Aimee Carter - The Goddess Inheritance

“You’re going to come back to me, aren’t you?” I said on the evening my mother had finally decided I’d healed enough to travel. James and I would set out to find Rhea in the morning, and in all likelihood, this would be the last night I’d have with Henry and Milo for a while.

“What do you mean?” said Henry. “I am here now.”

“I mean here for real,” I said. “Are you going to wake up? I know Cronus hurt you, but—you’re here, and maybe if you tried really hard...”

Henry kissed my forehead, his palm pressed against the nape of my neck. “I will always be here for you, my dear. Nothing will change that.”

I took a deep breath, refusing to cry in front of Milo. Even if he was sleeping and would never find out, I would know. “Please wake up,” I whispered. “We need you. Not—not like this. We need you. We can’t defeat Cronus without you.”

“You cannot defeat Cronus with me. Not without Calliope,” he pointed out.

“We’re trying. He killed an entire city full of people. Athens is gone, and he’s going to kill again and again until he gets what he wants.”

“And what do you think that is?” said Henry, and I faltered. I couldn’t tell him about the deal I’d made with Cronus. It was too complicated, and if he slipped away, I wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt of knowing that was one of the last things I’d said to him.

“I don’t know,” I lied. “The council thinks he wants to kill them for keeping him imprisoned in Tartarus.”

“Perhaps.” He ran his fingers through my hair, his touch so gentle that it felt like a warm summer breeze. “All I want is you.”

I shivered. Milo’s lips parted in his sleep, and he made an adorable suckling motion. “All I want is to be a family. A real, live family, together and safe from all of this.”

“We will be,” he promised. “I will make sure of it.”

I leaned against him and wrapped my arm around his waist, his silk shirt tickling the inside of my wrist. How long would it be before we got to spend time together like this again? “James and I are leaving to find Rhea tomorrow morning.”

Henry’s fingers stilled in my hair, and for a moment he said nothing. “What is so important that you have to put yourself in such a dangerous position?”

“The same reason as before,” I said. “If we can convince her to fight on our side, we might have a chance at winning.”

“But Cronus is ravaging the world. If you leave Olympus, you will not be safe.”

“I don’t care anymore,” I said with as much conviction as I could muster. “Besides, he’s mostly trapped on the island with Calliope. He’s powerful enough to cause natural disasters that kill millions, but Africa isn’t close enough to Greece to be a problem.”

“Are you sure about that?”

I hesitated. “No.”

He turned from Milo to hug me tightly, almost possessively, and he buried his nose in my hair. “Please do not go. Rhea will not fight for anyone, much less against her own husband. It is not worth the risk.”

“I have to try. You know I do.”

“Even though it might kill you?”

“I’m not planning on letting that happen, but—yes. Even though it might kill me.”

His expression clouded over. “Very well,” he murmured. “All I ask is that you remember what happened the last time you left the safety of the council.”

I scowled. “I get it. Something bad might happen if I leave Olympus. Cronus might catch me, Calliope might kill me or the sky might fall and land on top of me. But I can’t stand by and watch millions of people die because of me, all right?”

“Humanity is nothing compared to you,” he said, touching my cheek, and I stepped back.

“Even if that were true—and you know it isn’t—Milo deserves a happy life, and that means making sure there’s still a world for him to live in. I have to do this, Henry. I’m sorry. I love you and Milo more than anything, and if I had any choice in the matter—”

“You do,” said Henry. “You have as much choice as you are willing to give yourself.”

I huffed. “Fine. I’ve made my choice. I’m going to fight.”

“You should not be fighting in the first place,” he said. “You are too delicate, too—”

“Too what? Too young? Too inexperienced? I don’t need to be ancient to be worth something, and I’m doing this whether you like it or not.” I glared at him, but he averted his eyes. Several seconds ticked by, and at last I said in a softer voice, “I get why you don’t want to fight, Henry. I do. But that was before all of this happened. That was before Milo was born. If you won’t fight for me, then will you at least fight for him?”

Henry was quiet for a long moment, and not even the rise and fall of Milo’s chest comforted me. This was impossible. Half-dead or not, Henry was as stubborn as ever. After caring for the baby all this time, he knew Milo even better than I did, and that was the part I didn’t understand. How could anyone look at that face and not want to rip the world apart to get him back? How could Henry not need to protect his own son and give him the future he deserved?

“We will discuss it once you have made contact with Rhea,” he finally said. “I will not promise anything, but if there is a way I can help, I will. As it stands, I am rather stuck.”

That was as much of a concession as I was going to get. I stood on my tiptoes to try to kiss him, but like he had every other time during our visits with Milo, he turned his head so I only captured the corner of his mouth. “Thank you,” I said, refusing to let his distance faze me. Maybe he was Sleeping Beauty, and a kiss would wake him up and take him away from his son. If only it were that easy.

“You are welcome.” He reached into the crib and picked up the baby. “We will be here waiting when you return.”

“You’d better be.” I held my hand above Milo’s forehead, as close as I could get without going through him. “I love you both so damn much. You know that, right?”

Milo waved his arms, as if reaching for me, and Henry kissed his hand. “We do,” he said. “And we cannot wait to be with you again.”

I poked him in the ribs. “You can count on it.”

“Kate?”

I opened my eyes. James leaned toward me, his nose inches from mine.

“There you are,” he said with a hint of relief. “You were smiling.”

I straightened and adjusted the sling wrapped around my burning arm. It was easier to ignore the pain as it became the norm, but when I focused on it, it made me wince. “I didn’t realize that was a crime.”

“It’s not.” James offered me his hand, and I took it. “I just thought you weren’t coming back. I’ve been calling your name for ages.”

My cheeks grew warm. I didn’t know how I acted during these visions—no one had bothered to explain it to me, and I was too embarrassed to ask. Could James hear everything? “Then why didn’t you break in like you did last time?” I muttered.

“What, you mean when I was trying to drag you back from total oblivion?” he said. “I am sorry about that, you know. It’s rude. But if I hadn’t, you’d still be in there, convinced Henry was dead. So all in all, I figure it was worth it.”

I scowled at him, but he was right. “How did you do that anyway?”

He tapped his nose. “My secret. Maybe if you’re good, I’ll explain it later. Are we leaving? I packed a bag for both of us. Actually, your mother packed yours. I figured Henry might smite me if I went through your underwear.”

“I thought Walter was the one who did the smiting,” I said with a faint smile.

James’s eyebrows shot up. “Did you or did you not see the black cloud of doom when Henry broke onto Cronus’s island?”