“Are you okay?”
My ears are ringing from the trip, but I hear Alcides clearly despite his low tone. He holds me tight against him, and I don’t answer at first because I’m still getting my bearings, taking stock of myself and willing the swell of magic back down into the depths of the well inside me. It’s deeper now than it was, thanks to bonding with Chrysaor. The magic subsides more easily now that I’m not in the prison. But I’m not prepared to open the door to that other part of me where my bond with the others exists and face them all just yet.
He releases his hold on me, sliding one hand up to my shoulder and tipping my chin up with a finger.
“Nemea, are you okay? I haven’t had to travel that way in ages, and not with a passenger for even longer. The last time was when I brought Cerberus to the prison.”
“I wanted to ask about that,” I say. “None of the stories I’ve read are close to reality, are they?”
His expression remains serious and I realize I didn’t answer his question. I pat his chest, a bare, solid swath of muscle. “I’m good. Where did you take me?”
For the first time, I take in our surroundings. It’s a dark night so there isn’t much to see besides the starry sky that stretches above us. A soft, temperate breeze rustles through the leaves of what looks like a hedge beside us.
“The first place that made sense—your namesake.”
It takes a moment for my eyes to focus, and I look around. We’re on a hilltop beside ruins of some sort. A couple broken columns loom nearby, along with a couple others lying in pieces on the ground, their shapes not much more than shadows, though I can clearly make out the details if I focus. Beyond them snaking down the hillside are rows upon rows of bushes.
“A vineyard named after me?”
He shakes his head. “A village that you were named for. Welcome to Nemea, Nemea.”
“What village?” I ask, looking around us. I see nothing but grapevines stretching for miles. Far in the distance there’s a building lit by a bare bulb above a large wooden door, but it looks like no more than a barn built of stone with darkened holes for windows. I don’t even hear the sounds of civilization.
“It’s a couple miles that way.” He points in the opposite direction. “But my father’s temple is here, which is why I can travel here.” He kicks a hunk of marble and it sails off into the darkness, landing with a soft thunk several seconds later. He starts walking in that direction, and I follow after giving the ruined temple one last glance.
“Doesn’t look like he gets worshipped much here, does he?”
He lets out a mirthless chuckle. “The new residents aren’t what you would call fans of his. Though I guess they’re not that new anymore.”
“But they’re fans of yours?”
I’m walking fast to keep up with his long strides. He doesn’t answer and when I reach him finally and look up, he’s frowning.
“They are friends, right?”
“I wouldn’t go that far. They’re reluctant allies, if anything. But I have something they want, which I intend to use to buy your protection.”
I stop short. “I don’t want protection—I want freedom. I thought you understood that.”
He walks on a few more steps before realizing I’m not with him. When he turns back, I cross my arms.
His lips tighten into a hard line as he strides back to me, placing his hands on his hips.
“You need protection. Chaos might not come for you himself, but if the Titans discover you exist, they will. You need to be in a place where you’ll be protected. Since you refuse to stay in Tartarus, this is that place.”
“A random village in rural Greece is the safest place for me? Seriously?”
“It isn’t random; I’m well-acquainted with the area. But it isn’t the location that makes it safe. It’s the residents.”
“Who are they? Gods?”
“Something like that.”
He turns around without elaborating and heads off down the row, forcing me to jog to catch up with him again. We walk in tense silence for several minutes while I try to decide whether it’s my fault for not seeking him out earlier and getting to know him. The tension between us crackles with power that he has to feel.
“Why didn’t you introduce yourself when the others did my first night there?” I ask, hoping to understand whether I missed an opportunity, or if there never was one to begin with. It wasn’t as if I had a lot of time in the prison—just two nights, though it feels like an entire lifetime has passed after all that’s happened.
“Didn’t get the chance. The others misbehaved and Vesh locked us out after that. I guess he wanted you to himself.”
“He wasn’t the only one with me.”
“He’ll never shut out his brothers. That includes Pan, despite the faun’s fuckups.”
“You can’t blame him for me summoning him.”
“Are you taking responsibility for it? Because it isn’t your fault, either. But I’m talking about other things, not the recent clusterfuck. That he does what he does isn’t the point; Vesh prizes the faun for his power. We all do, really. Without Pan’s abilities, we wouldn’t get to leave the prison at all.”
“How is it not my fault? I’m the one who summoned him. I’m the reason the Titans escaped. I thought me getting a grasp on my powers was so important because you guys needed my help to capture them.”
“There are stronger powers at work here than what you exerted in your little ritual that night. Fate magic only needs the slightest opening to get in and wreak havoc.”
He’s so matter-of-fact I can’t figure out whether he’s mad about it all or not.
“Doesn’t that piss you off?”
“Doesn’t what piss me off?”
I wave my hands. “Any of it. Pan, Vesh. Fate. Chaos.” I trail off, thinking “me,” but not saying it. Instead, I latch onto one of the few bits of trivia about him that I recall from the books, thinking it a super tragic story. “I mean, if Fate really is the one in control, how are you not pissed as fuck about what they did to you?”
“Fate has done nothing to me. I’ve been unreachable to them for more than a thousand years. I have nothing to be pissed about.”
“I meant before that. If Fate is involved in this…” I wave my hand between us, and when he raises an eyebrow at me, my skin heats. I clear my throat. “You know what I mean. Fate is the reason Vesh could get to me. Fate is the reason I couldn’t stop myself with the others. And why you and I have this… this tether between us even though we haven’t acted on it. If that’s there, that means everything, every event or choice up to this moment was influenced by Fate. And considering what happened to you before, why aren’t you pissed as hell? At least assuming what I read really happened.”
He lifts his brows and nods. “Ah. I think you’re assuming that the powers of Fate are always at work in every aspect of our lives and have been all along. They aren’t, and they haven’t. The gods are often immune to Fate. I was too, until very recently.”
“So what happened with your family…?” I don’t know how to broach the topic, let alone whether I even should, so I let the rest of that inquiry hang.
“Actually happened. But it was a result of someone other than Fate being a manipulative monster in my life. You may have noticed I don’t use the name most texts refer to me by, assuming you’ve read some of the modern works that exist. Asterius keeps copies in his library, so we’re all well aware of the various accounts of our histories, most of which only get a fraction of the details right.”
“They call you Herakles, not Alcides.”
He winces. “Yeah, that one. It isn’t my birth name—it’s the name my father gave me in some misguided wish to appease his wife. She’s the harpy who drove me to madness and made me murder my family. Fate had nothing to do with it. I’ve never liked Herakles and have always preferred going by the name my mother gave me.”
“That’s fair. For what it’s worth I’m sorry she did that to you. It’s fucking awful.”
“It was a very long time ago. I never believed I’d have a second chance at a life, or even if I deserved one. Vesh gave me that chance. I’ve been proud to be part of his team ever since.”
“Does he know where we are? Do you think he’ll come after me?”
“You don’t need to fear him, Nemea.”
“I don’t. That’s not why I asked.” I huff out a breath, hating myself a little for hoping he does come after me, to apologize, if nothing else.
“He can reach out to me. I’m not going to shut him out or hide, but he has to make an effort to reach me, unlike the others who are easier for him to access. You have the ability to contact him too, if you want, through your bond.”
“I know,” I say softly. “I’m not ready to yet. I hope the others don’t hate me.”
“We would never hate you. You are part of us, even the ones you haven’t bonded yet.”
I’m not sure, but I think I hear a hint of tenderness in his tone, but I try not to let it go to my head. For the first time in the past forty-eight hours, I don’t feel like I’m controlled by my libido, so I’m happy for the clarity. But just as I start to enjoy the peaceful night and the breeze sweeping down the rows of the vineyard, his hand brushes mine and sends my pulse racing. I swallow the rush and take a deep, steadying breath.
“It isn’t just you,” he says after a moment. When I don’t respond, he continues. “I didn’t greet you the first night because I was afraid, not because Vesh took over. He gave me the opening but I … I choked. He covered for me.”
I stare up at him, wide-eyed with surprise. “No shit? What about the next day? I was a little preoccupied, but I didn’t miss when you basically ran out of the cavern before the others. I can only imagine what the whole scene looked like.” I laugh softly to myself.
He makes a low, gruff sound. “I liked what I saw. I just wasn’t ready for it. I haven’t been with a woman since my trials ended. I don’t indulge the way the others like to with one another. I’m out of practice with all of it. And it’s one thing to know we’re fated, but it’s quite another to process that you’re fated for the others and happily fucking them too. I’ve never shared before, either. What if you like them more? What if I’ve forgotten how? What if I hurt you?”
“That’s a lot of self-doubt to unpack,” I say, then reach for his hand and thread my fingers through his. “But despite what you saw, I’m in no rush. Maybe it’s better this way? At the very least, we can take our time.”
He makes a sound of actual doubt that makes me look at him again.
“I can’t stay long—a few days until you get settled in, at most. But they’ll need me to open Olympus, once they get the key. After that, if we can’t subdue the Titans easily with whatever power we secure from inside, then I don’t know when I’ll be able to return.”
“I thought you needed me for that. Aren’t you going to stay and train me?”
“If everything goes well, I won’t be the one training you.”
Before I can ask him to elaborate, we reach the edge of the vineyard and come out onto a narrow dirt road. The scent of grapes fades as we follow the road, replaced by the scent of horses and hay. Alcides sticks to the edge of the road, moving with more caution. He lets go of my hand and carefully urges me behind him.
“Stay close,” he whispers. I nod, opting not to question him if he thinks we might be in danger. All I hear are the faint sounds of horses somewhere in the distance. We continue on, slowing when we reach a drop-off in the middle of the road.
Alcides reaches back, gripping the side of my hip and urging me off the edge into the tall grass as we pass what looks like a giant pit. It’s at least fifteen feet wide and deep enough that I can’t see the bottom, but when we pass by and I look down, I realize it’s half-filled with water, reflecting the starlit sky above.
“Why is there a big pit in the middle of the road?” I whisper. Alcides shushes me and motions for us to keep moving.
Not much farther along, the way is blocked by a wall, and I start to form a full picture. One side is covered in dangling ropes, and when we pass it, I look back to see hand-holds peppering the vertical surface. The next obstacle is another pit with a giant cargo net stretched in a slant across it.
Has he brought me to some crazy survivalist compound? How in the hell would he know such people being stuck in the prison so long? But they haven’t actually been stuck there, have they? They get out, just not out-out. Whatever magic Pan has is how they leave, so they must have connections outside. Though if he’s being this weird about approaching this place, I’m guessing he hasn’t spoken to these people in a while.
The obstacles continue, looking a little less and less daunting as we go. Soon the road intersects with another, and the scent of horses grows stronger. The barn comes into view after a few more minutes, a big, white-plastered stone building with the phases of the moon carved in the wide wooden doors that hang across the front. Just beyond it is a cozy cluster of buildings, some dark, some with windows lit. It reminds me of St. George with its welcoming warmth, which is hard to reconcile with the intense obstacle course we just passed and Alcides’ cautious approach.
We keep to the shadows, and he waves me to speed up as we dart to the side of the barn. All this cloak and dagger shit is wearing on my nerves, so I tap him on the shoulder when he reaches the corner. He looks back at me with a stern expression.
“What gives? Why aren’t we just knocking on the door?”
“At this time of night, it’ll get us shot. Just trust me and stay clo—”
He doesn’t get a chance to finish. A shadow appears behind him, and before I can cry out a warning, someone snakes their arm around my throat in a chokehold. I struggle, reaching for Alcides and the power within me, but a few seconds later, my entire world goes dark.
To be continued…
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