The Deep End of the Sea (22 page)

I ache everywhere. A glance down shows me multiple bandages on my arms, more on my leg. The ankle that had failed me yesterday is wrapped. I lean back against the pillows, clutching the sheets.

Athena had attacked me yesterday. She still hates me. She wants to turn me back into a beast.

All of the tears I’d held back yesterday find their way home and leak out as I muffle my sobs against my pillow. Mátia nudges my hand with his cool nose, licking the skin with his rough tongue, and it only makes me cry harder. I knew this was all too good to be true.

The door opens and I frantically try to wipe away the mess on my face. “Dusa? Are you awake?” And then Hermes is with me, pulling me gently into his arms, and I just can’t manage to keep the sobs silent anymore. They burst out of me, filling the room. He holds me close, rocking and saying soft things I can’t discern through my hysterics, kissing my face over and over again, but it only serves to make me feel worse because this, here? This man I love? He will be gone just as soon as Athena fulfills her promise to me.

Because she’s sworn to put me somewhere where he’ll never find me.

I don’t know how long I cry. Long enough until the tears run dry and dry heaves wrack my body. He doesn’t leave, doesn’t move from where he is, and it only hurts all the more. I love him; it’s taken me years to finally understand that, and he will be lost to me just as surely as the bit of life I’ve reclaimed sooner rather than later.

It isn’t until the dry heaves stop that I finally hear the things he’s telling me. He loves me, he says. He’s so sorry he wasn’t there yesterday when Athena got to me. He feels like he’s failed me. He swears it won’t happen again. He’s so sorry. He loves me. Athena will pay for what she’s done. He’s disavowed her; she is no longer one he calls sister. He loves me. Do I hear him? He loves me. He’ll do whatever it takes to keep me safe, no matter what. Hades will be conferring with Zeus this very afternoon to rein Athena in. He loves me.

I hiccup the last bits of hysteria out and blessedly fall silent. I’m exhausted, and not in a good way.

“Will you tell me what she said?” His thumb grazes across my cheek, wiping stray tears away. “I got some of it from Dite, but ...” I feel his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows hard. “Please, love. Tell me what she said to you.”

I stare out at the window. I’m hollow again. It’s a feeling so familiar to me that it’s almost comforting. My words are hollow, too, when I tell him, “She’s going to make sure I’m better hidden next time.”

“There will be no next time.” He presses kisses against the top of my head, tension tightening the muscles in his body. “I swear, I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe. You will never—”

“You can’t make that promise” It’s a gray day outside, hardly any sun streaking down on the grove outside my window.

He cups my face in one of his hands, but I can’t look up at him. Not yet. “I can. I vow to you now that you will never be cursed again. Do you hear me, love?
Never
.”

I let him think this. I don’t want him unnecessarily blaming himself, not when none of this is his problem.

I think back to the night Poseidon raped me. Was there something I did to entice him? Lead him on? I think not, but ... he could have had anybody. Why me? And why there? And why did it enrage Athena so much that, over two thousand years later, she’s still convinced I haven’t served my punishment?

I don’t leave my room again for the rest of the day. Hermes stays with me despite his phone ringing with requests from his father, making me remorseful for keeping him from his duties.

I might as well still be on Gorgóna for all the good my so-called freedom has done for me.

“Don’t be silly,” I tell Persephone. She’s hovering next to the couch I’m lounging on. “Why would you cancel the party? You’ve been planning it for months.”

“It doesn’t feel right to celebrate after what’s happened.” She sits down next to me, making sure she keeps clear of my sprained ankle. It’s healing quickly, though; I’m already able to put my full weight on it without collapsing. For all his smack talk, Telesphoros is a miracle worker.

Hermes is downstairs, conferring with Hades. It’s the first time he’s left since I woke up yesterday, and only because Talos is standing inside my room at the door.

I tear my gaze away from the Automaton and ask quietly, “Where is Kore?”

She scratches her upper arm and sighs. “In custody.”

I sit up, startled. “What! Why?”

Persephone stands back up and paces the length of the room. “Hermes was right, you know. Kore ultimately could not be trusted. I beg your forgiveness on that end.”

“What?” But, Kore was always so kind. I just don’t understand.

“That was one of her younger sisters’ boutiques,” Persephone says, floating back toward the couch. “While we knew her older sister works for Athena, we’ve only just learned so does a younger sister. Apparently, once you came into the store, the sister immediately contacted Athena. Kore stood by and said nothing. She had plenty of opportunity to tell someone about Athena’s visit, but she didn’t.”

Poor Kore was so nervous in the boutique; she’d tried to get me to come home rather than go into the dressing room. “That’s not true,” I say quietly. And then I tell her about the failed stops and starts of Kore’s attempts to warn me.

“And yet,” the Queen of the Underworld says to me, “she could have told Talos or Aphrodite as soon as you went into the dressing room. Or the moment you walked into the store and she saw her sister. She did not. Darling, do not worry. Hades is ensuring that Kore will be properly punished for her betrayal.”

I push myself up to a sitting position. “No—please.
No
.”

She sits on the coffee table in front of me. “Medusa—”

But she doesn’t understand. “As a person who has been punished by the gods, it’s not something I would ever wish on my worst enemy. Please, do not harm her. I could not bear if she was hurt due to me.”

Her pale eyes narrow in confusion.

“I do not blame Kore in the least. She was trapped. I beg you to have her released so she can come back and work here with me.” I pray that they will keep her on staff, even when Athena has her way with me. I grab Persephone’s hand. “Please.”

She sighs and leans forward to kiss my forehead. “If this is your wish, I will respect it. I will talk to Hermes in the morning about it.”

Relieved, I slide back down on the couch and fold my hands across my chest. “Also, please don’t cancel the party. I couldn’t bear it if you did that, either. Just because I’m up here, hobbling around, doesn’t mean the rest of you can’t have fun.”

She sighs again. “If you insist, darling. Maybe you can come down if you feel up to it. Dite made sure your dress is pressed and waiting for you if you want it.”

Her touch is too kind, too motherly. It hurts, knowing this goddess will be lost to me, soon, too. I turn away to stare out of the window. “I appreciate the offer, but I think I’ll stay in and watch a movie.”

She kisses me once more and heads downstairs to prepare for the party.

I end up having the same argument with Hermes an hour later. He doesn’t want to go, preferring to stay with me, but I force him to promise to go for at least part of the time.
It’s your uncle’s birthday
, I tell him.
Your family will be here. Don’t let me ruin your night.
He argues with me but caves in the end, just like his aunt did, although he draws the line at two hours of socializing.

“I’m planning on taking a long bath. You’ll be bored stiff. Stay a few hours, drink some wine for me. While you’re at it, give Dite a hug for me, too,” I wheedle. My friend has not seen me since the boutique, but not from lack of trying. Apparently, the person Hermes had been shouting at in the hallway the morning before was none other than his favorite sister. In addition to blaming himself, he unfairly blames her for what happened to me. I tried to insist that it was not her fault, and that she saved me, but it was as if I was talking to the statues back on my island.

He pours himself a glass of bourbon from a decanter on a nearby bar. “Enough about parties and sisters. I’ve talked to my uncle, and if it’s okay with you, we’ll just stay here at the villa until we can find a place of our own.”

I drop the remote control I’d just picked up, my eyes flying up to see if his mouth is indeed moving, and that he just said what I think he just did.

He recaps the decanter. “The security here is much tighter than my house,” he continues, like he hasn’t just dropped a bombshell. “Plus, you’re already settled in, and I don’t want to upset that right now. But he’s vowed to help us find a place that meets the criteria I’m looking for as soon as possible, plus assign us a number of his Automatons when we’re ready. I’ve never bothered with employing more than a few in the past, so it’ll be nice to gain some of his.”

I must look like a fool with my mouth wide open, but it cannot be helped. He’s ... planning for our future when I know it to be ending so soon?

My shock must finally be noticeable, because he sets his drink down and comes to kneel down by my side, eyes more blue than green and filled with concern. “What’s the matter? Is it the ankle? Do you need something for the pain? I can go—”

I grab his arm as he goes to get back up. It takes a good second to piece together my hope. “You—you want to live with me?”

If I weren’t so blown away by this, I would laugh at his obvious confusion. “Isn’t that what we’ve been doing, love? Even if we haven’t officially put a title on it yet?”

I’m a mime and I’m doing a pretty job of being a fish. But then I go over the last week—no,
weeks
—and realize, yes, outside of work, he’s been here every day. Spent the night in my bed each evening, making love to me until I no longer knew my name or his, but ours. Woke up with me every morning, his naked body warm and tempting next to mine. I have not wanted it any other way. But he is a god, and I am not a goddess. He loves me, of this I have no doubt, but to break tradition and live with someone that is not of his kind?

Surprise flashes in his eyes, surprise and an unexpected hint of hurt. “If I have yet again been unclear about my intentions toward you, then I apologize.” My hand is in his, and then his forehead lowers to press gently against my flesh. He stays that way for just a moment before brushing his mouth first across my knuckles and then, oh so sweetly, across my lips. “I love you. But if this is something you don’t wish for ...”

Oh, for the love of— “Hermes.” I pull him closer “It is. Of course it is. It’s just ... I am not a goddess.”

“So?”

His sweetness cuts me to the bone. He doesn’t understand. He’s just always too generous, too much of a knight-in-shining-armor to get it. I try to explain, but I think I botch it, since it basically comes out the same as, “Dogs and cats can be friends but do not live in the same doghouse, or in other words, gods in the Assembly do not form long term romantic relationships with ex-monsters even though I want nothing more than just this,” which makes me groan in embarrassment, but I’m not always the most eloquent girl out there.

All of my gibberish leaves him with that exasperated sigh/laugh that’s unique to him. “Where do you come up with this stuff? You could not be more ridiculous right now.” Any protest of mine is swallowed and then scattered when he kisses me. My toes curl, my hands snake into his hair, and once more, the mere touch of his tongue against mine propels me high into the heavens. He kisses me slowly, heating me inside out until I’m panting. Kissing leads to touching, touching leads to my dress on the floor, and then his clothes. And finally, he’s exactly where I need him to be: deep inside me, moving maddeningly slow as his tongue in my mouth matches these strokes. I hold onto him tightly, hips rising to meet his in perfect synchronicity, until my body swells and explodes in the bliss that only he’s been able to bring to me. He follows moments later, and when he’s breathing heavily, trailing kisses down my cheek, I revel is the comforting weight of his body against mine. He is still in me, and as always, I am reluctant to let him pull out just yet. I like this connection between us, this feeling that we are, despite all the odds, one.