“Say it.” His gaze searched hers. “Now. Always.” Sunlight warmed his skin to gold and brought out the flecks of silver in his eyes and the darker, blue-gray rim around his irises. She drank him in—his long, strong nose, angular jaw, and soft, stubble-framed mouth, his lips just perfectly shaped for kissing. His intense look turned questioning. “Bel?”
She shook her head. Fire in her eyes, she murmured, “I’ll say it when you’re deep inside me, and I’m claiming you back in that barbaric southern ritual of yours.”
Carver exhaled sharply, a wry smile curving his mouth as he wrapped his arms around her. “You’re killing me.” Voice like gravel, he said, “What happened to the blushing innocent whocouldn’t wait for me to put on a tunic in the morning and cover my manly torso?”
She smiled against his chest. “You burned her up with your first kiss, and I tossed her ashes out the window.”
His gruff laughter stirred her hair. “Never say that.”
“Oh, you liked her, did you?” Tilting her head back, she lifted her brows in question.
He chuckled. “I was madly in love. No one else could annoy me so thoroughly.”
Her eyes widened.In love.Her heart squeezed, then plummeted, punching a hole in her stomach. The dangers they faced and the uncertainty of tomorrow mocked her. She squared her shoulders, trying not to show the terror suddenly engulfing her. “I have plenty more annoying you to do, so come back to me—safe and whole.”
Her voice still wavered, and Carver frowned, tilting his head as he looked at her. “This is just the beginning.”
“It better be,” she said sharply.
“It is.” Carver’s gaze held hers. “You and I are forever.”
Her breath shallowing, she murmured, “The heat between us burns me, and I’m made of fire.”
His lips curved. “The things you say.” He shook his head, smiling wider. “Never stop.”
Her words didn’t hold a candle tomadly in lovein her opinion, but she was glad she’d made him happy.
She stretched up and kissed him, tender but ardent. “I thought that if I gave a part of myself to someone, I’d never get it back. That I’d be less, weaker. But now I see the truth. I’mmore. Stronger.”
“I’mmore.” He kissed her again, harder. “What I didn’t have any more lost all hold on me when I started seeing what Idohave. And it’s better, deeper,real. I love you.”
Her heart jagged painfully sideways. “Stop.” She swallowed, her eyes burning. “This isn’t supposed to feel like a goodbye.”
“It’s not.” Carver touched her cheek. “Everything will be fine. The sea is calm. There’s no one here and nothing around. Everything’s quiet. It’s not too deep with the tide low, and the water’s so clear I can see straight to the bottom. I’ll dive until I find the Shard of Olympus. I’ll bring it back to you.”
She nodded, exhaling shakily. “I’ll keep watch from here.”
Carver’s eyes flicked toward the beach. “If anythingdoeshappen… Ifshecomes, or if you’re outnumbered by anything, take the horses and run.”
She snorted, her spine abruptly stiffening. “You really are an idiot.” She stepped back, shoving him lightly. As if she would ever flee and leave Carver behind. She shook her head, scowling.
He grinned. Reaching out, he slid his hands into her hair and pulled her toward him. He crushed their lips together, too quickly, and then his hands were gone, the heat of his touch and mouth already leaving her. “In that case, burn them all, Firebringer.”
She nodded. She would.
Without another word, he stepped toward the edge and turned, his magnificent body gilded in sunshine, then dove into the water.
Hera
The Thalyrians had finally reached Athena’s blasted cavern. The distance was too great to see them from Mount Olympus with her real eyes, so she watched them in her mind’s eye, hearing and observing their every move.
Impatient, she drummed her fingers on the marble arm of her throne. She’d mostly avoided spying on them, finding it pricked her like a poisoned thorn to witness their growing attraction and understanding of their connection, but now that they were—at long last—where she wanted them, she wouldn’t let them out of her sight again.
Her upper lip quivered with a snarl of irritation. They were a nauseating pair. Heartfelt declarations. Scorching kisses. Roaming hands. Soon, they’d be finishing each other’s sentences and popping out endless offspring to carry on two explosive bloodlines.
Unlessshedecided that wouldn’t be their future—something wholly within her power.
She closed her eyes, but of course, that didn’t stop her from seeing their every touch and hearing their every word. “Stop kissing and go,” she growled to the empty chamber around her, angrily snapping her eyes open again.
