My Tattered Bonds (23 page)

It didn’t take longs for dreams to consume me.
 

I was standing in knee-high purple flowers.
 
Fields and fields of them, with billowing blue skies above me.
 
A child’s laughter distracted me and I turned, the sweet scent of the flowers assailing my senses.
 
In addition to the floral notes, I detected salt in the air. Sea salt.

Raquel ran among the flowers, turning to laugh and yell over her shoulder.
 

“Come on, Em!”

“I’m coming.”
 
And I realized that Empusa was standing directly next to me.
 
She leaned toward me, her gray eyes smoky and serious.
 

“Hurry,” she murmured as she pressed a dark purple flower into my hand.
  

I awoke with a start, staring into my husband’s eyes.
 

I startled, then gasped, as I realized that he was awake.
 
As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I saw that Hecate was kneeling at his side, attending to his wound and I gasped again.
 
She glanced up from her work with a small smile tilting the edges of her mouth.
 
But before I could say anything to her, Cadmus slid a large hand into my own.
 
As he did, I realized that I was holding a purple flower blossom.

Chapter Ten

“You’re awake!” I cried, throwing my arms carefully around his neck.
 
He winced slightly, but pulled me close with his uninjured arm.
 

“Did you doubt?” he asked, one dark eyebrow raised. “Did you really think that you could get rid of me that easily?”

“That easily?” I repeated incredulously.
 
“You were
this
close…” my voice trailed off and I didn’t want to say the words.
 
Instead, I kissed him gently and squeezed his hand, reveling in its warmth.
  
He nodded, closing his eyes again wearily.

“I’m here now.
 
And you’ve apparently found Hecate.
 
Incredible… a guy can’t take a quick nap without the entire game changing.”

He tried to joke, but I wasn’t in the mood at the moment.
 
I had come perilously close to losing him.
 
I could still scarcely believe that for once, I had not. I tightened my grip on the flower before turning my gaze to Hecate.
 
I sat up as I spoke, keeping Cadmus’ hand in my lap.

“Hecate, I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

“You can say it,” she said without looking up, her fingers deftly moving over Cadmus’ injury, sprinkling what appeared to be ashes.
 
“You’re glad I’ve regained my sanity.”

“Yes,” I admitted quietly.
 
“You’re right.”

“And there is much you’d like to know,” she prompted.
 

Once again, I agreed.
 
“Yes.
 
But first, I’d like to thank you for helping Cadmus.”

She finally paused her moving hands and looked up at me.
 
When she did, I could tell that she had been avoiding it because she had been afraid to see my expression.
 
My heart twinged a little.

“You’re welcome,” she sighed.
 
“It’s the least I could do.”

I stroked my husband’s thumb with mine as I spoke.
 
“What happened, Hecate?
 
Why did you do it? Why did you betray us?”

She looked away as she tried not to cry, her beautiful blue eyes welling up with tears.
 
Her angst was evident in her tortured expression and I had no doubt left in my heart that whatever she had done, she had been forced into it.
 

“The man that I love is not as loyal or admirable as Cadmus,” she replied quietly as she began working over my husband once again.
 
“But I can’t help but love him anyway.
 
It has been that way for many, many years.
 
I give him the best of me and he gives little in return but his fleeting presence, once every few years.

“During one of his visits, I became pregnant with a daughter.
 
And when she was born, I loved her more than any other thing on the face of the planet.
 
She was all that was right and good in the world, even though her father was considerably less so.”

She paused for a long moment as she bent to study the gash in Cadmus’ shoulder.
 
Pushing against it firmly, she pulled the dragon’s spike loose and pressed herbs into the wound.

“What is that?” I questioned curiously.
 

“Oh, it’s a medley of things, but it is comprised mostly of dried dragonheart blossoms… with a few other things of course.”
 
I didn’t even bother asking what the ‘other things’ were.
 
I was sure I didn’t want to know.

“Most people would not know that dragonhearts can be used to combat the effects of an actual dragon’s blood,” she explained.
 

“I didn’t even know that there were such things,” I admitted, watching as she quickly sewed the wound together over the herbal compress.
 

She glanced up at me for a moment before continuing.
 
“They only grow in a few secluded areas of the pacific rim in the mortal world.
 
They are worth their weight in gold when someone has a dragon injury. Thank the heavens I thought to bring a few.”

She gently finished wiping at Cadmus’ shoulder. “That should do it.
 
The herbs will be absorbed into Cadmus’ bloodstream and then they’ll dissipate on their own.
 
I’ll remove his stitches in a couple of weeks.
 
I think he’ll be fine.”

“Thank you so much,” I told her quietly as I stroked the side of his bronzed face.
 
Leaning in, I kissed him again.
 
“You’ll be fine now,” I murmured against his lips.
 
He smiled without opening his eyes.
 

Straightening, I focused on Hecate again.
 
“Go on,” I prompted gently.
 
“Tell me more about your daughter.”

She sat back with her fingers to her lips, staring past me into the night.
 

“Empusa,” she mused with an unreadable expression.
 
Her face contained love, regret, sadness, despair and a haunting fragility.
 
It was clear that whatever else, her daughter made this strong goddess vulnerable.

 
“It was her,” I whispered.
 
“They threatened her, didn’t they?”

She looked away, blinking hard, before she continued.

“They made the offer, but it was her own father who accepted it.
 
I’ll never forgive him for that.
 
I’ve loved him for thousands of years, overlooking his faults, but
this…
this I will never forget.
 
Mormo was cursed by Zeus long ago.
 
In order to stay immortal, he had to drink from the blood of children.
 
He hated it at first, but then, I think that he actually began to like it.
 
His soul began to turn ugly.
 
He hated that his immortality was contingent on something.
 
He hated that he
had
to do anything.
 
So, when Hades made him the offer… that he could exchange his daughter for true immortality, Mormo accepted.

“I couldn’t believe it.
 
I was beyond devastated, but there wasn’t anything I could do.
 
The deal was made and no matter how powerful my magic was, it was useless against Hades.
 
Empusa was sent to the Underworld and not only was she imprisoned here, but she was cursed to be as Mormo was.
 
My sweet, innocent child has been forced to drink blood to remain alive.
 
She will be forever frozen at just seventeen and if she stops drinking mortal blood, she will die.”

Hecate’s voice was almost a whisper at this point, painful and thin.

“That isn’t the worst of it.”

My head snapped up as I waited for her to explain what could possibly be worse.
 

“I found out later that everything was because of me.
 
Hades didn’t make the deal with Mormo because he liked Mormo or even because he truly wanted Empusa as one of his subjects.
 
He made the deal because he needed leverage to use over me.
 
He needed me to help overthrow the Olympians.
 
He knew that Empusa was, and still is, the only thing that I would sacrifice anything for.
 
 

“He offered to reverse the bargain.
 
He would send Mormo back to the Underworld and release my daughter if I helped him.”

I watched her helplessly as tears streaked down her face and she dropped her slender hands limply into her lap.

“So I did.”

She cried silently with her head bowed and I couldn’t restrain myself anymore.
 
Yes, she had betrayed us all.
 
But she had been placed in the most unimaginable of positions and I found that I could not hate her for that.
 
Not only that, but I was fairly certain that I would have done the same thing.

I unfolded myself from Cadmus’ side and rushed to Hecate, wrapping my arms around her shoulders.

“Shhh, Hecate.
 
It’s alright.
 
You have done what any mother would do.
 
I would have done the same.”

She stopped and looked up at me with watery, reddened eyes.

“Truly?
 
I think not, Harmonia.
  
You always have done the right thing.
 
You would not have made such a mess.”

“I make messes all of the time,” I answered.
 
“Look around you.”

“This is not of your making, Harmonia,” she sniffed.
 
“We’re here because of my magic.
 
I enabled the Fates and Hades to trick Zeus.
 
Everything is my fault.
 
And I have not told you the last thing. I do not deserve your sympathy, I assure you.
 
After you found Zeus’ sword and I sheathed it for you, I offered incantations to try and roll back the Fates’ manipulations… to try and undo their effects on my daughter. That very thing caused your daughter to be taken away.
 
It’s my fault.”

I stilled for a moment.
 
I wanted to scream and rail, but it wouldn’t do any good. She hadn’t meant any harm.
 
She had only been trying to save her daughter- something that I should understand very well.
 
After a few minutes of deep breathing, I was able to speak.

“It is alright, Hecate.
 
I do understand. I do not hold it against you.”
 

Confusion clouded my thoughts though, as I recalled my visions of Empusa.
 

“Hecate, I don’t understand one thing.
 
If you upheld the bargain, why is Empusa here?
 
I’ve seen her in visions- she asks for my help.
 
And I know that she is with Raquel.”

Hecate froze, her gaze locked with mine.
 
“Is she well?” she asked haltingly.
 
“She has not appeared to me in quite some time. She doesn’t trust me anymore.”

“Why would she not trust you?” I asked uncertainly.
 
“You have sacrificed everything for her.”