Page 14 of The Demigod Complex
Marrok parked the car in a crowded lot downtown where they were going for lunch, but instead of getting out, he turned in his seat. “I believe my intended is thinking that a sign of blessing from the gods might help.”
Leia glanced back and forth between them, still not following.
“A sign along the lines of a display of nature,” Tala added.
Oh… Oh, shit.Nature.
Of all supernatural creatures, nymphs were perhaps the most tied to nature, to the point that she could manipulate water with ease. Or she’d been able to once upon a time. These days she didn’t get close enough to larger bodies of it to try.
“You want me to help put on a show?” she asked slowly while cringing inside.
“Maybe you could recruit other nymphs in the area?” Marrok suggested. “The chapel is set in the mountains all by itself, surrounded by nature.”
Castor said nothing. She wasn’t entirely sure what Delilah had told him, but why did he suddenly feel closer, his heat nearer? As if he was ready to jump between her and pain if he could. But he couldn’t.
She dropped her gaze to her hands clenched in her lap. Working for Castor had been a big risk. She’d thought that, after all this time, she’d be okay poking her head up, but that was already in doubt if what she’d been sensing was correct. Showing her face to members of her extended family would make it harder to disappear. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why?” Tala asked.
After ages of practice, she was able to keep the pain that still ripped through her out of her voice, even if her hands shook. “I lost my spring and was shunned. Treated as a disease among them to be quarantined and cut out as quickly as possible.” Until she’d faked her own death and walked away from everything she knew.
Castor must have caught a trace of how shattered she still was, though, because he reached over to cover her hands with his. “I didn’t know that.”
She cast him a quick glance. “Why do you think I needed a job as your EA instead of guarding a spring?”
The warmth of Castor’s hand on hers and his silent support seeped into her, his strength warming her soul from the inside out. Thawing places she’d long thought frozen inside her.
She pulled her shoulders back and raised her gaze from her lap to the couple seated before her. A couple putting aside their personal needs to bring peace to their people. Their cause was worth her pride; she’d focus on that, rather than her pathetic little story. She was a stronger woman because of her past, dammit. Time to start acting like it.
“This is important?” she asked.
Tala grimaced. “It could be a huge help. Put to rest some of the doubts long enough for us to unite and settle the packs…” She trailed off.
“We wouldn’t ask, but…” Marrok also trailed off.
“I will try. That’s all I can promise.”
Tala reached over the seat and patted Leia’s knee. “Thank you.”
Leia tried to smile, though it felt stiff. There was no way this would go well.
Chapter Six
After a quick lunch in a busy bistro downtown, a little too close to the river for Leia’s comfort, Tala and Marrok brought them to the location for the mating ceremony. The idea was to give Leia a chance to try to approach the nymphs nearby in privacy, rather than waiting until the night of the mating.
Wow.They hadn’t been kidding about being in the middle of nature.
The idyllic chapel Tala and Marrok had selected for the marriage ceremony was positioned on top of a large rock base, built of the same granite, almost as though it had been placed there since the beginning of time, forged by the gods themselves. Below, a creek-fed lake reflected the blues of the sky and the spire of the chapel.
Such a gorgeous setting was perfect for this event. After a human-style wedding ceremony, Marrok’s and Tala’s family and friends would follow them into the wooded mountainside for the mating ceremony and celebrations illuminated by the full moon, followed by a more formal reception held at the Stanley Hotel, where they were staying.
Her skin crackled with energy just being here. Part of hiding had been staying in cities and avoiding open country. Leia could sense the nymphs nearby, even from the car in the parking lot.
An oread nymph of mountains and grottos guarded the nearest peak. A melissae nymph protected her precious honeybees in the field of flowers, along with the anthousai flower nymph, beyond the pond. A dryades wood nymph watched over the deeper woods. While a potameides river nymph controlled the rapids, a naiad water nymph, like her, kept the pond pristine. She would approach that sister and hope for a favorable response. Hope was all she had. She’d stopped praying to the gods long ago.
Castor reached over and threaded his fingers with hers, calling her attention to how she’d been wringing her hands. It was the second time he’d touched her like this, and she was starting to like it. Too much. “Do you want me to come with you?”
Not really. “Remind me to contact Mike when we get back. I forgot to get him started on the Brockway account.”
