And that was if this sea creature didn’t eat us alive.
Ares released his grip on me and unsteadily climbed to his feet. The boat was leaning heavily to one side, and his boots slipped against the wood. He held out a hand, the wet strands of his curly hair falling into his eyes.
“Take my hand,” he said.
I stared up at him. He gave me a silent nod, as if acknowledging this strange twist of fate. Two enemies allied once again. There was no sign of hate in his expression. Only steady determination. And so I reached up and slipped my fingers into his.
As soon as his hand gripped mine, the creature’s tail smashed into the deck only inches from my head. The power of it felt like a punch to my lungs, and my body lurched upward. Ares caught my middle, pulling me tight against him, even as he was flung through the air himself.
We went over the side, falling off the remains of the ship. The convulsing, frothing waves reached toward us. We slammed into the frigid waters. The biting cold stole my breath away, stinging my skin. Fear tore through me, clenching my heart. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think. I could do nothing but stare into the darkness. Terror froze every inch of me.
I clung to Ares, a scream ripping from my throat.
And then we fell.
Down, down, down. Into the sea’s deathly embrace.
31
SELENE
Everything hurts.
That was my first thought. The second held nothing but shadows for a long stretch of time.
Heat caressed my shivering body, but it did little to sooth the pain lancing through my legs, my lungs, my head. Groaning, I pried open my eyes. They felt swollen and hard. Above me, dark clouds blotted out a night sky, oozing with hints of red. Every so often, glowing embers drifted upward.
For a long while, I stared up at them. I didn’t understand where I was or how I’d gotten here. The last thing I remembered was taking Ares’s offered hand and falling into the sea. It had been brutally cold. I remembered that, too.
But…nothing after that. Nothing but darkness.
Lifting a shaking hand, I patted my face, just to make sure I wasn’t having some kind of underwater hallucination. My cheeks were cold and damp, but I definitely wasn’t in the water anymore.
“You’re awake. Good,” Ares said in a gruff voice. “I’ll let you rest for a little while longer, but then we need to get moving.”
Clenching my teeth to deal with the pain, I rolled onto my side toward the heat. Ares sat on a stone beside a small fire, forearms braced on his thighs. His damp shirt clung to his chest, and tendrils of silver curled around his ears. The bottom half of his trousers were torn, like the legs had been ripped off. But other than that, he didn’t look much worse for wear.
In fact, he looked frustratingly handsome like this.
I pushed up onto my hands and inched closer to the fire. The heat of it was soothing after the chill of the sea. Shivering, I warmed my hands against the flames and closed my eyes. The moments eked by as we sat there, sharing a strange companionship. Hector soon landed on my shoulder and nestled into my cheek. I was glad to see him, too.
Too soon, Ares cleared his throat and stood. “I know you’re weary. I am, too. But we lost a lot of time. Judging by the sky, I’d say we have a few hours to make it back to the palace in time.”
I hadn’t wanted to think about it, still reeling from the creature’s attack and the subsequent plunge into the sea. But Ares was right. We were well past full dark. If we didn’t start walking, we’d never reach the palace before sunrise.
And so I climbed to my feet and brushed the sand from my gown. The wet clung to the velvet fabric, and the lacy bodice was torn in more than one place, exposing my stomach. But I found I hardly cared what Ares saw of me right now. I was just glad not to be at the bottom of the sea.
Ares led us to the path through the mossy hills, and we started the climb. The exercise chased the last remnants of the cold away. Soon my warm breath fogged the air, and a dash of sweat formed on my brow. Up ahead, Ares was charting the way.
When the path widened, he fell back to walk beside me. His expression was unreadable, but the tension in his shoulders told me he had something on his mind. I had something on my mind, too. Ares had saved me. Again. And he was treating me with a kindness I hadn’t thought he was capable of. I didn’t understand why. Yes, I’d helped his friend, but that didn’t explain the departure from the cruel Olympian king he normally was.
Eventually, he broke the silence. “You haven’t said much about what happened out there.”
“I haven’t wanted to think much about it,” I replied. Even now, just thinking about it brought the terror back. I’d never been more scared in my life.
“Do you want to know what happened?” he asked.
“I’m assuming I lost consciousness at some point, and you rescued me. Again.” I gave him a rueful smile.
