He squinted to see more clearly as the figure reached up with pale, feminine hands and lowered the hood. And was sure his heart jumped right out of his chest when the face he’d been dreaming of for the last week stared back at him.
“Skyla.”
If he was dreaming, he didn’t want to know. He was across the balcony in two leaps, his hands on her arms, pulling her into him. His mouth lowering to take hers as her warm and real and alive body brushed up against his.
“I remember you,” she whispered against his lips, her delicate fingers landing on his chest as he kissed her. Again. And again. And again. Just because he could. Until he was light-headed and breathless and she was smiling as if he was a giant fool.
“I guess that means you remember me too,” she said softly.
He could barely believe she was real. Her hair was different. Shorter. Just barely to her shoulders and more dark blond than golden. Though her face was the same, the heavy, perfect makeup was gone. A spray of freckles ran across the bridge of her nose, and he didn’t remember that small scar near her left temple.
“How…? Why…?” Still unable to believe she was real, he pulled the robe she wore open, pressed a hand against her chest where the wound had been. Nothing but flesh under his touch. And a heartbeat. A strong, rapid heartbeat beneath the thin white T-shirt she wore over slim jeans.
“They gave me a choice.”
He had to be dreaming. He didn’t want to be dreaming. Please don’t let me be dreaming. “Who?”
“The Fates.”
He turned to look back at Lachesis, but she was already gone.
Skyla’s finger tugged his chin back to her. And the emotions in her eyes cut right to the heart of him. The heart she’d reawakened. The heart that had been tattered and broken since her death. “I’m so sorry. For all of it. For everything. I should have told you who I was, who you were. I should have…” Tears swam in her eyes. “I should have trusted you all those years ago. I should have known you’d never—”
His lips met hers, cutting off her words. Gods, she was real. He still couldn’t believe it. But he wasn’t wasting any more time. Not on things that didn’t even matter anymore. “Shh. Don’t.” He cupped her cheek. So smooth. So warm. So real. “No more apologies.”
“But—”
“I’ve remembered a lot more about my first life since that night. And honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t kill me yourself. Skyla, I did steal the air element from Zeus, and I did hide it. And not for any honorable reason like protecting the world or keeping it out of the hands of the gods. I stole it because I knew it would piss him off. I also knew what you were when we met. So I set out to seduce you right back. And piss Zeus off even more in the process.”
“Are you saying—?”
“I’m saying there was nothing noble about my intentions. Not from the start. Not even at the end. The one thing I just didn’t count on was falling in love with you.”
Her eyes searched his. Searching, he knew, for the truth. A truth he should have told her so many times, so long ago.
Emotion tightened his throat. “Can you ever forgive me? Not just for that but for the way I reacted when I finally remembered? I shouldn’t have grabbed you like that. I shouldn’t have…” He brushed his hand against her soft, slim throat, closed his eyes, the memory of the way he’d treated her, the guilt from that hitting him right in the solar plexus.
Her soft hand brushed his cheek, brought his eyes open. “You didn’t hurt me. And there’s no forgiveness needed. In fact…” A smile turned up the corners of her lips, lips that weren’t quite as plump and perfect as he remembered. “I wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d killed me that night. I deserved it.”
“No more killing,” he whispered. “My heart can’t take it. My heart can’t take anything but you.”
“Do you mean that? Because if you don’t…” She closed her eyes, opened them. “If you don’t want me anymore, I—”
He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her with everything he had in him. All the loss and heartache and emptiness he’d been carrying with him his whole life. The emptiness he hadn’t known was there because he was missing her.
“I want you,” he said, bringing both hands up to frame her face, feeling her silky hair slide between his fingers. “I’ve always wanted you.”
Her arms wound around his back and she moved into him, the heat from her body warming him all the way to his toes. She buried her head against his chest as he held her. Yeah, she was definitely shorter. And so damn perfect.
She sniffled. “I couldn’t go on the ship. It was so pretty, and the light called to me. I wanted to go, but…I couldn’t. I couldn’t get on.”
Her voice wavered. And as he pushed back and looked down, he realized just what she was talking about. “The Isles of the Blessed. You were on your way to Elysium. And you came back here? To me?”
She nodded.
He brought his hands back up to her face as disbelief rippled through him. “Why would you do that?”
“Because…I didn’t want to forget. I had this ache inside me, and it was growing. And I knew it would go away if I just got on the ship, but I…I couldn’t. I promised myself a long time ago that I’d never forget. I couldn’t let that go.”
The enormity of her sacrifice, of what she’d given up for him, nearly brought him to his knees. “Skyla…”
Her hands landed on his forearms. “I’m different, Orpheus. I know you can see it in my face, but I’m different…everywhere. It’s still me, it’s just…me before the Siren transformation. I know it’s not what you remember. It’s—”
“Oraios.” Beautiful.
“Really? But won’t you miss—?”
“Not for a second. Skyla, I’d want you even if you had a completely different body. Even if that body was part daemon.”
Emotions filled her eyes. Eyes that weren’t amethyst anymore but a soft, mottled green. Her natural eyes were green. As his daemon’s eyes had been.
“Your daemon’s gone,” she whispered.
“Thanks to you.”
“No, Orpheus.” Her hands tightened around his arms. “Thanks to you.”
Be greater. Her last words echoed in his head. He was. And with her, he could be even more.
“I can’t go back to the Sirens,” she whispered. “And when Zeus finds out the Fates sent me back, he won’t be happy.”
“I have a feeling Zeus is already unhappy. And news flash, female, you’re not going anywhere. You’re staying here with me.”
“Here?”
“Here.” He nodded to the glass windows. “Home.”
The darkening of her eyes told him she liked that. But when he moved in to kiss her once more, she stopped him with her fingers against his lips. “The Fates said I would have a blessed life, but my soul isn’t guaranteed a repeat ride on the white ship. Not unless I prove it again.”
It was his turn to grin. “Something tells me that won’t be a problem. Not this time.”
He leaned in, but she eased back once more. “And they said something about a curse. A soul-mate curse. You don’t know what they were talking about, do you?”
He froze millimeters from her mouth, glanced at the Argonaut markings on his forearms, and then chuckled. “That sneaky Fate. No wonder.”
When her brow lowered, he ran his thumb over her lips. Her sweet and tender lips. Lips he planned to sample and taste and lose himself in this and every night from here until their days’ ended—when they’d both be sailing on those white ships toward lands unknown, together. “Yeah, I might know. And trust me, it’s the best damn curse any scheming god ever came up with.”