Aphrodite's Secret (19 page)

She rolled her eyes. “Okay. We’ll say that one was on the line.”

“And on the line counts in tennis. Fifteen-love.”

She tried to glare but didn’t much succeed. “Just watch it, okay?”

His eyes didn’t leave hers. “Happy to.”

She didn’t scold him again, just cleared her throat. Her cheeks turned pink. “At any rate,” she continued, her tone no-nonsense, “I wanted to do something useful. Something that would make an impact. I guess I wanted to be a good guy, too.”

“So, I’m betting you don’t plan on representing the accounting departments of major corporations?” One of the benefits of being stuck on Olympus for almost a year—he’d had plenty of time to watch the news.

She shot him a wry glance. “A district attorney. You guys catch them, and I’ll prosecute them. Just like Batman and the police commissioner.”

“Yeah. Except the commissioner never knew who Batman was. You know all our secrets.”

Instead of answering, she carefully placed a bite-sized hunk of omelet on the corner of a piece of toast, then bit down, chewing thoughtfully. Jason frowned, wondering what she was thinking.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she finally asked.

So much for
that
mystery. Despite what she’d said on deck, the fact that he hadn’t disclosed his secrets so many years ago was going to be a point of contention. He cleared his throat. “If I’d known you were going to become a prosecutor,” he said, “I would have told you the day we met.”

Her raised eyebrow suggested that she wasn’t amused by his response, so he tried to change the subject.

“How did you get hooked up with Zoë and Hale, anyway?”

This time her eyebrow rose in surprise, not annoyance. “I assumed you knew,” Lane said. “The story was all over the Protector newspaper and website at the time.”

He shook his head. “It’s amazing what news you miss living your life in a fishbowl.” He immediately regretted the words. He didn’t want to talk about that now; the topic was too dark, and it rekindled his anger. All he wanted at the moment was to share a few nice moments with Lane—sweet moments, before they reached the island and the hellish reality of their situation crashed down around them again.

For a second he thought she
was
going to ask what he meant, but then she simply answered his question, describing how she’d purchased the stone from Aphrodite’s Girdle, and how Zoë had rescued her from Mordichai, who’d been out to retrieve it for his father. “Zoë saved Davy that day, too,” Lane added, and Jason’s heart twisted with her utterance of the boy’s name.

Her head cocked to one side. “Wait a second,” she said. “You’re Davy’s father ...” She trailed off.

He frowned, not understanding where her thoughts were headed. “What?”

“I just don’t get it. I mean, Davy was all over the Council’s news—we both were. But no one bothered to tell me he was a halfling.”

“Ah,” Jason said, knowing that he was included in the
no one
. “That would be my fault.”

A wry smile touched her lips. “Why am I not surprised?”

“A halfling has to be registered. Since I wasn’t available—”

“You never filed the paperwork.”

“Exactly.”

She shook her head. “I swear, the Council has more paperwork than the I.R.S.”

“Eventually they do get around to discovering all the halflings—and quarterlings and whatnot—out there. Apparently at the time Zoë was being tested, they hadn’t found Davy yet.”

“So you probably still have to file that paperwork, huh?”

He swallowed. This wasn’t exactly the way he’d planned to raise the Council’s edict about boarding school. “Yeah. Something like that.”

She squinted at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Right before we, uh, met again, I got a letter from Olympus. From the Council.”

She crossed her arms. “A letter?”

He nodded. “Notifying me that I hadn’t filed the proper papers when Davy was born, and also, uh, putting me on notice about Davy’s schooling.”

Lane’s arms stayed crossed and her eyebrow went up. “His schooling?”

“Yeah.” Jason got up, taking the dishes to the sink. “The Council wants Davy to attend boarding school.” He spoke quickly and kept his back to her.

“
What
?” she shrieked.

He whirled to face her. “Careful,” he whispered, his finger to his lips. He gestured to Boreas, still asleep on the bunk.

“I don’t care who I wake up,” she snapped, but this time she was quieter. “My son is
not
going away to boarding school.”

“Actually, I have an idea about—”

“Who the hell do they think they are?” Lane got up and started pacing the small area. “He’s
my
son.”

“They just want to be sure he’s properly trained. His skills honed. That kind of thing.” Jason had a feeling that it wouldn’t be the best time to mention who Davy’s grandfather was—or that Davy was starting with a black mark against him in the High Elder’s minds, one that would require more of him than other halflings.

“Zoë didn’t have to go to boarding school,” she protested. “She told me her mom raised her. Tessa didn’t have any idea Zoë was a halfling.”

“Yeah,” Jason agreed. “That’s kind of my idea. You see, if—”

“I mean, how
dare
they.” Lane paced past him one more time, and he caught her arm on the return journey, tugging her close. She tilted her head back, her eyes wide with surprise.

“Would you just listen to me?” he asked. “I’ve been thinking about this for days. I think I’ve come up with a solution.”

From the look on her face, she trusted him about as far as she could throw him. And though her son might be a Protector, Lane wasn’t. He didn’t expect she could throw him very far.

Even so, she nodded, silently inviting him to continue.

“Me,” he said.

She made a whooshing motion over her head.

He tugged her toward the stools and urged her to sit. She hesitated but complied.

“The Council’s concerned that Davy’s skills won’t develop right,” Jason began. “That he’ll be ... uh, vulnerable to nefarious influences if someone from the Council isn’t around to watch over him.”

“But Zoë—”

“—had her father and Hale when she was growing up. From the Council’s perspective, Davy doesn’t have anybody.”

“Glad to know my contribution counts for so much,” Lane muttered.

“You know what I mean,” Jason said. “And your contribution does count. I know it, and you know it.” He sucked in a breath for courage. “And
my
contribution can count, too. I think it can count a lot, actually.”

Her head tilted to one side. “Your contribution?”

“If I worked with Davy every day, helped him to hone his skills. Basically I’d give him the kind of Protector guidance he’d get in boarding school.”

He’d been constructing the plan ever since he’d received Prigg’s letter. Considering his own iffy status with the Council, it wasn’t definite. But by proving his loyalty wasn’t with Hieronymous, surely he’d also prove he was competent to educate his son. Which was one more reason to see his father destroyed.

Lane still hadn’t answered; instead, she was perched on her stool, leaning forward, her elbows on the counter. Jason moved to the far side so that he could see her face, and when he did so she looked up, a question in her eyes. “Have you been sending Davy gifts?”

He blinked. This wasn’t the question he’d expected. But he nodded.

“Why?”

“After I escaped, I spent months in debriefing under surveillance.” He shrugged. “I guess I just wanted Davy to know I was out there.” He shoved a hand into his pocket. “Did he, uh, like them?”

Lane’s quick smile lifted his heart. “Oh, yeah. All of them were a big hit.” Her head cocked slightly, and he saw different questions behind her eyes.

“How did you know?” she asked. “About law school. And where we lived. About everything?”

He swallowed. He’d been wondering when they’d get to that. “The Council monitors,” he admitted. “I used to watch you while I was on Olympus. It gave me . . . something to hope for.”

She licked her lips, her eyes narrowing. “You said the letter was from Olympus,” she said. “About Davy’s boarding school.”

“Yeah,” he answered, with some hesitation. “That’s right.”

“But if you just left Olympus, why’d they have to send you a letter?”

Busted.

“Jason?” she prompted.

He took a deep breath. “I’ve been finished with debriefing for about a month. I moved into the houseboat, brought this boat back from Greece. I also took care of some other stuff.”

“And didn’t come to see us.” Her chin lifted along with her eyebrow.

“No,” he admitted. “I’m sorry. I—”

“Why not?” The words weren’t harsh. Instead they were genuinely curious—and a little bit hurt. “You say you wanted us back. And yet...”

“I know,” he agreed. He closed his eyes, searching for the right words. “I wanted to figure out what I was doing first.”

Her brow furrowed. “I’m not following.”

“I’ve never had a kid.” He paused, grimacing. “I mean, of course I
have
a kid, but—”

“I know what you mean.”

“I didn’t know what to do with him. I didn’t know how to be a daddy.” He sighed. “Hell, I still don’t. But I know every Bob the Builder cartoon backward and forward, and, if you want, I can sing the entire
Lion King
soundtrack.”

Her mouth twitched and Lane’s eyes softened. She reached for his hands. When she gave his fingers a quick tug, he resisted the urge to hold tight and pull her close.

“You’ll do fine,” she said. “Trust me.”

His heart twisted, her vote of confidence meaning more to him than he could ever have imagined. “And the training?” he asked.

Slowly, she nodded. “That’s fine, too. It’s a good plan, if they allow it.” She breathed in, and he heard the hitch in her throat. A teardrop appeared in her eye and clung to her lower lashes. “But—”

“Don’t even think that,” he interrupted, realizing the direction her thoughts had taken. “He’s fine.
He’s fine
,” he repeated, to convince himself as much as her. “And you’ll be hugging him and embarrassing him with kisses very soon.”

She gnawed on her lower lip, and when she looked up at him, the fat tear in Lane’s eye plopped to the counter. “How do you know?”

“I just do,” he said. And her rules be damned; he moved back around the counter and urged her from the stool and into his arms. For just a moment he held her like that, sharing his strength and drawing courage from her warmth. He was scared, too. But for Lane—and for Davy—he had to be strong. “You said you trusted me about this,” he whispered. “Did you stop?”

She shook her head, pressed her face into his chest. “I do trust you,” she said, her voice muffled. “I’m just anxious. And worried. And—”

“I know,” he said. “Me, too.”

They held each other for a while, the boat’s engine surging beneath them, moving them closer and closer to their son and to danger.

“How much longer?” Lane asked after a moment.

“Soon,” he said. “This boat is faster than mortal craft, and I’ve programmed it to take us right to the vicinity. The console will signal when we’re—”

A chime rang, and he nodded. “That’s it. We’re here.” He checked a display on the wall, confirming they’d in fact reached the programmed latitude and longitude.

“Do you really think he’ll be here?”

He shrugged as they walked toward the stairwell. “Yes. I’ve ... been here before. When I escaped, I paid attention. And, uh, just to make sure, I asked a fish.”

“To think,” she muttered, “I almost married a dolphin. Well, I’m probably the only woman in my trial advocacy class who can say
that
.”

He shot her a grin and climbed the stairs. He knew she was still afraid, but if she was cracking jokes, at least she was coping. “The island should be coming up on the port side,” he said as he reached the deck. He leaned down, giving her a hand up the narrow stairs.

As they both stood up, a slight shiver wracked his body. He turned to see his former prison.

Except it wasn’t there.

Here they were at the coordinates Davy’s map had given and Jason remembered, yet just like the Council had reported, there was no island.

“It should be right here,” Jason said, a knot of fear tightening in his chest. Was the Council right that the island wasn’t in this location? Had he arrogantly run off to follow a red herring?

He pounded his fist on the side of the boat. “Right
here
. Heck, we should be only yards from one of the beaches.”

“Maybe you read Davy’s map wrong.” Lane’s teeth worried at her lower lip.

“No.” He couldn’t believe that. They had to be in the right place. He’d confirmed the location with a fish, for Hera’s sake!

Damn it all to Hades. His son was in trouble. They didn’t have time to be chasing ghosts. “No,” he said, gripping the side of the boat. “This has to be the right place. Dammit, where’s the island?”

“Maybe it’s right in front of us.” Boreas’s voice startled him, and Jason twisted around. The neophyte Protector was in the stairwell, but he stepped all the way onto the deck, moving to join them at the rail of the boat.

“Are you delusional?” Jason snapped. Trying to keep his temper in check, he swept his arm at the miles of water spread out before them. “
There’s no island
.”

Boreas’s eyes widened, and Jason felt a quick twinge of guilt for being obnoxious. But it faded as fast as it came. He had other things to worry about than whether his Council-sent shadow thought he was being mean.

Besides, Officer Boring seemed to recover fast enough. The young man straightened his shoulders, lifted his chin, and pointed toward the water. “It’s supposed to be right there?” he asked.

“Yes.” Jason gave Lane’s hand a gentle squeeze, letting her know he was still thinking about the real problem even while he entertained Boreas’s useless questions.

“Maybe we just can’t see it. Maybe it’s cloaked.”

“A whole island? That’s the stu—” Jason snapped his mouth shut. As much as he hated to admit it, Boring just might have a point.

“Jason?” Lane asked.