Adrastia (The God Chronicles Book 4) (15 page)

The weeping behind me continued and I chanced a quick look, catching sight of her in the water, sitting on the steps, her face in her hands.

I couldn’t stand it, seeing her so distraught for some reason. Quietly, I entered the clearing, removing my own shoes and stepping into the warmth that awaited.

She didn’t notice me at first, caught up in her emotions, so I simply just sat by her, my black jeans blending into the water color, not knowing what to do. Finally, I gave into what my instincts were saying and pulled her into my arms, moving out into the water so I could hold her better.

“Cristos?” she hiccupped, wiping her eyes hastily and pushing away some.

“You looked like you needed some help,” I answered lamely.

“I’m fine,” she said, turning to swim back to the steps.

“No, you’re not,” I countered, grabbing her hand. “Anyone could see that.”

She stared at me, at the hand that held onto her own, lips trembling before more tears began to wash her face.

“What happened at that town is my fault,” she whispered.

“No, it’s not,” I said forcefully, pulling her close to me and crushing my arms around her. “No one was there looking for you. You didn’t have anything to do with what happened.”

“But I did,” she insisted, her voice muffled into my chest. “I’m a Titan. I never understood what was so bad about them before, only that they were scary. But you were right. They’re monsters. I’m a monster.”

The last words were barely audible as she clung to me, shoulders shaking fiercely.

“Avalon,” I replied hesitantly.

“How could anyone do something so horrible to another person?” she continued, as if she didn’t hear me. “How could I do something so horrible?”

“You didn’t do it,” I tried to coax her. “It’s not your fault. You’re a good person.”

“You told me I wasn’t worth the air I was breathing,” she snapped, pulling back to look at me. The anger that had flared in her eyes faded almost instantly, replaced by self-loathing. “And you were right.”

“I wasn’t,” I argued as she pushed away, moving onto the steps. “I never should have said that to you, Avalon. I’m so sorry.”

“I want you to take me to Mount Etna and destroy me,” she said, leaving the pool. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt anymore, not because of me.”

“Avalon,” I stammered, following her. “Please stop. This isn’t your fault.”

“Dimitri is dead because of me,” she continued mournfully, ignoring me. “So are those kids. And that whole town. And this whole town. Everywhere I go, someone dies. Just get rid of me—end it now.”

Desperation was starting to set in on both of us. She was falling into a state I didn’t know how to pull her from. Tears streamed freely down her face, anguish written all over it, staining her perfect skin, and I just wanted it to stop.

Grabbing her hands, I pulled her down to my step in the pool, wanting to hug her again, to hold her until she came out of it, but did something else entirely, something I hadn’t even realized I wanted to do.

I crushed my mouth to hers, fingers winding into her wet tresses as I grabbed her face, holding her to me as strongly as I could without hurting her. Then, as if I’d been struck by lightning, I pulled away, still holding her face, my wide eyes meeting her matching gaze.

The breath between us hung in the air, waiting to see which direction things were going to go, everything silent as I looked at her, struck by how beautiful someone so sad could look. Every nerve in my body urged me to kiss her again, to feel her, to caress her, to make the pain go away.

All she did was stare at me, surprise on her face, her fingers reaching up to gently touch my hands.

Slowly, waiting for her to tell me to stop, I leaned in again, stepping forward to make our bodies flush, and I kissed her, a warning bell going off somewhere in my head. At that moment, I couldn’t really care.

If the burn I felt from catching her in a surprise kiss before was anything, it was nothing compared to what I felt when she kissed me back. Her lips moved against mine, fingers digging into my hands, body pressing against me, driving me insane with a red hot fire and desire I’d never felt before. It was like she was water and I was thirsting to death, unable to get enough of her.

Our lips bruised against each other, breath washing over our faces, warming the skin in the cold, winter air. Steam from the spring heated the moment, our clothes sticking to our bodies, making it as if there was nothing between us at all. The only thought in my mind was I wanted more, so much more.

Tipping her head back, I flicked my tongue inside her mouth, tasting her, falling into her, losing control of myself as I surrendered to what I was feeling. 

Her arms wrapped around my neck and I seized the opportunity to release her face, grabbing her around the waist instead, pulling her even tighter against me. When her teeth nipped at my lower lip, I growled in satisfaction, hauling her up into the air and guiding her legs around my waist, clutching her to me as tightly as ever.

“Wait,” she suddenly said, breaking away from me, her chest heaving.

Gods help me, she wasn’t wearing a bra.

“What is it,” I asked breathlessly, trying not to stare as I held her to me.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you think we’re doing?” I asked, not able to help it as I grinned wolfishly.

“Put me down!” she ordered, pushing on my chest.

Doing as she asked, I looked at her bewildered, hands on her hips. The skin was so soft, covered only by her shirt, which I rubbed up with my thumbs, my fingers caressing her sides softly.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, confused, feeling the high from before waning.

“You’re just like your dad!” she accused me. “Trying to get into my pants!”

“What?” I asked, shocked. “That is not at all what I was trying to do.”

“Save it,” she snapped. “I’ve heard the stories about your family.”

“Avalon, I swear—”

“You would take advantage of me like that? When I was so upset?”

The hurt in her eyes stung, killing any arousal I’d been feeling. Instead, it was like she’d shot me straight through the heart with one of Arsenio’s arrows.

“It wasn’t like that,” I managed to get out, knowing she wouldn’t believe me.

“Just . . . Leave me alone, okay?”

She glared at me sadly for a moment longer before turning and grabbing up her clothes, leaving the clearing without saying another word.    

“Avalon,” I called out, frustrated. “Avalon, wait!”

My breath caught in my chest as I watched her go, shock resonating through me at her words. Angrily, I slapped the water, glaring at the spot where she’d disappeared from view.

Never in my life had I’d been accused of being a womanizer. I’d been raised better and had Zeus’s experience on the matter to learn from. Taking any woman I wanted was not something I did. I’d thought that maybe, someday after the war was over, I’d meet someone and fall so completely for her, just as Zeus had for Karly. I didn’t want the same spotted past as my father. 

She’d kissed me back! How was I the bad guy if she’d been enjoying it? How dare she treat me like a villain! I gave her time to tell me no. She could have stopped me at any moment and I would have listened.

She was right, my timing could have been better. She was upset, it would look like I was trying to take advantage of her. All I’d been trying to do was comfort her.

It just got really out of control really fast.

You will join with the demi-Titan . . .

I stopped cold in my tracks, the prophecy seemingly being screamed at me from every angle, so much so that I dove under the water trying to escape it. When my face broke the surface again, I felt my head had cleared some.

I’d never even thought of kissing Avalon before, not until it was happening, just like I’d never really thought of being kind to her until I was doing it.

I never should have stopped thinking of her as an It,
I thought bitterly.

I stayed in the hot spring, lost in my own thoughts for quite some time, not wanting to go back to camp and face her again in front of Arsenio. It was clear to me I was going to have to be a little meaner, to protect myself.

In the end, Avalon was a mystery. I didn’t know what was going to happen to her, only that I had to keep the Titans from getting her. Being harsher would protect me from losing anything and it would help her, too. Somehow.

As I finally left the water and headed back, I couldn’t help the last thought that entered my mind.

What if I’ve already sealed my own fate?

Chapter Sixteen

Avalon

I lay under my blanket next to the fire, stiff as a board, listening to the soft breathing of Arsenio a few feet away. Cristos was sitting guard on the edge of camp, obscured by the trees, silent as always.

I could still feel his lips on mine, the way they’d sent shivers down my spine, tumbling even the Titan into a bliss I’d never felt before. Being swept away had been easy, like it was the one thing I’d been made to do on this earth. Stopping it was another story.

You should have been more cautious,
I scolded myself.
You knew what Olympians were like. Good grief, more than half the trouble they got themselves in came from not being able to keep it in their pants!

I adjusted my position slightly, daring a look in Cristos’s direction. He had his back turned to me, the hilt of his sword showing from the mouth of his ratty back pack. Everything about him was still except for his long, unbound hair, blowing over his shoulders gently as a burst of air glided over his black clad form, another storm on the horizon.

I’d been lost in that hair, feeling it with my fingers, tousling it as I gripped him.

Stopping my train of thought immediately, I looked back up at the sky, a few stars twinkling down from between the clouds. If it weren’t for the fire and the blankets, I would be freezing.

Did he only start treating me nice because he wanted me like that?

The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth, sticking to me like glue no matter how I tried to get rid of it.

I’d arrived back at the camp, changed into my new clothes, arms wrapped tightly around my body as I looked to see if my would be romancer had beaten me back. He was nowhere to be found, so I simply sat down and watched Arsenio flick sticks into the fire. He’d asked me if I enjoyed my time at the hot spring and I’d blushed darkly, wondering if he knew what Cristos had been planning.

The brute returned some time later, still soaking and shivering in the cold, avoiding any eye contact with me. No one said a single word the entire night. It was eating at my nerves, picking at my brain, driving me insane with the thought they’d probably planned to take me for themselves.

I couldn’t lay still any more, all of the thoughts tumbling through my head over and over, and I suddenly shoved to my feet, wrapping my blanket around me and moving for the edge of camp opposite of Cristos.

I’d left my boots on when I went to bed, not wanting cold feet in the morning, and they moved over the ground quickly, carrying me to a place of refuge. It was only a few feet from the camp, but the small screen of trees made me feel alone. Sitting on a stump, I pulled the cover tighter around myself and looked up at the sky, greeting the few snow flurries that had begun to fall.

Again, I relived the memory of being kissed, touching my lips softly with my fingertips, trying to find a sensible reason for its occurrence. The Titan in me shifted, flames burning hotter as she pushed to be released, to end my thoughts of our enemy.

“You shouldn’t leave camp like that.”

I jumped at the sound of his voice, turning to face him, a smug smile on my face.

“Why? Do I need to stay close by in case you feel like grabbing my face again?”

Cristos frowned, anger in his eyes, and I saw his fists clenching, jaw working to hold off whatever retort he’d wanted to spit out.

“If you can’t follow the rules, I’ll tie you to a tree for the night,” he growled, the truth of the statement flashing in his eyes.

“Why did you kiss me?” I blurted out suddenly, trying to change the subject from anything but me being held as a captive once more.

“I told you,” he mumbled, looking up to the sky as he sighed. “I was only trying to make you feel better.”

“By attacking me?”

I couldn’t help the skepticism in my voice, or the disbelief in my eyes. He was full of crap. He had to be for any of this to make sense. Kidnappers didn’t suddenly fancy their prey, not for honest and good reasons.

“What do you want me to say?” he hissed, looking over his shoulder towards camp quickly before turning his attention back to me. “That I’m a god and can’t help myself? That I take whoever I want whenever I want? Fine. Stand up.”

“Why?” I trembled, frightened by his sudden onset of fury.

Instead of answering, he shot towards me, lifting me off my feet and slamming my back into a nearby tree.

“You’re hurting me,” I gasped as he grabbed my wrists, lifting them above my head and grasping them in one hand.

“That’s the point,” he growled.

He pressed a knee between my legs, spreading them apart as he silenced me with his mouth, tongue slipping between my lips and stroking roughly against my teeth.

Squirming to get away from him, I bit him for good measure. Unfortunately, he only chuckled, not even halting in his onset.

Anxiousness filled me, the realization I’d truly pushed him too far with my simple comments catapulting me into dread. It was all I could do to keep the Titan at bay, to push back the desire to kiss him back, as wrong as it was.

“Do you feel the difference,” he murmured against my mouth, his free hand grabbing my thigh painfully.

Close to tears I nodded, worried my voice would give away how scared I was.

Breathless, he finally released me, stepping back abruptly and straightening his shirt.

“If I’d wanted to take you, I would have,” he glowered. “But I’m not that kind of man. You would do well to stop assuming I am.”