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Thalia
“Thalia?” Nikki touched her shoulder, jerking her attention back from the window to the food on her plate. “Are you all right?”
Thalia sighed. Once Nikki had realized that Pirithous was gone, she’d been more than happy to forget the whole thing had ever happened. Nikki might talk a mean talk, but she didn’t hold grudges. It was one of her better traits, and no doubt she assumed that Thalia had sent him packing, finally coming to her senses. Or at least it was probably what she had been hoping, but a glance at Nikki’s face told Thalia that ship had sailed.
“Did something happen? Tell me he didn’t try to hurt you. Alex will never forgive me if he did something to you because I let you talk me into leaving you alone.”
Thalia shook her head. “He didn’t try to hurt me. He’s not like that.”
She could barely believe she was saying it, defending him, but once the words left her mouth—they were true. She knew they were true.
“Are you sure?” Nikki asked. “If he assaulted you—”
“God, Nikki! He isn’t an escaped sexual predator!” She was so sick of this. No wonder Alex loved Nikki so much; she fed right into his macho dumpsterfire attitudes. And her paranoia that every strange man she met was out to rape or kidnap or otherwise assault women was a poison straight from their childhood and the endless stranger-danger lectures whenever they wanted to go or do anything alone. Whenever she’d expected the same freedom her parents had given Alexandros.
Thalia knew she’d been lucky in her life. That the worst she’d suffered was a guy trying to rip her off financially and some overly aggressive catcalls—she wasn’t unaware of the risks she took every time she said yes or flirted with some random guy at the bar, she just refused to let those risks rule her life, to let anyone else’s bullshit stop her from doing what she wanted to do. She had as much of a right to go out and drink with friends, or flirt, or let loose as any asshole, and it wasn’t like she didn’t take reasonable precautions—making sure she had a friend at her back, for one.
There were absolutely gross and violent guys out there, people who got off on abuse, on the power differential between them and their victim, but Pirithous had more than proved he wasn’t one of them. At least not like that—and not with her. Thalia still wasn’t sure what to make of his time-traveler brand of absurdity, but the way he had left her earlier...
“Well, what happened?” Nikki asked. “You’re obviously upset about it.”
Obviously.
“I don’t know.” Thalia hated that things had ended that way. He hadn’t just been angry, he’d been hurt and betrayed. And even if she wanted to talk to Nikki about the fight they’d had, she couldn’t, because they weren’t supposed to speak the same language to begin with. She shoved her plate away and buried her head in her arms. Or tried to, until she banged her forehead against metal.
“Ow.” The armband. She closed her fingers over it, the gold as warm as her skin. “God, I’m such jerk.”
“Did you throw yourself at him or something?”
Thalia glared at her. “Really? That’s really the next leap you want to make?”
“Please. You were flirting with him from the minute he showed up, and it isn’t like you don’t have a history of falling into bed with people.”
“I did not throw myself at the strange man we found on the side of the road, Nikki. I took him shopping. We went for a walk. I stabbed myself in the foot on some jerktastic branch, and he brought me back to the house. Then I insulted him accidentally, and he left. That’s all.”
“What did he say?”
Thalia ground her teeth. “It’s all Greek to me.”
“You didn’t seem to have any problem getting something across to him last night. I heard you laughing from the living room.”
“He does hilarious pantomimes.” She got up from the table, taking her plate with her. “I don’t want to talk about this, all right? He’s gone. You’ll probably never see him again. And now that he’s out of my life, you can quit feeling obligated to keep an eye on me and go back to the city to be with Alex.”
“Ha!” Nikki followed her to the sink. “I knew you couldn’t stand all the quiet here. Or did you run into one of the guys you dated in high school while you were getting groceries?”
“What are you even talking about?”
“You’re looking for an excuse to get back to the city now that the only good looking man in the entire tri-county area took off!”
“No.” Thalia dumped what was left on her plate into the disposal, gave it a rinse, and tucked it into the dishwasher. “I’m giving you an excuse to go make sweet love to my brother because you spend all your time on the phone with him and daydreaming about your wedding. I bet you were texting him all day while you were visiting your cousins after your appointment.”
“That isn’t fair, Thalia.”
She forced herself to smile, turning to look at her. They had been friends forever and the only thing they really had in common anymore was the fact that they were Greek. And Alex. Thalia hadn’t even realized it until now, but she absolutely was not going to get a chance to decompress with Nikki giving her nervous, worried looks every time she did anything even remotely off the beaten path.
Nikki had already put her foot down about going barhopping with some excuse about being too old to wake up with a hangover. But she hadn’t ever really understood the rush Thalia got from any of it. Flirting, kissing, sex. Winding a guy up until he couldn’t see straight, and then giving him everything she’d promised for one, mind-blowing night of sex. All the better if she never saw him again, afterwards. If there was one thing she’d learned, and learned quickly, it was never to sleep with her friends. It changed everything. Ruined everything. And not only because of Alex. She shook her head.
“It’s all right, Nikki. I get it.” She took the plate from her hands and offered a grin for good measure. “You’re in love, and it’s gooey and romantic, and who am I to stand in the way? That can’t-keep-your-hands-off-one-another part doesn’t last forever, you know. And besides, once you get married you’re stuck with me. You can take me on a cruise with you the next time Alex disappears into some giant drafting project, and we’ll call it even.”
Nikki sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s just that things are happening so quickly, and you know how Alex gets.”
“Yeah. I definitely know.” She hugged her briefly. “So if you can’t do this now, that’s fine. Maybe you can come down to Virginia for a weekend. We can go to the Smithsonian, sightsee, a nice quiet weekend with no ex-boyfriends to run into on the street and no chance that I’ll make you go cow-tipping in the middle of the night.”
Nikki laughed. “You wouldn’t know how to tip a cow anyway.”
Thalia smiled, and it felt more natural now. “If your parents hadn’t sent you to summer camp for the three weeks I spent making out with Josh Andrews, you’d know better.”
“You did not go cow-tipping to impress him!”
“I did. And this huge white bull chased us right out of the pasture, afterwards. You would not even believe it. I thought it was going to charge right through the fence after us, too.”
Nikki was laughing again. “I bet you didn’t even learn your lesson.”
“Not in the slightest. Josh thought it was a rush and we went back again the next week, but the bull wasn’t there, and what was the point without the thrill of running for our lives?”
“I’m glad I was at camp for that. My parents would have killed me if they’d found me sneaking back inside stinking like manure. And you know that’s how it would have ended for me.”
“Yeah.”
Thalia pulled out the white wine she’d brought up to go with the chicken. Nikki hadn’t wanted any, but she didn’t let that stop her. After that fight with Pirithous, she’d needed a drink. She still needed it, or she’d lose her mind staring out the window instead of sleeping. She’d left the back light on, just in case, and her gaze drifted to the door again. She bit her lip and refilled her glass, forcing herself to concentrate on that instead.
“Will you leave tomorrow?”
Nikki’s smile faded. “You’re sure that you won’t mind? And you’ll be okay by yourself?”
“Nikki. I’m in my own house. In my own hometown. I’ll be fine.” She raised her eyebrows, smirking. “Maybe I’ll go see if Josh Andrews is still in town.”
***
NIKKI WENT TO BED EARLY, and Thalia sat on the couch, her father’s Encyclopedia of Greek Myths in her lap. The index only listed three pages for Pirithous, and only one of them had any substance. The centauromachy. Pirithous’s wedding to Hippodamia had been interrupted by centaurs, drunk on wine, intent on raping the women at the feast. Pirithous and Theseus had stopped them, rescuing Hippodamia and killing the centaurs.
Thalia could still see the look in Pirithous’s eyes when he told her about his nightmare, storm dark and haunted with old pain. Even if centaurs didn’t exist, there must have been some kind of truth to the story to turn his face that particular shade of gray. He must have loved Hippodamia to let it torment him for so long, even after he’d succeeded in saving her.
She touched the gold cross at her neck, running it against the chain. Pirithous as Pirithous, son of Zeus. What if he was right and those gods existed? The hair on the back of her neck prickled at the thought, as if some ghostly spirit breathed in her ear, hovering just over her shoulder.
O Angel of Christ, holy guardian and protector of my soul and body, forgive me of everything I have done to offend you every day, and protect me from all influence and temptation of the evil one. The prayer came without thought, only half-complete, but she felt better for it, just as she felt better wearing the cross around her neck. Pirithous’s gods couldn’t touch her as long as she remembered her prayers. If those ancient gods even lived. She couldn’t believe they did, no matter how frequently he mentioned Persephone as if he’d spoken to her five minutes earlier. She didn’t want to believe they did.
It was for the best, she told herself. And Pirithous could take care of himself. He’d taken his sword and his knife, and he was strong. Stronger than anything he might run into, for sure, and she hadn’t seen a bear in the woods in years anyway. Summer nights were warm, and by the time winter came around he’d be settled somewhere else. There was no reason why he should stay in New York. Maybe he would migrate south.
Maybe he’d show up in Virginia. She had a feeling he’d like the museums. He should really see the collection at The Met, too, with whole rooms of bronze age artifacts. Maybe he’d seen some of it made. Historians would have a field day with him, assuming he was telling the truth. If he was really from the past, he could explain so much...
If he was really from the past.
She’d never know now, one way or the other.
Thalia closed the book, sliding it back into its place on the bookshelf. There was no point in agonizing over any of it. He was gone. He wasn’t coming back. And she should probably be glad about it. It was just like she’d told him: she didn’t need another man hanging around trying to protect her, telling her what to do and what not to do. Alex did enough of that for three people already, and after what had nearly happened to Pirithous’s wife, he was probably even worse when it came to the people in his life.
She got up from the couch, tearing the sheets from the cushions. No point in leaving him a bed. Tomorrow she’d go return the clothes she’d bought him and be done with it.
But when she balled the sheets up in her arms, the spicy-citrus and lavender smell of his skin filled her head. She closed her eyes, burying her face in the fabric and breathing it in. How could she ever have thought that he forced women to sleep with him, even for a minute, when he smelled this good? It didn’t seem possible that someone could smell like warmth and safety and summer nights, and be that kind of twisted. Attractive as he was, why would he ever have needed to bother with women who didn’t want him? Especially if he was a king, on top of it all.
She sighed.
How could she have been so foolish? And of course now that he was gone, she wanted him back. Even Josh Andrews hadn’t kissed like Pirithous. Thalia smiled at the thought. Josh had been good, but Pirithous was something else altogether.
She walked back to the kitchen, struggling to identify the difference. The make-out sessions she remembered with Josh had been very thorough, but kissing Pirithous had been as intimate as sex. As if in that moment, they had melted together, whole in ways she couldn’t even begin to describe or understand. His desire had been as clear to her as the swell of her own. Maybe even more so, without the confusion she felt, or the struggle to stop herself. All her inhibitions falling away with his touch.
She hadn’t dared to think about it while he was with her, sure she would fall back into his arms and drag him into her bed in spite of everything she’d learned. Now that he was gone, it didn’t matter how much she dwelled on it. It didn’t matter how much she wanted him to kiss her. How much she wanted him.
Thalia breathed in the scent again, trying to capture it, memorize it, and fighting the desire to sleep with his sheets and pillows in her bed.
“Thalia?”
Her heart leapt and she spun to find Pirithous standing inside the door, his eyes dark. The sheets fell from her hands when she tried to stuff them behind her back. He’d probably been standing there for the last five minutes, watching her moon about. Her cheeks burned, and her heart raced with more than just fear.
“I didn’t think you’d come back.”
He bent, gathering the sheets from the floor. “There is a matter we must discuss.”
She shook her head, staring at him. She didn’t want to discuss anything. Still steeped in the scent of his body and the memory of their kiss, all she wanted was to repeat it.
He lifted his head, his eyes locked on hers as he rose, suddenly much closer than he had been when he’d knelt. “Thalia—”
She pressed her fingers to his lips, stopping him. “I drank half a bottle of wine, waiting for you, thinking I would never see you again.”
He wrapped his hand around her wrist, pulling her fingers from his mouth. “One moment you reach for me, desire in your eyes, and the next you sneer, insulting my honor, spiting my kindness. What am I to think, Thalia?”
“Don’t. Don’t think.” She twined her fingers through his, tugging him toward the hall.
He hesitated, his resistance drawing her up short. She glanced back, taking in the grim line of his mouth, the tension of his shoulders.
“Please, Pirithous.”
His fingers tightened around hers. One long step closed the distance between them, and his lips found hers, tasting them, parting them. His free hand burned hot against her flesh, sliding over the bare skin of her waist, her ribs, her spine, crushing her to him even as she kissed him back, fitting her body against his. And she could feel him, his need, not just the hardness of his body pressed against hers, but the want beneath it, the desperate desire that drove him, flaming white hot inside her, filling her, answering her own.
He pinned her against the counter, his fingers digging into her hips, and then he lifted her on top of it and she wrapped her legs around his waist, drawing him firmly against the heat of her body. He groaned, his arm wrapped around her like iron, so tight she couldn’t breathe. Something twisted, then popped uncomfortably, and she arched her back against the flash of pain.
He released her, growling something in his non-Greek. His hand went to her cheek, stroking it as if she were made of glass.
“Forgive me,” he said, his voice rough as he searched her eyes. “Please, forgive me.”
“It’s okay.” She dropped her head to his shoulder, pressing her face into the curve of his neck and breathing deep. “I’m okay. Just popped my back, that’s all.”
He smelled like clean earth and lavender, with just the barest touch of citrus. Her heart still pounded, and in the silence, she could hear his too, thudding fast. He kissed the top of her head, her temple, the curve of her neck, his hands gentle now. She shivered when he traced the lines of her ribs. It would have tickled if it hadn’t made her ache with need.
“Shh,” he said, his palm sliding along the length of her spine. He murmured something that sounded like a curse, or maybe a prayer, his fingers settling against the place that had hurt as if he’d felt the pain himself. “Just breathe.”
She inhaled, but whatever had popped, it didn’t so much as twinge anymore. The tension of anxiety left his shoulders as she lifted her head, kissing the pulse in his throat. His skin tasted like sunshine. There was no other word for it.
He made a sound that was somewhere between a hum and a growl. She smiled, pleased with herself, then pushed him back. “We’re going to wake up Nikki if we do this here, and then we’ll both regret it.”
He turned his head toward the hall, his body going still. Thalia slid off the counter and grabbed his hand, pulling him with her. If she could just get him into her bedroom, Nikki would never have to know he came back. And tomorrow they would be alone together, with no one to tell them what they couldn’t do.
Her heart picked up speed. That was what she wanted, more than anything. Just to be with him, without having to worry that it would get back to Alexandros. Without having to listen to Nikki’s lectures about how reckless it all was, or her insidious accusations about his character. Pirithous wouldn’t hurt her. The concern in his eyes when her back had popped had been more proof than she could ever have asked for.
More than she needed to make up her mind.