The Sea Queen Page 16

  But I stopped short the moment I spied the serving table, empty save for one pomegranate that’d been split down the middle, its red, plump seeds glistening and beckoning me forward.

  There was nothing around the fruit save for six seeds she’d picked out.

  My heart hammered wildly, recognizing immediately the significance of what she’d done.

  Legend had it that for the price of eating just six seeds, Persephone’s fate had been sealed. Because I’d shared my food with her, now her soul and body belonged to me six months out of the year.

  All fabrications, of course; I’d done no such thing. But Calypso was doing just that. With these seeds, I’d be pledging myself to her six months out of every year.

  The tempestuous goddess would never let me out of that agreement, either. Once done, this could never be undone. One thing I’d learned from my time with the Sea was that while she was steadfast and true, she was also incredibly possessive.

  I had my obligations to my people; I could never leave my home unattended for months at a time. After even just two weeks away, I felt the burden of all that waited for me. But I’d be damned if I’d walk away willingly from her offer.

  I thought of all the gods who’d paired up over the course of many lifetimes. Most of them were still together, but none of them were faithful to each other.

  Clenching my jaw, I stared at the pearly seeds with a sense of trepidation. I wanted this with Calypso. In fact, I don’t think I’d ever wanted anything more.

  Persephone had been an ideal quickly shattered when the reality had made itself known. But I knew Calypso. Or I hoped I did.

  What if she tired of me?

  What if I tired of her?

  I sighed, curling my fingers against my pant leg as I took a step forward. Was it possible that she and I could become something wholly set apart from the rest of them? Could we become like one of my humans who, even in death, remained true and ever devoted?

  “Screw it,” I growled, taking those final steps to the table. I snatched up the seeds, and popped them all in my mouth, chewing and swallowing without hardly tasting them.

  But instead of feeling cold and shaking from the enormity of the action I’d just committed, I felt warmth spread through my limbs. Felt the rightness of that action.

  I didn’t need to glance up to know she was back in the room with me, but I did anyway.

  Thalassa was a thing of wild beauty, a towering enchantress with limbs made of water, a face that seemed cut from the finest of crystal, and hair that billowed behind from a swift-moving current. Clinging to her tight little body was a gown made up hundreds of thousands of living creatures in miniature. Her smile glowed.

  Never taking her eyes off me, she seemed to float over to table, and without saying a word, she picked out six additional seeds. My heart thundered through my ears like the majestic, fearsome hooves of my Death steeds as she popped them into her mouth and chewed.

  As I’d just promised her six months of fealty, now too had she done so to me. I wet my lips, unsure if I understood this completely.

  Twin arcs of cascading rainbows hovered over her form, encasing her in a miasma of colors and making me suddenly aware of the very breadth and scope of her powers. This was the Sea. The very waters of life stood before me, and I could do nothing but bow to her.

  When I stood back up, she opened her mouth, to say what, I wasn’t sure. Because suddenly the waters parted, rolled away to reveal a very beleaguered Hermes.

  There were dark circles under his eyes, and his skin was washed out, his hair poking straight up as though he’d been running fingers through it constantly.

  The only things that still had a pep to them were his golden winged shoes, which were flapping furiously. Genuflecting before Thalassa, he murmured, “Calypso and Hades, Zeus requests the honor of your appearances. How should I answer his entreaty?”

  Sighing deeply, Calypso nodded. “Tell him we’re coming.”

  Jaw clenching, Hermes nodded once and then popped out of there. She looked back at me.

  “Hades, this conversation isn’t over yet.”

  Then she grabbed my hand, and we headed to Olympus together.

  ~*~

  Calypso

  He’d eaten the seeds. I wanted to crow. I wanted to sing. I wanted to hump his cock until I screamed with release.

  But I could do none of those things, because Zeus had finally come to his senses.

  Walking through the ruined halls of a once-magnificent home, I could hardly believe the destruction before me.

  Hades leaned in to whisper in my ear, “Thalassa, I am humbled that you should—”

  I stopped walking, forcing him to stop as well, and turned into him. He draped his arms around my waist, and I leaned into him.

  “Stop, you hear me? Don’t say anything else. I did this, and I would do it again if it meant saving you from his petty schemes. You did not deserve what they planned for you, and I would have no honor if I hadn’t stood my ground on this matter.”

  His fingers strummed my back in a most delicious way. I didn’t want to be here. In fact, once we were done here, I’d never again grace the halls of this temple. I was decided. I’d had more than enough of Zeus’s fat face to last me a lifetime.

  “Stay with me,” he said urgently. “When I’m released, choose to stay with me, Thalassa. I have so much work to do, I cannot leave, but I cannot bear to be without—”

  I kissed his lovely lips, stealing his words as he often stole mine. I found the use of lips and tongues to be an effective method for silencing a conversation I had no desire to partake in.

  There were matters I myself needed to attend to. But I had plans for my dark Under Lord, plans that would take at least twenty lifetimes to complete.

  The whisper of his breath passed through me, and he tasted of heat, fire, and dark nights.

  I would miss him desperately.

  “Let’s go speak to Horse Face and get this over, sex slave. You have an Underworld to take care of.”

  He clenched his jaw, nodded once, and stepped out of my arms, pulling us toward Zeus’s chambers.

  I sighed.

  Most of the temple had fallen down at this point. There were a few walls that’d managed to remain upright, but the majority of them were peppered with massive, darkened holes. The kind of holes that came from fiery rocks flying through the skies.

  There’d be a fruit basket in my sisters’ futures—but none for Tiera, as the wench had cost me my loveliest Seren Stone.

  When we stepped into the chamber, Zeus was sitting on his throne looking regal, clean, and rather kingly. I very reluctantly admitted that last part.

  Blue eyes pierced me like volts of electricity. If he could have killed me with a glance, I do believe he’d have been tempted to try.

  And surrounding him was the might of the Pantheon. Oh, yawn. As if I couldn’t take them down with a flicker of my wee pinky. Gnats.

  Aphrodite stood to the left side of her father, fighting a grin and fidgeting on her heels. She didn’t wave a greeting, but her obvious effervescence was as good as one.

  Themis stood in the center of the room, holding her scales and dressed in the traditional garb of a judge with a white sash tied around her eyes. Her smile was directed straight at me.

  I didn’t care about the others; they were mostly all busy glaring hate at Hades and me. I sidled next to him until our hips touched, and I smirked.

  There was one person, though, that I did feel a twinge of sadness for. Demeter stood off by herself, looking at neither of us. She held her arms around herself, forlorn. As a mother myself, I understood the pain of a child’s loss.

  “Calypso,” Zeus’s voice thundered, causing the marble floor beneath us to tremble. “Goddess of the Waters, we ask that you would...”

  He swallowed thickly, and I wanted to squawk with laughter. The douchebag did not want to do what he had to do.

  “Yes, Zeusy?” I asked sweetly. “What is it you
wish to say to me?”

  Fingers tap-tapping impatiently on this golden throne’s armrest, he turned his face to the side. Hades squeezed my fingers.

  I wasn’t sure if he was asking me to tone down my enthusiasm or merely giving me his strength, but I patted his hand. I had myself well in hand. I would not embarrass him. I had the gods where I wanted them and had no further need to humiliate them.

  Not even Apollo uttered a word. Psycho was busy picking at his nails. Athena, Artemis, no one made a sound. At the very least I’d reminded the fools who I was.

  I might remain placid and in the background of their lives, but there were beings much more powerful than them out there, and every so often, it was good to eat a little bit of meek pie.

  No wait, that hadn’t sounded right.

  With an angry huff, Zeus scowled and said with a rapidity that blurred his words together, “Forgive us our temerity, elemental, we only wish to remain friends.”

  Clapping my hands, I slipped my fingers together and gathered my hands to my breast. “Aw, Zeusy, how sweet. Well, of course I forgive you. Forgiven and forgotten.” I dusted my hands and flicked my fingers. “And I think it’s good we should get this nasty business behind us.”

  His nostrils flared.

  The chamber grew heavy with tense silence. Zeus had once again turned his face to the side. He was dragging this out. I’d forget all about my temporary ceasefire without assurances of Hades’ freedom, though, and he knew it.

  I tapped my foot, waiting. I was a patient woman; I could wait hundreds of thousands of years to carve out walls from rocks and shape the lands to my whim. But Zeus simply pushed all my “I hate you buttons.” It was hard not to crush him with my fist right now.

  But finally, finally the ugly cow looked at my lover.

  “Hades, all charges against you have been dropped. It seems we were in the wrong after all. You may return to your post immediately.”

  Then, with a clap of his hands that rolled like thunder, Zeus vanished. Probably to go nurse his wounds, big fat baby.

  I stuck out my tongue at the empty throne, lifted a brow at Apollo when he opened his mouth as though he wished to speak, and then chortled when he wisely decided to follow El Capitan’s lead and scram.

  All but Themis, Aphrodite, and Demeter vanished.

  And Demeter stayed only because I refused to let her leave. I’d frozen her in a tower of water. She glared at me.

  Hades clenched my fingers as I made to walk forward.

  “What are you going to do, Thalassa?”

  I held up a finger. “I wish to speak with her, lover. Do not leave before I come back.

  Lifting my chin, I glided toward Demeter in all my goddessy glory. Her brown eyes, while angry, still glowed with the ghost of pain.

  I sighed and, reaching through the pillar of water, grabbed her hand, holding fast to it.

  “De, listen to me. None of this was done to hurt you. Please understand that. I wish you to know something. Persephone is well. She lives.”

  The anger in her eyes was suddenly replaced with hope. “She lives?”

  “Yes, Goddess of the Harvest. She does. But your daughter is wild and, unchecked, she has grown even more so. Hades placed her at a location where she is being kept safe and far from harm. I personally ensured that this is so.”

  My words rang with the conviction of truth, a truth she felt through every fiber of her soul. As one mother to another, I would never lie to her about something like that.

  “Can I see her?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “Not yet. But she will be released come spring as she always is. And hopefully this time, a little wiser for her time spent away. I tell you this so you can retain your hope and faith, not so you can try to find her or accuse Hades of any more treachery. If you cross me, I will know, and the hell you’ve experienced these past three days will be nothing to the hell I’ll bring upon you and your house. You have a kind soul, Demeter, but you did your daughter a grave disservice raising her as you did.”

  I would probably never win mother of the year, but I’d have slapped Sircco or Sirenade silly if they’d ever treated another with the utter disdain and disrespect Persephone had shown Hades time and time again.

  “It is hard to tell my daughter no.”

  I shrugged. “But sometimes that’s the best thing to do—tell them no. Set boundaries. Let them know their limitations and that you mean business if they cross them. She may be eternally youthful, but she is no child. Do not treat her as one. You may go.” I flicked my wrist, dropping the wall of water, but before she could leave, I imparted one final truth to her. “And as to Persephone cohabitating with Hades for half of the year, that is at an end. No more. Sex Stick belongs to me.”

  And since that was all there was left to say, I turned my back on her and walked back to Hades.

  He merely smiled, reaching for me immediately and wrapping me up tight in his embrace.

  Themis and Dite stood beside him.

  “What. What.” Dite lifted her hands in the air and did a shoulder-shrugging dance. “We did it. Let it never be said that a woman can’t change the world. Because girls, we pretty much just pulled off the impossible.”

  Themis and I laughed heartily.

  “That we did,” she said sweetly. “It was truly an honor conspiring with you, goddess.” Themis bowed deeply. “And remember, my cave is always open to you.”

  I inclined my head. “I know.”

  With a chuckle, she vanished. But Dite remained just a moment longer. She glanced between us and sighed.

  “I see great things in your future. A power to be reckoned with. I don’t think Zeus or Psycho—” she winked at me, and I giggled “—will ever attempt another coup of your realm, Hades. Not with your new guard dog at your heels.”

  “Pft.” I flicked my wrist. “I am at no man’s heels. He rests at mine. Don’t you, sexy?” I winked.

  He squeezed me tight.

  “Okay then.” Dite shrugged. “It’s been swell. You kids have fun, stay safe, and don’t ever change for the world. Oh, I just adore you guys! You’re like my new super team.” Aphrodite vanished with a sparkle of light.

  I turned to Hades. It was just him and me now.

  “Thalassa?” He groaned.

  And I knew what he wanted, what he was asking me. But I couldn’t leave. Not yet.

  Leaning up on tiptoe, I kissed him. “I adore you, Death Boy. We’ll see each other soon, I promise.”

  It was an ache when with a final nod, he hugged me tight, and then he too left me.

  I stood in the center of that ruined hall, staring up at the azure skies, and this time, I did cry.

  Chapter 18

  Hades

  It’d been a month since I’d seen or held Thalassa last. I’d hoped in vain that she would come to me at some point. Every night I visited the Lethe, speaking my truth to it. Imagining that somehow she was listening, that she heard me.

  But not once had she replied.

  Tonight was the final time I’d return to these shores. I stared at the sparkling waters under the midnight moon, remembering the moments we’d spent together, the two weeks that’d felt like both an eternity and no time at all, and shook my head.

  “I miss you, Thalassa, each day, each night. My realm feels empty without you in it. I cannot fault you for remaining where you are. How could I, when I am forced to do the same?”

  I closed my eyes as a gentle breeze rolled through, bringing with it the scent of roses, a flower I would now and forevermore associate with my goddess. I’d eaten the seeds and so had she. We’d pledged our souls—one to the other. I was bound to her eternally, but I ached, ached for what we couldn’t have again.

  “You idiot.”

  My eyes snapped open, and I gazed on in open-mouthed wonder as Thalassa walked across the water toward me. She wore a gown of sheer amethyst that sparkled like its namesake. Her soft green hair was piled high on her head, and twined through it was a riot o
f sea rose buds.

  “So quick to give up on me? I see how it is.” She flicked at my shoulder when she finally stepped foot on land.

  Grunting incoherently, I snatched her up, wrapping her in my arms, pretty sure I would never release her again.

  “Oomph,” she hissed, banging on my chest, “Death Boy, can’t breathe.”

  I eased my hold a little. A very little.

  Just enough so she could worm her arms up and frame my face. Her touch moved through my body like liquid, burning me up from the inside with a crazed sort of fever.

  “Thalassa, how, I thought—”

  Rubbing noses with me, she laughed, and I swear the Elysian night sang with the sound of it. From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of ghostly faces peeking out from behind the thick trunks of trees, staring at me in wonder.

  I’d always been known as the broody god. To hear my laughter now must have terrified them.

  “Did you think I put out those seeds for nothing, dill bag? I meant what I said when I ate them. You’re mine, and I’m yours, and yada yada yada. Six months out of the year, we swap back and forth, every night. I had time to think about this, Bubble Butt, and we can still run our kingdoms and keep our nights to ourselves. I mean, honestly, what could possibly go wrong at bedtime?”

  I lifted a brow. In our world, everything could go wrong.

  “Okay, okay.” She wagged her hand. “Forget that. So the world could come crashing down around our feet. Big deal. We’ll rebuild, start over. We’ll do whatever we need to do, but I can’t do this separation thing anymore. I’m not built for this. Do you know how many times I’ve had to pleasure myself—”

  I growled. “No one may pleasure you but me. Not even your own hands are allowed down there unless I am present.”

  She giggled, wiggling her lower body on my painful hardness. “Yes, Master.”

  Groaning, I ran my hands over her bare back, ready to tear this flimsy fabric off her gorgeous body and have my way with her.

  “Hades, guess what,” she squealed, eyes shining with what looked suspiciously like tears.