Bliss (13 page)

“What the...”said Rajheb before his body went under the water.

Ryla
n’s body materialized next to Darius.

“Is that who I think it is?”

Darius eyed the kid. While Rylan had been below deck he’d taken the liberty to speak telepathically to him, ensuring that the half-god teenager understood why he had to act like a normal kid and not simply pop here and there. It wasn’t like he wasn’t grateful to the kid for saving him again from Muroka and from rapturing underwater into human form.

The simple
truth was that whenever the kid was around, things seemed to get complicated. Like now. It was bad enough having to make up another lie to explain Rylan to Kassandra, but the last thing he wanted was for Saad and Rajheb to know what had happened to him.

“I told you
about popping around,” said Darius, letting a hint of warning creep into his voice.

“She was gone. No harm. That is Rajheb. Why is he in the water in his Armani suit?”
Rylan looked at him more closely rolled his eyes.

“Ooh, I see. You threw him in. Hey, you want some help?” yelled Rylan to Rajheb
, who was fumbling none too gracefully to the shore in his very wet, expensive suit.

“Dari
us if that is who I think it is, you are in big trouble. Get him out of here,” said Rajheb, slinking out of the water. He looked like an expensively dressed drowned rat.

“Aw, come on Rajheb, not happy to see me
?” replied Rylan, actually punching Darius in the arm, like they were bosom-buddies. “Should I tell Darius about the last time –?”

“Shut-up
, Rylan, or I promise you I will kill you. I don’t care if that does start a war or if your sweet Uncle Zeus kills me,” screamed Rajheb.

Now that piqued Darius
’ interest, but he decided now was not the time to tease Rajheb, especially since he had his own fair share of secrets Rylan knew all about. Secrets he didn’t want publically tossed about.

Rajheb’s
message was loud and clear and for once he actually agreed with the annoying Titan.
I mean it Darius, make him go. He’s trouble.

Trouble, Rylan? That’s an understatement.

“Rylan, what did you do to him
? No, I take that back, I don’t want to know. You said you were close to finding a spell to get me unbound to the book and Kassandra. I need you to get on that pronto. Can you do that for me?” asked Darius, forcing his tone to be gentle and persuasive.

“Can’t I stay with
you? You’ve got this great quest, and I never get to go on any adventures. That’s why I was taking all those relics in the first place. It was an adventure. Now, thanks to my Uncle, and yes I know you’re listening,” shouted Rylan to the wind, “I’ve been grounded.”

“Grounded?” asked Darius, wrinkling his nose as he forced his mind to pay attention to the kid
. Just how does one ground a god...okay, semi-god?

“Uncle said I had two choices. Stay with him at the
palace or be with you. So I picked you, okay? Because really, after two days being in the Palace is so boring, unless you happen to catch Apollo or one of his winged horses to play with. But, come to think of it, the last time I did that Apollo locked me up in the stall with Thagesaurs, and that wasn’t fun, at all...”

“Shut
up!” bellowed Darius.

He
knew his eyes were blazing with fury as he advanced on the kid. “No, it most certainly is not okay with me.” This was the last thing he needed.
How by the gods can I get find this relic in two days if I have to babysit Mr. Catastrophe?

Forcing a calm he didn’t feel, Darius continued, “You promised you’d find a way to get me unbound from your last misadventure
. I need you to do that.” He stood at his full height as he towered over the kid.

“Okay...don’t get so riled. I was only trying to help, need I remind you...I did just save your life, twice. Not that it seems to count for anything these days,” muttered Rylan.

Darius rubbed his face with both hands, weary of the situation. He felt as if he was sliding into a deep sink hole and quickly going nowhere. Or worse, heading straight to Hades’ lair. Bowing his head in defeat, he knew his honor bound him to repay Rylan for saving him and that grated the hell out of him. “Okay, you can stay,” he muttered, turning towards Saad’s house.

Darius closed his eyes momentarily, as Rylan proceeded to jump up and down in excitement. “Did you hear that Uncle
? I can stay. He said I could stay. I’m going to help him. You’ll see,” shouted Rylan, as Darius left the dock, wanting more than anything to avoid everyone so he could get on with his quest. He could have sworn he heard Zeus laughing in his head which really worried him.

Forty
-eight hours that’s all I have!
But before he began he had to have a talk with Kassandra to set some things sort-of straight.

Kassandra strode into the bedroom with the grace of an angry barracuda. That had been her father’s nickname for her as a kid whenever she’d had one of her major tantrums. She’d avoided answering Saad’s pointed questions about the trip or about meeting his brother. She was sick and tired of them all. How the hell in only twenty-four hours did her life go from truly mundane to frightening to now the ridiculously bizarre?

Thankful for the change of clothes laid out on her bed, she stomped into the bathroom and proceeded to take a long, hot shower. Once cleaned and clothed she felt more human.
She was attempting to coax her long, wet hair into a ponytail to keep it off her head, when she felt Darius’ hands on hers.

“Why do you always do that?” she asked tartly, trying to brush off his hands. His reply was to push her hands away so he could finish braiding her hair.

For a man with thick fingers he was surprisingly gently and deft at gathering her hair to twist the ends into a tight braid “I like your hair down,” he said in a husky voice.

Not
e to self, shave my head.

Darius chuckled, which infuriate
d Kassandra.

“There we go again. You never answer any of my questions, Darius. You know I can keep a secret,” she replied, watching his reflection
in the mirror.

“Can you, Kassandra?” he asked, turning her body around so
that they were face to face.

“Yes. I can. I’m not your average woman who blathers away about things. In my line of work, keeping secrets is
my specialty.”

His eyebrow rose
in speculation. “Your line of work?”

“I told you I work at the library but I’m also a Captain in the reserves. Naval reserves. I...um...break codes,” she coughed.

He slowly backed away. A huge grin lit up his face and his eyes actually sparkled. “Go figure. That’s why you were able to open this blasted book. Just what else are you keeping from me, sweetlips?”

Kassandra gulped. She wasn’t ready to share everything with him.
As much as it killed her to lie, and to ignore Saad’s earlier warning that she disclose to Darius that she was able to find lost things, she hesitated.
Heck, it’s not like he trusts me either.
“Nothing. That’s it. You know the rest. I can speak ancient Greek and four other languages as well.”

“Do tell, what are they?” he asked, a smug smile lighting up his face as he moved to perch on the edge of the bed.

“Well, it’s not really a language anymore, more a list of symbols.” She paused and took a deep, calming breath as his eyes bored into her. “Okay, I can speak, French, Hebrew, Assyrian and, um, decode Sumerian symbols.”

“What the
…? You’re serious. Who taught you?” Disbelief was written all over his face.

That
made her feel good. She’d been thrown surprise after surprise, so she was going to enjoy her moment as the tables turned on him.

Tilting her head up, she replied boldly, “My father.”

“Some father. I’m thinking I’m going to enjoy meeting your father.”

Kassandra’s chin came up. “That won’t be necessary,” she replied, shaky with the thought of Darius and her father ever meeting.

The one and only time she’d had the courage to introduce a boyfriend to her father had been during her last year of high school. Her father had taken one look at the boy and declared that he was unfit for her. Worse, he’d called the boy a weakling to his face. That had been it. Humiliated beyond words, she had vowed then that her love life would remain private.

“I’ll decide what’s necessary
, sweetlips, and if you’re thinking I’m afraid to meet this infamous father of yours, you are sadly mistaken. Trust me, I can handle myself. Now, I’ve got some explaining to do, which will hopefully answer a few of your questions that you claim I never answer. So sit down and get comfortable,” he said, patting the spot next to him on the bed, “and listen.”

Thirty minutes later Kassandra and Darius were both sneaking into Saad’s office while Rylan kept Saad and Rajheb occupied.

Kassandra had liked Rylan much better the second time
when she’d met him fully clothed. She also enjoyed seeing Darius squirm as he tried to handle the overzealous teenager. It had taken him a full ten minutes to convince Rylan he didn’t need to come with them into Saad’s office. Kassandra knew Rylan had only agreed when she proposed that he could be the diversion to ensure they wouldn’t get caught. When she highlighted the dangerous aspect of that mission it had thrilled Rylan no end. A low growl from Darius had told her he wasn’t pleased by that idea, but Rylan had pounced on it.

“Are you sure he’ll have an undersea map?” asked Kassandra.

“I saw it here when we first arrived. He had it opened on his desk. Here it is,” Darius replied, shuffling three books off of a large map.

Peering over Darius’ large shoulder, Kassandra
made out the light blue circle graphs that showed where large volcanoes were located on the undersea map. “Why does he have a geological survey map of the ocean floor?”

“Um,
they’re not exactly what you think they are,” Darius replied, his fingers moving deftly from one large circle to the other like he was judging the distances between them.

“Okay, what are they?” she asked, trying to get a good look at the map
.

“Sinkholes.”

“What? They are not. That’s the sea’s floor. There’s nothing to sink into except the Earth’s crust. That’s insane,” she replied.

“Well insanity and the sea, if you ask me, go hand-in-hand.”

Darius’ patience was worn thin. He didn’t have time to explain to Kassandra what she was really looking at. All he cared about was ensuring their cover wasn’t blown. Finding the sinkholes that connected the seven seas would make it easi
er for him to slip into each ocean undetected. Since he couldn’t explain what everything else was, he realized he was going to have to borrow the map from Saad without asking for it.

And then he’d have to find a wet suit with oxygen tanks for Kassandra
, because he couldn’t leave her behind. Come to think of it, he’d have to get an outfit for Rylan because Kassandra believed the teenager was human. Boy, the kid was going to love that. Darius stifled his frustrated groan. Having to deal with Kassandra was enough of a distraction. Now, having to keep tabs on Rylan shortened his fuse even more.

Shoving the map into his shirt
, he headed for the door.

“Darius, what is this?” asked Kassandra, holding up what looked like the statue of a two-headed serpent.

Darius’ heart stilled. It couldn’t be? Barely able to speak, he said, “Kassandra, very slowly, put that down.”

“What?”
She proceeded to ignore his warning and actually moved the two-headed serpent closer to her face so she could get a better look at it.

“Put it down. Now! And very slowly,” he replied, coming to stand next to her, not daring to touch the ancient relic, which he knew would awaken if his hand came into contact with it.
How by Hades had Saad come to possess two of Typhon’s heads?

“Kassandra, I’m going to take off my shirt.
Place the object in it and wrap it up. Then very slowly give it to me, okay?”

She was chewing on her lip but nodded her head. T
hankfully this one time she wasn’t balking at his command or asking any questions. Once the relic was securely covered, he took it, careful to keep it from coming into contact with his skin.

“Care to explain that to me?”

“No, not really. But trust me when I say that statue would mess with your head.”

“Am I supposed to understand any of what you tell me?”

Darius wanted to pull her into his arms. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

Grinning at her, he said, “For listening to me for once.”

Expecting a saucy retort she surprised him with a, “You
’re welcome.”

He took her hand in his and before she could
yank it free or say anything to spoil the moment, he said, “Time to go.” He took a second to telepathically inform Rylan that they were safe and on the move. The plan had been that he and Kassandra would get the map and then join Saab and Rajheb for dinner while Rylan delayed them by leading them to think that he and Kassandra were enjoying the pleasures of each other. While his body ached to do just that, the clock was ticking and the safety of his
mardom
was at stake.

“Do we really need to dine with them?” asked Kassandra, a frown causing lines to form on her forehead. He could tell she was less than thrilled by the idea.

“Yes we do. Once they retire to their...um....beds,” said Darius, thinking they would probably each be enjoying an Um’elles for the long night, “then we can leave without getting caught. We’ll have to stop further up the coast at a friend of mine’s for two wet suits and diving tanks, but then it’s the open waters for us. Okay?”

Taking a moment to stop
, he pulled her into a dark corner. Oh, how he loved the feel of her body up close and personal. “Kassandra, I want you to know I truly am sorry this has happened to you.” His lips brushed hers as desire swamped him.

It was she who pulled him in tighter.
“I’m not,” she replied, bravely smiling up at him like he was her knight in shining armor.

Guilt washed through Darius like a cold shower. The only way for him to get the re
lic was to rapture into his original form, with Kassandra in tow, which meant... the idea repulsed him so much, he couldn’t even bear to think it. He wanted to throw her from him and make her run from the beast he truly was.

For the first time he understood what his twin had felt that eventful day
over thirty years ago when Darius had been the one to break the sacred sea law and rapture into a human. Looking back he realized he’d been showing off. When he stupidly got caught in a human net, it was the first time in their history that a Titan didn’t uphold the harsh sea law. Instead of killing him, his brother had done the unthinkable – freed him.

Shaking his head, Darius realized what he was beginning to feel for Kassandra wasn’t something he could describe
, and it unnerved him. Sure she was stunningly beautiful and her mind was as complex as an octopus’ but there was more to her than those two qualities. There was something about her that called to him like no other woman or Siren ever had. That wasn’t good.

In the end he had taken an oath to protect his
mardom,
but he knew his father would not allow him to break another sacred Titan sea law. If Kassandra found out what he truly was she would pay the ultimate price – death.

“You should be
sorry,” he snapped. He grabbed her arm to lead the way to their bedroom where they would change and then walk arm-in-arm, like two lovers, into the dining room.

“Why?” she asked
. Her wide brown eyes shone with innocence.

By the
gods, how he hated her innocence! Why by
Theyths
couldn’t he have popped out of a book by a woman used to the ways of men? That would have made things a lot less complicated. As he propelled them towards their room he was sure he could hear the Fates giggling in his head. A sure sign he wasn’t about to like the events that unfolded around him next.

“Why, Darius?” Kassandra’s voice broke into his
thoughts. “Why should I be sorry?”

Turning her swiftly into his arms, he cradled her head in his two l
arge hands. “I’m not at all who you think I am. If you knew the real me then you would run, if you could, as fast as your legs would take you in the opposite direction. Trust me on that one, sweetlips. So don’t think of me as your average guy next door because
nice
I most certainly am not. I’m not the type of guy you want. And, I will do anything, absolutely anything, to get unbound from that blasted book and from you. Do I make myself clear?”

“Absolutely. That makes two of us,” she replied
coldly, twisting herself free once they made the safety of their bedroom.

Good,
he thought, hating that he had had to vent his anger on her. But, that was better than ever pretending there could be something between them. A human and a Titan.
As if.
And why did he wish for something he could never have, all the while hating himself over the choice he must make.

Dinner was a silent affair. Tension tighter than a sailor
’s knot between Kassandra’s shoulder blades made eating difficult and polite, inane conversation even more tiresome. She had clenched her jaw shut so hard after hearing Darius admit she meant nothing more to him than a chain that had been brokered around his neck that now her mouth ached.

She was the chain he was trying to unhook by any mea
ns. Which was good because she wanted her freedom. Still though, after all they had been through together, she had naively thought she was starting to get to know the real him. Worse, she had believed he was starting to like her. His cold, calculated words had dashed whatever hope, whatever dream she might have been harboring deep inside of her. Without a doubt she knew now there could be nothing between them.