Did she wear anything to bed? The thought caused my cock to spring to life. The way she’d been with me earlier, allowing me to touch her, needing me to pleasure her. I ran a hand over my mouth, recalling the sweet taste of her on my lips.
I reined myself in. She needed to rest, and I needed to give her space. I rose resolutely from the bed and stripped down, ignoring my demanding shaft as I tucked it into my boxers. Slipping between my sheets, I listened to her, imagining how she looked in the large bed, the shape her lithe body would make under the covers. She seemed to toss and turn for an inordinate amount of time. Restless, perhaps uneasy? I needed her to know she was safe here. Safe with me, always.
But she’d run from me. The memory was unsettling. I shifted against the pillow. I hadn’t meant to take her down so hard, to prowl on top of her like an animal. But my nature was not the same as it was when we were both mortal. Now a predator lived inside me, one that she’d put there. I would control it, though the memory of her arousal, the smell of desire wafting off her in waves, did nothing to ease the ache between my legs. I let the image of her running, her hair streaming out behind her, leave and refocused on the sounds from the neighboring room.
After a while her breathing became even and deep, sleep taking her.
I thrummed my fingers on my chest and stared at the beams of the ceiling, above which the sky had changed to the nighttime dark. A slow eruption of stars dotted the inky blackness. I closed my eyes and tried to will myself to sleep, but even with my eyes shut, she was there, her hair, her eyes, her essence, haunting me as she had these many years.
I saw her running through a field of the deep lavender that covered the hills just outside of Troy. She was laughing as I chased her then, daring me to catch her and make love to her among the fragrant blooms. She was reclining on our shared bed in the palace of Troy, her skin dewy and glowing after we’d made love.
My memory moved on to how her emerald gaze would follow me as I sparred with my brothers. Her lilting voice would give me strategy tips after every match. My smile returned as I remembered what an avid student of hers I had been, listening to her lesson and then thanking her with myriad pleasures. These were the memories that eased me, allowing me to drift into dreams of her.
I was nearly out when a shrill scream of pure terror shattered the stillness.
Chapter Nine
Elena
I was covered in a cold sweat and awoke when I heard someone screaming. As I sat up in the bed, I realized the sound was coming from me. My dream was a terror—Menelaus stood amid the corpses of my sisters, their heads severed, and their souls sent to Hades. He’d made me watch, trapped and bound for him to torture as he pleased. Those eyes, unfathomable and dark, had promised retribution for me daring to run from him again.
Before I had a chance to rise from the bed, Paris burst through the door. He glared around, looking for intruders. When he found no one, he sat next to me. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?” He felt along my body, gauging for any harm.
“N-no.” I drew the sheet up. I wore a lace teddy, something Daphne had picked out as pajamas, though I felt it was missing a good bit of fabric. “It was just a dream.”
Paris relaxed only slightly, still searching my face.
“It was Menelaus. He had me again. Had m-my sisters.” My voice trembled, the terror of the dream still lingering in my mind. Menelaus’s soulless eyes still seemed to glow at me in the dark. This sort of fear was new. Nothing had ever shaken me like this, and it was the odd déjà vu that made it all the more terrifying.
Paris reached up and stroked my hair. “Never again.”
“And my sisters? Are they safe?” The image of my strong warriors lying in a pile of death cut me so deeply that tears sprang to my eyes.
“He has no reason to invite Artemis’s wrath now that you are out of his reach. He does not hunt them, does not want them. Just you.”
His words, though they should have chilled me, put me at ease. I could not bear it if my actions resulted in my sisters’ destruction.
“And are you certain he can’t find me here, even with the mark?”
“The portal in Pyli is closed. The next nearest portal is in the Bloodkeep, over five-hundred miles away, and he would never dare try to cross there. The vampires and the demons are still at war.” His hand was in my hair, soothing me. He raised the other to catch a tear that rolled down my cheek.