“Saliha, I think Hades tried to seduce you, but you rejected him.” Ace's expression went from furious to gentle as he went on, “I know from personal experience how much work it takes to woo you.”
“Ace,” I whispered. Then I shook my head. “I'm sorry. I should call you by your real name.”
“I have many names, just as you do. Call me whatever you wish.” Ace stepped closer slowly. A foot separated us. Then less. “What would you like to be called?”
“Salina. I'm starting over.”
“Then we shall be Ace and Salina.” His smile went hesitant. “If you'll have me.”
In answer, I hugged him. What else could I do? I wasn't ready for a kiss yet. I was too fresh from my hounds. I mean,theHounds. They weren't mine. I was never meant to be theirs. Hades had tricked me and Fate. And I hated to admit how crushing that was. I'd only just accepted that we'd be wonderful together. That they wanted me for me, not just because I was their mate. Then the whole mate thing shifted, becoming something beautiful. Destiny seemed to be on my side for once.
Until it wasn't.
But I had Ace—a man who had defied an Olympian and time itself for me. Searching through the centuries, he had finally found me before Hades had killed me. No, that wasn't the plan this time. He was going to bind me to a Cerberus. Ace had saved me before that could happen.
Fuck. Hades. I didn't buy the failed seduction theory. It didn't make sense. If Hades wanted me so much, why hurt me? And why mate me to his children? That felt weird. No, this wasn't about love; it was about hate. He detested me. Truly and deeply. But why? What had I ever . . .
An image came to me as if my thoughts had summoned it. As if? What am I saying?Of course,my thoughts had summoned it. That's how memories work, isn't it? That's how they'd been working with me. You think about them and there they are. So, thinking about why Hades hated me brought forth a memory that answered my question. Sort of. It felt like an answer, but it, like many of the memories floating around my head, was just a bunch of feelings and pictures without subtitles to explain them. That must be the difference between memories of a current life and those of past lives. This one was nice at first.
My lover was above me. Inside me. Filling me with flesh, pleasure, and his love. He was magnificent. So many wanted him, but he had chosen me. He had vowed his love to me alone. I was blissful, even lying on a simple blanket in the grass, the shade of a cypress tree speckling our skin. I clung to his broad back as he thrust deeply, over and over, whispering beautiful things in my ear and kissing my throat. Mine. He was all mine. Amid the pleasure, triumph rose. I had won.
And then a shadow blocked out the sun.
I looked up into a pair of burning eyes full of hatred. I couldn't see much more than that stare. The sun was behind him, creating a burning halo that cast the rest of him into darkness. Terrible darkness.
I screamed.
My lover stopped. Looked over his shoulder. Shoved himself up to confront this interloper. But he lasted only a moment before he went tumbling aside, crying out. Then a hand grabbed my throat.
The pain in the memory launched me back into the present, cutting the images short. Probably for the best.
I jerked back, out of Ace's arms.
“What is it?” Ace asked.
“I don't think Saliha was my first life,” I said.
“Did you remember something from before it?”
“Yes. I . . . I think I lived in ancient Greece.”
“The first playground of the Gods.”
“Was it?”
“Yes. They were everywhere, of course. All over the world. But Greece was where their favorite humans were. They could be themselves around the Greeks.” He paused. “What did you remember?”
“I was with someone. I don't think it was you.”
“We didn't meet until you were Saliha. It couldn't have been me.”
“Well, I was having sex with a man and a god appeared. He killed both of us.”
“Both of you?” Ace frowned. “Do you remember who he hurt more? Or did he kill you both immediately?”
“He, uh . . . he knocked aside my lover, and then I think he tortured me.”
“And made your lover watch?” Ace's eyes went wide.
