Giving It Up for the Gods (19 page)

A scream bubbled up inside her, but she ignored the sick feeling in her stomach. She’d stay strong—defiant even. That was the Siren way. The cold sapped her strength, so she closed her eyes and imagined she was in a training yard. A series of press-ups and kinetic stretches got her blood flowing, but her stomach rumbled, and her brain refused to function. Okay, she didn’t thrive in the dark, but she had to forget her fear and think.
Easier said than done.

Finally she rattled her way around her prison, looking for an escape route she might have missed earlier. Still nothing. She was trapped and alone…in the sodding dark. Her heartbeat boomed through the silence. Her stomach churned, and she longed to be back in Jase’s arms.

Somewhere close, she heard a female sobbing. Gut clenched in fear, Lindy called, “Hello? Who’s there?”

The sobs stopped abruptly, and silence descended. Again Lindy shouted through the darkness. “Is anybody there?”

A shrill voice screeched back, “Go away. Leave me alone. Don’t hurt me anymore.”

Lindy didn’t plan on hurting anyone, but entombed in darkness, any companionship was a comfort. Since her thoughts were still fuzzy, she needed facts. “I’m trapped in some sort of well. Who are you? And where are we? And how do we get out?”

The sobs started again, and Lindy didn’t get her answer. As she waited, she stalked around and around her tiny prison like a goat tethered in a field. Except animals enjoyed fresh air and sunshine, while she was stuck in a dark hole no more than six feet wide. She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe for the blackness swamping her. Gradually, memories of the midnight battle resurfaced. Jase had been magnificent, and Saul came a close second. Mercury had behaved like a drunken fool, again. And Pluto… Neptune’s balls, Pluto…

Still trembling, she remembered being tied down and helpless with that solid bone handle coming toward her skull; then she’d woken up alone in the dark. “Listen, lady, whoever you are, I was coldcocked by Pluto, and when I woke up, I was trapped here.”

Her unseen companion wept and wailed. “Get used to it. I’ve been stuck here since Pluto’s demons grew tired of torturing me. The things they can do to a helpless female don’t bear thinking about.”

And of course that got Lindy thinking of them, but again, she was a Siren. Strong and resourceful, she’d fight her way free eventually. Wouldn’t she?

“What can I do to help you? How do I reach you?” Again Lindy felt her way around the tiny circle of walls, but to get out of here she’d have to scale the walls—the smooth ice-covered ones that tapered inward and made climbing impossible.

The crying got louder. “You can’t. We’re stuck in Pluto’s oubliettes. There’s no way out, no warmth, and almost no food. Yours is the first human voice I’ve heard in centuries, assuming you really are human and not part of some new scheme Pluto’s devised to torment me.”

“I’m a Siren, not a human, and the only person I’m going to hurt is Pluto, although right now Mercury comes a close second. My name’s Lindy. What’s yours?”

Another anguished shriek filtered through the wall. ”You stay away from me. Sirens are the worst sort of bitches. They’re the reason I’ve been stuck down here for centuries. Mercury’s net covers the entrance, so not even the gods can find us. If they could, Janus would have saved me by now. He loves me, you see.”

Chapter Nineteen

Lindy sat on her cell’s floor. The cold didn’t matter. Her headache faded into insignificance. Her stomach rumbled, but she couldn’t have faced food. Janus loved her lachrymose companion. That meant the woman who wouldn’t stop weeping must be Cardea, the nymph who’d accused Jase of rape. The gods had believed her and tossed him out of Olympus. He’d fallen like a condemned angel. All for the love of some stupid nymph. How could Lindy compete with that?

The short answer was she couldn’t. With her, he never spoke of love or affection, but the entire preternatural world knew he loved Cardea. Okay, Lindy was in over her head, and she came a poor second to some lying, two-faced nymph. Jase had played Lindy to put off having sex, and now she knew why. Even when he’d spoken about a claiming, he’d been quick to tell her not to complete it. Knowing that she’d loved and lost poured a bucketful of pain over her heart.

At least she’d kept her song bottled up inside rather than show Jase how deep her feelings really ran. And as much as she hated the darkness, it hid her tears. After all, a girl had to keep her pride even when she lost everything else. Damn it, when had she become so pathetic? Sirens were fighters, not useless nymphs who sobbed when demons chained them in the dark. Once her jailers appeared, she could sing them into doing her bidding. Meanwhile, she should forget the darkness, calm down, think, and plan.

If Jase couldn’t save Cardea, he sure as hell wasn’t coming for Lindy. And how had Cardea ended up in one of Pluto’s cells in the first place? The bastard had let his demons torture her. Surely, since the gods punished Jase for Cardea’s lies, they’d have closed ranks and protected the nymph afterward? Instead, the gods tossed her into Pluto’s punishment realm and let demons use her as a sex toy. It didn’t make sense unless they’d needed to stash Cardea somewhere she couldn’t retract her lies.

Even stuck in Pluto’s oubliette, Lindy’s Siren nature craved answers. “Hey, nymph lady, what happened between you and Jase?”

“Jase who?” the nymph wailed.

Times had changed since the gods walked the earth, and modern names weren’t the same. “That’s what Janus calls himself now.”

For the first time, Cardea sounded hopeful. “You know him? How is he? Is he looking for me still?”

“Answer my question,” Lindy called back, “then I’ll answer yours.”

“When Janus saw my incomparable beauty, he wanted me for his own. Not that I blame him for that. He showered me with jewels and fine clothes. I mean, other men courted me too, but he gave me the best gifts. I knew he meant marriage, but I hadn’t made up my mind. The longer I held out, the more jewels he gave me. I do love things that sparkle, but I haven’t seen anything pretty for years.”

Lindy snorted in disgust, but it hurt that Janus was enthralled by a grasping nymph with a pretty face.
Neptune’s balls, I hope she’s grown fat and ugly
. If Lindy could get to Cardea, she’d bitch slap the stupid nymph senseless. Instead, she gritted her teeth and forced herself to sound pleasant. “So what happened?”

“He brought me the biggest diamond ever; then he did things to my body that hurt. I thought I’d best get it over with, so I lay back and thought about a pair of earrings I wanted, but I never expected his penis to grow so big. I couldn’t stop crying afterward. He begged me to forgive him, even asked me to marry him, but I was too upset to answer.”

Blood rushed to Lindy’s cheeks, and despite the ice coating the walls, she overheated. Jase had proposed to the self-centered tramp in the next cell. More than once, by the sound of it. Lindy hadn’t known she could turn green-eyed and possessive—but killing rage swamped her, and her talons extended into claws.

The cold metal around her ankle dragged her back to reality. Sick to her stomach, she shuddered at the way Jase used her as a stopgap—just a way to thwart Neptune—when he really wanted to wed the terminally stupid Cardea. Nothing Pluto or his minions did to her could hurt more than this.

Sirens were as quick-witted as they were sexy. Cardea, the dumb nymph in the next cell, might have been stuck here for years, but Lindy planned on leaving soon. She just hadn’t figured out how yet. Only, if there really was no escape, she’d have to befriend that nymph. She’d rather swim with sharks. “The gods believed Janus had raped you. He fell for you, and I’m not talking about his heart. The gods tossed him from Olympus, and Pluto’s demons tortured him for centuries.”

Cardea called back, “That’s the Sirens’ fault, not mine. Really, I just got lost in that sparkling diamond and let him fuck me. It wasn’t supposed to hurt. You Sirens said he’d raped me, and as long as they kept their hands off my jewelry, I didn’t contradict them.”

The nymph’s grasping ways rivaled her stupidity. The gods had condemned Jase because of this idiot’s unfeeling lies. Lindy had seen the pain he buried inside. That the wrongful judgment still shamed him. Even in his more familiar human form, he seethed with suppressed fury. Or perhaps he reserved that for her. He hated Sirens. She got that, but when she let him tie her across Mercury’s altar, he’d been a gentle, considerate lover—nothing like the careless lout Cardea described.

Wait. Mercury’s altar
. She’d been Neptune’s solstice sacrifice, but the altar had belonged to Merc. The kid had been drunk on an infusion of power. Saul claimed that strength lingered in the ancient stone. She wondered if, when Jase spread-eagled her over it, a connection had formed between her and the obnoxious teenager. She stared upward and realized what she’d thought was a portcullis was really the thick strands of Mercury’s net. Maybe she could use her tenuous connection with Merc and get through it. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, but anything was worth a try.

She shivered in the center of the oubliette, eyes screwed shut to block the darkness, arms still wrapped around her chest to keep out the cold. Not that it helped. She shivered and felt certain her lips had turned blue. Her feet were numb, and now the cold burned her bare buttocks. She’d give anything for some clothes or a blanket. Miserable, her heart aching, she concentrated on the things she knew about Mercury.

He was a snot-nosed kid with a loud mouth. According to legend, he was a god of commerce and trade as well as a messenger. That rang a bell, especially since she’d told him to read up on his economics. Lucky guess, instinct, or what? He owed her for that, didn’t he? They’d definitely forged some sort of link when she’d given it up on his altar. She hoped.

Her thoughts centered on the few good moments she’d shared with Merc, and music bubbled up inside her. Sorrowful notes poured from her lips. She sang of warmth and home. Power surged through her tune, and her frozen flesh warmed. Her music changed as she thought of money, trade, and travel—the things that personified the young god. The things his family had stolen from him. Her thoughts reached out to Mercury, and her song changed again. Her tune was wistful, filled with loneliness and longing. Above her, light flicked briefly. Clarity and strength filled her. She sang louder, poured out everything that was in her heart. Light flickered again, brighter this time. Dazzling and clear.

“Lindy? Are you here?” Merc’s voice echoed through the darkness.

She stopped singing and yelled, “I’m chained up, down here.”

As she fell silent, the light went out. Cardea screamed, “What did you do? Turn the light back on. Now!”

Lindy would if she could. Anything to dissipate the darkness. She sang again, her words telling of sunshine and rainbows, but her utter exhaustion softened her voice. Her song grew fainter, quieter. She sang on until her throat felt sore and her voice had faded to a hoarse whisper.

Darkness settled around her like the dead of night. The cold formed ice crystals in her blood. Weariness and fear set her trembling. Just when she decided she’d been hallucinating, a brief blaze of light shone above her.

A beautifully familiar voice called, “Who’s there?”

Jase!
He’d come for her, but her song left her throat too dry to talk. She swallowed hard, ready to shout out, but the fat, ugly nymph in the next cell stopped crying and yelled, “Janus. Down here!”

Okay, maybe Cardea hadn’t grown fat or ugly, but a girl could hope. Then Jase’s voice rang through the darkness. “Cardea? Hold on. I’m coming.”

“Jase?” Lindy croaked, but when she found her voice, it was lost in the scraping of Mercury’s net against the stone floor. Another flash of light illuminated Jase as he jumped…straight into Cardea’s cell.

Tears stung Lindy’s eyes. Her heart stuttered, and she swore it shattered. Her demon had made his choice—and he hadn’t chosen her. Another flash of light announced Merc’s return, not that she cared anymore.

“Have you got her?” Saul’s voice cut through the dark.

“Down here.” Lindy’s voice was a barely there sigh that rippled through the darkness.

Instantly, Merc stood at her side, and bless him, he’d brought a torch. The weak ray of light it projected should have comforted her, but after Jase’s rejection, the darkness suited her mood.

Merc gave her a puzzled glance. “Where’s Jase?”

“He heard Cardea call from the other cell, and he leaped down to save her,” she answered numbly. Later, if she ever warmed up again, she’d think and feel. For now, she welcomed the frozen sensation inside. Anything to stop her thinking about Jase—her soul mate. In her heart, she’d hoped Jase would want the soul bond as much as her, but now she knew different.

Merc grabbed her arm. “Then it’s a good thing Saul brought bolt cutters.”

Overhead, torches blazed into life. Her cell felt darker as strange shadows swirled overhead. Footsteps. She heard footsteps pounding closer.

“Stand clear!” Saul yelled. He dropped the bolt cutters into the cell. Merc reached them before Lindy, but he strained to shatter the fetter around her ankle. Lindy bore down on the handles with a Siren’s strength. The bracelet fell free with a
clang.

“T-shirt,” Lindy demanded.

Merc pulled his top over his head, but before she donned it, two of Pluto’s minions dropped feetfirst into her cell. Lindy kicked the legs from beneath one and punched the other in the face. Green ichor flowed from its broken nose—all over the T-shirt. Overhead, she heard the sounds of battle. She wished demons wore clothes.

“Merc, get Lindy out of here. Take her home!” Saul yelled from above.

Lindy grabbed Merc’s cheek and stared at his face. “No way, kid. I don’t abandon my friends. Get me up there. Just let me grab those bolt cutters first.”

Merc nodded and transported her into the cave above the oubliettes. Saul faced down a demon army with courage and ferocious grace. She swung the bolt cutters like a hammer thrower at the Olympics, twirling inhumanly fast and smashing bones. Merc retrieved Jase and the dark-haired woman who wept and clung to his waist. Before he joined the fight, he grabbed Merc’s arm. “Get Cardea out of here.”