Goddess Bound: Goddess Series Book 6 (Young Adult / New Adult) (2 page)

Chapter Two

“What are we going to do, Legacy?” Kate asked as she paced within the room Seth had assigned her. Upon arriving at his home, he’d put Kate in the guest room down the hall from Legacy—whose room was connected to his. Just the thought of why Seth wanted a connecting room with her ignited those gag reflexes of earlier. If that snake tried anything with her, she’d chop off his one-eyed monster.

Maybe she would anyway.

“I don’t know. I’ll figure something out.”

“Why are you not freaking out?” Kate yelled, her hands fisted at her sides. “We are in some serious trouble here. I-I would think Seth is delusional if it wasn’t for the fact that I
saw
those dead bodies beside the river. I
saw
the weird-looking sky. I
saw
that freaking three-headed dog!”

Legacy stood and walked over to Kate, who’d been balanced on the edge of her sanity since this ordeal had started. She gripped her shoulders and forced her to stop wearing a path in the floor. “You have to listen to me. I know this is shock to you, but I’ll try to explain some things if you’ll just sit down and relax.” When Kate opened her mouth, Legacy lifted her hand to stop her. “So ‘relax’ was the wrong word. Just sit down and hear me out. Apparently, you need to hear all this for more than one reason. It applies to you too.”

Kate stared at her, biting her lip. Then she nodded and sat on the edge of the colossal bed. Legacy followed and sat beside her.

“So you know what’s going on?”

“Yes. Kinda. Well, more than you do.” Legacy sighed. “Okay look, this is going to sound crazy…as in seriously messed-up crazy. I know it. Just hear me out.”

“After seeing the three-headed pooch, I’m willing to take a little leap of faith.”

“Right. I’m not sure what all you’ve learned about Greek mythology, but it’s not the story of legends. There are actual gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus to this day. Some go way back to the beginning of time, others are newly created. The way it was explained to me is that gods don’t always descend the way people normally do, giving birth to children who then give birth to their own children and so on. They also descend horizontally. The original gods and goddess created by Gaia, mother nature, continue to create offspring. They’re just not always offspring in the sense that regular people think of. They can also create a likeness of themselves with other gods.”

“Gods?” The blank look on Kate’s face wasn’t very encouraging, but Legacy had no choice but to forge ahead.

“Yes. The path to ascension for a new god begins on first day of the seventeenth year of birth and culminates on his or her eighteenth birthday. Dora, my mother, is the goddess Demeter, and she created me with Zeus. According to the original
Greek mythology, the goddess Persephone came from Demeter and Zeus. She married Hades, who presided over the underworld, making her the queen of the underworld. And from Seth’s actions today, it’s obvious to me now that he is Hades’ likeness.”

Kate frowned at her. “Let me get this straight. You’re a goddess. Seth,
my boyfriend
, is a god. Seth,
my boyfriend
, wants to marry you, which is why he brought you here. That’s freaking ridiculous, but whatever. We’re here. If you want the lying bastard, you can have him.” Her lip quivered, belying her words. “I don’t know what else to believe. But if what you’re saying is true, why am I here?”

No way was she touching the boyfriend comments. “I don’t know. The dog called you Hecate. I didn’t research other gods and goddess, so I don’t know what role you play within the hierarchy. I just know about me, Adin, and River.” Kate blanched and Legacy winced. “Um yeah, they’re gods too.” And then Legacy started an hour-long conversation about lineage, gods, monsters, ascension, and everything else she’d spent months learning. By the time she’d finished, Kate vacillated between nervous fidgeting—which Legacy could only assume was the result of fighting her fleeing urges—and calm acceptance. All things considered, the conversation that was essentially changing Kate’s life forever had gone better than she could’ve expected.

“Sooo River’s dad is Poseidon who shares powers of the world with your dad, Zeus, and our captor, Hades, who now believes what you’ve been told, which is that you’ll be more powerful than Zeus when you ascend. Before he’d just wanted you, but now that he knows you’re going to be more powerful than your predecessor, you’re an even hotter commodity. He could kill you and take your powers or keep you here and control you. Everything boils down to a power struggle.”

“Technically, yes.” Then Legacy gasped. “When do you turn eighteen?” Maybe Hades was going to kill them both. Legacy was going to be more powerful than Kate, but if Seth was power hungry, he might not care. If her birthday was coming up soon, time was of the essence. Legacy’s birthday was still a couple of months or so away.

“I’m eighteen. My birthday was in January, which sucked by the way. You were…” Kate trailed off, staring at Legacy. “I don’t know what I was going to say about you. My mind just totally went blank. But Seth and I were broken up. It wasn’t much of a birthday celebration regardless.”

“Oh.” That was good, but it didn’t explain why Seth had taken Kate too. “Um, you were probably going to say that I was depressed. You just don’t remember.”

Kate’s gaze shot to her. “Why would you be depressed? And why wouldn’t I remember? What do you mean by that? If you’d said I didn’t
know
you’d been depressed, then that’d be different. But you said I don’t remember.”

“I just told you about Adin being a life-death-rebirth deity. I was in mourning. You don’t remember because River did some godish voodoo to make you all forget that Adin had died so you wouldn’t freak when you saw him walking around.”

Kate licked her lips as she nodded. “I see. Any other mind violation I should know about?”

Legacy grimaced. “Well, I don’t know. Who the hell knows what Seth has been up to?” Then Legacy shot up and faced Kate. “Oh gods, you said you and Seth were broken up when you turned eighteen. Why would he allow that? I would think he’d want to be around you so he could kill you and get your powers. Not stay away from you.”

“Hey!” Kate stood up and pointed at Legacy. “I know we were never really close friends, but I’d never wish you’d been killed before!”

Legacy shook her head. “No, I don’t mean that. Jeez. Get a grip. I’m just trying to figure out Seth’s motives. I have to look at everything.” She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, though. That did come out wrong.” When Kate nodded and sat back down, Legacy tapped her chin as she contemplated the last several months. But she soon realized she’d been so wrapped up in her own change and River’s change, and Adin’s death and rebirth, that she hadn’t paid hardly any attention to Seth. She leaned against one of the thick iron bedposts and looked at Kate. “Tell me about Seth.”

Kate slumped back, her head hitting the pillow at the head of the bed. “What do you want to know?” she barely asked.

“Everything. His likes. Dislikes. Moods. Anything you can think of. Just start talking.” Legacy perched on the edge of the mattress and patted Kate’s knee. “Pretend it’s a girls’ night and we’re gabbing about our guys. No matter how small you might think something is, I want to hear it. It could be a clue or a sign or something useful.”

When Kate shrugged, Legacy scooted toward the middle of the bed and crossed her legs. After several seconds, she realized the chick needed a little help starting. “When did you first start going out?”

A ghost of a smile appeared on Kate’s face before it vanished. “Eleventh grade. Right before Christmas vacation, I was carrying some boxes of unused decorations to my car from the drama club’s meeting. I stumbled and he caught the top box just as it started to slide off the one I was holding onto. He put it in my car for me and we talked some before I left. He messaged me on Facebook that night.”

Legacy glanced down at her watch and stroked it. Seth had started showing interest in Kate before Adin’s eighteenth birthday, and while he’d been secretly having this gift made for her. She wasn’t sure if Seth’s timing meant anything in regards to Adin, but it was interesting. She looked back at Kate. “And it was love at first sight?”

“Hardly.” Kate chuckled. “I always thought he was cute, but never really paid too much attention to him. I liked this guy who lived down the street from me who went to Catholic High.” Kate wrinkled her nose. “Until one day he was doing some charity food drive, which he’d easily conned me into helping with, and he’d mentioned to his friends that he was entering the priesthood after graduating high school. Said he got accepted into some Catholic philosophy program and would be working toward earning his master of divinity degree. I was crushed, but I figured I’d be barking up the wrong tree if I continued with my innocent obsession. You know, since he planned on being married to the Lord and all.” She shrugged.

Legacy gaped at her. “So you liked a guy who had planned on living his life to serve the Lord, but you ended up dating the Devil?” She couldn’t make up stuff like this even if she’d tried. Kate sat up. “That’s all
kinds
of messed up!”

“Well, when you say it like that, it does sound weird, but yeah, I guess. Though in my defense, I had no idea Seth was…
is
evil.” Her shoulders slumped and she looked to the side, becoming a little too interested in details of the ironwork. Legacy studied her for several seconds. She needed to understand how attached Kate was to Seth. If she had any loyalties with their abductor, Legacy needed to address them like right now.

“Do you love him?”

“What?” Kate’s head whipped around, and she glared at her. “How can you ask me that? He’s kidnapped me. He’s probably been playing me for a really long time.”

Legacy sat in silence while she contemplated how to gently nudge Kate to confront and confess her feelings. But she knew how to help her…with her own experience. “I didn’t know about Adin being Adonis’s likeness when we first started dating. When I found out the truth, I was hurt that he hadn’t been totally honest with me about his family, and I did have to forgive him of that. But there was a moment…no matter how brief it was…that I thought Adin was Hades.”

Kate gasped. “Why? Did he lead you to believe that?”

“No. I jumped to that conclusion myself. The point is I told him that it didn’t matter to me if he was Hades because I loved
him
. If he’d been Hades, I would’ve gladly come to the underworld with him to spend eternity. The fact that I’d been mistaken doesn’t change anything. My feelings for him were real.” Legacy reached over and stroked Kate’s trembling hand. “Do you love him?” she asked again, this time with an eyebrow raised and keeping her hand on top of Kate’s.

“I-I don’t know. I mean, I’m so confused. I’m pissed. I’m hurt. I’m trapped. I just can’t think about that right now.”

“So if I figure a way for us to get out of here, are you going to let me do that or are you going to protect him?”

“W-What do you mean? Are you planning on attacking him? He’s very strong. I do know that.”

“No.” Not exactly. “Attacking him would only piss him off. I need to know if you’ll do something to save him…when I try to kill him.”

The slight shake of Kate’s head could have been an answer to her question, but the quivering lip made the headshake feel more like a refusal to accept what was to come. Saving Kate if she wanted to save Seth in the process was going to be very difficult. Because there was no doubt about it…Seth was going to have to die.

And soon.

Chapter Three

“Oh look, my lovely bride and her maid of honor have finally decided to join us for dinner,” Seth said as he leaned back in his chair. “How are you doing, my fairest wench?”

Legacy grumbled under her breath. Seth was a real prick. But it wouldn’t do for her to take his bait, so she decided not respond to his antics as she took her seat. Kate sat next to her and looked down at her clasped hands. She looked miserable, but at least she wasn’t running to tell Seth he was destined to be fish food. That was a plus.

“I told Casey when he came to Kate’s room earlier that it was pointless. We are not eating anything.”

He narrowed his eyes and propped his elbows on the table. “And why is that? You think I’d go through all the trouble of bringing you here just to poison your food?”

Was he for real? He must think her a total idiot. “Umm, let me guess what’s on the menu. How about, pomegranate bisque for starters, then a salad with pomegranate dressing, a main course with grilled pomegranate seeds and for dessert—pomegranate ice cream.” She cocked her head to the side and smirked. “I think we’ll pass.”

He slammed his fist onto the table. “Who told you?” he roared, and the girls both jumped in their seats.

“The Internet. Months and months ago. I’ve known for a while that Hades was after me, Seth. Give me some credit.” She’d been diligent with the research about her ascension. Well with that
and
River’s help, she’d discovered quite a lot. She’d learned that anybody who consumed pomegranate seeds while in the underworld would never be allowed to leave. That little tidbit was totally needed now. No way was she going to make this easy on Seth.

“You’ll starve.”

Legacy pretended to ponder that. “And die sooner rather than later? Hmmm… Is there any waterfront property in the Elysian Fields?”

Seth stood so fast that the chair fell back behind him. “I would never allow you to have a peaceful afterlife. You will stay here and be my queen, or I will kill you before you ascend. It’s your choice. The only reason I haven’t killed you is because you are worth more to me alive than dead. But if you don’t cooperate, that’ll change in a heartbeat. Don’t push me, Legacy. You haven’t seen me angry yet.”

The cold stare he gave her confirmed that she didn’t want any part of his angry side to show up and play. But she couldn’t exactly back down either. “We’re not eating.”

He crossed his arms and glared at her. Then his shoulders relaxed and he shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He looked at Kate with tender eyes. Legacy stiffened. Kate was a loose cannon right now and Seth knew it. “What about you, love? Aren’t you hungry? We didn’t eat breakfast and you hardly ate any lunch. You must be starving.”

She cleared her throat as she looked at him. “Um, I don’t want to eat…yet.”

Legacy gritted her teeth. Kate was implying she might eat later. She didn’t need Kate working against her too.

“Okay. You can eat later, love. I’m sure you have a lot of questions right now. Come.” He started walking down the table, and Kate slowly stood. Legacy grabbed her hand and held her back. Seth turned and smiled at their joined hands. “Legacy, I’m not going to off her. You might want to see this too.” When he turned and continued walking to the side as if there was no argument to be made, Legacy moved, dragging Kate behind her, wary of what scheme Seth was brewing. He turned when he reached a chair by what looked to be a fire pit in the middle of a sitting area beside the dining room. He took his seat and waved his hands at the other chairs for the girls to sit. These chairs were awfully close to the fire within a small stone enclosure. She’d get really hot after just a couple of minutes sitting here. Then her errant brain wondered if Seth enjoyed the heat because it made him feel like he really was in Hell.

Gods, she needed to stay focused.

“What all do you know about Greek mythology, love?” Seth asked Kate once they were all seated.

“I told her earlier. You can skip the history-slash-genealogy lesson.”

Seth glared at Legacy. “You’re going to be a real bitch, aren’t you?”

“And this is news…why?” She looked at him in challenge. He shook his head at her and then looked at Kate again.

“So you understand somewhat. You don’t know everything because I’m pretty sure your informant over here doesn’t know it all…although she acts like it.” Legacy gave him a fake grin, but inside she was wondering just how much Seth knew that she didn’t. How could she believe anything that came out of that lying mouth of his?

“What does this have to do with me?” Kate asked. “I mean, from the sound of things, I’m not supposed to be here.” She shrugged and looked away from him, obviously still hurt at the thought of Seth’s intentions of making Legacy his wife.

Seth sighed. “Baby,” he said softly, and Kate’s gaze flew back to his. “This isn’t how I want things. I wish I had a choice.” Then his eyes glazed over right before he shut them tightly. He shook his head several times and looked at Kate again. The glare he gave her sent chills down Legacy’s spine. His eyes looked emotionless. “You’re supposed to be here so I can make sure you don’t fuck this up,” he barked, and both Legacy and Kate jumped at the sudden change of his tone.

“What the hell’s your problem?” Legacy said before she could instruct her mouth to stay shut and not make him mad. Yeah, that hadn’t worked out so well.

Seth slowly looked at her. “You. Only you. But not for long.” He gritted his teeth, his jaw ticking with each passing second. One minute Seth was somewhat tolerable, the next he was terrifyingly different. Legacy didn’t understand why his moods could change so quickly, but she had an idea it wasn’t completely of his own making. She needed to remember that maybe Seth wasn’t in completely control of himself. Not that she’d voice that concern out loud. He finally took a deep breath and looked at the fire blazing between them. “Everybody has a role to play.” Then he sneered, looking at Legacy. “And you don’t even know. That’s what’s so priceless here. Oh sure, you know about River and Adin. And my little pooch clued you in to Kate’s identity. But what about Ellen? Thad? Your precious bestie, Calli? Olive, who has been living under your nose? Hell, even Alex and Laos. They all share the same heritage as us.” Legacy gaped at him. This couldn’t be right, could it? “Do you honestly think we were all born in the same little Arkansas town with only a few of us being destined for greater things while the rest are completely mortal? No. the mythological descendents far outnumber the mortals.”

“Let’s say I believe you for just a minute. Who are they? I was created in the likeness of Persephone, you in the likeness of Hades. Who are they similar to?” And why was she just now finding out about this? When she got free…definitely when and not if…she was going to have a talk with Lissa about this!

“So now you want the ‘history-slash-genealogy lesson,’ is that it?”

Legacy bit her tongue so hard she was surprised it wasn’t bleeding, but that beat letting the retort she’d had on the tip of it from being freed. She swallowed. “Yes.”

“Calli is Callirrhoe, a nymph. Thad is Theseus. Olive is Athena. Laos is Menelaus. Alex is Paris. Um, River’s cousin, Paul, is Apollo. Oh and you’ll love this—Ellen is Helen, a daughter to Zeus.”

Legacy gasped. “Ellen is my sister?” she screeched. That was just all kinds of messed up. No way did she want to be related to that biotch!

“Oh gods, Legacy, you can’t be that naïve. Just because you share the same parents as another doesn’t mean you’re physically related. We are not bound by the same laws as mortals.”

Legacy relaxed. She knew that already, but with the news of Ellen, she’d panicked. “Why should I believe any of this?”

Seth waved his hand through the fire and the flame turned clear. Smoke still drifted from the tops of the transparent flames, but it no longer looked like a fire. “See for yourself.”

Legacy leaned forward and gazed into the flames. Within seconds, a form appeared. Then another. She gasped as the images came into view.

“Don’t get your hopes up, cupcake. It’s just Thad’s house.”

Thad and his brother—what was his name? Ric?—both came into view. She hardly ever saw his brother anymore. He was a year younger and used to tag along everywhere Thad went until he and Ellen started dating seriously. Truth be told, he kinda creeped her out a little. She’d caught him staring at her a time or two in a way that left her a little unsettled. It wasn’t a stalkerish stare, but definitely odd.

“She’s been gone twenty-four hours. We can’t let him keep her,” Ric said.

“Dude, I know. Ellen has been acting weird since yesterday. She knows something’s up, but she doesn’t know what, ya feel me? Since River did some mind cleansing at the picnic, she’s been confused. She’s tried calling Kate once, but I distracted her long enough not to do it again. I can’t keep tickling her or hiding her phone. She’s going to try to call Kate again and will get pissed when she doesn’t answer. I don’t need that crap right now.”

“Who cares about Kate? You know I’m talking about Legacy.”

“Me?” Legacy asked, startled. She looked at Seth and he was sporting a righteous look. Gods, his uppity attitude was grating on her last nerve.

“Everybody wants you, cupcake.”

“Stop calling me that!”

Seth rolled his eyes and looked back into the odd fire as Thad started talking again.

“I know, dude. We’ll get her. I told you Seth was behind this. I
told
you. And he’s not someone to screw over.”

“Hmmm.” Seth frowned. “How the hell did Thad know?”

“You two hung out all the time,” Kate mumbled. Legacy looked at her and then looked at Seth to see if he’d yell at Kate for saying something that could be challenging to him, or if he’d act besotted again.

“True,” he mumbled, and Legacy breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn’t acted out toward Kate. She wasn’t sure if that girl could handle him like she could.

“What are we going to do? I chose Legacy. She will be my wife.”

“He is out of his mind!” Legacy yelled. “What the hell is wrong with all of you?” She looked at Seth and struggled to find words. “I-I mean, seriously? My vagina isn’t laced with gold!”

Seth laughed, and that just pissed her off more. Why was she the object of so many men’s desire? Though, honestly, she knew the answer to that question was because of her destiny, but it still irked her.

“Might as well be,” Kate whispered.

Legacy looked at her. “I didn’t ask for all this.”

“Quiet! Thad and Ric are still talking and I want to hear.”

Legacy looked at Seth before setting her gaze to the fire again. The two brothers were arguing as Thad paced.

“I will go after her myself,” Ric said. “You can stay here and do damage control with Ellen.”

“No. We’ll both go. We can leave in the morning after we talk to Dad. He’ll need to make arrangements with Charon to get us passage to the underworld.”

“Will that work?” Ric asked.

“It’ll have to.” Thad started walking toward the door of the room they were in. “I have a date with Ellen. We’ll talk to Dad tonight when I get back.”

Seth swiped his hand through the fire, and the images dissipated.

“Assuming you didn’t just conjure that stuff out of thin air, what the hell was Ric talking about?” Legacy asked.

“Jeez, woman, I thought you said you’d been researching about yourself.” When Legacy opened her mouth to spout off her defense, Seth’s hand flew up. “Stop. Never mind. Here’s the short version. Thad’s original god is Theseus and Ric’s is Pirithous. Those two original gods pledged to kidnap and marry Zeus’s daughters. When Hades took Persephone, Pirithous planned to get her out of the underworld and marry her himself since he’d already decided she would be his. That’s the history. My theory is their father told them they were destined to marry a daughter of Zeus and maybe even told them which one to seek based on the pasts of their original gods. Since Pirithous attempted to take Persephone from Hades, it seems Ric wants to take you from me. Only now, I know how he’s going to go about it. I’ll just talk with Charon and make sure it doesn’t happen.” A knock on the door sounded, and they all looked toward it. “Come in.”

Legacy watched as a scantily clad, very beautiful woman walked in. Then she looked at Seth. His initial impassiveness changed to irritation very briefly. Then his eyes glazed over, taking on that chillingly cold emotion he’d sported a few times now…usually before he’d done something particularly hateful.

“Who’s that?” Kate whispered to Legacy. Uh-oh. She’d been worried about Seth’s reaction the last time her prison mate had spoken, but with her learning when to expect Seth’s mood changes, now she knew the backlash was coming. She hid her wince as the woman approached Seth, swaying as if she were a high-class, high-dollar hooker.

“This is my real lover, pet,” Seth murmured as the high-class whore sat on his lap and started nibbling his ear.

“I’ve missed you so, my lord.”

Kate’s shocked sob was so quiet that it could hardly be heard…unless in a room of gods. Seth looked over at her and winked, seemingly enjoying her pain. Then he grabbed the blonde’s hair, yanked her head back, and devoured her mouth, kissing and groping her.

“You asshole!” Kate jumped up and ran. Legacy followed after.

She wasn’t sure if it was a good sign or a bad one that Kate was hurt. Either Kate wasn’t as impartial to Seth as she’d led people to believe, or it was just her pride that was hurt. If it was because of the first reason, Legacy was definitely going to have a major fight on her hands when it came time to attack Seth.

But if it was because of the second reason, Kate might try to beat Legacy to it. That thought had her fighting a smile as she ran after Kate.