CHAPTER 16.

"HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM."

M'Adoc turned around from the bay window where he was looking out onto the waterfall behind their palace to see Deimos entering his private suite without invitation. He let out his breath slowly and silently, falling instantly into his emotionless appearance.

"How colloquial American of you, Demon." He raked the demigod with a practiced mocking brow that only M'Ordant or D'Alerian would know wasn't feigned and forced his voice to remain steady and bland. "By your unbloodied presence here I take it that you failed to kill him… again."

Demon's eyes narrowed. "I can do without the patronizing undertone."

Clasping his hands behind his back, M'Adoc crossed the floor to meet Deimos halfway. "We both know I feel no such thing. But to be fair, I can deal without the incompetency. How hard is it to take out a restricted god on the mortal plane?"

"Pretty damn impossible when he has a Chthonian and an Atlantean god standing watch over him."

M'Adoc had to struggle to hide his confusion. "Why would Acheron care about any of this?"

"Not him, his mother. Remember her? Tall angry blond bitch who seriously spanked her whole family into oblivion over a hangnail?"

M'Adoc's lips itched to smile, but he was so used to catching himself that it was all too easy to keep it hidden. "It was more than a hangnail and she's locked in Kalosis, so how can she be a problem?"

"Not entirely, she isn't. Someone dug up one of her special little priestess medallions and it's now in the hands of the woman who has a vested interest in us not harming her boy toy… or her. Seems she has an issue with dying prematurely. Go figure."

M'Adoc was less than amused by Demon's summation. "Well, that sucks for you, doesn't it?"

"It sucks for all of us, Oneroi. If you want this handled, I suggest you do it yourself."

M'Adoc really did have to make an effort to keep his sarcastic tone at bay. "I never thought I'd live to see the day a mere mortal could scare the Dolophoni. You guys have really grown soft over the centuries, haven't you?"

Deimos curled his lip. "Calling me a coward is no way to goad me into suicide. As I said, we have extenuating circumstances. You're the one telling me how easy it is to kill him. Then why don't you try getting your hands bloodied for once?"

Little did he know, M'Adoc's hands had been coated in more blood than a seventy-five-year-career surgeon's. He had no problem with executing his nuisances, he just had to be careful not to let the other gods know about it. The idea of an Oneroi taking a life without their implicit approval tended to make them jittery. "My job is to protect."

"Yeah, your own back. And mine is to watch over my team—one of whom is now dead." He took a step forward to make sure M'Adoc understood his rage. "You know I've never shirked at killing anyone or anything. But this… this is different. I'm not going to lose another brother needlessly. This is getting out of control." He hesitated before he added one final comment. "They're currently at Solin's house—under his protection. I'm sure you remember him, too."

Of course he did. He and Solin had battled it out on more than one occasion. Both of them were scarred by those fights.

But that was neither here nor there.

M'Adoc gripped his hands tightly behind his back, tempted to send a bolt straight at Demon's head, but he couldn't afford to let Demon know this was anything more than a routine hit or that his failure upset him in any way. He must remain perfectly calm at all times. Demon would love to have an excuse to turn the gods against M'Adoc, and he knew that. It was a dangerous line he toed.

He inclined his head. "Thank you for your services, Demon. I will make sure that the next time I need to consult with the Furies I summon one of the females, as they are much more vicious and competent."

That barb wasn't lost on Demon, who sneered at him. "One day, M'Adoc, you're going to learn why they nicknamed me Demon."

And one day Demon was going to learn why M'Ordant and D'Alerian referred to M'Adoc as Fonias—Slayer.

In the meantime, M'Adoc had a mess to clean up and he would make sure that this time the job was done correctly. Let Arikos have a couple of days of peace so that he'd relax a bit. Then when his guard was down, M'Adoc would take full advantage of it.

ARIK SMILED AS MEGEARA BUTTONED HIS SHIRT. EVEN though they'd slept together, this one act seemed somehow more intimate. Her hands were graceful as she wove the buttons through their holes. Her fleeting touch made his nipples harden and his body warm. The scent of her was heavy in the air, and all he wanted to do was take her away someplace private where he could be with her alone for the rest of eternity.

She glanced up at him. "Are you all right?"

"Fine, why?"

"You have a strange look about you."

"I'm just thinking how delectably kissable your lips are." And before he even realized what he was doing, he was kissing her again.

Geary sighed as she melted into Arik's arms. The steely feel of his body was electrifying, and it made her want to rip his clothes off and have another round with him. If only she could. But right now they had a lot of things to think about.

She pulled back as a chilling thought went through her head. "You don't think they'll go after Tory to get to me, do you?"

Arik pulled back with a scowl. "Excuse me?"

"The Dolophoni. They won't go after her to get me or you to come for her. Will they?"

To her relief, he shook his head. "Not their style. They only kill who they're sent after. They don't worry about bystanders unless the bystanders attack them. They're actually rather ethical, which for gods and assassins is an amazing feat."

"Then why are they coming after me if not to get to you?"

"Someone wants you dead."

His emotionless tone sent a chill over her. "Remind me later that we need to work on your tact." Geary shook her head as she tried to understand. "Who could possibly want me dead? I haven't done anything."

"You were digging around Atlantis. It's why the boat was blown up. The gods do not, under any circumstance, want that place disturbed. And they're all willing to kill to keep its secret."

"What secret is that?"

"I assume why is was destroyed. Not even we really know what happened the day it vanished. Whatever went down there went down fast, and those who know the truth have kept it hidden ever since."

Geary cocked her head as she remembered her research. "Plato wrote that is was human hubris that caused the gods to destroy it as punishment."

Arik scoffed. "Plato wrote of a parable about a nation that was destroyed long before his ancestors had been born. He knew nothing of the truth. Anyone who'd ever gotten close to learning about Atlantis didn't live long enough to tell anyone else."

She stepped back as pain filled her. "That's why my family's dead, isn't it? We got too close."

He gave her a sympathetic nod. "I'm sorry, Megeara. But yeah. Your father was all over the real site."

A single tear fled down her face, but she quickly wiped it away.

"Come for me, Megeara, and I will grant you vengeance on those who've wronged you—those who've taken the ones you love most. Come here, child, and let us both deliver to them what they deserve. For petty vanity they took from us both the very people we loved. Help and I will help you." It was the same angry woman's voice Megeara had always heard here.

"Apollymi?" She whispered the name.

"It is I. And I will protect you, child, if you listen. I would have saved your father, but he denied my help and they killed him. I would spare you a young death."

"Is she talking to you?" Arik asked in a whisper.

If it'd been anyone else asking Megeara that question, she would have denied it emphatically. "She says the gods took from her someone she loved."

"Her son. At least that's what Zeus claims. Her husband, Archon, slew Apostolos, and in grief she destroyed her entire family."

But that didn't make sense. "Then why does she want revenge against the Greek gods and not her own?"

"Because Apollo has long asserted that he was the one who killed Apostolos. Back then, Greece and the Atlanteans were in a very strained truce. They'd warred against each other for centuries. The Atlanteans had tried to kill Apollo's son, but he'd managed to remove the baby from the queen's womb before she birthed him and he substituted another child there that they killed instead. He then took his son Strykerius to Delphi, where he was raised by Apollo's priestesses."

That didn't make sense. "If Apollo saved his son, why would he kill Apollymi's child?"

"Because twenty-one years later Apollo had another son on the Greek island of Didymos. Atlantean assassins broke into the palace in the middle of the night and executed the baby and his mother, who was Apollo's sanctified mistress. To exact revenge on the Atlanteans for their crime, Apollo claims, he killed Apostolos, then cursed everyone of their bloodline to die horribly on their twenty-seventh birthday—the age of his mistress at death. That is what set Apollymi off. Like Apollo she wanted revenge for the death of her son, but Apollo was the greater god, so he trapped her in Kalosis, where she now sits, plotting her revenge against him and the rest of the Greek pantheon."

Megeara tilted her head as she caught a strange note in Arik's voice. "But you don't believe that."

He looked away. "I've met Apollymi and I know Apollo… he is not the greater god. I've never seen a god yet who would go up against the Destroyer. Even her own family was scared of her, and rightfully so. They say it took her less than ten minutes to blast all of them to oblivion while they were gathered together in their own hall. Knowing gods as I do, I'm quite sure they didn't go quietly to slaughter. But rather they put up one hell of a fight, and out of an entire pantheon there's only one of them still standing."

"Apollymi."

He nodded.

A vicious thought went through her. "Then she could deliver her promise to me? She could save you and restore my father's reputation without anyone being hurt."

He cupped her face in his hands and stared at her intently. "Listen to me, Megeara. The gods don't act selflessly. None of them will help anyone without getting something out of the bargain. Ask yourself what it is Apollymi wants from you."

"Freedom."

He shook his head. "It's never that simple, love. Apollymi wants revenge and she doesn't care who suffers for it. If she is ever released, she will destroy the entire world. All of it. No one will be able to stop her. That's why she's imprisoned and why everyone is willing to keep her there." His look intensified. "She can't ever go free."

Geary understood that. It made sense. And yet she was so close now to her goal. Her father had been right and she could prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt. She could expunge his record…

But at what cost? Was it worth it?

And still Apollymi beckoned in her head with promises of revenge.

"Vengeance only destroys the one who seeks it." Geary paused as she remembered her grandfather in New York telling her that after she'd returned to the States to live. During World War II, his entire family had been slaughtered while celebrating his birthday by a raiding Nazi party who happened upon them. Only nine years old, her grandfather had been wounded, blinded, and left for dead.

While he was unconscious, protected by the lifeless bodies of his family, a mysterious man had come and saved him. The man had bandaged her grandfather up and brought him safely to America to start his life over.

As an angry teenager, Geary had asked her grandfather if he'd ever thought about the ones who took everything from him.

Her grandfather had patted her lovingly on the hand. "Of course I do, Megeara. I've never had a birthday since that day that I don't hear the gunfire. That I don't see them kicking in the door of our cottage to murder us all. The last thing I saw before they blinded me was my mother dying while trying to protect me. My fourteen-year-old sister being dragged off to be raped and murdered. Do you honestly think, little one, that I don't remember that day constantly and wonder why I alone survived it? If I wouldn't have been better off dead, too? Yet here I am and I'm grateful for it. Because had I died that day, there would be no you."

Rage for him had burned inside her. "I would have gotten revenge on them. I wouldn't have been able to live until they paid for their crimes."

He'd nodded at her in that understanding way of his. "I thought about that, too, and even went so far as to book passage back to Europe after the war to find them."

"But you didn't go."

"No. My Saving Angel"—his name for the one who'd brought him to America—"came to me again as if he knew what I planned and he told me that it is by our actions we are destroyed or saved. The choice is ours. He said he didn't save me that day to see me die so foolishly. And he told me that vengeance only destroys the one who seeks it. If I chose to go, he wouldn't stop me. But he asked me if the lives I sought to take would be worth the one I could make here away from the hatred and sorrow. So I chose to stay here and let go of the past. Yes, it haunts me, but it doesn't rule me. And because I stayed here, I met your grandmother and had all of you to warm my heart and to ease my sorrows. My only regret is that I've never seen the beauty of your smile with my own eyes."

He'd smiled tearfully at her then and patted his heart. "But I feel its beauty here and I know there is not a lovelier, more precious child in this world than you and your cousins. I am glad that though someone did me grossly wrong, my final mark on this world is not one of countering hurt with more hurt but is one of love and friendship. We will always be known by our actions. Let them always be good ones."

Geary had to clear her throat as the memory surged and made her eyes tear. She loved her grandfather Theo so much. He was a good man and she wouldn't hurt him ever if she could help it. He'd lost enough people in his life. She wouldn't let him bury another loved one.

"The quest has ended."

Arik's brow furrowed in disbelief. "Has it really?"

She nodded. "I think the boat explosion was an omen, huh? I think we should just leave it alone before someone gets hurt."

"Do you think Tory will let you do that?"

He had a point, but it didn't matter. "I'll ship her back home if she says anything."

"Will she go?"

"Kicking and screaming." Geary cringed at the thought of how irate the girl would be. But better alive and irate than dead and happy. "Sometimes we don't want what's best for us"—another thing her grandfather was always saying—"but we need it anyway."

Arik never ceased to be amazed by her. He was so used to people who could only think of themselves that her altruism was baffling. That she would give up a goal that meant so much to her to keep someone safe…

It was miraculous.

And because he knew how much it meant to her, he wanted her to have it. No one should get this close to their dream without attaining it. It seemed cruel to him.

That would be his final gift to her. Before he died he wanted to see the look of joy on her face for redeeming her father. "How about we make a compromise?"

She gave him a droll stare. "How would that be possible? You said it yourself that all the gods are against this."

"We can try. I'll take you back to the site and we can salvage a couple of incidental artifacts that won't hurt to have known—enough to prove your father wasn't insane—and then we can tell Tory that the site is too unstable for excavation. Tell her part of it caved in on us and we barely escaped. We can cut the live feed and make it seem real. Then we can say that Atlantis needs to remain at the bottom of the sea where the gods intended it rest."

Geary was stunned at the beauty of that argument. Until reality came crashing down on her. "I'd have to give up the location in my findings report."

"Lie. Who would know? You can give them a location somewhere else. Tell them the site was off the banks of Mykonos."

"But if someone else digs—"

"They find nothing and they don't die. People have been looking for Atlantis for eleven thousand years without finding it. It's just one more chapter in this chronicle. You will still have irrefutable proof that Atlantis existed. No one will be able to argue against it."

Would that work? It truly sounded too good to be true. "Are you sure the gods will be appeased?"

"I think so. I just need Kat's number from you."

"Why?"

Arik hesitated before he answered. He wouldn't out Kat and her relationship to the gods. If she wanted Megeara to know, it was Kat's place to tell her, not his. "We'll need another diver on the project. Just in case. She's more levelheaded than Teddy and I think she'd understand our reasons for keeping it hidden."

"Good point. You want me to call her?"

That would defeat the purpose of not outing her. He needed to explain this to Kat before they went back. The last thing he needed was for her to try to kill them, too. "I'd rather do it myself."

Stepping back, Geary eyed him warily. "Is there something about Kat that you're not telling me?" The suspicion in her gaze deepened. "Is she one of you?"

"No." That was the honest truth. She was in a class all by herself.

"Then I'll call her."

How did he keep getting himself into these messes? Kat would flip without his explanation. "Why don't we wait until tomorrow to talk to her then? Let her rest tonight."

"Okay."

He was grateful Geary didn't push this. By tomorrow he might have a better idea.

Suddenly someone was pounding on the study's door.

"Excuse me," Solin snapped angrily from the other side. "Last time I checked, this was my house. Why am I locked out of my own study?"

Arik moved to open the door. "Anything to piss you off, Brother. Why else?"

Solin scoffed as he entered the room. "Oh, that's easy enough to do. Basically the fact that you breathe does that."

Arik closed the door and turned to face him. "Love you, too."

"Of course you do, like a plague on your privates."

Well, at least Solin understood the nature of their relationship. "So what brings you back?"

"What part of my house did you miss?"

Arik countered with his own argument. "What about the part that we could stay here if we needed to?"

Solin opened his mouth to retort, then snapped it shut. He was silent for a few moments before he spoke again. "I did say that, didn't I?"

"You did."

"Fine," he said irritably, "stay. But whatever you do, put down a blanket or something next time you two want to get frisky on my hardwood floors. That's just… disgusting."

Geary sputtered at his indignation. "How do you—"

"He's a demigod," Arik answered in an unamused tone, cutting her off. "Never get too close to one if you want to maintain secrets."

Her cheeks pinkened to let him know she was quite embarrassed by it. "Well, that's not fair."

Solin gave her an arch stare. "You seem to have an issue with fairness, don't you?"

"I don't like things to be disorderly, if that's what you mean. There should be a degree of fairness in the world."

Solin snorted as he looked at Arik. "She's priceless." He returned his cold stare to her. "Sweetie, in our world, fair's got nothing to do with anything. He who has the greatest power wins. It's why we're all willing to kill each other off without flinching."

She cast a confused look at Arik before she responded. "But you helped me and Arik. Why would you do that if you really feel that way?"

Solin shrugged. "What can I say? It's so much more enjoyable to snatch victory from the hands of the gullible. You guys make the most delightful sound of agony when you're betrayed."

There was a part of her that wanted to think he was kidding, but another part wasn't so sure. He sounded pretty damn sincere. She glanced at Arik, who was every bit as skeptical as she was.

"Are you in with them then?" Arik asked.

Solin gave him an exasperated smirk. "If I was, do you think I'd let you stay here?"

Arik shrugged. "I don't know. It wouldn't hurt you. It's not like letting us stay here will make them hate you any more than they already do. If anything, our presence here would piss them off, which would be a bene for you. As you said, it would be a way to snatch victory from the gullible."

Solin turned completely stoic. His face, his demeanor, even his voice. "I won't defend or explain my actions to you or anyone else. My motives are my own. Good, bad, indifferent."

Geary cocked her head as she noticed something about him while he spoke. A slight tenseness on his face. "What are you afraid of?"

Solin curled his lip at her. "I fear nothing."

"You fear intimacy, don't you?" she asked. "With anyone. That's why you say nothing about yourself. It's why you prefer to traipse through dreams rather than sleep with women in the flesh."

"Thank you, Dr. Ruth." You would need a chain saw to cut through the venom and sarcasm in his voice. "But I honestly don't think you know even the most basic thing about me. So until you do, you should keep your opinions to yourself."

"You're right, I don't. But the question is, does anyone? Can you name me one single friend you have or have had in the past?"

"I don't need friends. All they do is eat your food, drink your beer, then spew your secrets the first time you do something that displeases them. No offense, but when you have as many enemies as I do, you keep your secrets under lock and key. Isn't that true, Arikos?"

Arik's gaze met hers and it softened in a way that made her heart speed up. "Sometimes it pays to trust the right people."

Solin curled his lip at them. "Such rotten sentimentality, and gullible until the end—both of which will ultimately get you killed. It is, after all, how I got you converted." He paused for effect before he stepped toward Geary to address her. "You should have seen him, Megeara. He was so sure he could take me in a fight. He was getting all ready for it when I did the unexpected."

"And that was?" she asked.

"I turned my human lover loose on him. She was in a dream state and had no idea what she was really doing. Arik, being the good Oneroi he was, wouldn't fight her. Protect the humans at all costs—that's their credo. Unless the human is a half-breed." He spat the words as if they were bitter tasting on his tongue. "Then we deserve to die for no other crime than the fact our father went slumming with a hard-on and knocked up some bitch who couldn't keep her legs crossed."

Solin invaded her personal space, making her take a step back as his blue eyes snapped fire at her. "So don't talk to me about fairness. I've no patience for it or you, and that, little human, is all you need to know about me."

Backing away, Solin raked them both with a sneer. "Stay or go. I really don't give a shit. But if you stay, I want you to continue your play upstairs in a bed, like civilized people." Then he turned and left them.

It took Geary a couple of minutes to recover her composure from his unwarranted rancor. "Well, isn't he Mr. Happy Sunshine?"

Arik didn't respond as he studied the floor.

Geary took a moment to consider everything Solin had told them, including the piece of history that explained another mystery in their relationship. "So he's the one who turned you. I'm surprised you would even speak to him."

He took a deep breath before he answered. "Honestly, I'd rather have my brains ripped out through my nostrils, but I wanted to stay with you and without the permits you would never have allowed me near you. I had no choice except to call on him. Besides, you can't blame him really. He has every right to hate us."

Her chest tightened at the thought of Arik's seeking out a bitter enemy for no other reason than to be with her. It was incredibly romantic, if not somewhat stupid. "Compassion looks good on you, Arik. You should wear it more often."

He took her hand into his and toyed with her fingers. "I'm trying to, but honestly, I'd rather be wearing you." He offered her a smile that warmed her heart.

"Ooo, that was a good one."

He lifted her hand to his lips to nibble her fingers. "It's the truth."

God, she was in love with this man… god… or whatever he was. They'd known each other such a short time and yet it seemed like forever. She'd confided everything to him, and here he was, trying to help her.

How could she let him go?

She already knew that answer. She couldn't. He'd come to mean too much to her. And as that thought went through her, it was followed by another. There was someone who knew more about this than Tory or even Arik.

"Apollymi?" she let her mind shout, hoping that the Atlantean goddess hadn't abandoned her.

"Yes, child?"

"Is there some way to free Arik from his bargain without killing him? Can he be made mortal?"

"A god can do anything. Free me and I will grant you any wish you have."

"Do you swear it?"

"On the lives of my Charontes. You free me and you will never want for anything so long as you live."

Geary pulled Arik into her arms and held him against her. She was grateful he couldn't hear her thoughts or her conversation with the goddess.

He felt so good in her arms… She never wanted to let him go.

Don't make a pact with a god, her mind warned. In all her ancient readings she couldn't recall a single time that such a bargain had worked in the favor of the person who made it.

Not once.

But that was fiction and this was real. Apollymi was real and so were Arik and Solin.

Geary would allow Arik to take her back to Atlantis and then she would let Apollymi guide her. After all these centuries, the goddess would be free again.

Geary's only hope was that Apollymi would keep her word. But even then, Geary's doubt was strong.

What choice do I have?

She couldn't allow him to die if she could stop it. And she was willing to make a deal with the devil to ensure Arik's life.