Goddess Bound: Goddess Series Book 6 (Young Adult / New Adult) (19 page)

“You want her to fight?” Adin asked, rising from his seat.

“No, son. I don’t. However, you killing Zach instead of her has made quite a problem. She should have killed him herself.”

“He was going to kill her if I hadn’t. She was paralyzed,” Adin said, gritting his teeth. He turned to Lissa. “You know I would do anything to protect her.”

“I know,” Lissa said softly.

“The problem before us now,” Zeus said, bringing Adin’s attention back to him. “Is that you now rank with Legacy in status. I will not allow another god to behold that status who has the power to kill her and reign above her.”

Oh gods, was Zeus going to kill Adin? She would kill her father before he touched him.

“You have no choice but to wed her,” Zeus said.

Okay, she hadn’t seen that coming.

“Um, what about Ellen. She’s my sister. She could kill me too,” Legacy said in a state of shock. “I can’t marry her.”

“What?” Ellen yelled. “I am not related to you, you lowlife wannabe.”

Zeus chuckled as he looked at Ellen. “I’m afraid that you are. But unfortunately, you are not of mine and Dora’s creation, which means you do not possess the same level of power.”

Legacy wanted to do a fist pump or stick her tongue out at Ellen in victory. She hated the idea of being related to that wench just as much as Ellen hated it, but at least Legacy was stronger.

“When are we to be married?” Adin asked calmly, but Legacy was back to freaking out inside. She would love to be married to Adin, but no way did she want him forced into some shotgun-style wedding. He could grow to resent her and her father.

“The sooner the better.”

“No,” Legacy said.

“What?” Adin and Zeus said at the same time.

“You don’t want to marry me?” Adin asked.

“It’s not that—”

“Legacy, you must lead the New Pantheon Order. You will need him to help you guide the new gods who’ve ascended and will ascend soon. Everyone here is a part of that. Some are learning for the first time, others have known.” He looked to Ric and Thad. “I understand the gods before you were promised daughters of mine. That same privilege is not extended to you. I command you both to stop your selfish pursuits and plans to take them away. Have I made myself clear?”

Thad and Ric both looked scared, but the fuming Ellen beside Thad was downright comical. “Is he saying you’ve only been after me because I’m some kind of important daughter to this freak?” she screamed.

“Baby, I can explain,” Thad said quickly.

“Save it!” Ellen stormed off, and Thad ran after her.

Ric nodded slowly. “I promise my pursuits were genuine. I like Legacy.”

“She is betrothed to another. You will find happiness elsewhere.”

“Yes, sir. I swear.” He turned to leave, but Legacy was still hanging on the “betrothed” word.

“So Legacy can help Seth,” Kate said, stepping forward. “I mean if she’s goddess above all, she could be able to get him out of Hades.”

“I’m sorry, Kate. He killed his father. He has no choice now but to reign over the underworld. He sealed his fate the moment he took the life of that god.”

Legacy hated the devastated look on Kate’s face. She should say something. Ask if there was any other way she could help Kate.

“I would like a word with Legacy. Alone,” Adin said as he gripped her numb hand and pushed thoughts of helping Kate way behind Legacy’s current predicament.

“I understand.”

He pulled her with him out of the yard, into the house, up the stairs, and into her old bedroom. He gently pushed down onto the bed, then tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Do you love me?”

He looked at him, her eyes watering. “Yes, but—”

“No buts, Legacy. Do you love me?”

“You know I do. With all my heart.”

He swallowed. His shoulders were still tense, though. “Then why are you protesting your father’s request?”

Her mouth fell open. “Request?
Request?
He didn’t ask. He ordered you to marry his daughter. That’s sick. You’ll grow to hate me because he’s making you do this. Well, no.” She stood up. “No, I will not accept this. He will not tell you what to do.”

His shoulders relaxed and a smiled played at his lips. “Sit down, sweetheart.”

“What? Why? You can’t be okay with him ordering you how to spend your life.”

“Sit.”

She sighed as she fell onto the bed. “What?”

He smiled as he stood.

Then dropped to one knee.

She gasped.

He took her hand. “Legacy Kore.”

“Oh gods, Adin.” She was shaking all over. Nerves and excitement were fighting with each other. “You don’t have to do this. I love you, but he’s only making you do this because you killed Zach.”

“Everything always happens for a reason, sweetheart.”

Her heart jumped. “But you’ve also said everything isn’t always as it seems.”

“And you thinking your father pushing me into this is what it seems.”

She frowned, opened her mouth to respond, closed it, sighed, then opened her mouth again. “Well, yes.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black velvet box. Her frantically beating heart now stopped. He let go of her hand and opened the box, presenting it to her. “Does it seem that way now?”

Where was the air in the room? She was trying to breathe, but couldn’t find the oxygen she needed. Her lungs burned. “Adin,” she finally murmured. He pulled the ring out and took her left hand again.

“Legacy Kore, I will love you forever. My life did not begin until you entered it, and I cannot imagine one you are not a part of. I am whole because of you, and I will do everything in my power to make sure you are always loved, protected, cherished.” He took a deep breath. “Will you marry me?” he asked slowly, softly, as he positioned the ring at the tip of her finger.

“Yes,” she felt herself say as wetness touched her cheek. As if there was any other answer.

He pushed the ring onto her finger, stood, and pulled her up. His lips found hers, and he kissed her reverently, as if he’d worship her until their dying day and beyond.

“I love you so much, future Mrs. Adin Sheppard.”

She laughed through her tears. “Legacy Sheppard. I like it.” She smiled. He crushed her to him and they kissed again. After several minutes, he pulled way and guided her back to the bed. They sat down, and since the shock of the moment was turning into elation, she looked at her ring. As in really looked at it.

“Oh gods, this is too much,” she said. The diamond was huge.

“It’s not enough,” he disagreed with a smile. “I know by right, you are technically more like a queen than a princess, but you will always be
my
princess.” So the small house masquerading as a gem on top of the band was actually a princess cut diamond. She turned it to the side and could barely see the band below it. “And it’s in
rose
gold. You know how much I love giving you roses.” At that, she smiled brightly and threw her arms around him.

“I love you so, so much.”

“I love you too, princess,” he said, and kissed her again.

It would seem her life was just now beginning. She’d made it through the toughest year of her life to become the woman—the
goddess
—she was today. But her future held challenges that might not even compare to her past. She would have to protect this New Pantheon Order as her father had called it, defending them against the Titans and securing her stance as Goddess of Olympus. Not to mention help River with his oracle problem, and Kate with Seth—there had to be ways to help her friends. She wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the both of them. She would never give up trying to find answers they could live with.

Legacy knew she had many new experiences before her, but she was strong physically, spiritually, and emotionally. She didn’t know how difficult her life was going to be, but she knew with Adin by her side, she’d be able to conquer the world.

Or just errant gods who thought they could take her and this New Pantheon Order out.
Um, yeah, good luck with that.

“We should get back to your party.”

She smiled, but nodded. “True, the sooner we get back to the party, the sooner we get to deal with all the people fawning all over us. Your grandma is probably already planning the wedding.”

He laughed. “Hell, she’s probably had it planned for years.”

“True. Okay then, the sooner we get back to the party, the sooner we get to go shopping.”

Adin groaned as he pulled her up. “You’re going to be the death of me; you know that, Mrs. Sheppard.”

She winked as she took the lead leaving the bedroom, but looked over her shoulder. “At least if I kill you with pleasure, you’ll die a happy man next time.”

“A very happy man.”

The End

About the Author

Thanks for reading this book! If you enjoyed it, I would be very grateful for a review on Amazon. As an independent author without the backing of a large publishing house, attracting new readers is difficult and marketing is expensive. Customer reviews are extremely important on Amazon to help better position a book within search results and to help other readers select what they’re going to read next.

Thanks again for reading this book, and I hope you enjoy reading about Legacy’s journey as much as I did writing about it.

About the Author

M.W. Muse is an award-winning, bestselling author…under a different name. Her alter-ego writes in adult genres for multiple publishers, but her love of young adult stories geared for the upper end of that spectrum made her seek a new outlet for those characters swimming around in her head. She still spends most of her time living in her other reality, but is looking forward to spending more time focusing on the younger side of love.

www.mwmuse.com