Hex Goddess (All My Exes Die from Hexes Book 3) Page 10

  He nodded.

  Anwen licked her lips. “Why? You barely even know me.”

  “It’s a Pure Soul’s duty. I promise you, if Jerry were evil, I wouldn’t let you anywhere near him. But he’s safe. Big Boss resurrected him, and I refuse to believe that reason was just to cause more evil.”

  She drew back, returning towards the driver’s side. “For both our sakes, I hope so.”

  Chapter 13

  “When you said wear something that drives men crazy, I was worried you wanted to sauce me up like cheap meat. Now, I think what you actually meant to say was something to drive me crazy.”

  Riona felt like the hottest thing since Texas barbeque, and not in the excuse me, sir, but can I get her rack on my barbie? way. More like the who in the hell wears a long-sleeved alpaca sweater, corduroy pants, and wool socks in this kind of weather? way. Winter or no, Olympus still had a Mediterranean climate. Aka H-O-T. Persephone promised Riona that Zeus’ home, partially dug into the mountain as it was, would be much cooler than her own hillside estate. Especially at night. She also insisted that Riona would thank her for picking out her ensemble before dinner was done.

  Incredulity flourished.

  “But you look wonderful!” Persephone led the way down the stone-cobbled path. “Don’t scoff at my hospitality, Riona, it would be undeniably rude.”

  Hades brought up the rear of their processional, and Riona suspected that was for the view.

  “I like it,” he declared. “Modesty is such a welcomed change of pace. All the women here dress as though they’re bandaging wounds with the last shreds of cloth to be found at the end of the Great War.”

  Riona shot daggers at him over her shoulder. “You should know.”

  Dude must have been sensitive about his age. Hades defined his lickable cheekbones to their full potential as he ground his jaw. Oh, Persephone was right. Annoyed, almost angry Hades was a pretty thing to look at. She turned her mind and her eyes forward as Persephone’s arm threaded through hers.

  “Maybe you’re right. If my husband likes it, quite possibly, it’s a bad idea.”

  “There’s a number of things your husband likes which are bad ideas,” Hades muttered. “But they get you there every time, Steph.”

  It was only about a ten-minute walk from one house to the other, but it felt like a flash in the fryer as Persephone gave Riona a last-minute orientation before launching her onto Olympian society. Dinners amongst the gods were not overly formal affairs, even in the home of the king. Don’t kowtow or defer to anyone. Their egos were already bigger than some first world economies. Pomp was reserved solely for visiting dignitaries. She also noted that the nephilim, on the whole, didn’t consider the Pure Souls particularly dignified.

  Curious if they were alone on the path, Riona asked how the other dinner guests were arriving. Persephone explained they most likely ported to Athens, took a cab to the corresponding location there, and then ported back to Olympus. A bit cumbersome, she noted, but nonetheless, effective.

  “Still not sure denying humans the ability to port was one of Big Boss’s good ideas,” Riona commented. “Think of how it would have saved our fossil fuels.”

  “You do seem a fan of it, the way you pop into so many places. Sometimes, even clothed,” Hades snickered. When Persephone shot him a dirty look, he continued, minus the snark. “Seriously, it’s not nearly as useful as you might think.”

  “Yeah, but if you wanted to pop off to have dinner in Athens, all you have to do is think about it,” Riona said. “No dealing with traffic or anything.”

  She saw Hades’ jaw clenching from the corner of her eye. “In theory.”

  “Hades.” Persephone drew his name out like taffy. “Not now.”

  “As you wish.” They paused to look at the former Lord of the Underworld as he bowed in mock surrender, took his wife’s hand, and kissed it.

  “Cute, but the Westley and Buttercup routine doesn’t work on me anymore.” Persephone jerked back her hand and led Riona through the gate at the entry of Zeus’ estate. “We won’t stay too long. And if, at any point, you want to leave, just let me know. You’re a guest; they won’t insist on your staying if you’re uncomfortable.”

  “Uncomfortable?” Riona asked.

  Nerves made Persephone giggle. “This evening might be a little different from what you’re accustomed to.”

  They wound up in the residential wing, although she was fairly certain they were in Zeus’ throne chamber before. Instead of a large dining table with place settings, a handful of staff circulated through the room, bearing trays filled with finger foods. Every few minutes, a new meza, as Persephone called the dishes of bite-sized treats, was presented for sampling. And wine? The term “bottomless glass” came to mind.

  Predictably, the ten or so guests, a few of whom had names she recognized from Classic Literature class, were specimens of physical perfection who held patents on sexy. For once, however, she didn’t find their beauty overwhelming. Maybe she was becoming immune to such perfection. There was something to be said in the comfort of a quirk. God, she missed that little bump in Jerry’s nose, and the way he always sucked on her lip for a moment after they kissed.

  “How are you finding Olympus?”

  Riona roused herself from memories of her husband’s oral skills and looked at the woman who was introduced to her as Hestia. She was, by far, the meekest of all the nephilim Riona ever met. Still uncompromisingly beautiful with the characteristic mask of youth about her, she wouldn’t have stood out if not for the genuine, sweet smile she wore.

  The keystone put her glass of wine on the side table, feeling a stir in her head as she shifted. Boy, Olympian vintages really packed a punch. “I have to admit, I’m a little shocked by how modern it all is. I was picturing temples, and lambs on a spit with people riding chariots around.”

  A scintillating blond, Thanatos was his name, if she remembered right, had a look of foreboding about him. More muscled than even Dee, she was sure he could kill an elephant with his bare hands, or a sideways glance.

  “It was that way once,” he informed her, “back when Greece was like that.” He and the others exchanged a muted laugh. “We’re not immune from time. We’ve moved on, and kept pace with the world. There’re still some ruins from the old days just outside the city. I could take you there sometime, if you like.”

  Riona’s eyes went to Persephone, looking for a reaction. Persephone, however, only showed concern for Hades, who sat off in the corner of the room. He was lying across an armchair with his legs dangling over the side, a wine glass pressed to his lips and his eyes riveted on her figure. Despite the look not being meant for her, Riona felt a flash of heat that began baking her from the inside out.

  “Maybe, and then there’s...” she said airily. Her pulsing desire evoked the memory of something else, but it seemed so vulgar a thing to bring up to ancient immortals. “Nah, never mind, it’s silly.”

  “Oh, don’t say it that way.” This time, a fair-skinned, red-haired Barbie doll of a woman was the one perched on the edge of her seat. Riona couldn’t recall her name, but remembered it sounded neither Greek, nor familiar. A god from another mountain? A demigod? There were a few of those as well. “You have us all on pins and needles.”

  Riona grew straighter in her chair and took another sip of her wine. “Promise not to laugh, okay? I’ve been doing a lot of studying the last few months. Reading journals of former Pure Souls, books on wicca... That kind of stuff. The ancient gods don’t get mentioned much. But, still, one constant whenever y’all do get mentioned is...” She let out a nervous laugh. “Honestly, the stuff I read always makes it sound like all you guys ever do is tiptoe around, seducing mortals and throwing wild sex parties.”

  All were silent.

  “You don’t do that, do you?” she asked, this time with some hesitation.

  Zeus leaned over and whispered conspiratorially. His close proximity lessened even more when she found herself shifting h
er upper body in his direction.

  “Do you really want to know the answer to that question?”

  “Not if it’s irrelevant.” Riona became shy, and moved to change the subject. “Not really one for history, and I have been to the Parthenon, so I guess I’m good.”

  Zeus glanced longingly into the distance. “Ah, the Parthenon. They really let that place go. It’s practically crumbling.”

  Riona turned to the king. “It is over two thousand years old.”

  “So am I, but I still make an effort.” After the laughter died away, he focused back on her. “Would you like to see it?”

  Confusion twisted Riona’s expression. “I...”

  From across the room, Hades’ voice floated. “What are you at, brother?”

  The king’s brother was a master diplomat, and very well schooled during his reign in the Underworld. He managed to speak in a tone that could be taken either as a pleasant curiosity, or a suspicious inquiry.

  “Being king allows me so few privileges anymore, and fewer times with those who’ve not had the opportunity to see it. Allow an old goat his fancies.” Zeus winked at her, although Riona had a feeling there may have been more that they discussed without words. Whatever the two said psychically, Hades seemed satisfied with Zeus’ explanation. He made no objection when Zeus stood up and offered Riona his hand.

  The wind whipped her hair and teased her curves, as though Zeus could evoke the elements in a dance of seduction to her senses. The cool air whisked around her, stirring her longing to be warmed. Persephone was right: Riona was happy to be clothed in wool. Above, a quarter moon made a feeble effort at illuminating the landscape. Black stone tile covered the patio, ending in an overlook, bordered by clear glass walls. The valley poured out beneath them, a pastoral landscape punctuated by an occasional villa or windmill.

  “Behold my kingdom.” Zeus swung his arm across the panoramic vista.

  “It’s... very nice.”

  “You’re too kind, Miss Dade. I know it’s not much to look at. But once... Once, this was a part of it too.”

  Zeus splayed his hand flat, as though trying to erase a chalkboard. At first, Riona wasn’t sure what to make of it. Then, as his hand passed through the air, the view of the landscape shifted. In the distance, flickering fires shone through the darkness. Then, on a hill rising above the blanket of white-washed homesteads, she could make out the silhouette of the Grecian Temple Mount. All of her confusing body signals ebbed as her curiosity and awe got the better of her.

  “That’s the Parthenon!”

  “Yes, it is.” Zeus motioned to the railing a few feet away where a telescope was mounted to a pole. “But look closer. See what it looked like when it was built. I’m afraid it’s merely a shadow of its former glory now, not so unlike myself.”

  A fleeting smile passed between them as Riona bent over and stole a peek through the device. She felt Zeus against her side, his arm draped over her shoulders, and in a moment, the teasing urge to be touched returned.

  “What you see is a memory,” he said. “We can reflect on our pasts here, a small compensation granted us by the angels. And we must reflect on the past, for we have no future.”

  She pulled back, biting her lip. “Because you have no soul.”

  “Makes me sound cruel, doesn’t it?” He winked. “Alas, I do have a heart, and it loves deeply and passionately. What good is a soul to me? What would Heaven give us that we do not already have here on Earth?”

  “Eternity?” Riona ventured.

  Zeus shook his head. “An illusion, my dear. Time is fiction. All the lives lived, all the souls living... Mere pages in a book Big Boss simultaneously conceived, wrote, published, read, and put away. We’re all stuck here, plodding out our plot lines, but He knows how it all turns out.”

  “If I didn’t know better, Zeus, I’d say you sound depressed.”

  “I can see how you might think that. I prefer to think of it as ‘resolved.’”

  “To do what?”

  “How do you find my son?”

  The change in the subject matter jolted her. “Uh, Dee is... Dionysius is good. Funny guy, but really a good friend.”

  “No doubt of that. I have sired dozens of children through the eons, but Dee is one of my most precious, and also my only child of mixed ancestry still living. I look forward to his arrival. You do not know when that might be?”

  She was eager herself, though frankly, she was more excited by the arrival of the man who accompanied him. “Soon, I hope.”

  “As do I.” He tipped a finger to the past before them. “I have far too much past behind me, and I’m afraid not all of it is so glorious. Some is a bit more bleak. And some of it, I regret immensely.”

  “We’ve all done things we regret.”

  “Indeed.” They were silent for a few moments, and nothing but the sound of the wind flowing around the crags above them could be heard. Then, Zeus said, “Tell me of your husband. He’s the third of your trio, is he not?”

  “Yeah, Jerry. He’s a pillar.” She wasn’t sure if she should say any more than that. Riona didn’t know which threads of the story could be safely pulled down without unraveling the secret she concealed.

  “And you love him very much.”

  “I do.”

  “Hold on to that.” Zeus’ smile faltered. “It’s both the most plentiful and rarest thing in the world. Defend what you have, and don’t let anyone come between you, including yourself.”

  “You’re not going to try to seduce me.” Riona blushed when she realized she said that aloud.

  Throwing back his head, Zeus bellowed. “You sound disappointed.”

  “It’s just... After what everyone said, I expected you to...”

  Taking her hand into his, Zeus lifted Riona’s fingers to his lips and placed a reverent kiss on her knuckles. “Don’t let this body fool you. I’m an old man, much too old for you. I enjoy the hunt, but I’m more of a catch-and-release sportsman these days. You have been caught by someone else already, and your longing to be with him is almost palpable. Your emotions are so close to the surface.”

  “They are? That’s new.”

  “In vino veritas,” Zeus said as he tilted his head in circumspection. “You have a glow about you that I’ve never seen in a human. When I look at you, it almost feels like I’m looking at one of the angels.”

  Nervous laughter tickled her throat. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

  “But with you, I mean it.” His study intensified. “Your life force – you humans call it an aura now, don’t you? – it swirls, almost like two rivers flowing into each other and blending their currents.” His eyes narrowed. “Very curious.”

  She gave a nervous pitch of her head towards the stairs. “Thanks for showing me the Parthenon, but maybe we should go back inside?”

  “Yes, let’s.” Zeus offered her his arm, which she found delightfully well fitted to her own. “Or if you turn left at the bottom of the stairs, we can try that seduction thing you mentioned. My private chambers are that direction, and you are quite striking.”

  “Down, Zeus. Married woman.”

  When she found her way back to the lounge, she searched out the space to find Persephone. She nearly fell backward at the scene she encountered. All around her, the gods, whom she just dined with, were paired off, and all were in some stage of seduction. On the table where her wine glass sat, Hestia lay, rosy-cheeked as another party attendee, whom she couldn’t recall the name of, laid siege to her throat. Thantos’s backside gyrated as he coaxed a low moan from whomever he had pinned against a wall. No one stopped or hesitated when they saw her. No one, that was, except Persephone.

  The verdant goddess, though still fully clothed, sat curled up on her husband’s lap like a kitten, lip-locked and purring. At the sight of Riona, Persephone shot up. Too late. The keystone already had undeniable proof that someone didn’t hate her husband nearly as much as she claimed she did.

  If physical int
imacy were the gods’ drink of choice, Persephone must’ve had one too many. She was blazingly, stupidly, obviously on her way to becoming totally blitzed.

  “Riona.” Lethargy plagued the goddess’s movements. “Is everything... Did my dad enjoy you? I mean, did you enjoy my dad? What he showed you, that is.”

  “It was very illuminating.”

  Acid had nothing on Hades’ glare. “Given that you returned so quickly, not nearly illuminating enough.”

  “Can we go?” Riona asked. “I think your dad is on to me.”

  “What? Um, yeah... We can... Hades? Let’s go home, huh?”

  And just like that, the storm on the glaring god’s face cleared, to be replaced by a grin that could’ve powered Tokyo.

  “Home, wife? I’d be delighted.”

  Chapter 14

  Persephone’s essence lingered on his tongue. Enough to whet his appetite, but hardly enough to sate him. Hades ground his teeth, restraining the urge to lash out at the witch and her sense of timing. Zeus swore he wouldn’t do anything to her, after all. Why his brother found the keystone of the Pure Souls so interesting, he didn’t care. At their meeting earlier, Zeus grilled Hades for every detail he could offer. Of course, Hades didn’t divulge Riona’s biggest secret. If Zeus knew Riona was Michael’s child, and decided to carry out the maximum penalty allowed under the Accords, he’d have been the one who suffered. It was unlikely his wife would warm back up to him if he were a participant in the death of her friend.

  Having Persephone in his arms reminded him of how things once were. And how they might become again, if only she’d forgive him. In the last few days, she softened, but every so slightly. Damn it, he was so close to convincing her to retreat to some hidden corner with him. So amazingly close. When had they last made love? A year ago? Ten years ago? He couldn’t remember, or forget.

  Persephone braced the keystone, keeping her from falling as they made their way down the cobbled path in the mountainside. “Okay, tell me what happened.”