The Nymph's Curse: The Collection (19 page)

He leaned down and tickled the skin of her neck with his lips. Laughing, she pushed him off. He smiled as he moved onto the bed beside her.

Beau trailed his fingers down her body. He picked up her arm and ran his finger over the black ink of her snake. “What are these tattoos for?”

“I belong to a group. They are our symbol.”

“Snakes are your thing?” He put his finger in her palm on top of the snake’s eye.

“Sort of, yeah. I can’t talk much about it.”

“So you are in a secret group?” He sat up on his elbow. “I’m intrigued.”

Smiling seductively, she took his fingers from her palm and led them to the intersection of her thighs, in blatant avoidance of his question.

“You can’t be ready again,” he scoffed, as he took the bait.

“You would be surprised.” She pushed his hand in a slow circle as a smile danced across his face. “If you don’t think you can go again yet, we can wait.”

He laughed. “I’m a man, not a god.”

She pulled his hand away and sat up. “I’m glad you’re not. You’re better than that.”

Beau smirked as he laid his head on the pillow and motioned for her to come closer to him. She obliged and wrapped her body around his and laid her head on his sweat-dampened chest. His heart slowed as she lay silently taking in the moment.

“Ariadne?”

“Hmm?”

“Have you ever wanted kids?”

For a moment, she lay there in stunned silence, trying to think of the right thing to say. “I’ve never really thought about it.”

“You’re a woman. You have to have thought about it at some point or another.”

She lifted her head and gazed up at him. “That’s a broad statement to make. Have you ever thought that maybe I’m not like other women?”

“I know you’re nothing like other women. But, I mean, haven’t you ever wanted to get married and raise a family? You’re so beautiful. And you were with Stavros for a long time. Why didn’t you go down that road?”

Her heart fell. “There are a lot of reasons Stavros and I never had kids. I mean, can you imagine him as a father?” She mentally shuddered. “No, wait. Don’t think about him as a father.”

“That’s it? He just wasn’t ‘dad’ material?”

She sighed resignedly. “No. I can’t have children. So it was never really an option for me.”

Beau looked stunned. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“Do you want more children?”

He sat back and looked up at the ceiling. “Truthfully, I’ve thought about it. More kids would be nice, but I failed so badly with the first one. I mean, I’m never around. I’m always working out in the field or in the lab. It’s hard to raise a kid when you aren’t there.”

“You’re a great dad. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He ran his hands up and down the bare skin of her back. “You’re wrong. I stayed away from that kid when he was small. It’s my biggest regret. If I could do it all again, I would’ve probably still gotten the divorce, but I would’ve stuck around, instead of running.”

“Sometimes you run away from things, thinking it’s better than fighting, but it’s hard to tell in the moment. I’m sure you did what you thought was right.”

“Not right so much as necessary. I had to pay child support, but I was just getting done with my PhD. No one was hiring where we’d been living, and Lynda wasn’t willing to move. But I had to pay the bills. I had to support him in the only way I could.”

“I understand. We all try to act as we think we should. Trust me, we all have our secrets.”

I only understand too well. There were so many regrets. Loving bad men. Theseus. Dionysus. Walking away when I should have stood strong. And I can never tell him how much we have in common.
She lifted his hand and kissed the back of his fingers.

Ariadne rolled her body fully on top of Beau. Her hand strayed downward and she tried to tell him that she empathized in the only way she could.

Tammy’s telephone message kept replaying in Ariadne’s mind.
Kaden isn’t doing good. I tried but …

The witch had done everything she could, but the curse of the nymphs was more powerful than a simple witch’s magical abilities. Zeus was a fickle bastard.

Beau was gowned up and had pulled the mask down over his face. She followed him into Kaden’s room. A Greek Orthodox priest was standing in the corner of the room wearing black robes and a cylindrical black hat, covered by the sterile hospital gown, latex gloves, and a mask.

He waved slightly as they entered the room. “Hello, Dr. Morris and Miss … ”

“Papadakis,” she offered.

The priest nodded. “Katarina called me last night about your son. She was concerned about his health. I wish to give him anointment.” The priest looked down at Kaden and frowned. “He needs to be prepared for the Lord.”

Beau stepped between the priest and his son. “Get the hell out of here, Kat doesn’t know what she’s talking about. He’s not going to die. He’s going to be fine. The doctors said we’re going to get lucky.” He pointed at Ariadne. “She says we’re going to get lucky. He’s going to live. He doesn’t need you. He only needs some goddamned drugs that work!”

The priest’s eyes widened at Beau’s outburst. “I understand your pain, my son, but we must do what is right for our Lord.”

“He’s not my Lord. My Lord wouldn’t allow this to happen to my son.”

Ariadne stepped beside Beau and put her hand on his arm. She could feel him shaking with anger. She leaned into his ear. “It’s only Kat’s game. She’s malicious and is trying to make a point to me that she’s in control,” she whispered. “Kaden is very sick, but I think I have a way we can save him.”

“What?” Beau stared at her.

She shook her head, as she tried to urge him to keep his voice lowered.

“Do the unction, Father.” She motioned toward Kaden.

Beau stepped away and let the priest move to the bedside, but his eyes remained on Ariadne.

The priest pulled a bottle of holy oil from his robe and placed the sacrament on Kaden’s forehead. He said a prayer quietly in Greek. She could still feel Beau’s eyes on her.

The priest laid his gloved hand on Kaden’s arm and looked back at them. “It is done.”

“Thank you, Father.” Ariadne bowed respectfully.

“You are welcome, my friends.” The priest walked to Beau and took his hand. “May God be with you and your son. I know that you are hurting, but God will do what is right.”

“Like killing my son?” Beau growled.

The priest looked at him with pity upon his face. “Trust in God.”

Beau jerked his hand from the priest’s and walked to the window. He kept his back to them as he stared out into the early morning sky.

There was a knock on the door. They all turned and stared as a gowned, masked, and gloved Trina walked in. Her eyes were swollen and red and a tear rested on her cheek. “Ariadne?”

“Hello, Trina. What’re you doing here?”

“I’m sorry I haven’t come before. It’s just … been … been so hard,” she stammered, as she dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.

“If you’ll excuse me,” the priest said, as he made his way out of the room.

“Why was the priest here?” Trina asked with marked fear in her voice.

Beau had a scowl on his face.

“Let’s step out really quick, Trina.” Ariadne motioned her back toward the door.

Trina glanced at Beau and nodded.

The priest was gone when they stepped out into the hallway. Nurses bustled around the corridor, but none seemed to be paying them any attention.

“I heard about what you tried to do,” Ariadne whispered.

Trina stared at the floor. “Kat told you, didn’t she?”

“Why did you do it?”

Fresh tears glistened in Trina’s eyes. “What else could I do? Kaden is dying and it’s all my fault. I knew I shouldn’t love, but I didn’t listen to the sisterhood about the curse. He was just so great. I couldn’t help it.”

Ariadne looked back at the room where Beau stood waiting. “I get it. You can’t help who you fall in love with.”

Trina nodded.

“Kaden’s very sick. I had Tammy in here and she tried to help, but it didn’t work. There’s only one thing left to do. But it means that we’ll be exiled from our group forever. If you don’t want to help me, I completely understand.”

Trina stared in at Kaden. “What do you want to do?”

Ariadne looked around the hall to make sure no one was listening. “I’m going to go to the Labyrinth and try to find Epione’s crystal staff.”

Trina frowned. “That’s only a myth, isn’t it?”

“No, it exists. Kat put it in there the night we were cursed.”

“What about Beau? What are you going to tell him?”

The door opened. “Tell me what?” Beau stuck his head out.

Shit.

“Nothing.”

Beau stepped out of the room and crossed his arms over his chest. “Don’t lie to me.”

“Let’s just take him with us,” Trina argued. “We’re gonna need him.”

Ariadne glanced at Beau. “You might be right. We’ll need all the help we can get. There are things down there that aren’t even welcome in the world of Hades.”

“If this has anything to do with helping Kaden, I’m willing,” Beau said. “But you need to tell me what’s going on.”

Ariadne’s stomach churned with nerves. “Okay, but we need to hurry. Before it’s too late.”

Beau pulled the gown off and threw the mask and gloves in the trash. They followed his lead. Rushing down the hall, they ran to her car.

Slamming the passenger door shut, Beau looked at her. “What’s going on? Where are we going?”

She put the key in the ignition, and roared the car to life. Squealing the tires, they rushed out of the parking lot and toward Gournai.

Beau stared at her. “You need to talk to me, Ariadne.”

There was no avoiding it any longer. “You know how we were talking last night and I told you I was in a secret group?”

“Of course, how could I forget? Are you in a mercenary group or something? Are you really the one behind the governor’s shooting?”

“I had nothing to do with that. Unfortunately, the sisterhood might have. I think Kat’ll stop at nothing to stop people from getting to the Labyrinth and what’s inside.”

“Is that why you shut down my site? Because I’m close to the Labyrinth?” he said in a choked voice. “I’m close?”

“Too close. That’s why Kat forced my hand. We had to shut it down.”

“You tried to stop me from accomplishing my dream because Kat wanted you to?” He looked at her with disgust.

“Don’t look at me like that. It wasn’t my decision. She’s the leader. For a long time I’ve been just a member — a very low-ranking member.”

He glared at her. “Who are you?”

She pointed at Trina in the back seat. “She and I are sisters of sorts. We are Nymphs. We can seduce and bewitch men. A couple of thousand years ago we were struck with a curse from Zeus. Nymphs will never experience lasting true love. If we fall in love, our lovers are fated to die a tragic death.” She glanced in the mirror back at Trina as she drove down the road.

He sat in stunned silence.

Say something,
she silently begged.

Beau tapped his fingers on the door. “So if a man falls in love with you, he will die?”

She gripped the wheel tight, as if she let go she would lose control of her teetering emotions. “That’s what they say. I think that’s what happened between Kaden and Trina.”

He turned and addressed Trina. “Did Kaden love you?”

From the rearview mirror, Ariadne watched as Trina nodded. “I love him more than you can know.”

Beau looked back at Ariadne. “Trust me, I think I can relate.”

There’s no way he is talking about me. He doesn’t love me. He can’t love me. He won’t love me, not after knowing the disaster love causes. Oh please, no.

There was a tense silence. “Do you have anything in the car that we could use for weapons?” Beau said, as he opened the glove compartment and shuffled through the miscellaneous papers.

“What?” Ariadne asked. “Why?”

“Well, if the Labyrinth is filled with all these
worse-than-Hades
things, then don’t you think we should at least be prepared?”

Ariadne turned the car off the highway and back toward the museum. “You’re right, and I think I know something that might be useful. Do you think you can keep a secret?”

Ariadne had tried to explain it to him that it was unlikely anything was still alive in the Labyrinth, but she wasn’t hard to convince that they needed weapons, which made him worry that there was more than what she had confessed.

He had to grip the handle of the car as she whipped into the empty parking lot of the museum.

They made their way into the austere yellowed entrance of the building, down the empty corridors and to the lab she had shown him and Kaden the day they had met. Though he was in the same place he had been, everything was so different and such a disaster.

She flicked on the lights. The black table stood empty in the center. Walking over to the other side of the room, she dug around on the shelves that were covered with various bins, lights, and knickknacks. She pulled a dusty backpack out and slapped it against her leg.

“Here,” she said as she handed it to Beau.

“Thanks.” He opened the bag. A trowel and a few tools were inside.

The shrill beep of Ariadne’s phone pierced the tense air. Ariadne pulled the phone from her purse and frowned. Her finger hovered over the button to answer.

“Who is it?” Trina asked.

“Kat texted.” Ariadne looked up.

“And?” Beau growled.

She pushed the button and read the message out loud. “Talked to the priest. Stop what you are doing. Or you will force my hand.”

The priest must have overheard them talking.

“What does she mean?” Beau stepped to Ariadne’s side and put his hands on her shoulders. “Are you in danger?”

Ariadne shoved the phone in her pocket. “I’m tired of her and her power plays. She can’t hold me back any more. For once, I’m going to do what is right instead of being one of her little slaves.”

There was a strange jerk in his chest.
Is it love?

He looked into her beautiful golden eyes and the tightening in his chest grew more intense. Running his hands over her shoulders, he drew them to her neck and pulled her softly to his lips.