Pulsing lights flickered over his chiseled face and broad shoulders. He didn’t speak as she drew to a stop, only watched her with those eyes she now knew weren’t just dark, they were black as sin and tinged with a wickedness her whole body ached to feel.
She still couldn’t tell what he was, but as electricity arced between them, her heart beat hard and fast. And as she took in every delectable inch of him, she knew without question he was the wild ride she’d been hoping for tonight.
She pushed any doubts to the back of her mind, licked her lips, and moved closer.
“Lys?” Max headed for the back table where his cousin Elysia sat in the Grand Library, surrounded by ancient tomes and towering bookshelves. “There you are. I’ve been looking all over the damn castle for you.”
Elysia lifted her head, her chocolate hair swaying around her face as she narrowed her dark brown eyes on his. “Has something happened? What’s wrong?”
“Everything.” He stopped in front of her table, glancing over the research she was clearly doing as part of her studies in all things royal. “The Argonauts and your mother refused Talisa’s request to begin formal training.”
“Skata.” Elysia pushed to her feet and dropped the pen in her hand.
She, being Talisa’s cousin as well, knew just how much Talisa had been hoping this time they’d let her into the boys’ club. While Max’s guilt with regards to the situation came from the fact he was being allowed to train with the Argonauts when he knew Talisa was just as skilled, Elysia’s stemmed from the fact her mother was the one blocking Talisa from exactly the same thing.
“Where is she?” Elysia asked. “Have you talked to her yet?”
“I tried. She wouldn’t listen.”
Elysia quickly gathered her papers. “You know how reckless she can be when she’s upset.”
“That’s why I’m here.” Max reached for Elysia’s arm, stopping her frantic movements. “She already left for that club.”
“Oh skata.” The color drained from Elysia’s face. She glanced around the quiet library with its dark wood shelves and tall stone pillars then back at him. “Someone needs to go after her. She’s not safe in the human realm alone.”
“I know.” He dropped his hand. “I’m going. I just wanted to let you know, so if anything happens—”
“Alone? No way.”
His lips thinned. “I’ll be fine. I know how to take care of myself. Plus, you know if anything tries to come at me, I can access whatever gift they’re using and turn it around on them.”
“Assuming you aren’t distracted.”
He frowned. “I won’t be. We know she’s at the club. We know why. I’ll go there, get her, and bring her back before she alerts anyone to her presence. Odds are, we’ll be back within the hour. I’m only telling you so you can cover for us in case it takes a little longer.”
Elysia moved her books to a nearby empty shelf then turned to face him. “You’re still not going alone. We talked about this, remember? That’s how people get abducted.” She waggled her brows, reminding him that was exactly what had happened to her when she’d run off on her own. “Or dead. I’m going with you.”
“You?” His eyes widened. “Not a chance. If your father or your mate found out I let you tag along, they’d both kill me.”
Elysia’s father Demetrius was a highly skilled Argonaut and the darkest of the bunch, and Elysia’s mate Cerek, while a whole lot softer around the edges than her father, was just as deadly with a blade. Though both knew Elysia was a skilled fighter in her own right, neither would approve of her crossing into the human realm.
“You let me tag along? As if.” Elysia grasped Max’s arm, turning him toward the arched doorway. “As far as my father and Cerek are concerned, we just won’t tell them. And since we don’t want word to spread and Talisa to be punished for this stunt, that means you can’t alert any of the other Argonauts or their mates. Which means I’m all you’ve got. I’ll watch your back, and you’ll watch mine. Isn’t that what they teach you in Argonaut training? Never to go anywhere alone?”
“Yeah, but—”
“But nothing. I do know a little of what I’m talking about, Max.”
She did. She wasn’t just a competent warrior herself, she would one day be queen of this realm. And unlike him—and Talisa—Elysia thought things through before she jumped.
“I need to get my weapons,” she said, drawing him out into the hall with its gleaming marble floors, leading him toward the stairs. “Then, we’ll go to that stupid club, get Talisa, and bring her back. Together. And no one will be the wiser.”
Max sure hoped no one was the wiser, because if Talisa’s parents or the queen or any of the other Argonauts found out what she was up to, all shit was going to hit the fan, and he didn’t want that for his cousin. Not with all the other crap she was already dealing with.
There was only so much a person could handle before they snapped, and he sensed Talisa was dangerously close to the end of her rope.
Considering he kept bouncing to the end of his own…
Yeah, he knew that better than anyone.
Violet eyes. He’d been right. Hauntingly familiar violet eyes he’d recognize anywhere.
Zagreus blinked as he stared down at the dark-haired female standing in front of him. Blinked again to be sure.
She was still there. Still holding his gaze with those memorable, wanton, amethyst eyes. Still standing silent and waiting. Still looking at him as if she expected him to say or do something after all this time.
His senses had been right. She was definitely Argolean, and from her clothing and stance, from the strength he felt radiating from her and the fact she was alone, he could tell she was trained at least somewhat in warfare. He couldn’t see any weapons on her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t hiding them somewhere. Every Argolean he’d ever met who ventured into the human realm did so armed.
As his gaze scanned her shapely body from head to toe, though, he knew he wasn’t looking for weapons. He was searching for proof she really was her.
He’d been desperate before and wasn’t about to be fooled again, especially if she was Argolean. And he definitely didn’t want a repeat of those years he’d spent locked up by the Fates. Tartarus had been bad, but the twenty-five years he’d been imprisoned by the old hags—he inwardly shuddered—had been worse than any torture his depraved father could conjure in the fires of the Underworld.
Unfortunately, she was wearing too much clothing to get a good look at her, and the dark lights in the club didn’t help. The only skin exposed was on her toned shoulders and the soft mounds of her cleavage. That didn’t stop him from trying to see through the tight-fitting top and the slim black pants that molded to her hips and thighs, though. Didn’t stop him from—
Long, feminine fingers curled in the fabric of his shirt and tugged, distracting him from his search. He caught the wicked flare in her gemlike eyes as she stepped back onto the dance floor, pulling him with her.
Her scent surrounded him—not the familiar woodsy scents of sage and lavender he remembered, but something darker, something spicier. A heady combination of cinnamon, vanilla, and orange blossom that drew him toward her like a moth to a flame.