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The moment Vythos was in sight, Halie let go of Delphinos and swam toward the castle without a look back. What he said during their coupling made it impossibly hard to say goodbye. If she saw his beautiful eyes one more time, she’d never be able to leave, and then her people would be doomed.
She made it to the castle bubble and dove through it, then pulled on a robe. The same green as his hair. Okay, she had to snap out of it and hurry inside.
Only she took her time, tying the sash into a bow. Part of her wanted him to chase her. To force her to admit she—
Nope. Not going there.
She threw open the door and almost ran into her brother.
Nerites clasped her shoulders, steadying her. “Woah, there. Is the mighty Poseidon after you?” His face—so beautiful, Helios himself once vied for his affections—lit up with a smile that wilted when Halie sniffled. “Are you all right? Has something happened to Delphinos?” he asked.
Halie’s heart constricted, but she channeled her pain into an angry glare. “Why does it have to be about him? Can’t I be upset about... global warming?”
Nerites shook his head, his shoulder-length golden curls swaying around his face like a halo. He studied her so intently, Halie raised mental walls around her thoughts, though he shouldn’t be able to read her mind now. His deep-blue eyes, always hiding a sadness since Aphrodite left him for Olympus, were filled with sympathy. “Come on, sister. I know he pines for you, and I’ve seen how you look at him.”
Could Delphinos be pining for her, when he had her mere minutes ago? Perhaps. She already missed his touch.
She averted her gaze. “Well, he doesn’t control my mood. I’m just not feeling very well, and I need to head to the surface soon.” The sooner the better, or she might lose heart.
Nerites grasped her wrists and tugged till she faced him again. “I was once given a choice between love and duty, and I chose the latter. Are you certain you want to make the same mistake?”
Halie’s body said no, but was that wasn’t an option. Nerites didn’t have a destiny to fulfill when he chose the sea.
She steeled herself. “It’s not the same. I look forward to finding my mate. What could be better than giving my heart to my true love?”
“Is it still yours to give?”
The soft question made her shiver. Was it?
Their sister Pherusa rounded the corner, gloomy as ever, though she managed a watery smile when she saw them. “Here you are, Halie. Mother missed you this morning and requested your company. She wishes to hear more about life up top,” she said.
Halie sighed with relief. Anything was better than dealing with Nerites right now.
“I’ll see you later.” She stole a glance at his pained expression. He was convinced he’d never love again. Was this what fate awaited Halie? But the sea witch said Halie would fall in love, and the witch had never been mistaken before.
She shook away the doubts and followed Pherusa to their parents’ bedroom. “Aren’t you coming?” she asked when her sister turned to go.
“She needs time alone with you. She’s missed you.”
Halie made to knock on the door, but paused. “Pherusa, have you ever been in love?” The two of them had a couple millennia between them and were never that close.
“Once.” Pherusa’s voice grew wistful. “He was fearsome, yet kind. Strong as a god, but with the warmest heart I’ve ever known. And he had the most beautiful, golden eyes.”
“What happened?”
“His name was Prometheus.” Pherusa’s gaze held a challenge. “You know the story.”
“Oh. I’m so sorry.” Halie couldn’t think of anything more to say. Prometheus hadn’t been punished for giving humans fire, as humans believed. He had, however, been sent to Tartarus—like the rest of the Titans—when Zeus took over as king of the gods, long before Halie was born. The Titans hadn’t been heard of since, and their fate was meant to be eternal.
“It is all in the past now,” Pherusa said and scurried off.
A fist clenching around her heart, Halie watched her sister go. If Pherusa’s last love was more than three thousand years ago, it certainly wasn’t forgotten, and it explained the shadow permanently cast over her. Halie, on the other hand, had forgotten Delphinos, even for a few minutes, until he found her. And why was she thinking about him again? She’d forgotten her parents and siblings, for Pontos’ sake, and it wasn’t the first time.
It’d be the last.
Halie schooled her face into a happy smile and knocked. When her mother bade her enter, she let herself in the room with a bounce in her step.
“Halie.” Mother’s expression shone with love, and it was that, more than Delphinos’ pain and Nerites’ insight, that almost broke Halie and made her pour her heart out. If only she could be a child again, looking to her mom to solve her problems.
But it wouldn’t be fair to burden Mother with such frivolous issues as a childish crush. Delphinos was the first male Halie’d been with. The only one she’d been with, though she wouldn’t admit it out loud. The connection she felt to him was an involuntary response to the fear of opening up to someone new.
“Come.” Her mother set aside her needlework and patted the seat beside her. “Tell me about America. I have not been there since it was part of the English Commonwealth.”
Halie laid a kiss on her mother’s smooth cheek and joined her on the corral bench by the window looking out of the bubble. “I didn’t see all of it, Mother. Only a small part of Los Angeles. They have buildings that almost touch the sky and vehicles that run as fast as Helios’s chariot.” A hyperbole, but Mother enjoyed Halie’s stories from the places she visited. She and Father never went to the surface anymore.
“And how are the people?” her mother asked.
Halie gave this some thought. “Different. In a hurry all the time.” Chasing success and money and love and sex, but that didn’t sound very poetic, and she liked to show her mother the best of her experiences. “But they’re also smart and creative. They’re fun. And volatile.”
Doris laughed. “That is how humans always have been—driven by their vices and passions. It is what makes them so interesting.”
Halie nodded. Not like the gods were much different.
“And what have you been keeping yourself busy with, now that you are back?” Mother asked.
“You know... Catching up with friends.”
Her mother’s look said she definitely knew. “Delphinos must be happy to see you.”
Halie jumped up and paced the length of the room, before turning to glare at her mother. “Why is everything about Delphinos? People ask me about him in the same breath they ask about my health. We’re not joined at the fin, you know.”
Mother’s lips twitched in an unformed smile. “You could’ve fooled me.” The informal speak made Halie do a double-take, and her mother smiled fully. “One of your sisters found a... tablet, I believe it’s called. The witch has bespelled it to never run out of power, and we have been reading stories. Quite entertaining, though some are too raunchy for your father’s tastes.”
Halie gaped.
Mother waved a hand. “Back to Delphinos, dearest. Why are you so defensive? You and he have been friends all your lives. It is only natural you are interwoven in our minds.”
Fresh tears stung Halie’s eyes, but she blinked them back. “Well, we won’t be for long. I’m to be mated soon, remember?”
The understanding and sadness in her mother’s gaze felt like a punch to the stomach. “I do remember, child.” Doris held out a hand, and Halie knelt by her legs, letting Mother cup her cheek. “I only want you to be happy. You know that, do you not?”
“I do. And I will be. The witch assured me.” Halie sounded way more certain than she felt.
“If you are not, you will return to us without second thought.”
Halie nodded.
“Promise.”
“I promise.” But deep inside she knew she’d never be happy without Delphinos.
She’d tried so many times—went to the surface, met a man who could be right for her, and did her best to win his heart. Did she honestly come close to falling for any of them, though? Even before the first time she gave her body to Delphinos, she’d been more drawn to him than to any human male.
She couldn’t think that way. Things would change.
Besides, Delphinos told her he desired her, not that he loved her. If he really wanted her to stay, he’d insist. Fight for her. Break something. Scream at her that she’d be lost without him.
No. She was to him as he was to her—a warm companion for the lonely nights.
And this was over.
“Can you ask another of the sea daimons to take me up tomorrow?” she asked her mother.
“So soon?”
Halie forced cheer into her voice. “The sooner I go, the sooner I come back with my intended.”
Mother furrowed her brow and seemed about to disagree. In the end, she said, “As you wish. I will have Palaemon come to you in the morning.”
“Thank you, Mother. Goodnight.”
Tomorrow, she’d go meet her destiny.