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Thalia
It had been more than a month since Thalia had seen him last. Since she’d left him behind to build the temple to his goddess, stone by stone, while she started her internship. More than a month since she’d heard from him at all, though she’d left him with a burner phone for emergencies, her number and Nikki’s programmed in as the only contacts. Not that he’d used it for all the effort she’d put into trying to explain how it worked.
Nikki had checked on him, she knew. Reassured her every weekend that Thalia had spent away that Pirithous was still there, camping in the woods behind her house. Waiting for her, like he’d sworn he would, and making his sacrifices to Persephone in the meantime—an obligation he couldn’t betray. But Thalia couldn’t help but worry, still.
She’d been half-afraid she’d get home to find some weird message carved into a tree trunk and an absentee fiancé, followed by the enjoyment of listening to Alex’s I-told-you-so. But when she ran straight from the car into the trees, pushing her way through the brush and searching for any sign of him—a well-traveled path, or the flash of his tent, Pirithous was waiting, as promised, his eyes lighting with pleasure at the sight of her.
Thalia stopped short, unable to keep the answering grin from her face. “You’re here.”
Pirithous grabbed her by the waist, lifting her up in the air in clear enthusiasm before he set her down again and his lips found hers, teasing, tasting, reminding her of everything she’d missed. His hand slipped beneath the hem of her shirt, the other gently cupped around her neck, and all she wanted in the world was to wrap herself around him but she pulled away just far enough to look at him instead, searching his face. The face of her impossible, time-traveling, Bronze Aged demigod fiancé.
For a little while there, she’d half-convinced herself she’d only dreamed him. But he was here. He was here, and he was safe, and now that his temple was built and his sacrifices had been made distraction free, there was nothing in their way. Nothing to stop him from coming with her anymore. And thank God that D.C. was still a sanctuary city, because figuring out Pirithous’s immigration situation was keeping her up at night, even if it didn’t bother him in the slightest.
“Thalia.” The way he said her name was a caress all its own. He smoothed her hair from her face and laughed softly. “Did you fear what you would find so much?”
She traced the curve of his lips, touched the short strands of his hair, so neatly cropped—Nikki had cut it while she’d been gone. Insisted on it for her wedding, and Pirithous, not quite understanding Nikki’s urgency but recognizing the need, had apparently obliged. “The way you talked before, about not wanting to put me in danger, I just worried you’d be having second thoughts.”
“The gods know my heart,” he said, the humor fading from his expression. His fingers skimmed over her upper arm, healed finally, and she couldn’t have been happier not to be wearing a sling anymore. “Leaving you would not change it.”
“I’m glad you see it my way,” she murmured, leaning up to kiss him again.
But he drew back, just out of reach, smiling still. “And what of your thoughts?”
Thalia shook her head. Somehow, she’d forgotten how tall he was. “All of them were of you. Of this moment right now, and how much I wanted it to get here faster. How much I wanted you.”
“Still so determined,” he murmured, his forehead touching hers. “Brave, beautiful Thalia. Always ready to fight the world.”
“Maybe not quite the world.” Their noses brushed, and she breathed him in. Lavender and citrus and warmth, just like she’d remembered. “But I definitely think we can handle Nikki and Alex’s wedding. And since there’s obviously nothing more terrifying than my brother’s dirty looks, I think it’ll all be downhill from there.”
Pirithous laughed, blue-gray eyes bright with promise. “As long as we face it together.”
That was really all she’d ever wanted. Now that he’d agreed, Thalia had every intention of holding him to it.