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Pirithous
Pirithous swung Thalia into his arms, carrying her to the stairs. He glanced up to the house before he sat down with her across his lap, but there was no sign of Nikki yet. If she’d seen her companion collapse, he had no doubt she would have been shouting by now. It didn’t require familiarity with the language they spoke to know she didn’t trust him, though he wasn’t certain he understood why. Surely by now he’d proven he did not mean either of them harm.
At least Hermes had seen fit to answer his prayer. Not that Thalia would be pleased with him when she woke, but that could be remedied easily enough. Before he’d made his sacrifice, she had almost let him kiss her, he was sure of it. He’d felt the swell of her curiosity, mixed with desire and temptation. All it needed was a little bit of encouragement if he were so inclined to provide it. He thanked Zeus for granting him powers of persuasion along with his demigod blood—not that he intended to use it on Thalia unless it was absolutely necessary. The challenge of charming her with his mortal talents was much more entertaining, now that he could speak in her tongue.
“Wake up, Thalia.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, so temptingly near while it rested against his shoulder. The smell of her skin, the softness of it, fought against his self-restraint. Holding her in his lap wasn’t the wisest course, but at least this way she would be comfortable. Far less offensive than waking up on the cold ground.
She inhaled sharply, her body tensing in his arms. “What happened?” she mumbled.
“Too much smoke,” he lied. “Just breathe, now.”
Thalia sat up so fast she unbalanced herself, and he laughed, steadying her. “Pirithous?”
“Yes.”
“But you don’t speak English!” She pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead, falling back against his chest. “Ugh.”
“Are you unwell?” he asked, smoothing her hair.
“Headache.”
“It will pass in just a moment.”
“Were you faking it all this time?” she asked.
“Faking it?”
“Pretending that you didn’t speak English?”
“Ah.” Easier than explaining he’d ripped the words from her mind, surely. “My—” he hesitated over the odd word. The language still felt strange on his tongue, “English? Is not good. Hopefully it will be better than your friend’s Achaean.”
“Well that explains why she couldn’t understand half of what you were saying. She was speaking Greek.”
She seemed to expect that he should know what Greek meant, but it hardly mattered. Even Hermes could only help so much. He would learn the rest, soon enough. “I wanted to thank you properly for bringing me here. I do not think I would have found shelter tonight, if not for your help.”
“Don’t tell Nikki,” Thalia said.
“Tell Nikki?”
“That you speak English. She’ll be furious. And then she’ll go on about how you lied to us, and it’ll just get tiring.” She winced. “I suppose you heard her earlier, then? I’m sorry about that. She thinks everyone she doesn’t know is out to get her, you know? Her parents wouldn’t even let her walk to and from school when we were younger, always going on about stranger-danger.” She lilted the words, making it into a song. “It was absolutely ridiculous.”
He smiled, not because he understood everything she’d said, but because she said it so quickly and with such passion. “Do you always talk so much?”
“When I have something to say.” She sat up carefully this time, and he helped her rise though he missed the warmth of her body when she did. “And now that I know you can actually understand it, why not?”
“I fear I understand much less when you speak so quickly.” He stood with her, stepping down off the stair. She was tall for a woman, the top of her head level with his chin. In Achaea, the tallest woman only met his shoulder in height.
“Oh,” she said, stepping back. “Sorry.”
She wobbled and he steadied her, hand at her elbow. Her skin was like silk beneath his fingers. “Slowly and carefully.”
“Slowly, at least. I’m not exactly known for careful.” She started up the stairs. “Are you really a king?”
“I am.” He stayed close behind her, in case she stumbled. Her hair, still in its horse’s tail, danced between her shoulder blades. The flicker of firelight turning it red. “Is that so strange?”
“I’ve never met a king before.”
“Your king must be very rich for you to live like this. Or is your father one of his advisors, and he only keeps you from the palace so the men will not be tempted to steal you away?”
She stopped short, spinning to look at him. “What?”
“Where I come from, you would be very wealthy,” he explained carefully, unsure if he’d given offense. “Men would risk much to make you their bride.”
“Because of my wealth?” Her eyebrows knitted together.
“Because you are rich and beautiful, yes,” he agreed. “Many men would love you. Kings would vie for your hand.”
“Kings like you?”
“If your father has the ear of your king, it would be a good match for me and my people. An alliance against war in the future.”
She searched his face. “What if my father has nothing to do with kings or politics or government?”
“Then you are still beautiful and kind.” He took her hand, pressing a kiss against her knuckles. “And I am honored by your friendship.”
But he did not want to think of what it meant, that so wealthy a man had no connection to the king. Even King Priam of Troy did not live like this, with glassed windows taller than a man, metal torches as large as trees left unguarded as if their destruction would cost nothing, and a house so richly furnished he did not understand or recognize most of what it held.
The prospects made his jaw tighten and his stomach wrench. All he could hope was that these people did not realize the wealth they had or the power that came with it. Perhaps they wasted their metal on sign posts and pillars because they did not think to forge it into swords. Perhaps their lands were so remote, so isolated, they had no interest in the world beyond their shores.
He prayed it was so for the sake of his own people and the rest of Achaea. But if they knew who he was and where he came from, they might search for it. Pirithous felt the slow burn of his father’s blood gathering in his veins.
He could not risk it.
He would not risk it.
“Are you all right?” Thalia asked. “You look sick.”
Pirithous swallowed the bile in the back of his throat and forced himself to smile. “I am only thirsty. Have you any wine?”
“Oh! Yes. Of course. And you haven’t really eaten, either, have you? C’mon.” She squeezed his hand and turned, pulling him after her up the steps. “Just remember you can’t speak English when we get inside, all right?”
***
THALIA SEEMED COMPLETELY herself again, pulling him by the hand through another door and down a staircase that led to some kind of storage room beneath the main rooms above. He studied the wood beams of the ceiling, admiring the craftsmanship, but Thalia tugged at his hand again and he followed her into a smaller chamber, ducking his head to pass through the doorway.
“What would you like? Red or white?”
Rows of glass bottles lay on their sides within a shelf purpose-built into the wall. He freed one, the dark liquid sloshing gently inside. A strange way to keep wine, in such small vessels. But it seemed as though they did not drink it by the krater, what with that other foul-sweet substance she’d offered him earlier. He’d thought it beer, at first, but the flavor—his mouth still felt coated by it. Why would she drink that foaming liquid when she had wine in this quantity?
“Red it is, then.” She took the bottle from his hand, then wrinkled her nose. “But not this one. My brother will kill me. Um.”
She slipped in front of him, rising to her toes and reaching up to put the bottle back. He inhaled the scent of her hair, felt the warmth of her body as it brushed against his. He gripped the shelving to keep from grabbing her, but his head dropped and he couldn’t quite stop himself from nuzzling the place behind her ear.
Her breath hitched, and she froze, her fingers wrapped around a bottle above her head. He kissed her beneath the ear and she made a noise somewhere between a sigh and a squeak. He grinned and tasted her skin again, creamy with just a hint of salt from a long summer day. That time, the noise she made was closer to a moan. And it was formed around his name. His body hardened, responding as much to the call as it did to her warmth, and the soft skin of her neck.
Thalia ducked under his arm, dragging the bottle with her. “One bottle of red wine, and I think we’d better find you something to eat that you like more than pizza.”
“I can think of something I’d like very much,” he murmured, watching her dance back to the door. The curve of her hip, the soft roundness of her breasts. He imagined the warmth of her skin against his palm, the fit of their bodies together. She had the grace to match him, even if she was no more than mortal.
She flushed. “Yes, well, I don’t think that would be very filling for either one of us.”
“No?” He didn’t dare take his hand off the shelf or straighten. If he moved at all, he’d take her against the wall and he didn’t think her father would appreciate it when he found out.
Then again, if her father left her alone in the woods, with no guards and no protection, perhaps she had already been used by someone else, and he wouldn’t know the difference if Pirithous made himself at home. It was, perhaps, too tempting a thought, because it did nothing to ease the rush of his blood. Filling, indeed.
“Nope,” and now that she was in the doorway, beyond the reach of his arm, she grinned, her gaze traveling over him in a way that made his whole body burn. “Besides, I don’t sleep with men I pick up off the side of the road on the first date.”
Did she think she was safe there? That she could outrun him back up the stairs. He smiled at the thought. Either she was very brave or very foolish, because he may not have understood the words, but her meaning was clear. And so was the teasing desire in her eyes.
“Is that why your father sent you here? To keep you out of trouble?”
She laughed. “I think my family has given up on keeping me out of trouble when it comes to men. Nikki and I came here to unwind. One last hurrah as single girls before she gets married in the fall.”
“Ah.” He struggled to absorb what she was saying rather than dwelling on the bare skin of her shoulders. “Has your father given up on finding you a husband, then?”
“I’ll find my own husband, thank you very much. If I ever decide that I want one. And my family will just have to deal with it if he isn’t Greek.”
“You are a very strange people, Thalia.”
“Why?”
He finally straightened, having controlled himself enough to release his hold on the shelf without feeling compelled to reach for Thalia in exchange. “Women running about the countryside without guards after dark, choosing their own husbands. You behave like men.”
“And women where you’re from always do what their told and go meekly off into arranged marriages?”
“Perhaps not meekly, but they go, yes, if that is what their father has chosen for them.” He shrugged. “There are exceptions of course, but if you were my daughter I would never leave you unguarded.”
“I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult,” she said, smiling. “Is it because I’m so beautiful, or because I’m so troublesome?”
“Both.” Beautiful and troublesome. Hippodamia had been the same, Persephone even more so.
“Well.” She turned toward the stairs. “I guess it’s a good thing for you my family isn’t that old fashioned, isn’t it?”
The look she gave him over her shoulder left him in no doubt that she knew exactly what she was doing to him. She knew, and she enjoyed every moment of it. Truthfully, even if she did make him ache with a desire far too close to pain, he was enjoying it too.
In Achaea, there were very, very few women like Thalia, and those that were usually meant a man harm. But not Thalia. Thalia was far too full of generosity to be witch, goddess, harpy, or siren. He just hoped the wait would be worth the discomfort she caused him in the meantime.
“Pirithous?” she called back from the stairs. “Are you coming or what?”
He took his time following, giving his blood chance to cool. If he could just get her alone again long enough to kiss her...
***
HE UNDERSTOOD VERY quickly why Thalia had apologized for Nikki before they had returned to the house. The moment he reached the top step, he could hear them arguing in low voices.
“You showed him the wine cellar?” Nikki said. “What if he’s an alcoholic? Your brother will have a fit if he goes through all that wine after all the time and money your father spent collecting it.”
“Please, Nikki. He’s not an alcoholic. If he were wandering drunk in the woods, we would have smelled it on him in the car.” Thalia glanced up at him, the apology she couldn’t offer written in the press of her lips and the widening of her eyes.
He smiled, hoping the warmth of it would reassure her. Nikki’s caution made more sense to him, knowing she was to be married. The appearance of intimacy with a strange man might risk her future were her husband to find out before the ceremony, though he still could not understand why the man would allow her to run off without any guards. Europa had been among a host of women when Zeus had swept her away in the form of a bull, and Pirithous would not have needed the ability to change his shape to make off with Nikki now. At the moment, he had much too healthy a respect for the gods and the rules of hospitality to risk himself, but there had been plenty of occasions during his younger days when he would have felt differently. And Nikki was beautiful, even if she squawked like a hen.
“I just don’t want either one of us getting into trouble,” Nikki said. “And you’re a fool if you think he’s not looking us over like he wants to get laid. You especially.”
Thalia grinned, meeting his eyes over her friend’s shoulder. “I think it’s kind of flattering, all things considered. And it isn’t like he forced himself on us.”
“Fine,” Nikki said, not seeming to have noticed him behind her yet. Their voices were rising with every word exchanged. “But if you think I’m going to risk my life to save you if he starts swinging that sword he came in with, you’re wrong. The minute this guy starts doing anything screwy, I am taking my car and going home to Alex.”
“Great. When you do, would you please not tell big brother Alexandros about the man in my bed, because the last thing I need is for him to pitch a fit about who I’m sleeping with. Again.”
“The last time, you deserved it. And this time, too. You don’t even know where he’s been, Thalia! And you keep doing this—meeting these strange men and running off with them before you even know their last name, then you act surprised when they’re just interested in spending your money and getting you flat on your back.”
“Ugh.” Thalia rolled her eyes. “For your information, that was one time, and lest we forget, you all thought Kristos was a nice Greek boy when you set me up on that blind date.”
Pirithous felt his smile turn into a smirk. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. So maybe Thalia’s father had sent her off into the woods to keep her out of trouble after all. He wasn’t sure if he liked the idea that Thalia had taken other lovers, though. Not that an experienced woman didn’t have enough to offer, but it was a far more interesting challenge to seduce a virgin than it was a woman who’d already lain with a man. He would have liked to be the first to make her moan.
“Alexandros would never let you—”
“Alexandros isn’t here, and what I do and who I do it with isn’t any of his business. I’m just as much of an adult as he is now, and three years difference isn’t a big enough gap to make him my father anymore. But don’t let me stop you from going back to hang all over your fiancé if that’s where you’d rather be.”
“If you think I’m leaving you alone with some creep you picked up off the side of the road—”
Pirithous cleared his throat. Thalia looked dangerously close to clawing out her friend’s eyes, all the good humor and laughter gone from her face, and he was reasonably certain that if he tried to stop her physically, Nikki would only think he was attempting to attack them both. As it was Nikki spun, giving him a glare that would have made Medusa flinch.
“Is there a place where I might wash?” he said very carefully in Achaean.
Nikki’s glower shifted slightly to frustration. “What?”
“A bathing room?” he tried again, grateful that Hermes had answered his prayers. If he’d had to speak through Nikki in order to know Thalia, he would have had no hope of any success. Nor, did he suspect, would he have been able to convince Nikki to speak peaceably on his behalf to anyone else.
“What does he want?” Thalia asked.
“I think he’s asking about the bathroom.”
“I’ll show him,” Thalia said, brushing past her friend. “This way, Pirithous.”
She held her hand out to him, and he had no doubt now that she touched him in part simply to irritate her friend, but he was happy to take advantage of it. As soon as his fingers closed around hers, the ache he had thought he’d managed to dispel returned. It had been far too long since he’d had a bedmate. Too long since he’d found release even by his own hand.
Thalia led him down a short hallway, spinning on her heel in the second doorway they came upon. “Thanks,” she whispered. “But I’m sorry you had to hear all that.”
He smiled, raising her hand to his lips and pressing a kiss against the back of her fingers. “It is honorable of her to wish to protect you. Were you mine, I would wish to do the same.”
She sighed, pulling her fingers free with a flash of irritation. “If I ever am yours, do yourself a favor and resist the urge.”
Then she turned and left him.
In a very strange tiled room with a bizarre stool, a basin, a curtained tub, and no water to speak of.