Chapter 38
CORDELIA
Later, after a shower to rid myself of the stench of Ixion’s lair, the others left us in peace. Si and I were alone.
Silence stretched between us, heavy with everything unsaid. He reached for me, his hand rough and trembling as it closed around mine, his grip unyielding.
‘Kardia mou,’ he whispered, his voice raw with both love and fury.
His forehead pressed against mine again, his breath unsteady.
‘They took you from me once. I will tear the world apart before I let it happen again.’ He hesitated.
‘Are you okay?’ My laugh sounded almost broken as I pressed my forehead to his chest.
‘Tell me what happened, Si.’
‘Ajax… ‘ He swallowed, seemingly unable to say the words. Ajax had killed me. He’d be burning in the fires of Tartarus now, of that I had no doubt. ‘Persephone made Zeus perform the apotheosis,’ he said quietly, his eyes burning into mine. ‘I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have lifted a finger without her. ’
My chest tightened. Gratitude swelled, not just for Sephy, not just for the gods who’d intervened, but for the family I’d found here—Hades and Sephy, Bronte, and above all, the man in front of me.
‘Then I’ll thank her every day,’ I murmured, curling my fingers into his.
‘As will I,’ he said solemnly.
‘All I want is a life with you. With Guinn. Together.’ I raised a hand to his cheek.
Si’s cheek pressed into my hand, his breath shuddering. ‘Kardia mou,’ he whispered, raw and possessive. ‘You’re mine. Always.’
‘Kiss me,’ I panted. Holy hell, this man made me a complete sap.
‘I won’t only kiss you, kardia mou—I’ll carve stories into your skin with my lips, every one ending in you moaning my name.’ Gods, his voice was dangerous—rich and deep—and hella sexy.
Bingo. I raised my brows. ‘Prove it, sea god.’
His large palms framed my face, then his mouth crashed into mine, his tongue ravishing my mouth with a long, deep kiss—the kind that steals your soul and hurls it toward some higher plane. A wildfire raced through me, searing along every nerve, gathering molten and desperate between my thighs.
‘Mark me again… claim me,’ I begged.
‘Every part of you will carry my claim, Little Red.’ His eyes were smouldering as he pushed the robe from my shoulders, letting it fall into a silken pool at my feet. His gaze roved over me, hungry and humble all at once. Then he caught my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes.
‘But first, we will start the blood oath. We will seal our fates together.’
Before I could speak, his fangs sank into his own wrist. Blood welled rich and dark, flecked with gold, glistening against his bronzed skin. He brought it to my lips, his voice deep, commanding, and achingly seductive. ‘Drink.’
I did.
His blood flooded my tongue—salty, electric, more intoxicating than any wine. It slid down my throat like liquid fire, setting my veins ablaze. The taste was freedom and tempestas—wild storm winds and crashing waves—something exotic and untameable—a hurricane colliding with the seashore.
I moaned as the power rampaged through me, my body shuddering violently under the onslaught. Heat slammed into me, so sharp and sudden it was almost pain. My thighs pressed together instinctively, but it was useless—the ache between them flared into desperation, raw and consuming.
‘Si!’ My voice broke, pleading. My nails raked his shoulders as the burn spread, fierce and relentless, leaving me writhing. ‘I can’t—I need—’
His grin was wicked. He licked the wound on his wrist, sealing it, then cupped my face with blood-warmed hands. ‘Yes, kardia mou. You need me. You are mine now—in blood, in soul, in body. As I am yours.’
He kissed me, his tongue invading my mouth, letting me taste myself mingled with him. My body convulsed, every nerve alive, ravenous. His blood had bound me, claimed me, and left me desperate for him to finish what he had started.
‘Please,’ I gasped, the word torn raw from my throat. ‘Claim me, Si—mark me everywhere.’
In an instant, he was naked, his glorious cock jutted hard and heavy, desperate for my pussy, but he made me wait, as he pushed me to the bed, and knelt over me. ‘I will mark every inch of you, my queen. Tonight, tomorrow, forever. Your body, your soul are mine.’
His lips trailed down my throat, hot and urgent, leaving a map of wet kisses and sharp nips that made me arch beneath him.
My skin felt hypersensitive, every nerve tuned only to him, the heat of his mouth and the steel of his grip.
He flicked his tongue across my nipple, then sucked deep, a rough pull that tore a broken moan from my lips.
My fingers fisted in his hair, tugging, helpless.
‘Si… please…’
He growled against my skin, the sound vibrating straight through me. Then his fangs grazed my flesh—sharp, teasing, until they pressed deeper and bit.
The world shattered.
Pleasure slammed into me so violently it felt like pain, molten and all-consuming. His venom seared through me, hotter than his blood, racing flames through my veins until I screamed his name. My back arched off the bed, every muscle taut, my thighs clenching around nothing, desperate for relief.
‘Oh, gods… Si!’ That pulsing throb of pleasure beat between my thighs intensified.
He licked the sting, soothing it, his mouth wet and possessive as he marked me, again and again, each kiss a brand.
Bliss, unlike anything I’d ever known crashed through me, flooding my senses until I felt drunk on it—high, weightless, trembling.
Pleasure built and built until it crested, a wave so fierce it threatened to drown me.
His hand slid between my thighs, finding me slick, ready. The venom throbbed inside me, an intoxicating aphrodisiac that turned need into agony. My body burned, pulsed, begged to be filled.
‘You feel it, don’t you?’ he rasped, lifting his head to look at me. His lips glistened, his eyes molten and wild. ‘My blood. My venom. My mark inside you. You’re mine, kardia mou… and I’ll drive you to madness with it.’
I couldn’t answer—my body shook too hard, my breath shattered in pieces. All I could do was arch into his touch, beg without words as the fire built hotter, higher, unstoppable.
He kissed me again, fierce and hungry, his fingers circling my clit with intricate precision. Every stroke sent shocks of ecstasy ripping through me, fuelled by the venom, every nerve raw and desperate for more.
‘I want you inside me,’ I gasped, barely coherent, clinging to him as if he were the only thing tethering me to this world.
‘You’ll have me,’ he promised, his voice thick with possession and need. ‘All of me. Until you remember—body and soul—that you belong to me, and me alone. And now you’re a goddess, I can fuck you like an animal.’
At those words, a shiver ran through me.
My breath caught—half in disbelief, half in nerves, but beneath it all, something darker, hotter, thrilled at his promise.
Excitement tangled with fear until my pulse pounded so loud it drowned out thought.
I’d been remade, reborn, immortal now—and Si meant to prove exactly what that meant.
Shifting in his arms, I let my hands wander downward, fingertips tracing over the hard planes of his chest until I wrapped them around his thick length. His groan vibrated through me, heating my blood.
I pushed him gently onto his back, kissing along his throat before swinging a leg over his hips.
I needed him in me—and I needed him now.
My mouth followed the line of his jaw until our lips met, tongues tangling hungrily.
Sliding my hands back up, I curled them around his neck and rocked against him, dragging my slick sex along the rigid length of his cock.
He answered with eagerness, gripping my ass and lifting me just enough for his tip to catch against my entrance. With a sudden pull, he brought me down on him.
Delicious fullness made my eyes flutter shut, and a moan tear free as I sat up, arching.
He cupped my breasts, thumbs teasing over my nipples while I swirled my hips, rising and falling slowly, savouring every inch.
Heat coiled deep in my core, impossible to contain, until I quickened, crashing down onto him harder, faster.
His fingers found my clit, circling, massaging, wringing broken sounds from my lips.
Si rolled us over without breaking our connection, pressing me into the mattress as his mouth crashed against mine. His thrusts were relentless, deep, and vicious, each one rattling a low groan from my throat.
‘Mmm… yes. Oh gods, yes.’ The world blurred out of focus; I was desperate, undone. ‘Bite me again,’ I begged, trailing my fingers along his arms.
His hips kept their punishing rhythm as his mouth left mine, blazing a path down my jaw to my neck. Fangs sank into my flesh, exquisite pain-pleasure exploding through me. I arched into him, arms winding tight around his body, craving more, needing everything.
His pace grew savage, hips driving harder, faster, until pleasure battered me from all sides, overwhelming, unbearable.
‘Every god will smell you on me,’ he snarled against my skin, his voice rough velvet. ‘You’ll be hoarse from screaming my name… I’ll carve myself into you, mark you so deep the pantheon will know you’re mine without a word spoken.’
The words broke me wide open; a guttural scream tearing free as the crescendo crashed over me, like a tsunami of bliss flooding every nerve. My body spasmed around his cock, clenching him, milking him, as he groaned my name and spilled inside me.
In the aftermath, he sagged against me, his head resting in the crook of my neck, shaky breaths whispering heat across my skin.
‘I love you,’ he murmured, raw and unguarded. The low timbre of his voice rumbled against my chest as he squeezed me tighter.
‘After all these centuries, fate finally showed mercy. I lived long enough to find you, kardia mou. You are my soulmate.’ His hand rose, tender now, brushing my cheek, his thumb tracing the line of my jaw as though I were the only thing in his world.
I grinned and kissed him again. I’d never been the fairytales-and-happily-ever-afters type, but this man had carved out a place in my heart and refused to leave. Against all odds, I was officially a sap.
* * *
The boardwalk stretched like a silver ribbon over the turquoise shallows, the sea glittering in the late sun. Si’s private island felt like a piece of paradise carved out of the world—but the real wonder waited at the end of the pier.
Two hippocampi reared from the waves, scales flashing like liquid emerald and sapphire.
Their bodies shimmered with the sleek power of stallions, but where their flanks should have ended, jewelled tails coiled and slapped the surf, throwing up fans of spray.
Fins fanned along their necks, catching the light like translucent wings.
‘Gods,’ I whispered, my mouth falling open. ‘They’re… beautiful.’
Sephy’s hand found mine, her own eyes wide with childlike wonder. ‘I’ve always wanted to ride one. And it’s all thanks to you, Cordelia!’ she confessed with a conspiratorial grin.
Si smirked from behind us, arms crossed, his gaze more on me than his creatures.
The hippocampus nearest me dipped its great head, nostrils flaring as if it recognized me. My heart pounded as I reached out, brushing my fingers over cool, gleaming scales. A strange thrill rippled through me—half awe, half giddy joy.
Sephy laughed as she swung herself onto the back of the sapphire one, her hair catching the wind. She looked radiant, unrestrained, so different from the solemn Queen of the Dead in the Fields of Asphodels.
‘Come on, Cordie!’ she called, already wrapping her hands around the woven kelp reins. ‘Race you!’
I climbed astride the emerald hippocampus, clinging tight as it surged forward.
The creature leapt into the waves, tail churning, and a scream of sheer delight tore from my throat.
Spray cooled my face, the wind whipped in my hair, and Sephy’s laughter rang beside mine, wild and free, as we skimmed the waves like we’d been born of the sea itself.
‘Faster!’ she shouted, holding fast as the creature burst into speed.
‘Oh, you’re on!’ I yelled back, digging my fingers into the slick reins as it dove. The world turned liquid—pressure and motion and light refracting in shards of turquoise.
The water should’ve burned my lungs, but it didn’t. The blood oath thrummed beneath my skin, ancient power weaving through me, turning air and sea into the same breath. For the first time, the ocean felt like home.
Then the hippocampus shot upward in a spray of saltwater that drenched us both. We laughed until our sides hurt, two goddesses on the backs of legends, skimming the ocean like wild things set loose.
I threw my head back, grinning wide, the wind tangling my hair and the sea kissing my skin.
When I glanced towards the boardwalk, Si and Hades stood side by side—Hades impassive, though the twitch at the corner of his mouth betrayed him, and Si watching me with that look that said I was his whole damned world.
For the first time, I felt free.
And as the sea stretched endlessly before me, I knew what this new life meant: love, family, forever. Once, I had feared eternity. Now, I couldn’t wait to live it.