. But he was hurting. Her Heart begged for a signal. He needed her to call him to her side. If she asked him, he’d come, that had never been in question. Not asking was supposed to save him from making a choice. It was her show of strength, to prove she could persevere.
But his letter…
The heaviness in her heart accompanied her up in the elevator back to the apartment. He’d said he couldn’t concentrate. The cursing, the tone, the anger, the need, she felt all of it. Persevering had never been so tough.
Being around Zeus was irritating. Being away from her Heart? Agony. Believing he was focused and in control, she’d put up with both.
A disciplined Daire was what she saw on the screen during the video meetings. There had been three since the one she’d walked in on. Progress was being made at Gamma; something Daire had shared in his letter too. In her reply, she’d hinted hold-ups wouldn’t be unwelcome. If he was hurrying believing it would bring her back to him sooner, he wouldn’t appreciate her request to slow things down.
She wanted to sleep, but it wasn’t even dinner time yet. Going through the front door, she prepared for another meal charade. The sight of suitcases stopped her dead. Luggage? Did that mean they were leaving?
Styx hadn’t come through with the passport yet, but that wouldn’t matter if they were leaving. Suitcases. They had to be leaving.
It was too much to hope that they’d take her back to Vegas. If they switched to somewhere else, another country, somewhere further away, her line of communication to Daire would be severed. Cautious, she had to be cautious and restrain her hopes.
In search of answers, she hurried through the apartment and came across Byron on the phone in the large reception room. He held up a finger when she rushed over, mouth open, desperate to ask what was going on.
“Yes… No problem. Thank you.” Byron hung up the cellphone and tucked it into his pocket. “Tess.”
He put his hands on her shoulders; it didn’t occur to her to shrug them off. “What’s going on?”
So much for cautious hope. Zeal drove her actions and her emotions.
“We have business,” Byron said, rubbing her arms. “Back in the States.”
Her inhale had to be filled with joy, but hiding her reaction was the furthest thing from her mind. Before she had the chance to say anything another voice joined them.
“It will be just you and I for a while.”
Zeus.
Spinning around, she noticed him in the far corner. “Just… us?”
“Yes,” he said, approaching. “Byron and Balfour will return to the US. It’s time to bring our new Two and Five into the fold. They’re meeting Six over there.”
If her head wasn’t reeling, she would ask about Four. The enigmatic Four who no one ever talked about. Thinking wasn’t easy while coming to terms with the reality of the immediate future.
“They’re leaving me here,” she said, blinking at him. “I’m staying here.”
“Yes,” Zeus said, stopping just a few feet away.
