Tera Childs - Sweet Legacy

“The wounds are healing,” he says. “Shouldn’t be much longer.”

He drops his hand, but he doesn’t pull it away. I feel the heat of it right next to mine, like he wants me to know he’s right there if I need him.

“How did I get here?” I ask. “What happened to all those monsters?”

There were so many of them. I know we were holding our own, but Grace and Thane had to stop to take care of me.

Grace shrugs. “They’re gone. A few of them are dead. Some ran away. Gretchen and Nick are dragging the unconscious ones into another cave and tying them up so they can’t bring back reinforcements.”

She says it casually—a few of them are dead—but I can tell the deaths bother her. She’s too kindhearted for them not to. They don’t bother me. After seeing one of those horrible creatures nearly slice Grace’s throat open, I’d be happy to see every last one of them drawn and quartered.

“After they finish, Gretchen and Nick are going to scout around,” she continues, “to make sure there aren’t any more in waiting.” She nods at her brother. “We brought you here so you could recover somewhere safe.”

“The antidote is almost as bad as the venom,” Thane says. His thumb brushes against my palm, and a shiver races up my arm. “But it was the only way.”

I hear his unspoken meaning. It might hurt like hell, but it’s worth the pain. Better the unpleasant side effects of the antivenom than the alternative—death. He didn’t just save Grace’s life, I know. He saved mine.

And he barely knows me.

I have to thank him. I have to tell him—about the vision and our strange connection and my gratitude. But not in front of my sister— his sister. My head aches. I hope that’s not as complicated as it seems. He’s not my brother.

I glance at Grace and find her watching me. She flicks her gaze at Thane and then back at me, raising her brows in silent question. I don’t know how to answer. I don’t understand what’s going on between me and her brother any more than she does.

She flashes me a quick smile and then twists her head toward the cave entrance.

“Hey, did you guys hear something?”

Thane shakes his head, and I say, “No.”

“I’m sure I did,” she says, turning back to me with a wink. “I’d better go check. I’ll be right back.”

She hands the flashlight to Thane and then turns to crawl to the front of the cave. She’s giving us some privacy.

The moment she’s out of the light, I say, “Thank y—”

His mouth brushes over mine before I can finish, strong but soft. It’s gone just as quickly, but he stays close, his face hovering inches above mine.

“Don’t thank me.”

I shake my head. It makes no sense—he saved our lives and we should be thanking him—but if he doesn’t want my gratitude, then I won’t force it on him. He’s earned that consideration.

I won’t keep the rest of it inside, though. I won’t keep my vision—and his fulfillment of it—a secret. I have to share it with him, so he understands. So he knows why I needed him to come with us, why he’s supposed to be here.

Why I know he’s supposed to be part of this story.

“I saw it.” My voice is barely a whisper. I don’t want Grace to overhear, but I need to say it out loud to Thane.

Even if he already knows.

I can’t stop the tears stinging my eyes. “I saw you save her. Back in the apartment, when you said you wanted to come with us. I saw precisely what just happened. I knew you were going to save Grace.” I blink away the moisture. “I didn’t know you were going to save me.”

“I know.”

That is the craziest part. He does know.

“But how ?” I ask.

I have no idea how or why I see what I see. The entire process is a mystery that feels more like chance than skill. I know I inherited Medusa’s power of second sight, while Gretchen got Sthenno’s super strength and Grace got Euryale’s autoporting ability. I know that I have visions of things and that those visions are coming true. I have no control over it, not yet. And I have no idea how Thane fits into the picture.

“How?” I repeat.

“Greer, I—” His gray eyes shadow over. “It’s complicated.”

“I have an IQ of 154. Try me.”

He takes a deep breath and looks me in the eye. “I . . . don’t know how to.”

“There was nothing there.” Grace’s cheerful whisper cuts through the darkness, but not the tension. “Guess I was hearing things.”

If she was trying to leave us alone to talk, she didn’t give it enough time.

Thane pulls away to a less intimate distance. The space between us feels like miles.

Grace crawls back to my side.

“Here,” she says, pressing a water bottle into my hand. “You should probably stay hydrated.”

I cast one more look at Thane, who is staring toward the cave entrance, lost in thought. We will finish this conversation later.

“Thanks,” I tell Grace. I twist the cap off and take a drink.

The water is cool and crisp and I feel it hit my stomach, spreading out in an icy wave. If my stomach is this empty, hours must have passed since I forced down a protein bar before we opened the portal. This is time wasted. We didn’t venture into the abyss to sit around in a cave recuperating.

“We need to get moving.” I shift, testing the pain. It’s a little better. My body isn’t one hundred percent, but my mind knows we should be doing something.

“ You need to rest for a little longer,” Grace replies.

“I’m fine,” I insist.

“ Besides ,” she says, giving me a scolding look, “Gretchen and Nick are coming back here when they’re done scouting. We have to stay put.”

I am not a particularly patient person. Sitting around waiting goes against my nature. But a small part of me is relieved—I am nowhere near full strength yet. Besides, we can’t do this alone. We need to remain where Gretchen and Nick left us until they return. Which means that, for now, we wait.

My questions for Thane wait, too. In the dim glow of the flashlight, I watch him while he pretends not to watch me.

Even with my eyes fully adjusted to the practically nonexistent light of the abyss, I can barely make out our surroundings. Black, black, and more black, with a greenish tint, just in case it wasn’t revolting enough. Good to see nothing’s changed since last time.

The beastie ambush was a surprise. I’d like to know how they knew we were coming and where we’d come out—especially since we didn’t even know we were coming until a few hours ago.

Luckily, my sisters held their own, and the boys turned out to be more useful than I expected. Not that I’d admit it to them, but I’m glad they came.

“Looks like the coast is clear,” I say when I’m pretty sure none of the monsters have stuck around for a second try. The last thing we need is a repeat performance now that Greer is injured and we’re down by one while she recovers.

If Thane hadn’t acted quickly with the antidote, we’d be down by one permanently.

I turn to head back to where we left him and my sisters—I don’t like the idea of them being out of my sight in this place—and run smack into Nick.

His hands wrap around my arms and he holds me in place.

“Gretchen . . .” His dark blue eyes narrow in pain. “I had nothing to do with that attack. I was just as surprised as you were.”

I watch him for a moment, checking for some reaction in his face and for some flicker of doubt in my gut. His face remains completely steady, and my gut is more worried about getting back to my sisters than the boy in front of me.