Heart (17 page)

I had just glimpsed what I was capable
of.

I could easily kill him. I knew that in my
bones.

He was in shorts already, so near the edge of
the water, he slipped off his sandals, grabbed my hand and led me
in to the warm, clear water.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. With
my long skirt gathered in my free hand and my other hand gripped
tightly in Ryder’s, the ocean waters pushed against my legs and
sunk into my skin. I felt at peace for the first time in days.

I felt whole, completely and absolutely, for
the first time in my entire life.

I felt home.

I felt loved.

I felt alive.

“I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.”
Ryder’s gravelly voice pulled me out of my blissful silence.

I opened my eyes to find him watching me.
Choosing to be obtuse, I looked back toward the white-topped waves
and smiled. “I’m partial to it too.”

“You, Ivy. You are beauty.” His hand squeezed
mine and I felt the physical loss when he tore his gaze from mine
and stared down at the water. “You know, for a while, after you
left, I was convinced that you had cursed me after all. It felt
like I couldn’t move without you. I felt suffocated… I felt like I
was drowning. I swore that you had infected me, that it was your
fault that I felt like that. What we had was real, Red. I would
have done anything for you. I hate that you ruined it. But I get it
now. After today or yesterday or whatever hell day, I get it. This
world you’re from is so screwed up. I don’t know how to keep you
safe from it.”

Tears pricked at my eyes and I tried not to
completely break down in front of him. “I don’t think you can keep
me safe from it. I think it’s going to come after me no matter what
I do.”

“Then what do you want me to do? Say it, Ivy.
I’ll do it. Tell me what you want to do, we’ll do it.”

“Just stay with me,” I pleaded. “Don’t leave
me like I left you.”

He tugged on my hand until I turned to face
him, then with his free hand he cupped my jaw tenderly. I couldn’t
meet his gaze, but he didn’t ask me to. “I won’t,” he promised. “I
won’t leave you. No matter what happens.”

I licked my dry lips and felt the water
respond at my feet. Hope swelled inside of me and the water swirled
around us with increasing strength. I felt the buzz of power at my
fingertips and a connection to the ocean that stretched as far as
it did.

Ryder stumbled into me. His hand fell to my
shoulder to steady himself, but I had never felt more grounded. The
waves pushed us together aggressively until he was forced to hold
on to me, until his arms wrapped around my waist and his chest
pressed against mine.

“Are you doing this on purpose?” he shouted
over the rush of the water and the spray of sea foam.

I smiled at him. “Aren’t you having fun?” He
rocked to the side, but I kept my footing.

His hands splayed over my hips and his heart
beat rapidly against mine. He dropped his head until we were just a
breath apart. “I’m having fun,” he murmured.

I stared up into his gray eyes and got lost
in their infinite depth. My heartbeat quickened and I prepared for
the taste of his lips against mine.

Only it never came.

A wave taller than Ryder came out of nowhere
and crashed against us. This time I couldn’t hold on, I felt the
full force of it. My feet slipped from underneath me and while I
still clutched onto Ryder, we toppled into the current and tumbled
in the strength of the water.

We held onto each other while the saltwater
pushed us under the surface and tried to keep us there. Our wet
hands started to slide apart. I reached for Ryder, desperate to
keep our connection. His hands were there waiting for me, holding
onto me, never letting me go.

We broke the surface together, both of us
gasping for breath and shaking the water out of our eyes. We kept
our hands linked and swam for shore, awkwardly breaking through the
waves closest to the beach. We flopped onto the sand with huge
grins on our faces.

I lay back on the cool, wet sand and blinked
up at the white sky. I tried to catch my breath and soak in this
one moment. Ryder’s shoulder pressed into mine and our clasped
hands lay across his stomach. Our wet clothes clung to our sticky
bodies. My lips were salty from the water and my eyes stung, but I
wanted to live in this moment forever. I wanted to remember Ryder
next to me. I wanted to never let go of this easiness.

I felt the shift in the air, the charge of
electricity signaling the impending storm. I could sense the quiet
stillness just before chaos broke and destruction reigned.

Olympus was close. I felt it in my bones.
When I got up from this beach, we would leave for the mountain and
I would have to face a coliseum of gods that wanted to use me for
their gain and abuse my curse. I would have to face my biggest
fears and my worst nightmares.

I would face real life monsters and gods so
depraved and insidious they made the hairs on my arm stand on end
and my stomach churn.

I would have to be someone that I was not. I
would have to be courageous. I would have to be confident. I would
have to be the opposite of their evil.

I let my head roll to the side so I could
look at Ryder’s profile. His eyes were closed and his lips were
just slightly parted. The sun burst from over the contours of his
face like an explosion of light. I blinked against his beauty and
thought that maybe he was the one that had cursed me.

I had never known anything better than Ryder
Sutton. No things or people or souls were better than this man. He
had captured every piece of me. He owned whatever it was that made
me up. He owned it completely.

He might not love me anymore, but I would
never stop loving him. I couldn’t stop, even if I wanted to.

I had only ever been sure about two things my
entire life. I had always known that I would never let Nix control
me. I had known that for as long as I had known anything. And now
Ryder.

I knew that I loved him. I knew that he was
the only man I would ever love.

I knew that I would love him for the rest of
my life, with every breath I breathed, with every beat of my black
heart.

And that was enough for me.

Even if I wanted more, I could live with
this. I could live knowing how to love this much, this completely.
I could live for the rest of eternity just loving this man and
giving everything I had to give to him. Because he was worth
loving.

Because he was worthy.

He slowly turned his head to look at me and
gave me a crooked grin. “What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I whispered. “Just thinking.”

“About Olympus?” He had to squint to see me
clearly, even though our faces were close.

“No,” I told him honestly. “Not about
Olympus.”

“Red, if you want to run away right now, I’ll
go with you. You don’t have to do this. They don’t own you. Not one
of them gets a say in your life, but you. Yeah?”

“Ryder, if I don’t do this now, these people
will hunt me until the day I die. If I’m honest, I just want to get
it out of the way. I want to finish this and move on with my
life.”

He smiled at me, “I like the sound of that.
I’d like to never have to worry about these assholes ever
again.”

I grinned too. “Then let’s go kill some
gods.”

He jumped to his feet before helping me get
to mine. The sand stuck to our bodies from head to feet as we made
our way back to Della’s pavilion. The sun warmed our cold skin and
dried some of the sand, but the salt water had made everything
stick and rub uncomfortably.

It was the best feeling.

Hermes eyebrows disappeared into his hairline
when we walked back into the pavilion. “What happened?” He choked
on a laugh.

“The sea wanted to put Ivy in her place,”
Ryder explained. “She started to get cocky out there. The water
just wanted to remind her who was still boss.”

All of the humor disappeared from Hermes’
face and he demanded, “You went into the water with her? Are you
insane
?”

Ryder’s lips tipped upward into a very smug
smile. “She doesn’t want to kill me, man. I have nothing to worry
about.”

“You say that, but…”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t stand near a
puddle with her. But, I’m safe. You should know that. I’m very
safe.”

I pressed my lips together to keep from
smiling. Ryder was right.

“I’m not taking her while she’s wet.” Hermes
spun around to Della, his arm swinging wide.

“I have some clothes,” Della explained
patiently. “And fresh water if you’d like to rinse off. You’ll need
to be more presentable for Hera. She will be a tough sell, Siren.
You need to look your best.”

“I always look my best,” I grumbled. “It’s
part of the curse.”

“Gift,” she hummed. “It’s part of your
gift
. Come on child, you have a mountain to storm today. No
more frolicking in the water.”

I followed Della as she walked away, only
turning back to grin at Ryder. He shot me an amused wink, but I saw
the flash of apprehension he tried to hide. We’d been alone out in
the water, but reality had caught up with as already.

Olympus loomed and we stood at her gates,
waiting with revenge and destruction. I would fight her to the
death. I would fight her tooth and nail, until I couldn’t fight
anymore.

I would fight bravely and without
reprieve.

And then Ryder and I would walk away and
never look back again.

Or we would die trying.

Chapter Fourteen

An hour later, Della had worked some kind of
magic on me. My skin was clean, my hair was styled and I had been
dressed in traditional Olympus garb- which was exactly what you
would expect.

My white gown tied over one shoulder and left
my other bare. It cinched around an empire waist and flowed in airy
folds of voluminous fabric over my toes. My feet were dressed up in
gold gladiator sandals that wrapped around my big toe and all the
way up my calves to just below my knee. Gold bangles adorned my
wrists and a thick gold cuff hugged both of my biceps. Della had
also woven golden thread that was so pure it looked liquid, through
my heavy hair that she’d piled on top of my head.

When she showed me what I looked like, I was
left speechless. She had dressed me up like a goddess. I had never
looked more Greek than in this moment. I had never looked more a
part of the Pantheon than now.

I hated everything about it, no matter how
beautiful it made me.

“When you go,” she said softly, standing
behind me in the full length mirror that had appeared out of
nowhere, “this is your greatest weapon.” She swept her hand down
the length of me, indicating my beauty. “He will try to use it
against you. They all will. But if you are in control of who you
are, then no one can control
you
.”

My heart picked up speed at her insight. I
nodded once, feeling the slightest softening to her.

“Thank you,” I told her. “I feel like you’ve
prepared me to go to war.”

Her incandescent blue eyes sparked with
light. “That is exactly what I’ve done.”

She turned away from me and her features
immediately faded from my memory. I shook my head and followed her
back to the sitting area. Evening light warmed the pretty space,
giving it a burnished glow.

I walked into the room and tripped over my
sandals. My big toe dragged across the smooth ground and I nearly
face-planted.

Ryder sat on the edge of one of the ottomans,
with his elbows propped on his knees. His hair had been somewhat
tamed with product. His muscular arms were bared, his tattoos on
full display. His calves were also exposed and his feet had been
covered in leather sandals that were not that different than
mine.

I couldn’t take my eyes off him, I couldn’t
even think beyond the dark look on his face and the amount of skin
he had been forced to show.

“Don’t laugh,” he growled.

I tried not to. “You’re wearing a toga!”

“I didn’t have a choice,” Ryder mumbled. He
shifted his shoulders uncomfortably. His toga was similar to mine,
in that it clasped over one shoulder and left the other uncovered.
Unlike mine though, that was designed to accentuate my feminine
features, Ryder’s draped in heavy folds that mostly exposed his
toned chest and back. The bottom half hung to his knees and the
waist was tied with a gold chain belt.

I pressed my lips together to hide my
smile.

Hermes walked into the room wearing something
very similar to Ryder. He plopped down on the settee and threw his
arm over the low back. “In our glory days, we lived naked.” His
indolent gaze hit Ryder with defensive accusation. Hermes raised
his eyebrows. “Maybe you would prefer that?”

Ryder glared at him. “I’m good with
this.”

“Did the girls go naked too?” I asked, trying
to imagine a mountain full of naked gods.

Hermes shrugged, “Of course. We had nothing
to hide.”

“That explains the incest,” Ryder concluded
under his breath.

“You need to go,” Della encouraged. “The
longer she stays away, the deeper into turmoil the mountain
falls.”

I didn’t know what I could do about the
turmoil. I figured I was going to cause more problems than I fixed,
but Della’s insistence had to mean something.

I looked to Ryder and met his concentrated
gaze. He stood up slowly, power and determination radiating off his
tall form. My mouth went dry at the sight of him.

His white toga contrasted enticingly with his
olive skin. His dark hair, pushed out of his face, showed off his
sharp cheek bones and masculine brow. The air around him seemed to
shift and shimmer. He looked beyond his eighteen years. He looked
more than human.

He looked like a god.