Her pulse picked up speed, but she told herself not to get worked up. He’d already told her she was now his prisoner. Common sense said if he was taking care of her, it was only to make sure she didn’t die, in case he needed her for leverage down the line against Zagreus.
“Wh-why wouldn’t you turn to the guardians for help?”
He was silent for several seconds, and she was sure he wasn’t going to answer. But then he surprised her by saying, “Because calling them means alerting my soul mate to the fact I’m still alive. And I’m not in the mood to deal with that shit right now.”
Soul mate…
Something in her chest pinched. Something she recognized as jealousy but felt so out of place, she knew it was a ridiculous emotion.
She focused on a dark palm frond ahead. “You have a soul mate? One would think you’d be anxious to see her. Or maybe it’s a him.”
He snorted. “Do I give off that vibe? Man, I am out of practice.”
Oh, hell no, he didn’t give off that vibe. But she wasn’t about to tell him that right now.
“It’s a her,” he went on. “And she’s the last person I want to see or think about. Trust me, having a soul mate is not a blessing. It’s a curse.”
“How so?”
“You don’t know about the Argonauts’ soul mate curse? You’re Argolean.”
“I was raised outside Tiyrns. My parents were refugees hiding from the Council’s strict laws. The Argonauts and anything that happened within the capital were not things we focused on.”
“Lucky you,” he mumbled.
He shifted against the tree at his back, forcing her to sink farther into the warmth of his chest, and he wrapped his arm around her good side, laying his hand on her thigh as he continued to stroke her hair with the other. Warmth infused her skin all over again, making her relax back into him. Making her feel…safe. Which was something so totally foreign, she didn’t know how to react.
“The way the story goes,” he said, “Hera had a special hatred for Heracles, and when Zeus established the realm of Argolea, she retaliated by cursing Heracles and all the Eternal Guardians with a soul mate. The one person in the world they would be forever drawn to but who was the worst possible match for them. The person who would torment their existence. Since I was born with the guardian markings, even though I’m not technically one of them, I lucked out. My soul mate is bonded to my brother.”
Oh, ouch. Yeah, she could see how that would be a curse. “And she—this female—is able to just ignore the soul mate curse? She’s not tortured by it? How is that possible?”
“Because she isn’t cursed. Only those of us with the markings feel the draw. She’s perfectly happy in her protected realm, playing house with my brother. They even have a child now.”
That had to bite. Not only had Cynna overseen Nick’s physical torture the last few months, but now she knew the poor guy was emotionally tortured on a daily basis.
“How often did you see her…you know, before?” Before Zagreus had imprisoned him and she’d put him through another kind of hell.
“As little as possible.”
There was definite animosity there, and her hatred for the guardians and everything Argolean jumped another notch.
Which was fucking ludicrous, because he was nothing to her. Nothing but someone she’d felt obligated to free.
Yeah, right. Keep telling yourself that, girlie…
A plethora of emotions churned inside her, ones she wasn’t ready to face. When his hand lifted from her hair, she was both disappointed and relieved.
“We need to get moving,” he said. “I parked the truck about a mile from here. Do you think you can walk, or do I need to carry you?”
“Walk.” Definitely walk. She lifted her head from his shoulder, gritted her teeth, and sat upright, moving away from him. “But you should just go without me.”
“We’ve already been through that. Not happening.”
Even though pain ripped through her side, she turned to look at him, frustrated and…confused as hell. “Why are you doing this?”
His amber eyes narrowed and held hers. And though she couldn’t read his thoughts, she felt his determination in the intensity of his stare. “Because you told me in that cell that you were freeing me because neither one of us should have been there. And because if you didn’t do the right thing then, you were afraid you never would. For now, I’m keeping you with me for the very same reason.”
She searched her feelings and locked on to her gift, the one that was now working since she was free of Zagreus’s hold, and realized…he was being honest. He wasn’t saving her just because he might eventually use her as leverage. He was saving her because he could.