Chapter 18
PERA, PYRGOS
Daris rode beside Hermes as they crossed into Pyrgos.
He was still coming to terms with being Terena’s eudaemon.
As they rode, he recalled all those little moments that now made sense.
How Terena’s blood healed his wound after General Peleon had stabbed him in the eye.
Daris scoffed when he thought of Melanos, staring at him and calling him ‘eudaemon’ when Terena had Bethana’s fangs in her arm.
At the time, he’d allowed Rydon to push him aside, despite the overwhelming urge to give her his own blood.
Cursing under his breath, Daris shook his head. He should’ve asked Melanos about it. The god clearly had known their connection. Hells, Daris had known. He’d dreamed of the woman all his life, and yet he allowed the circumstances to sway him.
He wondered if Terena knew. And if she did not, what would she do when she found out?
“Look how they cheer for you, lord!”
Daris was jarred from his thoughts by the shouts of the crowd as Hermes waved royally at them. The god did not fear that word would spread of his large army advancing on Emperor Solon. In fact, everywhere they went, he had his men travel to nearby towns and villages, spreading the news.
“Are you not worried he’ll send his armies ahead of your arrival in Metilai?
” Daris had asked, sitting across from the god in a tavern little better than a hovel.
Hermes had laughed as if the question was ridiculous.
He’d looked so at home in the shabby environment, Daris wondered if the stories of the gods being greedy landlords, hoarding riches they collected from the temples in their names, had any merit.
Looking at Hermes surrounded by the humblest of people, Daris doubted it.
More likely, the priests held onto those riches, their fat bellies getting fatter while they preached to the poor.
By the time they reached the border near Tursk, the mayor of the wealthy town of Pera opened his arms and his home to the god, who graciously accepted the mayor’s beautiful manor for their accommodations.
Hermes stood in the dining hall with his closest men, including Daris and his Liodari. The rest of the army built an encampment outside of the city, swelling the taverns and inns with business unlike any they’d seen in years.
Raising a crystal goblet filled with ruby red wine, Hermes smirked at them.
“It’s good to be king,” he murmured, shattering the expectant silence and the men roared their approval.
Daris took his seat at the god’s right hand. He’d been reluctant to sit there while his men sat further down the table, but Hermes had been insistent and Daris did not argue.
As servants set heaping plates of food before them, the men tore into the bounty.
Dried figs, fat pigs surrounded by roasted vegetables and fruits, cheeses of every available variety and wine, so much wine, lay before them in an excess Daris had only ever seen on the high days in Sparta.
He supposed this was a special occasion.
How often had anyone the opportunity to dine with a god?
“I’ve sent Soros ahead with a host to find Terena in Calla,” Hermes said, startling Daris out of his thoughts.
Captain Soros was the only one of his officers Hermes had deigned to introduce back when he and the god had first spoken.
The god seemed to favor the captain, and Daris had wondered if it meant he was the most cunning of his men.
Looking over at Hermes, who popped a dried fig into his mouth, Daris speared a piece of meat. “With news of Sonah?”
“Aye,” the god said in a low voice. Daris leaned closer. “I don’t want her thinking I lied to her and sent her on a fool’s errand.”
Daris chewed slowly, thinking. “I have men searching for Sonah,” he said at length, glancing up at Hermes. “But there hasn’t been any news.”
“She’ll pop up sooner or later,” Hermes said with a shrug. “She’s one of the reasons why I’ve been spreading word of our progress through the provinces. If she’s anywhere near civilization, she’ll hear of it and come to us.”
Daris grunted. “Good. If we can find her and bring her to Terena—”
“She’ll be more willing to forgive you?”
Daris had years of training to control his emotions, and yet his hand jerked at the god’s response, his fork clanging against his water glass.
“You think I do not know of your betrayal?” Hermes purred, his voice like silk, though Daris heard the sharp edge to it. “I’ve spoken at length with my niece about you,” he added when Daris remained silent.
“I did not betray her,” Daris replied, his tone short. “I did not kill her prince.”
“I know,” Hermes said, surprising Daris.
He gawped at the god, who winked at him. “You know?”
“Aye,” Hermes scoffed. “I know the crown prince lives.”
Daris turned his head so he could better see the god. “Did you tell Terena?”
Hermes made another snorty scoffing sound as he waved his fork at Daris. “Of course not.”
Fuming, Daris set his cutlery down beside his plate and glared at the god.
“Why not?”
Hermes shrugged. “Adversity reveals character.” He wiped his mouth with his napkin and leaned back in his seat, grinning at Daris. “You, my new friend, are about to find out if she truly loves you.”
Daris pushed at the oversized metal handle on the heavy wooden door to the rooms he’d been provided for the night. Walking straight through to the bedchamber, he frowned at the large four-poster bed with thick fur blankets and pillows. After removing his armor and sword, he untucked his tunic.
With a sigh, he walked back into the dining area where he spied doors leading to a balcony. Opening the doors, a brisk wind greeted him and he immediately felt the tension ease from his shoulders. Daris hung his head, his grip tight on the stone balustrade, and looked out over the village.
A sound behind him made him stiffen. Daris looked over his shoulder and saw a shadow move toward the bedchamber.
His sword was on the bed and he smothered a curse before stepping quietly back into the room and over to the bedchamber.
He stopped in the doorway when he saw his sword was no longer on the bed.
Daris took one step before a blade at his throat stopped him.
Awareness tickled up his spine and he knew without looking who was there with him.
Terena stepped out of the shadows, her face impassive as she held his sword steady.
“Ren,” he said. It was the only thing he could think of right then as a slew of feelings threatened to overwhelm him. He’d dreaded and longed for this moment for so long, and now it was here he could not think of the right thing to say.
Terena lowered the sword slowly, her eyes locked on his. He saw the emotions mirrored in her gaze and something else, a haze he speculated came from a night spent drinking.
As if reading his thoughts, Terena dropped her eyes and tilted her head. Stepping away, she regarded him, assessing. He tracked her but did not make a move. He wanted her to decide.
“Are you real?”
Daris’s eye widened as she paced before him.
“Aye, Ren. Are you?”
She pursed her lips, and the movement made him want to embrace her, ready to wipe the worry and uncertainty from her face with his passion. Instead, he stood rooted, waiting.
“I think so,” she said at last, still pacing. She looked like a caged animal, waiting for someone to tear apart. “I was… I was in Ermanel, with,” she looked around, confused. “Where is this? Where am I?”
Daris wiped a hand over his mouth and the movement made her stiffen. “We’re in Pera. In Pyrgos. Hermes is—”
“Hermes!”
Daris jolted with the force of her exclamation. Her face turned thunderous.
“He’s here? Where?” Terena lurched forward, and he instinctively reached for her arm. The contact sent a jolt of awareness like lightning through his body. Terena’s eyes flew to his, the shock registering on her face as well.
For a lifetime they stood still, eyes locked. He wished he was eloquent, gifted with the ability to say what he was feeling.
His sword was lax at her side, but he didn’t care. He had to touch her.
He couldn’t fight it anymore.
Daris reached out, cupping the back of her neck, and pulled her to him. For a moment she seemed to melt, as hungry for him as he was for her.
“No!”
She wrenched away, breathing heavily. Terena’s lip curled as she lifted his sword.
He dropped his hands, watching as she took another step back, her eyes narrowed.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” she said, shaking her head, “but this can’t be real.”
“Aye,” Daris replied. “And yet, if I’m dreaming, you wouldn’t have pulled away.”
She laughed harshly. “What if it’s my dream?”
“You would’ve killed me by now.”
Her eyes widened and she grinned ruefully before turning away.
The silence stretched as he watched her, the war going on inside her head evident in the myriad expressions chasing each other across her face.
“Did you do it?”
Daris stiffened. He knew what she meant, but he waited for her to look at him. When she did, he took a step closer.
“I did not.”
Her face twitched and her beautiful hazel eyes swam with tears. Blinking them away, she inhaled raggedly.
“You swear?”
He did not respond straight away. Taking several steps closer, Daris’s breath became shallow when she did not stop him.
“On my life,” he whispered.
The sword clanged onto the flagstone at their feet and they came together desperately. Her hands in his hair drew a groan from him and he kissed her hungrily.
His pulse pounded in his ears as his lips drank her in. Daris slanted his mouth over hers, savoring her panting breaths. He moved closer, crushing her body against his, and it was as if a dam burst.
Her hands were everywhere. She tugged at his tunic. Daris pulled back to yank it over his head before lunging back in as if she was air, his salvation. His lips crashed against hers as his hands ripped at the leather corset she wore. Fabric tore, and he pulled her against him.
“Daris,” she moaned when he finally got her tunic off. Her breasts were bound and he snarled, tugging at the ends to loosen the fabric. When it was off, a violence he only felt in the heat of battle threaded through him and down into his belly as he drank her in.
He pushed her onto the bed. Daris was on her before she could do more than lean forward.
Terena’s arms wound around his back as he found her lips once more.
When his mouth trailed down her neck, her frantic fingers tugged at the laces of his breeches, her hand sliding inside. He closed his eyes and groaned.
Daris wanted her so badly, she’d become an obsession. Even his alliance with Hermes was only to gain a closer foothold to this incredible woman panting and writhing beneath him.
Daris ripped the top few buttons from her breeches, her hot breath against his neck making him feral.
She lifted her hips so he could pull her pants down, dragging them off her legs and chucking them across the room.
He turned back, shoving his breeches down.
Grabbing her hips, Daris pulled her toward him and thrust deep inside her.
Terena cried out, arching her head against the bed, her hips lifting to meet his.
Her legs wrapped around his waist and Daris gripped her hip with one hand as he cupped the fullness of her breast with the other, bringing the hardened nipple to his mouth.
Her sharp intake of breath and muttering his name was his reward.
She moved her hands to his head, her fingers tightening in his scalp almost to the point of pain, but he was mindless to it.
Pleasure and the knowledge Terena was in his arms at last made him senseless.
Her cries sharpened, her breathing quickened, and she met his thrusts with equally furious ones of her own. As the stirrings of his completion focused down his spine, Terena moved.
Flipping them until she was astride him, she planted her hands on his chest and rolled her hips, the dragging motion making him see stars. She threw her head back and moaned as he lifted his shaking hands to her thighs.
Daris breathed through his nose to control the orgasm so close to ripping through him.
When he looked up at her, she was staring down at him, that hooded gaze he loved so much sending him over the edge.
His hold on her hips tightened, and he knew she’d have bruises there come morning.
That only made him come harder. She followed him over the edge a moment later, her head thrown back as she screamed his name to the heavens.
Daris gasped for breath as they rode out their pleasure together. Pulling her down onto his chest, his lips found hers in a slow, luxurious kiss that made heat slide to his groin and his cock twitch.
She must have felt it, if the throaty chuckle was anything to go by.
She sighed and lifted off him, moving to fit her body against his side.
Terena kissed him once more before moving her head to the crook of his neck, shifting her body to nuzzle closer.
He tightened his arms around her, running one hand up and down her silky back in lazy strokes while he recovered.
Daris sighed against her head, turning slightly to kiss her hair. She grumbled against the movements as he tugged one edge of the bedding to cover them. Sighing contentedly, Terena mumbled something before settling once more.
As he succumbed to the heady aftermath of their lovemaking, Daris smiled for the first time in months.
Seconds turned into minutes, the sounds of their breaths calming. Daris tightened his hold and closed his eye.
“I love you,” he whispered.
But she was already asleep.