His pulse raced, his stomach tossed as he took one step forward, then another, intent on doing just that. Heads turned his way as he entered, and he registered more than just Isadora and Callia in the room, but he didn’t care. He spotted Casey sitting on a couch, Theron standing behind her, Natasa across the room next to Titus, Callia and Zander speaking quietly with the queen near her desk, his brother Demetrius pacing along the far wall. But he couldn’t see Cynna.
Worry rippled beneath his ribs as he looked for her. And when he finally spotted her, in the corner near the far window, one arm crossed over her chest as she gnawed on her thumbnail and peered out toward the steadily darkening sky, that tightness eased in his chest. He drew a deep, relieved breath, one that spread through every cell in his body. One that felt like it was the first of the rest of his life.
“Nick,” Callia said. “I’m glad you got here so fast.”
Nick wasn’t. He looked past the healer and zeroed in on Cynna. He shouldn’t have dropped everything with her to rush right over here. He should have told the Argonauts he’d deal with Isadora’s latest crisis later. He couldn’t change any of that now, anyway. But he could do something to make things right for Cynna.
He moved for the windows. “Whatever this is, it can wait. I need to—”
“No, this can’t wait.” Callia stepped in his path, blocking him from getting to the female he needed to reach. “As your god powers increase and your immortality strengthens, you’re draining your soul mate of her life force.”
“Says your theory.”
“Says history,” Callia tossed back.
Nick frowned and tried to step around her, but Theron moved in his way. “Listen to her, Nick.”
Nick stopped and stared at the leader of the Argonauts. He didn’t have time for this, didn’t want to make time, but common sense told him if he grabbed Cynna and bolted, they’d never be left alone.
“Fine.” Nick crossed his arms over his chest, wanting to get this over with as fast as possible. “You’re talking about the three mortals you mentioned yesterday. The three who died and became judges of the Underworld. I’ve already heard this story.”
“Pretty sure you haven’t heard this part,” Natasa mumbled from across the room. When he glanced toward the redhead, she moved away from Titus and said, “Callia asked me to do some research. Titus and I went to my father for confirmation.”
Her father, Prometheus, was a Titan, and since the Argonauts had rescued him from his perpetual torture at the hands of good old Zeus, the elder god had been hiding out in the Aegis Mountains in Argolea, doing gods only knew what elder gods did these days.
Nick tamped down the irritation. “Enlighten me then. But do it quickly. Because I’m not seeing how three Underworld gods I’ve never heard of have anything to do with me.”
“Zeus gave each of the three mortals—Aiakos, Minos, and Rhadamanthys—a choice,” Natasa went on. “To either travel to the Isles of the Blessed upon their death, or become immortal in the Underworld. Immortality’s a seductive lure. Each one eventually chose immortality, leaving behind a mate—a soul mate—in the human realm. A soul mate who eventually died.”
She was right. The whole soul mate part of this was new, and he had a feeling he knew where this was heading. But he still wasn’t seeing the solution Zander and Theron had hinted at. “Mortals don’t have soul mates.”
“No, but Argonauts do,” Casey said from the couch. “All three were from Zeus’s line. All three served with the Argonauts at different times.”
Nick looked toward Casey. Her hand rested on her belly, her violet eyes as shadowed as he’d ever seen them. And there was a sadness about her, one he couldn’t put his finger on. One the vibrations growing stronger across his scars told him, had to do with him. “So let me get this straight. Zeus got to handpick three mortals to be the Judges of the Dead in the Underworld. And he chose Argonauts. And Hades didn’t have a problem with that?”
“It wasn’t his problem to have.” Theron rested a hand on Casey’s shoulder. “Zeus is the King of the gods, even over Hades. And why wouldn’t he choose Argonauts, just to fuck with his brother?”
“That’s a total Zeus thing to do,” Zander muttered.
“I verified everything with my father,” Natasa said. “It’s all true. Except there was a fourth mortal who was given the same choice. Also an Argonaut. He chose immortality as well, but after learning his soul mate was dying, he escaped from the Underworld and rushed back to find a way to save her. According to my father, their reunion did just that. It restored the life energy and soul mate balance between them.”
That word…reunion…floated in Nick’s head, but his mind was spinning with questions. He’d never heard of anyone escaping the Underworld and living to tell about it, except for Orpheus and Gryphon. “You’re saying this Argonaut bested the gods.”
“No,” Natasa answered. “Ultimately he didn’t. Zeus found him, and, as punishment for abandoning his immortal duties, he turned him into a daemon. But his soul mate lived on.”
Nick’s brow lowered. “Who was the Argonaut?”
Across the room, Demetrius slowed his frantic pacing.