2. Take your shot
TAKE YOUR SHOT
ALEX
Once we’ve gone far enough that the women are out of earshot—but close enough that we could reach them should they need us—I pause. So does Orion.
Hefting my bow, I give him a side-eyed look. “You might as well forfeit now, Huntsman. You won’t be able to best me.”
He handles his bow just easily, assuming the archer’s stance. “You know this contest is just a way for my wife to get your nymph alone so she can talk about how things are going with you, don’t you?”
If only she was my nymph. “I do. Doesn’t change the fact that I’ve been challenged. You ready?”
He nods. “Take your shot.”
This isn’t the first time Daphne and Noelle have met. I’m happy to see my soulmate and my sister get along, and if they want some privacy, I guess I might as well go along with it. Since that’s the case, I don’t want to beat the huntsman too badly. At least, not so quickly.
I reach into my quiver, pulling out a golden arrow. I aim for a tree about fifteen feet away from where we’re standing. There’s a knot in it, a good six feet off of the ground. I aim, then fire. The arrow lets loose with a twang, slamming in the dead center of the knot with a thwack. “Your turn.”
“Beat it or match it?”
Beating it would be easy. But matching the shot? “Match it. Within three inches, if you think you can.”
“Know I can,” the big giant mumbles. Like me, Orion has a magic quiver. Only one silver arrow—shining like the moon—sticks out of it, but it’s replaced as soon as he plucks it from its place. He nocks his bow, glares down his nose as he sights my shot, then fires his own arrow.
Two inches. Good shot, but not great.
I cock my head. “All right. Your turn to pick the shot.”
We go back and forth after that, neither of us missing the mark. I thought I might have tripped him up when I aimed for a particular branch, but he made the shot. Not as close as I would have, but it was in the three-inch mark.
It’s the winter season. There’s no snow in the Other—at least, not in the wooded area where I have my palace—but there’s usually a chill in the air this time of year.
When I see the big huntsman shrug off his leather cloak, I realize that my competitiveness has allowed Apollo to rise up enough to let off some of his heat.
Whoops.
I rein Apollo in, though not completely. To use his bow, I need to tap into my god side, and there’s no way I’m going to let Orion win.
“It’s my turn,” I tell him. I start looking for another target when he holds up one of his massive hands. Realizing he wants to pause, I quirk an eyebrow over at my sister’s husband. “What?”
“Just wonderin’ somethin’. You and your nymph… you doin’ alright?”
His voice is a mix between a Southern drawl and a rumble that has Apollo fighting to take over. I take a moment to shove him down again, then run my finger down the length of my arrow. “Of course we are. Why would you ask?”
Better question: where is this coming from?
The last time I spoke to Orion, just the two of us, it was when Noelle had taken the portal Cassandra conjured for her and we weren’t sure if she would ever come back to the Other.
It was the first time I looked at him and, instead of seeing an enemy, I saw Hunter the way that my twin did.
Did that stop me from doing what I was supposed to?
No. I had a part to play in Noelle’s story, and I did it because it didn’t matter how much control I had over my human side.
In the Other, there are just some things you can’t fight.
The magic is one of them. I needed to urge Artemis to shoot her companion, and I did.
Was I happy when Orion didn’t die? Apollo wasn’t. But Alex… I guess Noelle could do worse than a huntsman who could love her, protect her, and treat her like the goddess that she is.
Still doesn’t mean I’m going to let him show up the god of archers with his shooting skills.
Before he can answer me, I jerk my pointed chin in the distance. “Let’s finish the contest.”
“You need some advice from a happily married fella? A few tips to get your nymph to commit?”
I snort. “Please. I think I can handle my own affairs without my twin’s… companion interfering. Remind me, Huntsman. Were you a virgin mirrorside, too, or only until Noelle took pity on you and invited you into her bed?”
He blinks. He’s got these light eyes that stick out of his tanned face, and he blinks as if he can’t believe what I just said.
Actually, he’s not wrong. I go out of my way to pretend that my sister is still a maiden, and that Orion keeps his cock in his pants around her.
To bring up their sex life myself has probably thrown him.
He recovers quickly, though. Without his cloak, I can see as he reaches for the dented metal canteen he has hanging off of his belt, tucked between two of his blades. He unhooks it, showing it to me.
I raise my eyebrows. “What’s that?”
“Some nectar.” He shakes the canteen, the liquid sloshing back and forth. “Might help you pull that stick outta your ass.”
I scoff and, flicking my fingers, refuse his offer. “Is that how you convince Noelle to stay with you? Nectar?”
A local brew, it doesn’t have any alcohol in it, but tell that to the way it affects immortals.
A couple of sips is enough to make anyone loose and tipsy.
I might’ve teasingly offered some to Daphne during the early days after we first met, but I know better than to accept some from my sister’s husband.
Especially since I have the walk home with Daphne to look forward to. To keep from making any other mistakes when it comes to convincing my soulmate to stick around, I need a clear head—and I’m pretty sure he knows that.
At the very least, he doesn’t seem bothered when I refuse his canteen, or when I obviously insult him.
“You’d only hope so.” With a shrug, he hooks the canteen back to this belt. “Come on now. Don’t be jealous that I’m gettin’ laid and you ain’t. I thought gold was your color, not green.”
“I’m not jealous.” Mainly because, to be jealous of Orion, I have to willingly think about him sleeping with my sister. And… no. No, I can’t do that. “But you’re not wrong. Daphne and I… we’re taking it slow.”
“Because you’re sure she’s got one foot back in the portal, right?”
Like I said. He’s smarter than I thought.
Not that I’m going to admit it.
I don’t have to.
Orion really is a big bastard. He has a good couple of inches on me, but it’s his muscular bulk that makes him appear like the giant he is. I’m a god, and no slouch myself, but I feel almost dwarfed as he lays a friendly hand on my shoulder.
“Look at it this way. If she’s put up with you for this long without leavin’, I think she’s far enough gone over you already, Archer, that this is it for the both of ya.” He shakes his head. “Poor gal.”
I… don’t know what to say to that. Or to how oddly reassuring hearing that from Orion is.
Huh. Maybe it’s because he’s not only Orion. He’s Noelle’s Hunter, and maybe not such a bad guy.
Still. I shake him off before positioning my golden arrow against the bowstring.
“Sixth tree back, behind the laurel in front of it. Dead center,” I say before letting it fly. “Now you go.”
Good demigod. Taking the hint, Hunter drops the conversation and, his brow furrowed, returns his focus to our friendly little contest.
That I’m definitely going to win.
DAPHNE
The moment Alex and Hunter headed off into the woods together for their fake competition BS, Noelle lets out an amused giggle.
Remembering the resigned expression on Alex’s handsome face, I can’t help but chuckle under my breath, too.
It’s one thing that the four of us got together for dinner away from the golden palace.
She’s his twin, I’m his… something, and he’s never happier than when he can just be Alex without the weight of also being Apollo holding him down.
I’ve lived with him for a couple of months now.
Maybe it’s because we’re supposedly soulmates—something that I came to grips with once I decided to stay in this strange, mythical realm—but it was easy to get to know him.
And I don’t just mean how it’s obvious when Apollo is the one in control; with the heat pouring off of him, plus the molten gold eyes, it’s impossible not to tell the difference.
But Alex… the guy he had to have been mirrorside, and the man he stubbornly clings to even as half the damn place reveres him as one of the twelve main Olympians…
I know him. I can tell how Hunter rubs him the wrong way only because the big guy is fucking Alex’s beloved sister, but throw in a competition, and he has this need to prove himself.
Noelle’s motives are pretty obvious, too.
Sure, back in my old office in New York, I got where I was because I was a pro at reading people, but the reborn Artemis doesn’t even try to hide what she’s doing.
After we ate a pretty hearty stew that Hunter made for us—and that Alex not-so-sneakily shared with the orange tomcat Noelle brought into the Other with her—she asked the two men who was a better shot with a bow and arrow.
If there’s one thing I learned since arriving in this world, it’s that the gods are a boastful bunch.
Even worse than Mr. Argyle, the corporate lawyer who used to be my boss, and if you’ve ever had to be an executive assistant to a big shot New York attorney, you know that’s saying something.
Hunter—or, as Alex calls him, Orion… when he’s not scowling at his sister’s husband, that is—is a demigod, but as his chosen name suggests, he’s one hell of a hunter.
His weapon of choice is a blade, but he’s a crack shot with a bow.
Alex, of course, is the god of archery. Not to mention, he’s cocky as fuck. No way does he think anyone else is better than he is.
The challenge was inevitable. What wasn’t? Was how Noelle manipulated the two to go off into the woods together, doing their little contest on their own while we sat back and… chatted.
I have girlfriends. Back in New York, I had a group of girlfriends I’ve known since I went to the Spence School that I used to see pretty frequently.
Along with my cousin, Willow, we’d meet for brunch monthly and maybe a Broadway show every now and then, but there was always some gossip going back and forth.
I’m used to a tight-knit group. Considering Alex’s palace is home to more than a few nymphs, you’d think I might’ve made friends with them.
The Other Daphne was a nymph, so we have a couple of things in common.
Then again, nearly every chick in his home wants to bang my soulmate.
They’re also jealous that he treats them like his servants—because, yeah, that’s what they are—while I’m the woman who he writes love songs and poetry to.
Do I rub it in? Of course I do. Not in front of all of them; there are a few who are happy their “master” finally found his soulmate.
But Kyrene pushed me too far weeks ago to the point that I plopped myself on Alex’s lap when he was sitting on his throne, playing the lyre for me.
He was thrilled that I showed him any affection without him being the one to initiate, and I’m still not sure what was more satisfying: the disapproving scowl twisting her pretty face or the way his eyes lit up when I went in for that first kiss.
She left the palace shortly after that. Too bad, so sad, but Alex didn’t even notice she left—or that Melia and Creusa went with her—until it finally dawned on him that we weren’t being interrupted as half as much as we had been.
I thought that might change things. Without some of the more jealous nymphs trying to involve themselves in my and Alex’s relationship, I thought we might finally move on to the next step.
We already spend a ton of time together, eat most of our meals at the same table, and I’ve said ‘I love you’ more to my god than I have to anyone who isn’t family.
That’s fucking huge for me, a fact I’m pretty sure Alex realizes.
I’ve made sure to point it out a couple of times, and he always glows brighter when I do.
That’s the thing, though. I’m in uncharted territory here.
I’m not the type of chick to fall hard and fast. And while casual sex is something I’m familiar with, it’s obvious that Alex is expecting more.
Fuck if I know what. I’ve had relationships where we banged without ever catching feelings, and a couple of long-term flings where I said ‘I love you’, but it was only because they said it first.
Sure, Alex did this time, too, but whether it’s this place, or the two of us, or even my innate need to shoot a middle finger up at how much the other Daphne loathes Apollo…
it doesn’t matter. I love him, and even though it’s only been a couple of months, that’s enough for me to admit what I knew almost from the beginning: Alex is mine.
But we haven’t had sex yet, and I’m beginning to wonder if we’re ever going to.