Ode to the Queen (13 page)

My head pounded and my eyes burned but I kept telling myself I had to stay strong. I couldn’t depend on someone to rescue me when no one was coming… And then all at once Hades was gone.

One minute he was against me, his hands violating me, and then a cool rush of air replaced the space he had just occupied.

My tears had utterly distorted my vision and I wiped them away as a crash echoed through the room. Griffin was sprawled on the ground, a heap of bathroom stalls beneath him where someone had tossed him. Had I done that? A surge of pride rushed through me and then Aidan stepped into my peripherals.

“Are you okay?” He said, reaching out to help me off the counter. I’m sure he was just trying to be helpful, and frankly he had been, but I couldn’t help but suddenly be uncontrollably angry with him. I was never going to live this down.

“I was doing fine by myself!” I could hear myself yelling at him as I adjusted my half torn panties and reached for the soiled dress. I could see in the reflection of the mirror the perplexity on his face that I was reacting this way but I was bright red.

Once more he had come to my defence, less than 12 hours after telling me how I couldn’t rely on him to do something like this for me and forced me to defend myself without him. But how was I supposed to do that when he persisted in doing it for me?

“I don’t need you Aidan. You’re not a knight in shining armour, so stop acting like one!” I tugged the dress back on and made for the door. I felt justified in being angry with Aidan as I stepped back into the hallway.

But the seriousness of my previous situation hit me as soon as the door swung shut and I covered my mouth in horror. Had all that just happened?

But the terror and the anger at Aidan for being so contradictory and confusing still echoed through me. None of this was at all helped by the fact I was still mostly drunk, having barely sobered from the ordeal of it all.

I wanted to just go home but I didn’t know how to get there and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go home to America or just back to my apartment.

So I did the only reasonable thing I could think of and slumped against the wall, starting to cry.

“C’mon.” His hands reached out, one sliding around my body and holding my shoulders tightly while the other took my hand and lifted me back to my feet. I could feel him adjusting my, now, loose dress in order to maintain some of my dignity while he led me toward the closest door. I didn’t understand why he was doing this or why he was being kind but I didn’t question it. I was past the point of questioning everything Aidan did and was too tired to argue anymore. Maybe he would take me back to my bed and I could sleep for years, like Rip Van Winkle.

My feet were stiff as we tried to walk and finally he stopped. He turned me in his arms, his hands sliding along my back as he pressed me against his chest and let me cry. It felt good to let it all out, like a detox my body had desperately needed. I sobbed uncontrollably against his chest while he stood there awkwardly allowing my tears to soak his shirt.

My body quivered from the force of my anguish and Aidan took it all, stroking my back as comfortingly as he could manage. Finally he leaned away to look me in the eye. He reached out and instinctively I flinched back, afraid that he was going to hit me, or grab me like he had earlier. But instead his thumb rubbed along my eye and wiped the tears away from the pools they had formed.

His thumb brushed down my cheek, moving away the streams that were left behind before tucking my hair behind my ear.

He looked like he wanted to say something but he simply offered me a small smile before whispering, “you’re safe now.” While my bitterness of everything that had transpired between us left me wanting to think he was lying, there was something about the tone of his voice that told me he meant it.

He would kill Griffin if he tried to get near me again. A part of me was sad because I knew it wasn’t Griffin’s fault but his God’s. I guess he was just a good example of what could happen to us if we rejected our Gods. I shuddered again; thankful I had decided to embrace Hera now instead of continuing to ignore her.

Aidan took the little quiver differently and stepped back more, wrapping his strong arm around me and guiding me toward the door.

“Let’s get you home.” He said softly. I was still quite drunk but I hoped I’d be able to remember this in the morning.

I hoped I could remember every last detail down to how his arms felt around me and how delicious his cologne was. I didn’t want to forget how velvety his soft voice was and how knowing he cared made me burn from my nose to my toes.

I wanted to remember everything I could about this so if things went back to normal I could know that underneath his rough exterior there was a man who did genuinely care, even if he never let anyone see it.

The Aidan I had grown accustomed to was cold and stoic. He had layers upon layers of brick walls put up as self-defence.

But this Aidan: he was kind and caring and he was letting me in by showing me this side of him. He didn’t say anything as he led me from the club. The door he managed to conjure opened up to our penthouse level and I turned, surprise in my features as I stared at the door as it disappeared into the wall.

Aidan’s arm shifted around me, dropping to my waist and holding me tight against him almost protectively as his now freed hand reached out to push the door open.

My body was hit with a fury of unbalance as the alcohol managed to maintain its grip on my senses and I braced myself against Aidan’s muscular structure. I could feel all self-control slowly slipping away to give into the exhaustion I felt in my body.

As the door swung open he refocused his grip on me before leading us through the door. I stumbled through the threshold; thankful he was there to make sure that I got to my bedroom okay. Mostly because I was certain without his firm grip around me I would have never made it all the way there with the way my feet were sticking to the ground and I was tripping over myself.

“Hang in there…” He said encouragingly as he finally gave up on my feet and swooped over, scooping me up in his arms.

“My hero!” I drunkenly proclaimed with a small giggle. He looked down at me, his face neutral but the amusement was there in his eyes as he shook his head.

“You seriously cannot hold your alcohol. You tripped seven times between walking into the apartment and now… No wonder he…” Aidan frowned and stopped himself from finishing what he was about to say. I could feel myself frown as well, mirroring his expression as I nodded.

“I’m an idiot.” I admitted softly and he looked down at me.

“No, he’s the idiot for thinking he could do that without anyone knowing, or without any consequences.”

I realised then that Aidan’s appearance in the bathroom was something of a mystery. I had been yelling but I didn’t think I had been yelling loud enough for him to hear me from wherever he had been. The music in the club had been so loud surely he couldn’t have been able to hear me. No less so if he had been occupied with that blonde somewhere else.

“How did you know?” I said quietly, looking up at him as he moved into my bedroom and bent down to set me on the bed gently. The bed was so soft and comfy, I could feel it surrounding me like a cloud and I sunk with pleasure deeper into the covers. My eyes slipped closed and I snuggled around the blankets happy and thankful he’d brought me to my bed.

“Just a sec, you have to take that dress off. It’s soaking wet, soapy, and smells like Killer Kool-Aid.” He reached out, pulling the blankets away from me and I groaned as the cold air hit me once more.

“No…” I whined, trying to fight him but failing as he got the blanket completely out from under me and dropped it onto the floor.

“Savannah, just take your dress off and I’ll get you some pjs.” He turned and looked around for the closet before heading over to get what I needed.

“You just want to see me half naked again.” I said with a soft mumble and he agreed with a chuckle as he pulled out a nightie from the closet. I undid the dress once more and pulled it over my head, throwing it onto the floor as he returned with the nightie.

“That was definitely a benefit to being a knight in shining armour.” He held the nightie out to me and for a moment our eyes met.

I liked this side of Aidan. If I didn’t know how much of a jerk he could be I knew that I would’ve easily have fallen a lot harder for him than I had. I wanted to keep this Aidan forever but I knew that it could only last so long. In fact a voice in the back of my mind was warning me to get him out of there before he did spoil it and the memory was destroyed.

But I selfishly wanted more, if only for another few minutes. Like Christmas, I was going to assume this side of Aidan only came but once a year.

“Why’s that?” I asked as innocently as my drunkenness could manage and he arched an eyebrow at me, seeing through my plight for a compliment. But for whatever reason he humoured me, reaching out to tuck my hair behind my ear again in a gesture that made me feel a lot younger than I was.

“Because, believe it or not I think you’re the right fit for Hera in intelligence, strength and beauty. Atlas couldn’t have picked a better consort for Zeus in terms of vessels.”

“But you said earlier...” I frowned slightly trying to gauge if this was a compliment or not. He certainly hadn’t said I was perfect for him but that I was perfect for Zeus. Did he think Zeus and he were one in the same, and this was just a clever way of avoiding admitting that he liked me?

My head spun trying to understand and I fell back onto the bed with a groan, wanting to desperately sleep.

“Savvy, you’re still half naked. And as much as I appreciate the view you probably should cover up.” He pushed his hands under my back, forcing me to sit up again and I groaned in discomfort.

“Why… it’s just you. It’s not like someone else is going to walk in…” I opened my eyes again and once more I found myself falling into those icy blue depths of his.

We stayed like that for a moment before he shrugged and nodded, “suit yourself then.” He pulled his hand back from my body and a small charge of electricity flowed through me from him.

He started slightly so I knew he’d felt it too as we both sat there frozen for a moment staring at each other. I wanted to say something, to acknowledge whatever that had been but I didn’t know what to say. So I finally looked away. The minute the intensity of our gazes was broken the charge in the room seemed to dissipate.

“Well, I…” He began, stepping back from the bed and a sense of panic went through me. I looked back up quickly and shook my head.

“Wait! You never answered my question.” An eyebrow arched itself in my direction and I cleared my throat, ready to clarify: “I asked how you knew what was happening…” Aidan nodded his head slightly and looked away, turning completely toward my window and staring out into the darkness that was spreading as far as the eye could see.

I wondered vaguely if he looked out there and thought about how all that was now under his jurisdiction. No matter if there were Kings or Presidents or Dictators, he, in the end, had the final say of what happened on earth.

But the idea of having that much control was somewhat daunting. What were we supposed to do with it? How were we supposed to change the world and fix it? We were kids compared to… well, to Atlas I suppose. Our souls might be old but our knowledge and experiences weren’t.

“I was back in my apartment, having a few extra drinks with myself and I don’t know… Suddenly my stomach was pitted with panic, but it wasn’t mine. I didn’t think it was. But I felt like something was wrong and then he told me it was you. The last time I’d seen you, you were at the club so I started there. Once I was in Styx it was like we knew where you were and what was going on.” He frowned, raking a hand through his mused hair. “It’s hard to explain but I just knew you were in trouble and needed me…”

“You didn’t take that blonde back to your apartment?”

“What? No!” He shook his head, turning back toward me. “She’s like 18. A six-year difference is one thing, but almost a 10-year difference is a totally different thing. I could be like her older brother almost.” My previous worry and the inlaid jealousy evaporated and I smiled.

“You were worried about me.” I pointed out sleepily, leaning back down onto the bed and letting my eyes close. The idea that he’d been seized by my panic and it had transformed into his own, it made me happy. Even if he was a jerk to me 99% of the time, he still cared underneath it all. It was almost enough to make everything he’d said and done up to this point insignificant.

“I was not.” He disagreed gruffly. I smiled and nodded in his general direction as I snuggled up into the bed, hugging a pillow close to my body. He stood there for a moment, no doubt staring at me and mulling over what I had said before he moved back to the side of the bed and picked up the discarded blanket.

He threw it up onto the bed and settled it around me like a protective cloud. He even went so far as to tuck me in and I could feel his hands hovering over me for a lot longer than he needed to.

I guess he was trying to gauge if I was asleep or not because he then whispered, “of course I was… I don’t know what he’d do if something happened to you. I don’t know what I’d do…” I smiled to myself and reached out from under the blanket to pat his hand. He jerked it away from me in surprise and I quietly replied,

“But you’re not supposed to defend me I thought… It’s my job to take care of me, I can’t rely on someone else to defend me.” He sighed softly and I reluctantly rolled over, opening my eyes to look at him.

“It is my responsibility.” He said finally, a resignation labouring his words. “We might not be together, we may never be together but you’re still Hera and I’m still Zeus. No matter how we feel about each other, I need to respect the way he feels about her, and you consequently. So, is it my duty to protect you when you need it, especially against Zeus’ rapist brother? Yeah, it’s definitely my responsibility.”

I smiled at him and reached out, touching the back of his hand gently this time. I wanted to believe too that he felt a responsibility toward me for his own sake even if it wasn’t true.

That being said, I certainly wasn’t going to ruin the moment by putting a damper on it and simply said, “We appreciate it.”

“Well that and the amount of alcohol you’ve put into your system tonight, I’m amazed you didn’t drink yourself into a coma. I felt obligated just as a member of society to make sure that you got yourself home without letting that entire bottle of tequila make your clothes fall off. Publicly that is.” I could tell he was remembering the lacy bra and underwear I’d put on under my beautiful dress. I flushed and all at once normal Aidan was back.

“Ah yes, that must be it…” I teased slightly, patting his hand once more before I drew it away and curled back into my bed.

“Like I said, I wasn’t complaining about the view.” He straightened up and I could almost feel his smirk from where I laid. I sensed he was getting ready to leave and yet a part of me didn’t want him to. I was enjoying this new side of him so much that I didn’t want to go back to how we used to be.

As he turned I reached out once again, but this time my fingers slid into the spaces between his and I held on like he was a life raft. I wasn’t going to let go so easily this time.