“We’re not hiding,” Essa replied over her shoulder.
Nazrin grinned. He hadn’t been able to resist observing his mate with his niece. “What are you doing then?”
“Look at what Essa gave me.” The girl proudly displayed her stone.
“A rock. Amazing.”
The child rolled her eyes “It’s a magic rock.” She crinkled her nose at his apparent ignorance.
“Oh, a magic rock,” he repeated, playing along and crouching beside his niece.
“Watch.” Amaya dipped the stone into the water, its surface shimmering into a rosy hue.
Though he concentrated on the child, he never ceased his awareness of Essa. He nodded at her in approval. Her skin flushed, or rather, glowed. She’d done this for his niece. Perhaps, partly for him.
He returned his focus to Amaya. Cold water sprayed across his face. Grimacing, he wiped the briny substance on the back of his hand and raised a harsh brow at Essa. Her delicate pink lips were pursed to contain her laughter.
“You’ll pay for that later, Sirena.”
She lifted thick lashes to meet his gaze. The heat therein told him she rather anticipated his retaliation.
Amaya tugged him to his feet and, seizing Essa’s hand as well, dragged them back to the celebration, where the feast had already begun. Immediately after the evening meal, for the birthday girl bobbed up and down, refusing to wait another minute, they brought out the cake. Honey syrup dripped from the moon-shaped delicacy. Four candles adorned it, symbolizing the glow of the moon. The smoke from the flames would drift into the sky and carry their prayers to Artemis.
Amaya yanked on his arm, insisting he aid her. “Blow,” she instructed.
Smiling at her, Nazrin raised a hand and a wisp of air extinguished one flame.
“No.” the lass pouted. “Not like that, like this.” She pressed her lips together, huffing and puffing several times before succeeding in extinguishing one flame.
Nazrin chuckled and helped Amaya blow out the other candles. Together, they sliced the cake and shared it with the gathering.
After they finished eating, music thrummed through the air. Nazrin sought Essa, but she was missing. He’d made his intentions clear, or so he hoped, by dressing to complement her. At least Cassie was on his side.
Amaya squealed in delight at the sight of the dancers, so he offered his services as partner to Cassie. They joined the dance, lining across from each other. This dance was Amaya’s favorite—one from the sky kingdoms.
The partners bowed and curtsied, opposite one another. Their hands met in midair and twirled about each other. They switched partners, looped through one another, and spun around.
In the crowd, Amaya chittered with delight. He cast her a wink, then snapped his attention to the dance as Cassie rushed to him. He hoisted her and held her in the air for a moment before spinning and placing her on the ground. They finished the dance with a series of spins and turns. Nazrin bowed and Cassie curtsied.
He scanned the crowds for Essa, but she remained absent. A dozen females flocked to his side, requesting to be paired with him as a partner.
Everyone eager, except the one he sought. Damn.
The lyre player strummed a new song. Nazrin twisted and stretched his neck as females tugged on his arms, demanding to be the next recipient of his talents. Murmuring an excuse, he strode off in search of the only partner he craved.
He spotted her strolling along the shore, sandals in hand. Her face tilted toward the moon, which bathed her in its creamy luminescence.
“Essa.” He dashed toward her. “Why didn’t you stay to dance with me?”
“I don’t know the steps.” She bit her lower lip. He slid his appreciation to those coral petals, her decadent fragrance lingering on his tongue. His raptor squawked, but he hushed the beast. He’d have more of her. Soon.
“You did well enough the other night.” His body tensed at the recollection. Her breath hitched. She hadn’t thought he’d forgotten, had she? Nazrin wagged his extended hand. He’d never forget the sight of her features bright with desire. The vision was burned onto the backs of his eyelids.
“I don’t like dancing.” She shrugged.
He quirked his lips. “Mayhap you were fearful of my retribution?”
“You did threaten that I would pay.”
He spun her into his arms, his mouth finding hers. Her sandals dropped to the sand while his lips snared hers with the unrestrained passion he’d repressed. His raptor roared as she melted against him.
For an instant.
She broke their kiss and studied him, piercing through his layers. One corner of her lips curved and she took a step backward, the lake’s waters swirling around her ankles. “How do you manage to bathe with such an aversion to water?”
He strode forward. “Perhaps someday I’ll reveal my methods to you.” My other secrets as well.
She swept her hand above the lake’s surface and danced a trail of glistening beads into the air. “Tell me why you brought me to Halcyon, Nazrin.”
Inclining his head at her, he sighed. He should’ve anticipated Kai’s warning about Essa’s questions, but he still tensed. It was time to clear this deception between them.
She flicked a droplet at his chest. “Well?”
He grimaced and blotted at the wet splotch on his chiton. “That will cost you, Sirena.”
“Name your price.” She trailed her tongue across her bottom lip, a brow raised expectantly.
His raptor surged, screeching. He wholeheartedly agreed. “A kiss.”
She glided backward. “Come and claim it.”
In an instant, he enclosed her in his arms, ignoring the water rising around his thighs. He slanted his mouth to hers, but she ducked out of his arms and murmured, “My answer first.”
“Hades and Persephone asked me to.” He stalked forward and, cradling her face in his hands, pressed his lips against hers.
Too soon, she pulled back. “Why?”
“I require more than a simple kiss for that one, Sirena.”
She tapped a finger against her lips, while mischief flashed in her green depths. “Agreed.”
He rolled his tense shoulders and released the truth. “The gods of the Underworld have long sought a way to free themselves from their curse. The Fates declared a prophecy. If they can win the War for Love, they will be freed. Halcyon is where they’re training their army. They wish for you to join that army.”
“So I’ve heard, but why do they want me?”
“You’re formidable, Essa. A power like yours could turn the tide of the War.” So long as that prophecy swayed their way. He clamped his jaw before uttering too much.
Her eyes widened and then narrowed in concentration. Before she changed her mind, he claimed his reward. Nazrin gripped her hips and lured her to him. She didn’t resist his gentle nuzzling of her neck, or his lips trailing lower across her throat. His cock grew rigid, hard and thick. He slid one hand upward, along the curve of her waist to cup the delicate weight of her breast. His lips followed, pressing heated kisses through the fabric of her chiton.
She moaned and tangled her fingers in his hair.
Hearing such a sound pass her lips, he didn’t care that his wings grew heavy, weighted by the water surrounding them. A grin tugged at his lips. Since his mate was a water maiden, he’d best get used to being wet. If she continued to regard his dampened flesh like he alone could quench her thirst, he’d gladly make the compromise.
“Do you believe I should?” Despite his seduction, she remained focused on her questions. Too focused.
He wanted her captive, as she’d been in their watery vortex. Reluctantly, he lifted his mouth from her breast. “Aye, I do.” Then he rose and hoisted her from the water, wrapping her legs around his waist and resting her core tauntingly above his erection. Growling low, he claimed her mouth and drove all inquiry from her tongue.
***
Essa rubbed against the solid evidence of Nazrin’s desire. Her sex throbbed, the satisfaction she craved just beyond her reach.
Blast it. Her mind flipped through his words, struggling to concentrate on them while her body staggered beneath the heady rush of lustful energy between them. Hades. Persephone. War.
Apollo had never mentioned those things. A war between the gods—oh, gods, Nazrin squeezed her breasts in his palms and they responded, becoming heavy, achy with the yearning for more.
Her mind melted into a puddle and her thoughts muddled together. Her senses abandoned her, and somehow she found herself lying on the beach, her back pressed against sand and Nazrin’s delicious weight on top of her. He bared her breasts to the moonlight and stroked one pebbled peak with his tongue. Agonizing need shot through her veins. Yes, more.
A deep rumble reverberated in his throat as he captured the tip of one breast with his mouth, flicking and rubbing it with his tongue, suckling her.
She clutched his head to her, at once begging him to stop and urging him onward. Too much. This sensuous torture was too much and not enough.
Nazrin switched his efforts on her other breast, while his hand slipped beneath the hem of her chiton and upward between her thighs. Finding her nub, he massaged it with relentless ferocity.
And then he touched his mind with hers.
***
Nazrin couldn’t stop the beast. Being telepathic creatures, Wind Borne mated as much with their minds as their bodies. Experiencing her passions as his, he’d be able to offer her pleasure like few ever dreamed. He’d never invade her mind, but Essa’s was wide open, not a hint of resistance.
The brief times she’d permitted him a connection, she’d locked him from most of her mind. He’d be damned if he didn’t admit he was bloody curious about what she kept hidden. Her inner fears and hopes. Her true opinion of me. Did she deem him worthy—
Apollo.
Nazrin jerked his mouth from her breast. What in Hades was the sun god doing in her thoughts? His raptor half seized control from him, the predator consumed by the hunt. He couldn’t stop him. Even if he wished to.
“Nazrin!”
Ignoring her plea, his mind bored into hers, trampling the flimsy obstacles she wove together in haste.
She hadn’t been raised by her father. Nay. She was the sun god’s supplicant. Trained by her aunt, the Pythia. A role her mother had assumed as well?
Damn Hades and Persephone. Why hadn’t they told him? Did they even know? If Apollo didn’t already have a poor reputation amongst the Wind Borne, he’d earned it now.
Essa had betrayed him. Used him for information. Which he’d offered in return for her kisses.
Duplicitous seductress.
His heart screamed from the firebrand of torment her deception had cinched around it. The agony too intense to bear, he tore away from her mind, a snarl curling his lips.
She gaped at him in horrified shock. “Nazrin, I—”
He didn’t give her a chance to further falsify her words. He’d seen the truth in her mind. After opening his wings, he shot into the sky.
***
Essa collapsed into the sand, one hand covering her trembling mouth. Tears pooled in her eyes but she blinked them away. Nazrin had no right to invade her mind. He’d stripped her nude, raw and exposed.
He’d despised what he’d seen.
She muffled a sob against her palm and tugged her gown back into place. What did she care? He didn’t belong in her future. She didn’t belong in his. In a few short months, she’d become the Pythia and forsake all earthly connections.
Including Nazrin.
Her heart gave a weak thump against her ribcage and she wiped at the moisture on her cheeks, the tears having fallen regardless of her efforts to hold them back.
Now that he was aware of her identity, would he send for guards? Would they escort her from Halcyon, or worse, interrogate her about Apollo?
I have nothing to tell them. She sniffed and grimaced. Apollo hadn’t shared any of his plans with her. She sat up with a jolt. What if her god expected her to betray Halcyon?
If Nazrin permitted her to leave, what would she tell her aunt? What if the words she spoke unwittingly harmed these people she’d grown to trust and care for?
Her shoulders slumped forward as she groaned into her hands.
***
Nazrin didn’t fly far before his body collapsed and he slumped to the ground. Each of his well-laid plans crumbled. His mate answered to the enemy.
Damn Apollo. How had the sun god known? Truly, there was no better spy to secret into Halcyon than one of their own mates. Was Essa even aware of her role?
The amulet. ’Twas a ruse, wasn’t it? He snorted. Hades had considered himself so clever, and all the while, Apollo must have been snickering at his cocksureness.
That blasted prophecy. He’d risked everything for the chance to steer Essa toward the light. If she’d been trained by Apollo’s Pythia, he’d lost the battle before it had ever begun.
He coaxed his legs to tread along the shore, not caring where his feet fell, so long as he didn’t yield to this urge to sink to his knees and succumb to the madness within.
The forest ahead hummed and a delicate violet glow burst through the trees. Curious, he followed the radiance into the woods.
“Be at ease, warrior,” the lyrical cadence of a goddess’s voice called to him. He spun and faced Persephone.
Hades’s wife.
The other partner in their condemned deal.
He bowed low, focused on the ground. She’d opposed her husband for Nazrin to have one small chance at love. He grimaced. What did it matter where his heart lay if it resided within the enemy? Still, he froze beneath her scrutiny. A visit from the goddess was rare. She must have a reason.
To fulfill her end of their bargain? Trepidation spread through his veins and he flapped his wings once. To declare my failure.
And claim my soul.
His heart seized. Not yet. Not yet.
“Do not fret, Nazrin.” The goddess brushed her fingers along his shoulder; he rose and lifted his head. “Hades never intended to claim your soul.”
He knit his brows and held his breath. What was she implying? “Essa isn’t who I—we—believed her to be. She’s Apollo’s next Pythia.” He exhaled on a rush of air.
Persephone’s expression softened, brows lowered together in pity, not surprise. “Yes. I’m afraid she is.”
Nazrin jolted. The goddess knew? Why hadn’t she bloody well told him? He opened his mouth to accuse her of such, but clamped down on his hasty words.
“When we revealed Essa to you, so many years ago,” Persephone murmured, “Apollo learned of our deal and took great interest in your future bonding to her, and your allegiance to Hades. He stole the child from her father, Lord Nereus, and raised her in his temple.”
Hades wasn’t ignorant? “Why didn’t he inform me? Why did he let Apollo train her, polluting her mind against us?” Rage bristled through his being to the tips of his wings and he fisted his taloned hands at his sides.
She tipped her chin to his fists, to the blood dripping onto the grass. “We needed Apollo to send Essa to Halcyon. To send Essa to you.”
He furrowed his brow, connecting the facts. “The amulet?”
She waved his question off with her hand. “When it comes to strategy, my husband excels above all others.”
Ah, so Apollo sought a reason to send Essa to Halcyon, and Hades required an excuse to let him. Brilliant. Except… “Doesn’t Apollo fear a change in her fealty, because of the bonding?”
Her lips curved. “You forget, the sun god does not believe in Love.” Her ethereal gaze shone upon him. “I have come to offer you hope. Essa has been raised by our enemy, yes, but her mind has not been corrupted. Her heart is yet yours to win.”
Understanding rushed through him. They meant to claim Essa’s allegiance through love. Through him.
Love was a formidable weapon indeed, especially if one’s enemy placed no faith in it.
“If I manage to sway her fealty, will you make her immortal?” The words shed from his tongue, heavy and distasteful. He’d sworn never to force immortality on another, yet this might be his one chance to procure it for Essa.
She pursed her lips. “Ambrosia is difficult to obtain. However, I vow I will find a way. First, you must do something for me.”
He stiffened. “What, my Lady?”
“Train her. Harder. Faster. If you do not, my husband will.” Persephone’s features softened. “I would not see either of you harmed again.”
Had Hades sent the firedrake? Nazrin swallowed the thick lump in his throat and bowed his head.
“Warrior.”
“Yes, my Lady?” He raised his face.
“If I were you, I would do everything to secure her affections first. Too many times have I witnessed such things go awry.” One of her fine brows arched, as though hinting. “She will be more receptive to an immortal lifetime with you if she loves you.”
He froze, and then dipped his head, shuddering at the notion of the thousands of deals made with the Lord of the Underworld. How many had gone askew? Would his?
Bloody hell. This might prove to be impossible. For how could he convince Essa to forsake her god and join with his?
***
The slapping of her bare feet against wet sand pierced Essa’s ears as she raced into the night, toward Halcyon’s forested border. Her body wilted and she sank to her knees, the flood of images inundating her.
Nazrin’s eyes, so full of desire, dark and alluring, begging for her kiss. After he’d pillaged her mind, those warm pools had clouded with such hurt and betrayal. In another life, she might have been his.
But not in this one.
She paused at the boundary wards, the passwords on the tip of her tongue. Her instinct for survival urged her onward, away from this place where she might be tortured for information she didn’t possess. Yet her heart tugged in the opposite direction. She couldn’t leave Nazrin, not without first revealing her reasons.
He deserved an explanation; he owed her the chance to give one.
Her entire life, she’d hidden. From her father, from her fears. Now, she possessed the opportunity to confront one.
The moon and stars scattered across the sky. She breathed in this moment of twilight. The tangible world seemed to reflect hers. Sometimes in one form—day, sometimes another—night. Those moments of in-between were so beautiful it pained her. Was this how she would always be—torn between two worlds, not quite belonging to either? In such a short time, she’d come to crave the independence, freedom, and open arms of Halcyon. To claim her position as the Pythia, would she have to betray them? Was the treachery worth her goal? If she deemed these residents her enemy, then yes.
If not? She worried her bottom lip with her teeth. She’d always placed her faith in Apollo, yet blind faith was just as precipitous as none at all.
Right. Straightening her spine, she steeled her resolve. She wouldn’t leave, no matter what she faced by staying.
Essa treaded to Nazrin’s cabin. The night air turned cold and bit into her skin. Her bare feet ached from strolling without her sandals. She must have dropped them in her haste to flee Halcyon.
She longed to crawl into Nazrin’s bed, to wrap his wings protectively around her body. To drown in his sea of feathers. Sniffling, she fought back more tears. Those arms wouldn’t welcome her tonight.
Perhaps, never again.