Erebus took his time finding somewhat clean sheets and blankets. While the castle hadn’t been used in years and a good portion of it was in ruins, he’d been surprised at how much was still useable.
The sheets, blankets, and even a few pillows he’d discovered in the back of a cupboard on an upper floor. In the bowels of the castle, he’d found a gas-powered generator and enough fuel to supply the north wing, where he’d left Sera, with lights and running water. Firewood was easy to locate—there was plenty of wood thanks to destroyed furnishings—and a quick trip down to the lake provided him with berries and fish he’d be able to cook for dinner.
Thoughts of Sera flittered through his mind as he finally headed back up to her room several hours later. Wicked, hot, erotic thoughts he had to tamp down because he didn’t want her to see them on his face as soon as he walked in. He’d save overwhelming her like that for later. Sure, Zeus might be pissed it was taking him so long to track the little nymph down, but he didn’t care. He’d take her back to Olympus soon enough. Tonight was for him—and her too. After all, there was no telling what Zeus’s punishment would entail. It could be her last chance for fun for a good long time.
Unless he plans to execute her. Then it’s her last chance for fun ever...
His brow wrinkled as he moved up the stairs. The last time Zeus had executed a recruit it had been for something much more sinister than simply failing the Sirens’ tests. Over the last twenty to thirty years that Erebus could remember, recruits who failed a checkpoint were reassigned to various jobs. Of course, none of those recruits had run, he realized.
Would Zeus consider running grounds for execution?
His head said no—after all, she was a quick learner, bright, and highly erotic. Even though he didn’t like the idea, Erebus could easily see her being reassigned as a pleasure slave to any one of the gods. But his gut... His gut said yes, Zeus would see her going AWOL as prime reason to execute her, if for no other reason than to make an example of her to other recruits who might be considering the same thing.
He needed to find out why she’d run. Peppering her with questions would likely dampen the seductive mood he wanted to set, but perhaps if he knew why she’d taken off he could come up with a way to help her. Or, at the very least, maybe it would give him an idea how he could put in a good word for her with the King of the Gods.
Afternoon light shone into the room as he stepped under the doorjamb, but the first thing he spotted was Sera hanging limply from her bonds, her head forward, her golden hair covering every inch of her face. Panic pushed him across the room in two steps. He set his bundle down and grasped both sides of her face, lifting so he could see her eyes. “Sera?”
She grunted. Her eyelids fluttered. And in a moment of clarity he realized she wasn’t dead, just asleep.
The pressure in his chest eased. Yes, he’d been away from her most of the day, but it was unusual for a Siren—even a recruit—to drop her defenses enough to sleep when she was in a hostile situation, which he knew she considered this to be. Carefully, so he didn’t wake her, he lowered her head once more and watched as that mass of blonde covered her features all over again.
Had the instructors on Olympus worked her so hard she wasn’t sleeping? He managed most of the Siren instructors and knew their schedules. Granted, he’d been immersed with a new class the last few months and up to his ears with newbies who didn’t have a clue, but Sera’s class—almost two years into their training—should have been well adjusted to the physical demands of the Sirens by now.
Something didn’t add up. With questions swirling in his mind, he went to work remaking the bed. He’d flipped the mattress before he’d left, and the underside wasn’t nearly as disgusting as the top had been. When he was done, he threw the covers back, carefully untied Sera from the bedpost, and hefted her into his arms.
She weighed practically nothing, and that erotic scent of citrus and vanilla floated around him once more, as enticing as anything had ever been. Her head lolled against his shoulder as he moved and laid her on the fresh sheets. This time her eyes didn’t even flitter. The second her body hit the mattress, her head lolled against the pillow and a soft snore echoed from her lips.
It took every ounce of strength he had to tug off her boots and nothing else. To pull the covers up around her shoulders and not climb into that big bed with her. But he was determined to make this good for both of them, and there were things he needed to do first for that to happen. For a moment he considered tying her wrists to the headboard, but then dismissed the idea. She was dead to the world right now, and from here on out he didn’t plan to leave her alone. Which meant there was no reason to bind her—unless of course she asked to be bound.
That thought shot a burst of wicked heat all through his body, which lingered as he used the broken wood in the room to build a fire, then found a broom in a nearby closet and went about sweeping the floor of dust and debris. In an upstairs kitchen area, he’d found candles, a frying pan, plastic plates, utensils, wine glasses, and even an old bottle of wine. He had no idea if the wine was still any good, but he figured anything to help set the mood—and relax her enough to get her talking—was a plus.
The sheets rustled on the bed behind him just as he was finishing cooking the fish. One glance over his shoulder at her confused expression told him she was shocked at what he’d done.
He smirked. “Good morning, sleepy head.” He pulled the frying pan from the heat and slid the two trout he’d caught onto the plates. “Or should I say good evening.” Pushing to his feet, he grabbed two forks and the plates and crossed toward the bed, where she eyed him like he’d grown a horn right in the middle of his forehead. “Here.”
“What is that?”
“Dinner.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s rude to eat in front of someone.” He pushed the plate closer to her hand. “Take it.”
She glanced from the plate up to him, and he didn’t miss the skepticism in her blue eyes.
He frowned. “It’s not poisoned. If I wanted to kill you I’d have done so already.”
The expression on her flawless face said she wasn’t so sure of that, but she hesitantly took the plate and lowered it to her lap, carefully watching him as he walked back to the club chair he’d hauled in from another room and sat.
Her gaze skipped around the room while he started eating, and from the corner of his eye he caught the surprise in her features at what he’d done while she’d been asleep. She glanced at the bedpost where she’d been tied, then chanced a look over her shoulder at the wood headboard. “Why am I no longer restrained?”
Heat rolled through him all over again. He cut another piece of fish and stabbed it with his fork. “Do you want to be restrained? If so, I can easily play along.”
Her gaze narrowed to a glare. Several moments passed where all she did was glower at him while he ate. Then slowly, she set her untouched plate on the far side of the bed, then threw back the covers.
He leaned back in his seat, eyeing her warily as she pushed to her feet. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I need to use the restroom.”
His stomach tightened at the bite in her words.
She rounded the bed and scowled deeper when she spotted him standing with the plate in his hand. “Unless you want my bladder to explode, of course. In which case I could just sit here and we could wait for it to happen. Then you could clean up the mess. Which will it be?”
Her tongue had definitely sharpened in the time she’d been away from him and with the Sirens, a fact he didn’t like. Part of what he’d been most drawn to eighteen months ago was how sweet she’d been.
He eyed her boots where he’d left them by the side of the bed. Even if she did bolt, she wouldn’t get far in bare feet. He stepped back and held his arm out toward the bathroom door. “Be my guest.”
She huffed and stepped past him.
“But, Sera…”
She paused when she reached the darkened bathroom doorway but didn’t turn to face him. A fact that for some reason only heightened his desire for her.
“When you come back out,” he said calmly, “we’re going to talk about the real reason you were running. And then we’re going to finish what we started in the tunnels.”
* * * *
“We’re going to talk about the real reason you were running...”
Erebus’s words pounded in Sera’s brain as she closed the bathroom door and leaned back against the solid wood. But it was the second part of his command that made her heart thump even harder. “...then we’re going to finish what we started.”
There was no way she was finishing anything with him. She’d seen what he’d done to the room out there and knew he was maneuvering her just where he wanted her. Her entire body was already vibrating with the need to feel his touch. She knew if she let him that close she’d melt under the weight of his erotic commands. But more than that, just the fact he’d said anything about the “real reason” she was running was a giant red flag telling her she needed to get as far from the minor god as possible. Because if she melted the way he wanted her to, she didn’t trust herself not to accidentally let the truth slip out. And the second he discovered she’d stolen the medallion from Zeus, any sexy mood he’d had toward her would turn to malice.
Her fingers shook as she hit the lock on the bathroom door, then darted toward the window. It hadn’t been opened in over twenty years and she had to grit her teeth and pry up on the wood until her fingertips turned white. It finally gave, and she breathed easier as she pushed it up an inch, but as the crack of old wood separating echoed through the bathroom, her anxiety shot through the roof, and she froze.
She listened, waiting to see if he’d heard it. When nothing but the sound of her own heart pounding met her ears, she let go of the window, rushed to the sink, flipped on the water to drown out any more noise, then moved back to her one shot at freedom.
Her fingertips burned, and the muscles in her arms ached as she forced the window higher. When it was open far enough for her to crawl through, she pulled herself out and onto the small rock ledge that ran the length of this wing of the ruins.
Wind whipped her hair around her face. Dusk was just settling in, shrouding everything in an eerie gray light, but she could still make out the waves of the lake crashing against rocks three stories below. And glancing up, she spotted another four stories above her and spires that reached for the darkening sky.
It had once been an amazing castle. Still could be with a little work. Though she wasn’t sure why it had been completely abandoned after the inhabitants had obviously beaten back their invaders, she told herself that wasn’t her concern. Her only concern now was getting away from Erebus, retrieving the medallion she’d hidden in the woods, and taking it somewhere Zeus and the Olympians could never find it.
Her stomach tightened as she leaned back against the wall and used her hands to help guide her to her right. The ledge was only six inches wide, and more than once her bare feet stumbled over chipped and broken sections. When she reached another closed window, she slid down the wall until she was crouched on the ledge, reached over and tried to pull the window up. Like the one in her bathroom, though, it was sealed tight. There was no way she could pry it open from out here, not without falling to her death in the process.
She kept going. Her pulse thumped hard and loud in her ears as she moved faster, hoping and praying that Erebus wouldn’t suddenly realize she’d been gone too long and appear on the ledge beside her.
Three windows down from the one she’d exited, she finally came to one that was broken, the glass jagged and half-covering the opening. Victory pulsed in her veins. Without shoes or long sleeves, she had nothing to shield herself from the glass, but she figured a few cuts were a small price to pay for freedom.
She positioned herself in front of the broken window, turned sideways, and gripped the casing on both sides to steady herself. Then she held her breath and shoved the knee of her pants through the rest of the glass.
A burn spread across her knee and thigh. She knew she’d torn her pants, was fairly certain she’d cut her leg, but she didn’t stop to look. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she knocked the rest of the glass away, then carefully lowered herself into what looked to be a sitting room for another suite.
The room grew darker with every passing second, but somehow she managed to avoid stepping on shards of glass with her bare feet. Pulse racing, she rushed to the door, pulled it open a crack, and peered out into the dim hallway.
Nothing moved. No sound met her ears. A golden glow to her right indicated the door to the room Erebus had taken her to was still open, the fire and candles continuing to burn bright.
She couldn’t go that way. Couldn’t risk his seeing her. She glanced to her left. This castle was huge. There had to be a back set of stairs that led to the main level.
Deciding that was her best bet, she crept out into the hallway and moved as quietly as she could, stepping over debris littering the space. Something moved in the shadows ahead. Her heart rate spiked again, and she stilled. But when no sound met her ears and nothing else moved, she realized it had to have been some kind of small animal, not Erebus, as she’d feared.
She didn’t know how long he’d wait before checking the bathroom to see what was taking her so long. Reaching a set of back stairs, she hustled down as quickly as she could. At the main level, she looked around, trying to remember which way they’d come. The castle was surrounded by a lake. Her only hope for escape was to backtrack through the tunnels.
She pushed her legs into a jog, searching for the stairs that led down. Just remembering those tunnels made her think of the way Erebus had backed her up against the rock wall in the dark, how he’d made her whole body tremble with just a few simple words. He’d always been able to do that to her, and she hated him for that. Hated him even more because her stupid heart was still hung up on the minor god who clearly didn’t feel anything for her besides lust. She’d been nothing to him but another recruit he could use to get his rocks off. He was still trying to use her for that, evidenced by the seduction scene he’d set up in that room upstairs. She was a complete fool for ever thinking he’d cared for her. An even bigger fool for falling for him when she’d known better.
Disgusted with herself all over again, she found the stairs and hustled to the lowest level. Once there, she stepped over debris in what looked as if it had once been an anteroom, and moved out into the darkened tunnel.
Her pulse jackknifed. The tunnel was pitch black. When Erebus had first led her into the caves, the cool air moving across her skin from different angles had made her think there were other tunnels jutting off from the main route. Without a light she could be lost down here for weeks. She needed to go back into the ruins. Needed to find a candle of some kind so she could see where she was going. She turned back toward the ruins. The stairs she’d just come down creaked, causing her to freeze.
“Sera!”
Erebus’s voice sent her heart straight into her throat. This time there was no hint of seduction in his voice. Only rage.
Knowing she didn’t have time to find a light, she whipped back toward the darkness of the tunnel, swallowed her fear, and pushed her legs forward. Rocks and debris dug into the soles of her feet, but she ignored the pain. All she could do was hold her hands out in front of her so she wouldn’t slam face-first into a wall. All that mattered now was ignoring everything except the instinct echoing in her head to run.
* * * *
When Erebus reached the main cavern, he used his heightened sight to search the darkness for Sera. Several tunnels veered off from the main route. She could be in any of them, and though he could see well in the dark, he couldn’t see around twists and turns and through solid rock.
He stilled and focused on his enhanced hearing. The sound of heavy breaths and the rustle of cloth echoed from the tunnel to his right.
He darted in that direction, not even questioning if it was her. It was her. It had to be her. No one else was down here in these blasted caves.
The tunnel curved to the right, then left. He pushed his legs harder, racing around the corners without slowing. This wasn’t the same tunnel they’d used to enter the ruins, and he had no idea how she was moving so fast. It was pitch black and he doubted she had any kind of light. She was being spurred on by pure panic. Panic, he sensed, that had little to do with him and what he wanted to do to her upstairs in that bedroom and everything to do with what Zeus wanted from her.
Zeus’s intentions swirled in his head as he zigzagged through the cave, ducking under low-hanging rocks. The King of the Gods was nothing if not secretive. If he wanted to terminate Sera for running, he could have ordered Erebus to simply find her and kill her. But he hadn’t. And her panicked reaction now told Erebus there was more going on here than met the eye. More than what he’d been told on Olympus. Way more.
He passed a small opening that looked like it led to a new tunnel. Something moved in the darkness, and he slowed his steps, wondering if she’d shifted direction and was trying to hide. Bracing one hand on the rocks above, he leaned down to peer through the archway, but saw only more rock. He listened for the sound of her rapid breaths, the beat of her heart, the rustle of fabric that told him she was in there. The cave was silent. Silent but for a faint clicking noise he was sure did not come from her.
To his right, a flutter of blonde hair caught his attention and then was gone. Ignoring the animal he’d stumbled across, he tore after her. The sound of her labored breaths met his ears along with the thump of her footfalls on the uneven rocks and the roar of blood rushing through her veins.
His adrenaline surged. He ran faster. And heard the unmistakable sounds of rushing water.
Motherfucker...
Running water meant some kind of underground river. Since he couldn’t see any puddles in this cavern, that meant the underground river was below them, accessible through a hole or fracture in the floor ahead. And he’d bet his position as a trainer with the Sirens that she didn’t know what she was about to run straight into.
Blonde hair flashed ahead of him again. The roar of the water grew louder. He was gaining on her, but not fast enough to stop her. “Sera!”
Whipped around to look back at him. Gasped. Stumbled when she realized he was closer than she’d thought. A panicked look crossed her features as she twisted away and burst forward.
The roar of the river grew louder. He reached out to grab her. His fingertips brushed the ends of her silky blonde hair.
Then she slipped through his fingers and her scream rose up around him.