She had trouble comprehending his words. Was still busy trying to make sense of that voice she’d heard in her head. Was it a memory? Was it a vision of the future? Had he been talking to her?
Demetrius’s dark eyes slid her way. “What’s wrong with you?”
His harsh voice cut through the fog and she blinked even as her heart continued to race beneath her breast. “I…”
He frowned and stooped down to pick her up again. “Since you’re no help to me, you might as well just get out of my way.”
She didn’t argue, had no idea what was going on or why. As he carried her into the main hall, which was flanked by two rows of columns, chipped and broken but still standing, she mentally focused on her surroundings instead of his strong arm beneath her legs or the bare skin of his chest pressing into her side or the heat radiating from every inch of his body.
Her eyes skipped over shadows and light. The ceiling was missing but the walls rose around them like a security barrier, and the first twinkle of lights from the night sky shone above. Halfway down the hall he ducked under an archway and stepped into an octagonal room.
Windows devoid of glass looked down over the open valley. A slight breeze blew through the large room with its pointed dome ceiling missing pieces here and there. Pottery shards and rusted metal littered the floor. Demetrius set her down on a bare section of stone against the wall that faced the wide open windows along the eastern side, then kicked debris out of her way.
“I’ll be back,” he announced.
Her heart pounded hard in her chest as he looked down at her. She didn’t nod when he spoke, was too busy trying to figure what was wrong with her. Scowling, he shook his head and disappeared beneath the archway once more.
Alone, she drew deep breaths to settle her racing pulse, but it did little good because her mind wouldn’t slow. Kardia. She was almost sure he’d called her that when they’d been climbing that cliff face too.
A soft echo drifted in through the windows. Happy for the distraction—any distraction—Isadora pushed herself across the floor and eased up to look over the low ledge to the ground beyond.
The rocky outcrop on this side of the fortress dropped off steeply to the sea below, churning against rocks and sand. Soft moonlight cast eerie shadows over the uneven ground and shimmered off the water. As far as strongholds went, this was a perfect location. Nothing could surprise you, nothing could attack you without warning, and no one would even know you were here unless you lit a fire or sent up smoke signals. That settled her anxiety, at least for the moment.
Her gaze ran back over the ground, then stopped and held when Demetrius stepped into view. Moonlight highlighted the dips and ridges of his powerful back. Mesmerized, she watched as he looked out to the water and pulled in a deep breath. Just as he had on the bluff, he held his hands in front of him and closed his eyes. His voice drifted on the wind, no more than a hum, a murmur, a silent curse. He turned a slow circle, his lips moving with muffled words, and when he’d made a complete rotation he knelt down and lifted a handful of soil, which he then proceeded to sprinkle as he rose and walked around the ruins, disappearing from sight.
Unnerved, Isadora eased back down to the cold floor. Again the sense that Demetrius was not who and what she’d always pegged him to be ran through her mind.
Wrapping her arms around herself, she scooted into the corner of the room so she could lean her head against the wall. She was so tired. And weak. And not just because of her bad leg. Something else had happened to her. Something before, during, or after her time with Apophis that she couldn’t quite remember but which weighed heavily on her soul. And she was too exhausted and worn out to figure out what that was right now.
Her stomach rumbled, but she ignored it. For just a moment, here in these ruins, she felt safe. Whether or not that was because of Demetrius, she didn’t want to know. She just wanted to forget.
She drew in a deep breath. Let it out. Relaxed into the wall as sleep drifted over her. But her mind kept twisting back to what she’d seen. And one image it wouldn’t relinquish.
Demetrius.
Darkness closed in, faded to gray, and then grew lighter. Through shadows and mist she saw him standing on that cliff, his hands outstretched, his hair whipping around his lean face. Looking like an Argonaut, a sorcerer, a god, all rolled into one. And she heard his voice. Deep, rich. So damn sexy it set off a tremor deep in the center of her being.
Wake up, kardia. Open your eyes and look at me.
She did. Slowly. Blinked several times. Only she wasn’t in an ancient garrison anymore. She was in a dim room illuminated by hundreds of twinkling candles. Massive marble pillars rose around a circular raised platform and a flat altar of granite. Symbols were etched into the side of the altar, into each of the pillars midway up. Symbols she couldn’t quite read but faintly recognized.
She saw herself dressed in nothing more than a short black robe that hit mid-thigh, parted in front to reveal the long supple line of her neck, the mounds of her breasts, and the deep valley of her cleavage. Her legs were sleek and bare, her hair a wild mess of gold around her face. She looked like a sex goddess sent to seduce, and lying over a bloodred velvet chair, staring into Demetrius’s wicked, searing eyes, it appeared she planned to do just that very soon.
I’ve waited so long for you.
His lips didn’t move, but his words echoed in her mind, and her body answered with a rush of warmth that ignited a wild, uncontrollable desire. Heat gathered in her center as a slow smile slid across her mouth. She rose languidly from the lounge and slinked across the room, up the three marble steps toward the immense stone altar where he stood waiting, wearing nothing more than loose, low-riding black silk pants.
He captured her hand as she drew close, pulled her in for a hot, wet kiss that vibrated all the way to her toes. And just as she felt herself melt, give in, crave, he lifted her around the waist, laid her out on the altar, and untied the black sash around her waist.
She shivered as the halves of her robe fell open, revealing the length of her bare body.
Open your eyes, kardia, and look at me.
Slowly, she did. And gasped as his face shifted and morphed into that of the Lord of the Underworld.
A depraved, victorious sneer ran across Hades’s face as he drank in every inch of her naked flesh. Horror pressed in and she opened her mouth to scream. But the only sound she heard was his heinous voice closing in to smother her.
Soon you will truly be mine.
Demetrius paused outside the open, arched doorway and listened to the slow steady rhythm of Isadora’s breathing.
Thank all the gods she was asleep.
Tired himself, he placed a hand against the cool stones and debated the urge to take a peek at her. Then he remembered the fear in her eyes when they’d been attacked on the beach. When she’d broken her leg all over again. When she’d watched him casting the invisibility spell on that bluff so that damn harpy couldn’t see them anymore.
Too bad he also remembered the disgust.
Bitterness brewed in his stomach when he thought of the way she’d said witch, but he welcomed it. Welcomed the familiar feeling and the distraction it brought as he pushed away from the wall and headed for the passageway he’d found hidden in the northwest corner of the ruins.