Chapter 15 - Star
Ya know, to be honest—I’m not all that upset about being stuck with them. I mean, not Quaid. He can go fuck himself. But Aric and Declan—two gods? Or demigods, maybe? I’ve never had much interest in ancient history, so the technical jargon isn’t exactly second-nature.
But half-god or whole, they’re both very hot. Very sexy. And in two completely different ways, which is nice. Declan is all charming and fun while Aric is all stoic and strong.
I don’t know what ‘being merged’ means when it comes to magic, but I can certainly use my imagination for how it might play out in other ways.
A chuckle comes spilling out of my mouth and I blush and look down a little, and when I look up again, for some reason I’m staring at Quaid and he’s glaring at me. Again. “What?” I snap.
“What are you chuckling about?”
“Nothing.”
He turns to Aric. “There’s something wrong about her.”
“What?” I say.
Aric looks confused. “What are you talking about?”
“Look at her, she’s smiling. She’s happy. She chuckled. She did this.”
“I didn’t do anything,” I say. “That’s not why I was smiling, for fuck’s sake.”
Quaid narrows his eyes at me. “Then why were you smiling?”
“It’s none of your business.”
He laughs. “None of my business? That’s funny. You’re the whole reason we’re here.”
“No,” I say. Getting defensive. “Aric is. He just said so.”
We all look over at Aric who shrugs. “Fuck it, it’s my fault, I guess. But like I was saying,” and I get a little thrill of satisfaction here, because he takes a moment to scowl at Quaid, “—we’ve been merged.”
“But what does that mean,” Declan asks.
Aric takes a moment to think, then shrugs. “I’m no expert on the rules of power distribution in Olympus, but there are rules, ya know? And I know how it works under normal conditions.”
“How?” Quaid asks. A little too eager, if you ask me.
I think Aric is thinking the same thing, because he throws Quaid a look of suspicion. But he doesn’t act on it. “Frequencies,” he says.
“Oh, yeah,” Declan says. “I knew this. That’s how I travel. What’s that got to do with anything?”
But I’m looking at Quaid while Declan is talking, and it’s pretty clear to me that he didn’t know this was how power was distributed in Olympus. In fact, he’s so intent on listening to Aric’s upcoming explanation, he doesn’t he noticed me watching him.
Which allows me a few moments to study him. Which, unfortunately, is enough time for me to appreciate that he’s… maybe… attractive. In an asshole kind of way.
“Well,” Aric says. “Frequencies can be combined. That’s not how it works in Olympus, though. So…” He shrugs. “I don’t know why it happened here, but I think it did.”
“So what’s this mean?” Declan asks. And again, Quaid is seriously paying attention to this conversation between the two demigods.
“Well,” Aric says, blowing out a breath. “It means that… the rules must not apply to us.”
“How do you figure that?” Finally, Quaid asks a question.
“Because,” Aric says. “We did it and it shouldn’t have happened.”
“He shouldn’t have happened, either,” Declan says, pointing to Quaid.
“Yeah,” Aric says. “He’s an odd one. Let’s leave Quaid out of this for a moment and just think about you and me, Declan. We’re both demigods who have been given powers by actual gods.”
“So have I,” Quaid protests. “My power comes from Apollo.”
“No,” Aric says, looking at Quaid. “You’re nothing like us.
” And the funny thing is, he’s not being mean or facetious about it.
“I’m not saying you’re not important in what’s happening.
Obviously, you are. I’m just working with what I know for the moment.
And what I know is that demigods and gods don’t operate under the same power regulations. That’s why they make us.”
Declan chuckles. “So they can cheat.”
Aric points at him. “Yes. Exactly. So they can cheat.” Now he looks at me.
“Star is a demigod too. Not only that, she was sent to the mortal world to be hidden.” His eyes narrow down a little as he stares at me, like he’s seeing me for the very first time.
And this direct, full attention makes my stomach jump and my heart rate surge.
Despite his brutish appearance, there’s a lot to like about Aric and I’m very attracted to him.
“There’s something unique about you, Star. ”
I really like hearing him say my name and I’m suddenly wondering when Aric and I will take our turn in the bathroom. I can totally picture showering with him.
He smiles at me in this moment, then winks like he’s reading my mind.
This makes me blush.
“She’s doing it again,” Quaid says.
“Doing what?” Declan asks.
“She’s got that weird look on her face.”
I let out a breath and roll my eyes.
Aric continues. “Something has happened here.” He makes a motion with his finger to me, and Declan, and himself. “Something unexpected.”
“Something that broke my glasses,” Quaid adds. Like he’s pissed off that he’s not being included in the conversation.
And just to piss him off more, I decide to participate in this conversation even though I have no clue what’s going on.
We’re all standing in a rough circle, Declan on my right, Aric on my left, and Quaid across from me.
I reach for Declan’s hand, then for Aric’s and I tug them closer to me, like they’re mine.
Neither of them object. Both of them smile and reach for me, letting go of my hands and slipping their arms around my waist in a similarly possessive move. This causes a thrill of desire and arousal to course through my body and then, something else happens.
The lights go out and there is a brief moment of total darkness. Then… the whole place lights up with those tiny celestial carvings in the walls.
“There!” Declan says, pointing to the walls.
“Yeah,” Aric agrees. “I see it. Wow.” Then he pulls his arm back from me, like he’s unsure, and the glowing stops and darkness fades.
“No!” Declan says, looking at me. “What did you do?”
“It wasn’t me,” I say, looking up at Aric. “It was him.”
“Put your arm back around her,” Declan says. “The magic is between us.”
“Yeah,” Aric agrees. But he doesn’t put his arm around me again. “I get that. But… how? And why? What are we doing? This was supposed to be an abduction job and now I’m stuck in the fucking maze and my target is affecting my magic in ways I don’t understand.”
“Isn’t that I good thing?” I ask. Because he’s pulling back and I don’t want him to.
Declan wraps both his arms around me now, kinda grinding in to me. “More for me, if he’s not interested.”
And to my surprise, it is Quaid, not Aric, who responds. “I’m interested.”
We all look at him. Everyone’s eyes narrowing down in suspicion. “Interested in what?” I ask, unable to hide my hostility.
I get a crooked smile as an answer. “Well, you’re the wellspring, Star. And I’d like to take a drink.”
Declan chuckles. “Hey, I’m down with sharing.”
“No,” Aric suddenly says. “No,” he says again. “We can’t combine the powers.”
“Why the hell not?” Declan asks.
“Yeah,” Quaid adds. “Why not? They’re synergistic, you said it yourself.”
“Her and us,” he says. “That’s the synergy.” Then he points to Quaid’s glasses, which he’s holding in his hand. “Only her and us. Because if Declan and I combine, then things get out of hand. That’s what broke your glasses, Quaid. It was too much.”
“So what’s that mean?” I ask. Feeling weirdly disappointed. Because I like them both and I want them both. And now Aric’s saying it can’t happen.
“I think it means that we each have a synergistic power with you, Star. We make you more powerful and you make us more powerful. But’s a duo, not a triad.” Then he looks at Quaid. “Or a quad.”
“Wow, that’s weird,” Declan says. “His name is Quaid and with us he makes us a quad.”
“My name does not mean four, Declan. It’s not weird.”
Declan shrugs. “It’s still got a Q in it.”
Which makes me smile for a moment. But then I look up at Aric and find him frowning. I decide to confront his unease head on. “Why are you so worried?”
Aric lets out a breath. “I’m not worried, exactly. It’s just… you’re… special.”
I smile. “Thank you. I’d like to think so.”
But he doesn’t smile back. “It’s just…” Now he looks around the room. And suddenly I get it. We’re in some kind of… trap for him. He was stuck here, fighting the monster, all by himself. And now he’s probably worried about how we get out.
So I reach for him, taking his hand as I look up into his eyes. “Don’t worry. You’re not alone this time.”
And finally, he smiles. “You’ve said that already. But Star, I’ve got to say, even if you can help me get out of the maze again, I would never ask you to do that. Because you have no idea how bad it’s gonna be.”