The Struggle
Page 68
“Where is he?” I demanded. My heart pounded painfully in my chest.
Aiden glanced up at the flickering overhead light. “You know where he went.”
I cursed under my breath as a doorway down the hall opened and Alex stumbled out, blinking rapidly. She threw her arms out as a tremor rocked the hallway. “Oh gods, this is not a normal earthquake, is it?”
Aiden sighed. “I’m going to go with no.”
She lowered her arms. “You let him go?”
“Didn’t really have a choice,” Aiden replied dryly. “Think you forgot the whole Seth-is-a-god-now thing.”
Alex stopped, frowning. “You’re shirt’s inside out.”
Of course it was.
Doors all up and down the hall opened and I spotted Deacon and Luke. I drew in a sharp breath as I stepped back. The flickering light steadied. “How long ago did he leave?”
“You miss me already?”
Gasping, I spun around. Seth stood in front of the door. I didn’t think. Cocking back an arm, I punched him in the stomach as hard as possible.
Seth grunted out a laugh as he bent at the waist. “Gods.”
“What did you do?” I demanded, and then I really saw him as he straightened. There was a faint bruise on his cheek. His lip looked raw and his shirt . . . his shirt was charred at the hem. “What happened to your face—your clothes?”
“Don’t worry, my perfect face will heal,” he said, grinning in a way that looked like it would hurt.
I shook my head. “Seth. . . .”
The grin slipped from his face. “I had to, Josie.”
“But you didn’t,” I whispered, but . . . but who was I kidding. Did I for one second truly believe that Seth wasn’t going to go after Hyperion? No, I didn’t. I closed my eyes. “Hyperion is dead?”
“Yes. So are quite a few charbroiled daimons that eventually climbed out of a hole in the ground.” A few seconds later, I felt his hands on my cheeks. Aware that we had audience, I stiffened as he leaned in, resting his forehead against mine. “I know you’re probably pissed and even disappointed. I’m sorry for that. He could not live. Not now. There was no way.”
I shuddered, torn between being relieved that Hyperion was gone and horrified by the possible repercussions. What was going to happen? Hyperion was a big deal. Then I remembered. My head snapped up and my eyes opened. “Mitchell? Did you—”
Seth shook his head. “I’m sorry. He . . . he didn’t make it.”
“No,” I whispered, refusing to believe it. “He was alive. He had to be.”
His tawny eyes searched mine. “Psychi mou, he had been gone for a while.”
Tears crawled up my throat. I don’t know why it affected me so much, but it did, because saving Mitchell was important. He hadn’t deserved what was done to him. And to die like that? It was so wrong.
Seth said something, and then the next second we were back in the room, on the bed. I was in his lap, and his arms were tight around me. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It is not your fault, Josie. You couldn’t have changed the outcome.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. Maybe if I’d gotten my head together quicker I would’ve remembered the box truck.
“Please.” He tipped my chin up so our gazes met. “This is not your guilt to carry. Hyperion did that to him. The Titans did. You are not at fault.”
Repeating those words over and over in my head didn’t change how I felt and beyond the bitter sadness of discovering that Mitchell had died, how in the world were we going to entomb the Titans now? Seth could not keep killing them. God only knows what was happening out in the world even though the tremors here had stopped.
I took a deep, shaky breath. “What’s going to happen now?”
He folded his hand over my cheek as a shadow crossed his features. “I know things aren’t going to be easy. I don’t know everything that is going to happen, but I know one thing.”
“What?”
“You will not have to fear Hyperion or any Titan. Our child won’t have to worry about things not being okay,” Seth said, splaying his other hand across my lower stomach. “Because we’re going to end this. We’re going to make it okay for this child.”
“Together?”
Seth’s lips brushed the curve of my jaw. He stopped to press a kiss to my pulse and then said, “Together.”
Closing my eyes, I wiggled closer to him. I didn’t want to think about how we were going to stop any of this. Right then, I just wanted to focus on us—on what we both had been feeling earlier, because that had been warm and wonderful.
Maybe that made me a terrible person. There was so much death and I knew there would be more. Things were happening outside of this little piece of the world. We had no idea what was going to happen in the next hour. The world could try to come crashing down on us and all those we cared about. We’d fight it. We’d fight it for each other, for our child, and for our friends. And tomorrow, I was probably going to hit Seth again. I was probably going to be angry that he’d gone after Hyperion. But I was still going to love him, so we were going to deal with that.
Right now . . . we just had right now.
Seth’s lips found mine and the kiss was soul-deep. There was always something about the way he kissed me. Like it was the first and last time. There was no hurry, no rush. If he’d never said he loved me, this kiss told me he did.
But he had spoken those words.
My arms tightened around his waist as I rested my cheek against his chest. Seth’s hand smoothed up and down my back, following the line of my spine, and my eyes started to drift shut again when something occurred to me.
And then I remembered.
Sucking in air, I drew back as tension clamped down on my chest. I’d been having prophecies since Apollo had unlocked my abilities. Most of them had served as some kind of warning of what was to come.
“Josie?”
My gaze swung back to Seth’s as an icy sense of disbelief invaded my veins. It hit me then that I had seen more than just Caleb in my so-called dreams. I had heard more than just Atlas’s warning that he was coming for us, that one of us would die. I’d seen something else. I’d seen it more than once, and I knew it hadn’t been a dream.
I’d seen my own death.
Just like Atlas had come and had ended Solos’s life and how I’d seen Caleb standing before me when I’d never even met him, I knew that this prophecy would come to pass, too.
And just like Seth had promised. He had no idea, but we were to face that together.
Aiden glanced up at the flickering overhead light. “You know where he went.”
I cursed under my breath as a doorway down the hall opened and Alex stumbled out, blinking rapidly. She threw her arms out as a tremor rocked the hallway. “Oh gods, this is not a normal earthquake, is it?”
Aiden sighed. “I’m going to go with no.”
She lowered her arms. “You let him go?”
“Didn’t really have a choice,” Aiden replied dryly. “Think you forgot the whole Seth-is-a-god-now thing.”
Alex stopped, frowning. “You’re shirt’s inside out.”
Of course it was.
Doors all up and down the hall opened and I spotted Deacon and Luke. I drew in a sharp breath as I stepped back. The flickering light steadied. “How long ago did he leave?”
“You miss me already?”
Gasping, I spun around. Seth stood in front of the door. I didn’t think. Cocking back an arm, I punched him in the stomach as hard as possible.
Seth grunted out a laugh as he bent at the waist. “Gods.”
“What did you do?” I demanded, and then I really saw him as he straightened. There was a faint bruise on his cheek. His lip looked raw and his shirt . . . his shirt was charred at the hem. “What happened to your face—your clothes?”
“Don’t worry, my perfect face will heal,” he said, grinning in a way that looked like it would hurt.
I shook my head. “Seth. . . .”
The grin slipped from his face. “I had to, Josie.”
“But you didn’t,” I whispered, but . . . but who was I kidding. Did I for one second truly believe that Seth wasn’t going to go after Hyperion? No, I didn’t. I closed my eyes. “Hyperion is dead?”
“Yes. So are quite a few charbroiled daimons that eventually climbed out of a hole in the ground.” A few seconds later, I felt his hands on my cheeks. Aware that we had audience, I stiffened as he leaned in, resting his forehead against mine. “I know you’re probably pissed and even disappointed. I’m sorry for that. He could not live. Not now. There was no way.”
I shuddered, torn between being relieved that Hyperion was gone and horrified by the possible repercussions. What was going to happen? Hyperion was a big deal. Then I remembered. My head snapped up and my eyes opened. “Mitchell? Did you—”
Seth shook his head. “I’m sorry. He . . . he didn’t make it.”
“No,” I whispered, refusing to believe it. “He was alive. He had to be.”
His tawny eyes searched mine. “Psychi mou, he had been gone for a while.”
Tears crawled up my throat. I don’t know why it affected me so much, but it did, because saving Mitchell was important. He hadn’t deserved what was done to him. And to die like that? It was so wrong.
Seth said something, and then the next second we were back in the room, on the bed. I was in his lap, and his arms were tight around me. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It is not your fault, Josie. You couldn’t have changed the outcome.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. Maybe if I’d gotten my head together quicker I would’ve remembered the box truck.
“Please.” He tipped my chin up so our gazes met. “This is not your guilt to carry. Hyperion did that to him. The Titans did. You are not at fault.”
Repeating those words over and over in my head didn’t change how I felt and beyond the bitter sadness of discovering that Mitchell had died, how in the world were we going to entomb the Titans now? Seth could not keep killing them. God only knows what was happening out in the world even though the tremors here had stopped.
I took a deep, shaky breath. “What’s going to happen now?”
He folded his hand over my cheek as a shadow crossed his features. “I know things aren’t going to be easy. I don’t know everything that is going to happen, but I know one thing.”
“What?”
“You will not have to fear Hyperion or any Titan. Our child won’t have to worry about things not being okay,” Seth said, splaying his other hand across my lower stomach. “Because we’re going to end this. We’re going to make it okay for this child.”
“Together?”
Seth’s lips brushed the curve of my jaw. He stopped to press a kiss to my pulse and then said, “Together.”
Closing my eyes, I wiggled closer to him. I didn’t want to think about how we were going to stop any of this. Right then, I just wanted to focus on us—on what we both had been feeling earlier, because that had been warm and wonderful.
Maybe that made me a terrible person. There was so much death and I knew there would be more. Things were happening outside of this little piece of the world. We had no idea what was going to happen in the next hour. The world could try to come crashing down on us and all those we cared about. We’d fight it. We’d fight it for each other, for our child, and for our friends. And tomorrow, I was probably going to hit Seth again. I was probably going to be angry that he’d gone after Hyperion. But I was still going to love him, so we were going to deal with that.
Right now . . . we just had right now.
Seth’s lips found mine and the kiss was soul-deep. There was always something about the way he kissed me. Like it was the first and last time. There was no hurry, no rush. If he’d never said he loved me, this kiss told me he did.
But he had spoken those words.
My arms tightened around his waist as I rested my cheek against his chest. Seth’s hand smoothed up and down my back, following the line of my spine, and my eyes started to drift shut again when something occurred to me.
And then I remembered.
Sucking in air, I drew back as tension clamped down on my chest. I’d been having prophecies since Apollo had unlocked my abilities. Most of them had served as some kind of warning of what was to come.
“Josie?”
My gaze swung back to Seth’s as an icy sense of disbelief invaded my veins. It hit me then that I had seen more than just Caleb in my so-called dreams. I had heard more than just Atlas’s warning that he was coming for us, that one of us would die. I’d seen something else. I’d seen it more than once, and I knew it hadn’t been a dream.
I’d seen my own death.
Just like Atlas had come and had ended Solos’s life and how I’d seen Caleb standing before me when I’d never even met him, I knew that this prophecy would come to pass, too.
And just like Seth had promised. He had no idea, but we were to face that together.
