Аполлион

Aiden’s laugh sounded choked. “That makes very little sense, Alex.”

Grinning, I leaned in and pressed my lips to the strong curve of his jaw, repeating what he had done until my pulse thundered in every part of me. “Making sense is overrated.”

“I think you believe a lot of things are overrated.” Aiden’s head fell back, the thick cords of his muscles in his neck and shoulders tensing as his hands dug into the edge of the pool.

For a moment, I froze in awe of him. It wasn’t often that anyone got to see Aiden like this, completely vulnerable to someone else. I touched his cheek, wanting to remember this moment. The enormity of what lay ahead was a cold draft on my skin and deeper, on my soul. There was no telling what my future held—what Aiden’s would end up being. So many things were still so uncertain.

Apollo’s words intruded. There can only be one.

I shuddered, understanding what that meant more than I wanted to. Even Seth had understood it. I thought about the damn dream I’d had on the way here.

There might not be years for Aiden and me—maybe not even months or weeks. There might not even be days. And what time we had left, we’d be spending in constant danger. The next hour wasn’t even guaranteed, and I didn’t want to spend every moment racing toward the end time.

Aiden’s eyes opened. “Alex?”

I blinked back the sudden tears. “I love you.” It was all I could say.

His head lifted, eyes searching mine, and maybe he saw what I was thinking. Maybe he too knew that, in the end, there would be more lives lost—ones that would be nearly impossible to overcome and move on from, losses that would steal a part of us. That this moment together, we might never have again.

He was done talking.

Aiden came off the wall so fast the water reacted in a frenzy of bubbling. He— we—were in a frenzy. His arms crushed me to him, his mouth demanding, saying those three little words over and over again without speaking them. Aiden lifted me up, one hand burying deep in my hair, the other pressing into my lower back, fitting us together. He turned and my back was against the edge and he was everywhere all at once, stealing my breath, my heart, my soul. There was no coming up for air, no control or limits. There was no tottering on the edge. We both fell headfirst. In his arms, in the way the water bubbled and moved with our bodies, I may’ve lost track of time, but I gained a little part of me. I gained a part of himthat I would hold close for the rest of my days, no matter how long or short that turned out to be.

CHAPTER 23

While I’d slept, Aiden had managed to dry our clothes without turning them crispy. If it’d been left to me, I probably would’ve turned them into torches. I slept for a little over four hours, waking before he told me to. I changed, and then settled back down beside him on one of the two thin blankets. Both of us smelled of jasmine, which was better than the dank smell of the Underworld.

Aiden lay on his side, one heavy arm over my waist. “You could’ve slept longer.”

I idly played with the hand that rested on my stomach. “I’m fine. It’s your turn. I’ll keep an eye on things, make sure no spiders run off with you.”

He pressed his lips to my cheek and let out a little chuckle. “I’m worried if it comes down between me and a spider, I might be screwed.”

“I’d face down a horde of spiders for you, baby.” I grinned at the sound of his laugh again. “For real.”

“That’s true love there. Some serious stuff,” he teased.

“It is.”

There was a pause and then he said, “While you were sleeping, I was thinking about what Apollo said about there being another god involved.”

Curiosity piqued, I tipped my head back so I could see his face. “Yeah?”

“I know Seth hasn’t let on to who it could be, but Marcus has his bets on Hermes, and since he did help Seth…”

“It’s always Hermes. He’s like the gods’ punching bag. The big joke.”

“Exactly.” Aiden brushed a damp strand of hair off my forehead. “It seems too obvious that it would be him. And even though Hermes has been known to pull some stunts, his actions are usually relatively harmless. This—what has been done to the whole world, Olympus included—is bigger than him, almost like it’s personal.”

He had a point. “I bet being the butt of Olympus’ jokes could make things personal after a few thousand years.”

“True, but I don’t know…” He yawned. “I keep thinking about Seth—about his personality.”

“Oh dear…”

A tired smile appeared. “Whether you want to admit it or not, you carry some of Apollo’s traits. So logically, Seth would carry some from his own lineage.”

There were worse things that being compared to Apollo. “Seth is arrogant and smug. That really doesn’t narrow down the list.” At Aiden’s tired nod of agreement, I squeezed his hands. “Go to sleep. We’ll figure this out in the morning.”