She stopped and took his face in her hands. “You know, I’d tell you a secret every day if I knew it would keep that smile on your face.”
He had caught himself smiling more than usual since he’d been here. It was her, of course. She carried joy with her everywhere she went. You couldn’t help but smile.
She tugged him forward through the crowded street. People were staring. Some acknowledged her with a shallow bow. Others turned away, whispering to each other. He had to force down the urge to take the latter by the throat and shake some respect into them. Oh yes, the angel of Paragon is with a human. Get over it, fuckers.
“My secret is this…,” she began. “As you know, I’m different from others of my kind. I’m not a dragon like my father or a witch like my mother.”
“So I gathered.”
“I am a celestial being, the only one of my kind on Ouros.”
“Got it.” Where was she going with this?
“But I’m not the only one of my kind.”
The streets were filled with shoppers, but he barely noticed the quaint stores around them. He gripped her hand tighter. “There are others like you, on other planets?”
“In other realms.” She stopped to look inside the colorfully decorated window of what Liam assumed was a candy store. “When I was a child, I was once trapped inside one of the levels of the underworld. Marius came and got me out. Beings like me were guarding the gate. Well, not exactly like me. They were monsters. Unthinking. Unfeeling. Used to protect what the gods want to protect—in this case, Hades. They were called guardians.”
“There are levels to the underworld?” His voice cracked, and Liam tried to keep it together.
“Yes. How you live your life determines where you go. I was trapped in a realm Marius called the Fire Planet, an awful place where it rains fire and monsters rule. It was the first time I ever had to use my defensive magic. I produced a shield against the guardians, and my uncle and I were able to escape.”
“Thank God.” Liam’s heart thumped in his chest. He was not okay with picturing Charlie as a child being attacked by monsters in some hellscape.
“After we returned here, my mother did more research into my kind. There wasn’t much about us, but the scribes of Rogos eventually found a few ancient scrolls with information on what I was. She found out that dragons were once bred by the gods to produce guardians. You see, my mom, she’s not just a witch—she’s a descendant of the goddess Circe. I am not just part human witch and part dragon. The blood of a goddess also flows in my veins. Others like me are the product of gods and dragons, and they are enslaved into the protection of the god who created them.”
Liam scowled. “But you are no slave.”
“No, I’m not. My parents created me because they love each other. But I’m not supposed to leave Ouros because my parents are afraid that if I do something to attract the attention of the gods, one of them might come for me, try to enslave me. The gods won’t respect my freedom. They could attempt to capture me and use me for their purposes.”
He pulled her closer, as if there were anything he could do to protect her from the whims of the gods. Shit, he didn’t even believe in God, singular or plural… until this week, he supposed. She wasn’t lying to him, and he had to admit that after everything he’d seen and learned here, a higher power was a real possibility. His graduation from atheist to agnostic though didn’t mean he was a fan of whoever was calling the shots, especially if they were a threat to Charlotte. Which made him wonder about something.
“If that’s true, why don’t they come for you here?”
She turned in his arms, her long fingers coming to rest on his chest, and stared up at him, her deep, fathomless blues drawing him in again. So trusting. So vulnerable. Great. Now he’d graduated from believing there could be a god to feeling like he was a god.
“This island is protected by the goddess of the mountain. She lives here, and when I am here, I am under her protection. She gave my parents her blessing. But if I leave here, I am beyond the reach of her defense.”
He took a step back, her uncle’s comments finally making sense. “You put yourself at risk when you came to get me?”
She sighed. “Theoretically. My parents are going off some old scrolls and folklore. The truth is that the gods are likely too wrapped up in themselves to know I exist or to bother with me. The chances that they’d detect me and go through the trouble of coming for me are very low.”
“But possible.”
“Yes, possible.”
Liam tensed, pulling her closer. “Maybe you should have Marius take me back.”
She laughed. “No. He can move between worlds but not back in time. I can return you to the precise moment I took you. He can’t.”
“That’s important actually.” If he didn’t return to that moment, Noah would have already left and presumed he was dead. It would complicate everything immensely. And although Marius said she could wipe minds to undo those complications, she couldn’t do that if she wasn’t the one bringing him back.
“Are you okay?” she asked him.
“I don’t want to forget you,” he blurted. “Marius said you might wipe my mind. I want you to know that I don’t want that.”
She cupped his face. “Okay.”
