Damon handed Elysia the spear, then lowered to his knees to check the recruit’s wound.
The recruit jerked back before he could touch her, and wide, fear-filled eyes stared into his face. “No, don’t. It’s still out there. Harpies can track blood. You have to kill it before it comes after me.”
Damon glanced up at Elysia, and she read the question in his eyes. She would never have an easier chance to finish the seventh labor than she had right now.
Sickness rolled through Elysia’s belly, and she quickly shook her head.
Damon sighed, leaned back, and ripped his remaining pant leg at the knee. Pushing to his feet, he handed the black scrap of fabric to Elysia and took the spear from her hand. “Use this. I’ll go see if the harpy’s still close.”
Elysia grasped his arm. “But—”
“I’ll be fine. I know how to take care of myself.”
He did. She knew that. He was a warrior, not a nobody like her. But she didn’t want him stalking off when he was upset with her. She knew he wanted her to go to Olympus with him, and she knew this was her best shot to do that. But couldn’t he see that by doing what Athena wanted—by killing an innocent—Elysia would be altering that person he’d just claimed he felt so connected to? “Damon.”
His eyes met hers, but when she looked into their chocolate depths, she realized they weren’t filled with anger or frustration. They brimmed with sadness.
“I get it,” he said softly. Then, closing his hand over hers against his arm, he squeezed. “See what you can do to help her. I’ll be right back.”
Relief and confusion warred inside Elysia as she watched him disappear into the jungle. What was this crazy connection between them? Why did she feel so drawn to him when she barely knew him? The sound of brush rustling slowly faded until all she could hear was the whoosh of waves rolling against the shore.
The recruit grimaced. “Who is he?”
Elysia’s chest pinched as she knelt and slid the cloth under the recruit’s calf. “I’m not sure.”
“What’s he doing here?”
“I’m not sure about that either.”
“Seems like you’re not sure about much.”
Elysia frowned because, at the moment, she wasn’t sure about anything. Especially Damon.
The recruit moved her hand against the sand, near her thigh. And from the corner of her vision, Elysia spotted the silver chain wrapped several times around the recruit’s palm. A silver chain that was oddly similar to the silver chain around Elysia’s neck.
Slowly, Elysia’s gaze lifted to the recruit’s. Only this time the recruit’s eyes weren’t frightened or pained. They were cold. Cold and hard and dangerous.
“I’m sure about something.” The recruit pulled a dagger from behind her back. “I’m sure you’re my ticket to Olympus.”
CHAPTER SIX
The detached look in the recruit’s eye told Elysia the female had killed before. But the excitement she saw lurking behind that look told her the recruit had enjoyed it.
The recruit swung out with the dagger. Elysia jerked back and fell onto her butt in the sand. The recruit growled and lurched forward. Elysia tensed and reached for the recruit’s wrists. Her fingers wrapped around the slim bones, wrestling to stop the blade from reaching her. Pushing against the recruit with all her strength, Elysia shoved the female back. The recruit growled again and threw her weight to the side, sending them rolling across the beach.
Sand flew up into Elysia’s eyes and nose and mouth. She sputtered, grunted, but didn’t let go. The recruit snarled and jerked her left hand back, then nailed Elysia in the temple with something hard and sharp.
The amulet wrapped around her palm.
Elysia’s head snapped back, but she still didn’t let go. Grunting, she shoved her knee into the recruit’s ribs. The recruit groaned and shifted, but managed to yank her left arm free and grip the blade with both hands.
Elysia fell on her back onto the sand, grappled for the hilt of the blade. The recruit braced her knees on both sides of Elysia and angled the tip of the blade over Elysia’s heart.
“Too bad you’re gonna die,” the recruit growled. “I could have found a use for a scrapper like you on my team. Cleaning my boots.”
Elysia’s muscles screamed. Pain shot through every inch of her body. Sweat dripped from her forehead as she fought to keep the blade from piercing her flesh. But she was losing. The tip shifted closer. Tears pricked Elysia’s eyes with the knowledge she wasn’t strong enough to win this fight.
“Emmoní!”
The recruit lifted her head at the sound of Damon’s voice and looked toward the trees. Elysia shoved hard with every ounce of strength, thrusting the recruit’s arm—and the blade—away from her.
The recruit gasped and tensed. Wide-eyed, she looked down at the blade piercing her own chest.
Blood spurted. She fell forward onto Elysia. Footsteps sounded, followed by Damon’s voice, yelling, “Emmoní!”
Oh gods. Oh gods… Elysia grunted and shoved the recruit off her. Shaking, she shifted to her knees in the sand and sucked back air.
Damon skidded to a stop in the sand and gripped her shoulders. “Are you okay? Emmoní, talk to me.”
That word… He kept saying that word. She didn’t know what it meant. “I…” Her breath came fast and shallow. She couldn’t find the words. “I’m…okay.”
He pulled her in tight to his chest. “Thank goodness.”
Elysia wasn’t ready to thank any god. Her gaze strayed to the recruit past Damon, lying bloody and unmoving on the sand. The dagger stuck straight from her chest. Disbelief and sickness rolled through Elysia all over again. “Oh my gods… Is she…?”
Damon let go of Elysia and turned. Kneeling near the recruit, he felt her neck for a pulse.
When he lifted his hand and stood, Elysia knew the answer. Bile rose in her throat. She doubled over, resting her hands on her knees as she gagged. “I’m going to be sick.”
Damon gripped her shoulders and turned her away from the body. “Listen to me. You defended yourself. You didn’t do anything wrong. You did what you had to do to survive.”
“But she—”
“She set you up. The harpy was already dead, Elysia. She separated us on purpose so she could go after you. She thought you’d be the easier mark.”
The sickness slowly receded. Her gaze strayed back to the lifeless recruit.
She’d killed another person. It didn’t matter that she’d done it in self-defense. She’d taken a life, and nothing could change that.
“Hey,” Damon said softer, lifting her chin with his finger. “Look at me. You did the right thing. I’m just sorry I wasn’t here to do it for you.”
Elysia’s eyes closed, and the fight slid right out of her.
Damon caught her before she fell and pulled her into his chest. “It’s okay. You’re okay. I’ve got you.”
She wasn’t sure how anything could be okay now, but she let him hold her, let him be the strength she didn’t possess. Long minutes passed. When the shakes slowly subsided, she sniffled. “I’m sorry I’m not tough. If my cousin Talisa were here, she wouldn’t be shaking like a leaf. She’d be cleaning her weapon and moving on.”
His hand stopped its gentle friction against her spine. “She wouldn’t?”
A memory flashed behind Elysia’s eyes. Of Talisa’s jet-black hair blowing in the wind, her smiling violet eyes, and her wide grin as she released the string of her bow and the arrow hit the tree trunk dead center.
“No, she wouldn’t.” Surprise rippled through Elysia. She remembered her cousin. Easing back, she looked up at Damon. “Talisa is a warrior. Like you. Not at all like me.”
“I’ve got news for you, oraios.” Damon’s sweet brown eyes softened, and he rubbed his thumb against something wet on her cheek. “You are a warrior. You proved it these last few days. Very few recruits make it this far.” His fingers drifted to the amulet around her neck. “And only a handful do so as
fast as you.”
“But I had your help.”
His lips curled. “You didn’t need my help. And I’m pretty sure I didn’t do anything but slow you down.”
Their eyes held, and heat gathered in her belly. The same heat she always felt whenever he was close. “So what happens now?”
“I don’t know.” His fingers slid up her throat to cradle her jaw. “I don’t really care. All I really care about right now is this.”
His lips covered hers, and she opened at the first touch, drawing him into her mouth and soul and heart. Her eyes drifted closed, her body warmed. It was crazy. It was fast. It made absolutely no sense. But she didn’t care either. All she wanted was more.
His tongue brushed hers in long, languid strokes. She wrapped her arms around his waist and trailed her fingertips up his back. His strong, muscular body pressed against her from thigh to chest, and everywhere they touched, heat ignited, sending arcs of electricity straight to her sex.
Light flashed, a blinding white she saw even behind closed eyelids. Damon called her name. But she couldn’t respond. Because, suddenly, she was floating, flying, tumbling.
Her feet hit something solid. Darkness descended. In a daze, she realized her body was no longer warm but cool. She blinked several times and opened her eyes, only to discover she was no longer on a beach but in a field. Golden wheat surrounded her, and ahead, a monstrous mountain rose toward the blue-green sky.
She gasped, turned quickly, and stared wide-eyed at soaring marble temples in the distance.
“Breathtaking, isn’t it?” a voice said to her left.
Elysia jerked that way. The voice wasn’t Damon’s. It wasn’t even male. It was female. Coming from a voluptuous raven-haired beauty dressed in skintight black leggings, a low-cut black tank, kick-ass knee-high boots, holding a sleek and deadly bow and arrow.
“Welcome to Olympus, recruit. I’m Khloe, your advisor through the next phase of training.” The Siren nodded toward a smaller, not nearly as ornate building far across the field. “That’s Siren Headquarters, your home for the next three years.” She motioned for Elysia to follow. “If you thought Pandora was tough, just wait till you see what Athena has in store for you next.”
Holy Hades, she was on Olympus.
Elysia glanced toward the shimmering temples again, then realized Khloe was still walking. Hustling to catch up, she fell into step behind the Siren. “Um, there was a male on Pandora. A trainer. Is he back already?”
Khloe glanced over her shoulder with narrowed blue eyes. “A male?”
“Damon. Do you know him? Is he back?”
Khloe stopped. “Damianos was on Pandora? With you?”
Elysia nodded, but a shiver of foreboding rushed down her spine. This Siren clearly knew him.
Khloe’s gaze swept over Elysia, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. Disbelief shone clearly in her eyes when they returned to Elysia’s face. “You were quite taken with Damianos?”
That shiver kicked up to a full-blown tremble, and something in the back of Elysia’s mind warned not to give too much away. “Um…”
A condescending grin curled Khloe’s plump, perfect lips. “All the recruits are. A specimen like that? How could you not be? Word of advice, recruit? Forget about that male. He’s only here on loan, until Aphrodite calls him back.”
“Aphrodite?”
“He didn’t tell you?” She rolled her eyes. “Of course he didn’t. It’s no fun for him if the unsuspecting recruit knows the truth. He’s Aphrodite’s favorite love slave. I didn’t realize Athena had sent him to tempt the recruits on Pandora, but I guess it makes sense. I mean, why not whore him out sooner? Soon enough he’ll be prostituting himself for the sake of the Sirens.” She grinned. “Or Athena will be putting him to good use.”
Shock and disbelief rushed through Elysia, and her mouth dropped open. Khloe didn’t seem to notice. The Siren turned toward the compound and kept walking as if the world hadn’t just rocked right off its axis.
“Don’t worry, recruit,” Khloe called. “You’re not the first to fall for his slick charm and wicked animal magnetism.” The Siren chuckled. “I guarantee you’ll not be the last.”
“You know the rules, Damianos.” The goddess Athena and head of the Siren order paced around behind Damon in her palatial office at Siren Headquarters. “Rules keep this compound running like a well-oiled machine. Without rules, we have no order. And without order, we have no Order.”
Damon clenched his jaw. Personally, he had no use for the Sirens. Most thought of the deadly females as an otherworldly police force, crossing in and out of the human realm to maintain law and order among the mythic races. But Damon had been on Olympus long enough to know the truth. More often than not, the Sirens carried out Zeus’s dirty work when Zeus didn’t want to do it himself. And though usually Damon could overlook that for an excuse to escape Aphrodite’s pleasure palace, today it was all he could do to keep from telling Athena just what he thought of her Order.
“Remaining on Pandora after you fulfilled your duty was a violation of the rules, Damianos,” Athena went on, circling to his right. “If you cannot follow the rules, then you won’t be allowed inside the compound again.”
Whoa. Back up. Damon shifted in his seat. She was kicking him out of the compound? For good? If that happened, it’d be years before he’d be able to see Elysia again. Assuming, that is, that she made it through the second phase of Siren training. And no way in Hades did he want to think of her making it through that training without him.
“I realize I violated a rule.” Careful. Be humble here. “But I was injured. By a manticore. I wasn’t able to return to Olympus on schedule.”
Athena’s gaze narrowed. She was the epitome of a Siren. Flawless face, curly locks that hung to the small of her back, a compact, curvaceous body, big tits, small waist, and legs that seemed to stretch for miles. But she was also a lethal warrior, and Damon knew her looks were meant to deceive. The same way all Sirens were trained to deceive.
“I should have returned as soon as I was able,” he said when Athena only continued to stare at him with knowing, speculative eyes. “That’s on me. I know that. It won’t happen again.”
She held his gaze so long, sweat formed on Damon’s brow. She was going to ask him why he’d stayed, and when she did, what would he tell her? That he’d become obsessed with one of her recruits? She’d never allow that. She’d kick him out right now if she knew that. She’d undoubtedly seen what had happened between him and Elysia on Pandora. The Sirens monitored the whole island. He had to make her think he’d just been using the female, the way he was used by Aphrodite every damn day.
“Look.” He shifted in his seat and frowned as if this conversation were beneath him. “Call it a moment of weakness due to an injury. I’m male and mortal and flawed. And I spend most of my days with Aphrodite. What can I say? The recruit was attractive, so I stayed. But I didn’t get lucky as I wanted, so no harm, no foul. Right?”
Athena’s gaze sharpened. “It is not your job to seduce recruits in the survival phase of training.”
Be humble… “I know that.”
“You will not attempt so again.”
He breathed easier. The goddess was falling for it. “I won’t.”
“The recruit has developed feelings for you.”
Something in Damon’s chest tightened, but he forced himself not to react.
“I’ve no doubt the damage you caused will be undone by her seduction trainer, but it is still unacceptable.”
It wouldn’t be undone if Damon had a say in it. “So we’re good here?”
“Not quite.” Athena stood in front of her desk and looked down at Damon as if he were a bug she wanted to squash with the heel of her boot. “There is still the matter of your insubordination.”
“But I thought—”
She leaned back against the shiny steel surface and crossed her arms under her ample chest. “I’m fully aware that your time in A
phrodite’s palace is…how shall I put this? Lackluster? Just as I’m aware you enjoy your time away. You’ve proven yourself a useful instructor not just in seduction but in warfare, combat, and strategy. The Sirens would hate to lose your expertise. If you are going to remain part of this compound, however, you must be reprimanded for your failure to follow rules.”
“What kind of reprimand?” he asked warily.
Athena considered for a moment, then said. “A month. In the pit.”
Holy shit. A month in the isolation pit. Insanity by boredom. “And at the end of the month?”
“You will be reinstated to your current position as trainer.”
Which meant he would still be assigned to a recruit for seduction.
“Of course, it’s your choice,” Athena said dryly. “If you’d rather return to Aphrodite’s palace and leave the Sirens behind for good, you may do so now.”
That wasn’t even an option. “I’ll take the punishment.”
“Good.” Athena rounded her desk. “Your month begins at sunset. Report here in an hour. In the meantime, go tell Aphrodite you won’t be at her beck and call for quite some time.”
Damon rose. He didn’t want to see Aphrodite. He wanted to find Elysia and tell her why he’d be absent the next few weeks. But he had something more important to do first. “Don’t you think the news would be better coming from you?”
Athena glanced up from the file she’d already started reading. “No. You’re Aphrodite’s property. You made this mess. You’re the one who must deal with the consequences.”
“What in Hades do you think you’re doing?”
Athena turned at the sound of Zeus’s aggravated voice and frowned. She knew she was his favorite daughter, hence he’d given her the task of managing his Sirens, but sometimes she wished he’d just take a hike and leave her alone to do her job. The king of the gods was always second-guessing every one of her decisions.
“What you asked me to do.” She looked back at the Siren report on conflicts currently happening in the human realm. “What does it look like?”