He’d wanted to ask what had changed her mind, but didn’t. Yeah, it was crazy. Yeah, it made no sense. But he trusted her. And he was so freakin’ thankful that she’d returned to him, he didn’t want to do anything to scare her off.
The halls were quiet as he made his way to the ground floor and headed for the main kitchen at the back of the castle. He’d left Cynna sleeping. After he’d thanked her with his hands and mouth and body, she’d curled into him and fallen asleep. He’d held her like that most of the night, loving the way she twined her leg between his, loving the weight of her hand against his chest, loving her heat seeping in to warm the cold places left inside him. It wasn’t like him to want to snuggle, but with her he found he couldn’t get enough. Because she didn’t want anything from him. She wasn’t waiting for him to break like Zagreus. She wasn’t pulling at him like Isadora and the soul mate connection. She wasn’t waiting for him to fix things and make the world better like his people.
Thoughts of his people—the Misos—slid into his mind as he walked, dampening his good mood. Before he could get lost in the guilt of a duty he didn’t want to resume, voices drifted from beyond the door, slowing his feet.
“No,” a male voice said. “Not even. Don’t do it.”
Nick recognized Phineus, the dark-haired Argonaut who had spent a good deal of time at the colony before it had been demolished. He listened closer, needing to know who else was in there before he entered. There were several people in this castle he wasn’t in the mood to deal with at the moment, Isadora being at the top of his list.
“Man up, would you?” Cerek, another Argonaut, answered. “A blueberry is not going to kill you, pretty boy.”
“Great. You did it. I can’t eat that shit now. Not unless you want me to throw up all over this kitchen.”
“You’re so dramatic. Make your own damn food if you can’t handle something healthy.”
“I’m allergic, moron. It has nothing to do with healthy.”
“That’s because your forefather, Bellerophon, was a * and passed down inferior genes.”
“You little shit. I should toast you for that.”
Cerek chuckled.
Nick pushed the door open and peered inside the room. Cerek stood behind a counter, pouring batter onto a griddle, while Phineus glared at him from the other side, his arms crossed over his chest, a scowl on his model-handsome face. Other than the two bickering Argonauts, the room was empty.
“Hey,” Cerek said, glancing Nick’s way. “Morning. I’m making blueberry pancakes. You want? Mr. Sensitive-stomach over here isn’t going to eat them.”
“You’re damn right I’m not.” Phineus stalked toward the giant steel refrigerator across the room and yanked it open. “Stupid freakin’ blueberries. Fucker knows I don’t like to cook.”
Cerek chuckled again.
Nick’s stomach rumbled as the scent of the sizzling batter rose up in the air. “Yeah, I could eat.” He stepped farther into the room, letting the door swing closed at his back. “But why are you on kitchen detail? Where’s the cook?”
Cerek flipped the pancakes with a spatula. “At the settlement. The queen sent most of the castle staff over there. You might not have noticed yesterday, but this place is operating at a bare minimum. Even security’s been severely downgraded.”
Nick thought back to the few guards manning the entrances, and a tingle of apprehension slid through him at the thought of Isadora not being protected in the way she should be. “Why?”
“Because she’s worried the Council’s going to move on your people,” a voice answered at Nick’s back.
Nick turned to find Orpheus standing behind him.
“I’ve been looking for you.” Orpheus ran a hand through his light-brown hair, the Argonaut markings on his forearms glinting in the fluorescent lights from above as he moved, a scowl on his usually sarcastic face. “How much did Isadora tell you about the Misos yesterday?”
An invisible weight seemed to press down on Nick’s shoulders, one tinged with a responsibility he hadn’t missed. “Not a lot.”
Orpheus moved toward a long wooden table to his left and pulled out a chair. “Isa brought them all here after Hades and Zagreus attacked the colony. She tried to keep them in Tiyrns, but the Council threw a complete fit.”
The dark energy came rushing back, a slow simmer beneath Nick’s skin as he pulled out a chair across from Orpheus and sat. He didn’t like the thought of his people anywhere near the Council, but he was thankful that Isadora had been able to get them to safety. Something he should have done.