Chapter 27 Nyssa
Nyssa
I was jostled from darkness by a gentle hand and familiar undertones.
“Nyssa,” he said. “It’s time to wake up.”
I managed to crack one exhausted eyelid open, and peered up at he who dared disturb my slumber.
“Aros?” I rasped. “What are you doing here?”
“We have to leave soon.”
Squinting in the soft light, I groaned and sat up.
Oh.
I’d awoken in my chambers at Aegis — not the Palace as I’d sleepily presumed. And that wasn’t a hellhound growling in the distance, but a dead-to-the-world storm-wielder snoring beside me… who was now clutching a pillow to his chest like a lifeline, in the space I’d just vacated.
I snorted softly at the sight — then cackled as Aros held Caelus’ nostrils closed, quashing the noise. A heartbeat later, Caelus panicked, sending his arms flying and landed a solid, albeit accidental, punch to Aros’ groin.
Full-bellied laughter erupted out of me at the pair — one reclaiming his breath, the other reclaiming his dignity. I stepped over Aros’ curled up body as he writhed on the floor, snickering at his pain-filled groans.
“You brought that onto yourself,” Caelus grumbled, following me to the tiny adjoining bathroom, barely big enough for one god, let alone two.
I turned on the faucet and grimaced at the reflection staring back at me. With frizzy hair, creases from the bed sheets cutting across my face, and brows askew, I wasn’t what anyone would call queenly.
“You’re adorable,” Caelus murmured, stepping up behind me and kissing the top of my head. Evidence of his growing arousal pressed firmly against my lower back, and hints of raspberry and caramel tainted the air.
“You’re delusional,” I replied, bending slowly over the sink to splash cold water on my face. A shiver skated down my spine as Caelus groaned — deep and thunderous — and it took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to climb him right there.
Instead, I reached for his hand and squeezed it thrice before searching the bedroom for my boots.
Aros wordlessly handed them to me, brows lowered in suspicion.
I perched on the edge of the bed, watching Caelus cup his hands in the stream of ice water and throw it over his face — though he reacted more violently than I had, which was amusing to say the least.
It seems I wasn’t the only one in need of a cold shower. Or ten minutes of uninterrupted peace.
As I laced up the boots that someone had thoughtfully removed while I slept, Aros leaned one shoulder against the wall and crossed his ankles in the pretense of nonchalance.
“Something’s different between you two,” he muttered, eyeing us both warily.
Caelus answered with a shrug. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Three, he said mentally.
Two, I answered.
Both our eyes flicked to Aros as his just about fell out of his head.
One, we said simultaneously, watching Aros’ mouth drop open.
“You had sex!” he roared, loud enough to be heard on the next floor of the academy.
“Shh!” Caelus chided. “No one else needs to know about our queen’s bedroom habits!”
The door banged open, rebounding off the wall and back into the aghast face of a familiar goddess.
“You had sex?!” Aph echoed. “You finally did it?” She bolted to my side, grabbed my arm and winked salaciously at the men. “Come. You can tell me all about it on our way to the temple.”
Shooting Caelus a despondent look — and Aros a withering one — I joined her in the hallway and began answering her many questions.
Quietly.
Athena dipped her head as we entered the main chamber of Itachene’s temple.
Surrounding her was apparently everyone we had ever encountered in Athenos.
The sounds of that many beings in one domed room should have been an assault on my senses, but something incredible happened when we arrived instead.
Everyone went silent. And not the terrible silence of fear, as I was accustomed to. No, this was something else. Something almost like respect.
You’ve earned it, Caelus reassured, understanding my rising confusion better than even I did. They’re waiting for you to speak.
Speak?
The warm, honeyed tenor of his laugh bounced around my mind, lighting up the places it touched so that I was joyous too.
Yes, speak. Say something inspirational.
I don’t know how to do that.
Sure, you do. Just tell them how you feel, then.
I don’t think they’re ready for that.
Trust me, they are.
I cleared my throat, and anyone who hadn’t been outright staring at me now used that as permission to do so.
“Thank you all for coming. If you’re here voluntarily, consider me honoured. If you’re here because someone dragged you, then I’m sorry, but you’re here to stay because this room is full. And if you’re here for refreshments, I regret to inform you that you chose the wrong room entirely.”
And just like that, the silence shattered. The chamber filled with the sounds of genuine laughter — and in Aphrodite’s case, an old wench’s cackle.
Good start, keep going, Caelus urged.
“Tonight, we find out which of Ephemeron’s nations will stand with us in this war.”
Mirth fled the room — in its place, stark solemnity.
“We shall meet with representatives of all mortal nations and ask them to stake the lives of their people and that of themselves to fight against true tyranny.
Kronos does not care which of you fall as he paves his new kingdom, he cares only that your blood and your bones can be ground well enough to make mortar for his stones.
“To all of you not making the journey to the Isle, thank you for seeing us off. I ask that you return home; that you kiss your children goodnight; that you sharpen your blades and polish your shields, because you will soon have use for them.
“To those journeying with us — we leave in ten minutes. Ready yourselves.”
The chamber slowly emptied, and I was on the receiving end of a multitude of solemn nods and murmured thanks. Eventually, only the gods and two mortals remained.
Aros clapped me on the shoulder with a suave grin. “Solid speech, darling — but not as good as mine.”
“Good luck to any who try to top you,” I laughed.
“I wouldn’t mind being topped every now and again,” he quipped with a wink. “As long as they don’t mind that I’ll then go on to finish them with an earthshattering org—”
“Alright now!” Aph interrupted with a playful tilt to her lips. In mock-whisper she continued, “We don’t want to shatter Nyssa’s delicate sensibilities and scare her off of… other things… now that she’s finally opened her—”
“Aphrodite,” Caelus rumbled, cutting her off.
“What?” She shrugged delicately, the wicked smirk remaining. “I was only going to say that your lordship has thoroughly opened her—”
“Aph!” I scolded.
“—mind!” She cackled. “Honestly, you two are made for each other.”
Aros joined her, both of them snickering like children.
“What are we laughing at?” Evie asked, joyfully perplexed.
Through gritted teeth, I said, “Nothing.”
Her eyes narrowed, eerily like Aros’ had earlier this evening. “You guys fucked didn’t you?”
Lightning crashed in the distance — much to Aros’ eternal delight — and my jaw dropped. I glanced at Caelus, then looked down at myself, certain something about us would be different if she could tell just by looking.
But nothing was amiss.
“How did you—”
“Oh, please,” she groaned. “It’s so obvious with how you can’t keep your hands off each other—”
It was true. We couldn’t.
“And Caelus’ skin is electrified—”
It was.
“And yours has stolen some of his glow. You look remarkably less pale.”
With widened eyes, I inspected my hands. I couldn’t see what she meant.
Was it a little more golden? Did I really leech some of his power? His vitality?
Her stomach-clenching guffaw broke the palpable tension.
“I’m kidding! You should see your faces!”
Aros and Aph cackled alongside her.
“No, Aros roared loud enough earlier that I’m certain no one is unwise to your little sojourn last night.”
Fuck.
A little bubble of untameable amusement bloomed in my chest. Not mine, though — Caelus’.
When I turned to him, horrified, he took one look at the expression on my face and burst out laughing.
That little bubble tickled so badly I had no choice but to join him.
And it was to the sounds of our merriment that gods who had been pretending not to — but absolutely were — listening in, fractured.
In the face of war, of tentative alliances, and anguish-laden battlefields, we laughed.
Kronos may yet shatter the realms as we knew them. He may defeat every last one of us. But he would not break us before that moment.
If all we had was now, then we would live each moment to its fullest, in spite of him and everything he represented.
Giving him our metaphorical middle finger.
Just like Charon would have.