Her eyes fluttered open and she let her head drop to the side on a very soft pillow. “What happened?”
“What is the last thing you remember?”
“Trying to fly,” her voice was groggy, and her eyelids felt too heavy. “Did I pass out from hitting the ground?”
“No. You landed on me, so, you were fine after that. You nearly died because you literally opened your old wound.”
Maya opened her eyes as a few pieces of their conversation came back to her. She grabbed his hand and kissed it. “Thank you. I wasn’t sure how well that gamble would pay off. Did we make it off the island?”
“Ahem.” The voice was not Apollo’s, and it commanded her attention. “Help her sit up, Apollo.”
“I’m sorry about this,” Apollo said near her ear. He moved so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed as his arm slipped behind her back and he helped her sit up. His hand rested on her stomach over most of the scar. Disinterested in anyone else in the room, she turned her head and rested her cheek on his chest.
“Maya Strife, do you have any idea what nearly happened?”
“I nearly died,” she said, smiling into Apollo’s chest. She placed a hand on his pecs and nuzzled in. “I need more sleep.”
“No, you didn’t nearly die. Youactuallydied. And I find Mr. Hart’s explanation of the situation to be highly improbable.”
“We both wanted off the island, and I figured out how to make that happen,” Maya said as Apollo repositioned himself alittle. “Now you know that I would do anything to get away from there.”
“Of all the irresponsible—” The stern female voice cut itself off. “The magic that was released could have done significant damage to the island. And clearly, this was a plot you and Mr. Hart came up with together.”
“Nope. I’m perfectly capable of dying all on my own, thank you very much.” Maya’s tone was getting to be more like herself, and the situation was unfortunately waking her up faster than she wanted to.
“Given how quickly Mr. Hart contained the magic that you emitted, I find that nearly impossible to believe.”
Despite wanting to stay right where she was, Maya pulled away from Apollo a little and looked up at his gorgeous yellow eyes.They really are gorgeous. His whole face is.Unable to help herself, she reached up and touched his hair. Apollo had a strange expression on his face as he turned to look at her.
“What are you doing?” he asked in a low voice.
To her surprise, Maya giggled. Then she patted down his hair with the palm of her hand. “It’s bouncy, but soft. Like sunshine through a window.” She giggled again.
“Are you okay?” Apollo was clearly concerned about her.
“I’m great. You are much better at healing magic than I thought you would be. You kept me alive while also absorbing magic. That had to be stressful.”
“Yes, it was.” He did not look amused.
Frowning a little, Maya said, “I’m sorry. But it was the only thing I could think of. And I knew that telling you ahead of time would just upset you, and I didn’t want you to stop me.”
“That’s an interesting confession, Miss Strife,” the stern female said, finally drawing Maya’s attention to the other end of the room. “But do you really expect me to believe that he wasable to do all of that while surrounded by magic that was trying to react with yours?”
“I don’t have any idea what you are talking about. All I did was to let go of holding my wound closed.”
The woman’s steely look was highlighted by a flash in her red eyes. “How were you holding it closed, exactly?”
“I just did what the man showed me after I created a portal to escape him. When I created the portal, he realized that I wasn’t going to be as easy to control as he thought after I witnessed most of my family being killed. He kept me from saving my last two siblings by reopening the wound. Then he told me if I didn’t want to die, I needed to keep time bent around it.”
As the woman narrowed her red eyes, Maya began to pay a bit more attention. She had hair blacker than the night and a face that was lovely, even when she had a grim expression. “You’ve been bending time? Since you were a child?”
Nodding, Maya allowed her head to drop back against Apollo’s chest. “It’s exhausting, but after this long, I’ve got the stamina for it.”
“Geez, Maya,” Apollo said into her hair. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t think it mattered.”
“You didn’t think—” He sighed as he pulled her into him and whispered, “Of course it matters. How I treat you will be drastically different knowing that.”
