Aphrodite

  Silence descended on the balcony. Either Adonis’s playlist had ended or the phone sat outside the influence of Poseidon’s shield. The whisper of the wind died down and the sound of waves slapping against the boat dimmed. Rain pattered against the shield, outlining the invisible barrier in a sheen of water droplets glittering in the floodlights.

  But where was my shield? I searched for my power signature, but found nothing. Frowning, I recast the shield, then cried out, doubling over as pain flared through me.

  Adonis whirled on Poseidon. “What did you do?” He put a hand on my back. “Aphrodite, are you okay?”

  Poseidon held up his arms in mock surrender. “Me? I didn’t—”

  “Proximity.” I waved off their concern. In Poseidon’s domain, using my powers against him would cause an uncomfortable reverberation. Throwing up a barrier within his must have caused the same reaction.

  “You didn’t bring a token?” Poseidon frowned as he looked me over.

  “Nope.” A token was an object deities used to channel power from their native realms. Zeus hadn’t granted me the ability to make one.

  “What are you doing here?” Adonis turned his attention back to Poseidon.

  “I needed a status update.” Poseidon’s eyes swept over me, slow and certain. The once-over felt invasive, but the detached look in his eyes made me wonder if his lingering gaze was more for show than genuine interest.

  I moved to yank the sleeves of my dress up my arms, then stopped. Acting flustered would only give Poseidon more power, whereas if I played this right, I might be able to knock him off balance. Instead, I finger-combed my hair, affecting an air of casual annoyance. “Right this second? You couldn’t have found a better time?”

  Poseidon leered at me. “I could have waited, but I didn’t figure you’d appreciate having an audience. If you’re into that sort of thing, though, by all means.” His hand waved in a regal “carry on” gesture.

  Adonis grabbed his shirt from the deck, muttering obscenities under his breath.

  “Your demigod can leave.”

  Adonis followed Poseidon’s gaze to me, and for a moment, I wondered what I looked like. I was soaking wet, my clothes were disheveled, and gods only knew what my hair was doing. But Poseidon liked what he saw, if his lewd grin was any indication.

  “Yeah.” Adonis dragged the word out, his accent betraying his northern roots. He looked between Poseidon and me and yanked on his shirt, his shaking hands betraying him as he struggled with the buttons. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Poseidon tilted his head toward Adonis. My stomach dropped when I saw the expression on the sea god’s face. The ocean churned, causing waves to splash against the boat with enough force to send the ship lurching.

  “Adonis.” I moved between him and Poseidon. “It’s okay. Go ahead.” In the tense silence that followed, I mentally begged him to comply. The last thing I wanted was for Adonis to get himself hurt, or worse, killed, because of me.

  Adonis clenched his jaw, took one more look at Poseidon, then stormed across the balcony, shoving a lounge chair out of his way as he crossed the threshold into the suite.

  Poseidon waved, flashing Adonis a savage grin. “Have a good night.”

  “Enjoy that?” I asked after Adonis slammed the sliding glass door closed.

  A light flipped on in the suite, followed seconds later by another light in the window upstairs. The balcony brightened a bit, illuminating the long wooden floor and gleaming silver bars separating me from the sea.

  “Oh please, I just stopped you from making a huge mistake. That demigod”—Poseidon motioned toward the room—“is a professional victim. I’ve been keeping an eye on him ever since Demeter told me what he was. Do you know how much time he spends whining about how the gods have screwed with his family for generations?”

  “He’s not wrong.” I gave Poseidon an annoyed look, crossing my arms. “What do you care, anyway?”

  “Oh, I don’t.” Poseidon laughed, as though he’d said something funny. He meandered toward a lounge chair, taking in the empty shot glasses with amusement. “Do whatever you want with the demigod; just wait till he’s not drunk. This”—he held up the near-empty bottle of tequila—“is almost as bad as charm.”

  It never even occurred to me that Adonis might be drunk enough to compromise his judgment. Still, of all the people to lecture me. . . . “Since when do you care about that kind of stuff anyway?” Poseidon was hardly the poster child for consensual sex.

  His expression darkened, and he set the tequila on the small wooden table positioned between the lounge chairs with a thunk. “Things change. You can give me that status update any time now. I do have a realm to run, in case you’ve forgotten. My time is rather valuable.”

  “I should make you wait,” I teased, forcing a lightness I didn’t feel into my voice to disguise how unnerved I felt about being trapped within his shield. “It would serve you right after that stunt you just pulled.”

  It was like a switch flipped. Poseidon flashed me a cold smile. “You seem to have forgotten your place in the hierarchy.” He moved toward me. “You’re in my realm. Everything and everyone in it”—he gripped me by my shoulders, fingers digging into my flesh—“is mine. I brought you here for a reason. So when I ask for a status update, I expect you to drop whatever, or whoever, you’re doing and give it to me. Savvy?”

  Who the hell did he think he was, a Pirate of the Caribbean? I opened my mouth, ready to rip him a new one for the way his fingers bit into my flesh, but I stopped when I caught the scent of ambrosia on his breath. Was he drunk? A million myths featuring a pissed-off Poseidon swirled around in my mind, and my throat went dry when I remembered some of the things he’d done, even when he was clear-headed and rational: entire civilizations sucked beneath the waves, earthquakes shattering villages, Medusa. If he wasn’t in control, I needed to tread carefully.

  I swallowed hard, dropping my gaze from his swirling ocean eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  Poseidon let me go so fast I stumbled into the railing. “Good.” He grinned at me as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened and sat down on one of the lounge chairs. “So, what have you learned so far?”

  I took a deep breath and sat on the chair opposite him, pulling up the sleeves of my dress with shaking hands. “I was waiting until Adonis turned in to do any serious investigating—”

  “Yeah, I saw your idea of ‘investigating.’” Poseidon gave me a wry look. “I’ve got a mystery you can solve later, if you’re interested.”

  I rolled my eyes, but didn’t rise to the bait. “I’ll have more information in the morning. As far as I know, there are four demigods on the ship, but only three likely targets.”

  “Why not four?” He looked at the liquor bottles for a moment as if considering the contents, then shrugged and picked the tequila up, taking a cautious sip. “This is disgusting.” He turned the drink over, dumping the alcohol onto the teak floor.

  I felt a surge of power so strong my hair stood on end as the liquid in the bottle replenished. The fruity, too-sweet scent of ambrosia filled the air. My mouth dropped open. He’d summoned ambrosia? From nothing? What a waste of power. He took a gulp of the liquid, his eyes finding me over the bottle, gaze expectant. Right. Blinking, I forced my mind back to the discussion at hand. “Uh . . . Narcissus runs the modeling agency. Charming everyone into forgetting he came would be difficult, if not impossible, without leaving some major holes in their logic. Plus, his assistant follows him everywhere. I’ll find out what room she’s in tonight, but no doubt, she’s close.”

  “Do you know where he may be now?”

  I rattled off the room number Narcissus had included with his contact information when he sent the contract, then realized that wouldn’t mean anything to Poseidon. “It’s on the—” I waved my hand vaguely to the left. “Do
you have a map of the ship?”

  Poseidon summoned a map, pulling the small wooden table between us.

  I studied the picture of the ship, trying to make sense of the decks and the room numbers. “Here,” I said, pointing. “Also, his assistant might be a nymph. I couldn’t tell, for sure, but she had that look about her.”

  “Okay.” Poseidon nodded. “I agree. He’s too high profile to go missing, but I’ll keep an eye on him when I can. How about the other three?”

  “There’s Adonis, obviously.” Shivering, I rang my damp curls out then stood, searching the balcony for a dry towel.

  Poseidon’s gaze followed me as I moved around. “Also not a likely target with you rooming with him.”

  “I can move to a different room.” I located a sheltered shelf beneath the hot tub and knelt down to grab a bundle of dry, terry fabric before turning my attention back to Poseidon.

  He shook his head. “You’ve been seen with him, so the damage is probably already done. Besides, I like you being here.” Poseidon waved his arms, encompassing the balcony. “Easy access.”

  Forcing a smile to my face, I dropped back into my seat. “Tantalus, another demigod, is in this room.” I pointed a spot on the map. “He’s unattached. But his pictures won’t be easy to explain away if—”

  “Pictures?”

  “They’re all models,” I explained, trying to rub some warmth into my arms with the towel. “It’ll be hard to explain why demigods who were ‘never on the ship’ show up in pictures taken on the ship.”

  He shrugged. “They could be charmed into deleting them.”

  “A regular picture off a regular camera, sure.” I flipped my hair down and rubbed the red locks vigorously with a new towel. Had I used glamour, this would have only taken seconds, but I didn’t dare try to use any of my powers this close to Poseidon. That proximity thing hurt. “But they model for companies. There’s an investment there that would be hard to shrug off, even with charm. So if the models are going to go missing, I imagine it will be before they end up in any shoots.”

  “Do you have their schedules?”

  “I have Adonis’s, but I can get the others.”

  “Who’s the fourth demigod?” His eyes lingered on my legs as I dried them off.

  “Elise. I don’t know where she’s rooming yet, but I’ll find out tonight.”

  Poseidon raised an eyebrow at the obviously feminine name, and I nodded. “Yeah, there’s more. Adonis told me her parents are both demigods.”

  “Interesting. So she’s also immune to charm?” He took another swig from the bottle, finishing off the ambrosia.

  “I’ve not tested it, but yeah, most likely. She’ll be stronger than Adonis, right?” I dropped the towels onto the deck, warmer now that I wasn’t dripping wet.

  Poseidon raised his eyebrows. “If the pattern holds. Could she be behind all this?”

  “Probably not,” I admitted. The fact that she annoyed me didn’t make Elise some kind of evil mastermind who needed to be eliminated. But a girl could dream, right? “Still, we don’t know what she’s capable of, so better safe than sorry.”

  “I’ll look into her as well, so be sure to find out which room belongs to her.” Poseidon stood, dropping the empty bottle to the chair, and kicked my towels out of the walkway.

  I nodded, rising to follow him, curious to see if he’d teleport when he left or take a flying leap off the balcony. His waves could catch him. “Did the other cruises host conventions for demigod-heavy professions?”

  “I can find out.” A smile played on his face while he looked me up and down. “Anything else?”

  The repetition of the question, combined with his lewd grin, made me nervous. I kept the wariness from my voice, schooling my expression to follow suit. “Not that I can think of at the moment.”

  Poseidon gave me an easy grin, moving closer to me. “See, that wasn’t so hard. By the way . . .” His eyes flicked over me in a long once-over. “This is a good look for you. I know you’re . . . frustrated I interrupted your fun.” He reached for me, hand skimming down my arm. “I could help with that.”

  Resisting the urge to edge away and possibly offend the sea god, I chose my words with care. My powers were useless against him, and I didn’t even have teleportation rights in this realm. I didn’t see desire behind the predatory gleam in his eye at all, which somehow made him even creepier. He looked . . . empty.

  My careful words fled as he pressed against me, and I stumbled back in an effort to get some distance between us. “Why? You’re not even interested in me.” Stupid, I berated myself, stepping away from Poseidon. This wasn’t about attraction. I’d challenged him, insulted him, and belittled him. This was about power.

  He closed the distance between us, pulling me to him. When he tugged at the zipper of my dress, the fumble in his fingers scared me almost as much as what he was doing. “You don’t have to be interesting.”

  Fighting panic when my back hit the glass wall separating the balcony from the suite, I stammered the first excuse I could think of. “I, uh . . . Persephone and Hades wanted me to keep them posted. You know, dreamwalk. Some other time?”

  For one horrible second, I thought he wasn’t going to back off, but their names had the desired effect. Poseidon dropped his arms to his sides. “As you wish. I’ll swing by tomorrow with the information you asked for. Get me a copy of the schedules and those room numbers, and we’ll see where things go from there.”

  I let out a breath I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding. “I will.”

  “So with this Elise, there may be two demigods immune to much of what we can throw at them,” Poseidon mused. “I imagine they were intended to be a mated pair.” He walked to the edge of the balcony. When he reached the silver bars, he paused, glancing over his shoulder at me. “I think we’ve allowed Zeus’s experiments to live long enough, don’t you? If they’re immune to charm, there’s no telling what other oddities they have about them or what they may pass on. They’re too dangerous.”

  My heart stuttered in my chest. “I don’t think Persephone would like—”

  “She’s not in charge of this realm,” Poseidon reminded me, flashing a vicious grin. “They’re both here; that makes it my decision.”

  Sinking the ship would be so easy for him. “They could be useful.” I leaned against the glass wall and studied my nails, trying to sound disinterested.

  “Yeah, I’m sure you’ve found plenty of uses for the half-breeds.” Poseidon turned his attention to the sea, his fingers gripping the silver bars tight enough to whiten his knuckles. “But there’s too much we don’t know. Why Zeus created them, for instance.” Poseidon’s thoughtful gaze latched on to something in the distance. “If Zeus wanted all the gods dead, why bother creating new ones in these demigods?” He shook his head. “I don’t like it. They should die.”

  “Shouldn’t we find out why . . . whoever is taking the demigods wants them?” Could Poseidon be behind their disappearances? They’d all vanished from his realm. But then, why ask Persephone to look into the problem? To avert suspicion, maybe? Or get her into his realm?

  “Not if they can be used against us. For all we know, they can kill gods regardless of bloodline.”

  “That’s a pretty big reach.” I pretended to think over his concern, as if my opinion mattered to him one way or another. “But you could be onto something. We don’t know what Adonis and his kind are capable of, but I’m in a pretty good position to learn.” I infused a smile into my tone as I approached the sea god. “Why don’t you give me a few days to find out more?” The boat would dock on the cruise line’s private island in less than forty-eight hours. If I could get Adonis to land, he’d be safe in Persephone’s realm.

  “You’d like that.” Poseidon studied the horizon, muscles tense. In the distance, stars blazed again
st the black backdrop of the night sky as the clouds receded into the distance. “But what would you be willing to do in exchange for such a favor?”

  My mouth went dry. “Um—”

  Without warning, Poseidon whirled and pulled me to him, covering my mouth with his in a forceful kiss. The ambrosia on his breath turned my stomach. His hands roamed over me, rough and demanding. I squirmed against the assault, trying to push away from him, but I couldn’t break free.

  The door to the balcony slammed open, startling Poseidon into releasing me. I moved away from him as fast as I could.

  “You.” Adonis moved beside me, glaring at Poseidon. “Need to leave. Now.”

  Oh, gods. Poseidon would kill him for interrupting. Still shaking, I tried to move, to put myself between them in the futile hope I could stop Adonis from getting hurt, but I couldn’t make my muscles cooperate.

  Poseidon didn’t even acknowledge Adonis. He looked past him to me. “Well, Aphrodite? Is the price too high?”

  I didn’t have to ask what he meant. “Adonis, you should go,” I croaked, feeling nauseated.

  He glanced between me and Poseidon, then shook his head. “No.”

  “Adonis, go.” My voice shook.

  Adonis worked his jaw, and then let out a deep breath. He turned his back on Poseidon, looking me straight in the eyes. “Whatever he’s got over you isn’t worth it.”

  “I’m inclined to agree with him.” Poseidon snickered. “Take a night, think it over, sweetheart.”

  I flinched at the word.

  “If I’m still interested, I’ll find you tomorrow. If not?” His gaze slid to Adonis. “Well, you’ll figure it out.” I felt a pulse of power wash through him.

  “Poseidon, wait,” I cried, jerking forward, my arms outstretched in a futile effort to stop whatever he planned to do next. He shot me a lewd grin, then vanished.