The Goddess Inheritance
Page 45

So I had to learn how to get there myself. I could barely travel across the room without Henry’s help; learning how to cross half an ocean in a week seemed impossible, but I had to.
As my mind returned to Olympus, I grew aware of two things: first, I was crying. And second, Henry lay beside me, his eyes locked on mine.
“Are you all right?” He brushed his thumb against my cheek, catching a stray tear. The urge to tell him everything overwhelmed me, making it hard to breathe, but I couldn’t. This was for Milo. If one of us had to do it, I was the best choice. Cronus had already issued Calliope an ultimatum not to hurt me or Milo; Henry wouldn’t have the same security, and he was too important, too powerful, too needed to sacrifice himself. I would find a way back as soon as I could. Maybe if I could learn how to travel properly, I would be able to take Milo and escape. It wasn’t much, but it was something, and I couldn’t have Henry risk himself in the meantime.
“I love you so much,” I said, closing the distance between us and wrapping myself around him. “No matter what happens, no matter how this war turns out—I love you, forever and always.”
Henry was quiet for a long moment, and I counted the seconds, taking comfort in each breath he took. At last he lowered his lips to mine, kissing me with aching tenderness.
“You are my life.” Though his words were barely a whisper, they seemed to echo from somewhere deep within him, enveloping my body and infusing me with something unshakable. “There is nothing I would not do to make you happy. Before I met you, my world was a string of days that were gray and empty. I had nothing to look forward to, and I cannot tell you what it was like, facing down eternity alone. Every day I wished for you. Every day I held on in hopes that eventually we would meet. And when I finally found you...”
He leaned in and kissed me again, as tenderly as before. His hand slid underneath my shirt, splaying across my stomach, but the touch wasn’t sexual. It was as if he were trying to memorize me, just as I was trying to memorize him.
“I have existed for more eons than I remember. I have seen the sun rise and fall so many times that the days lost all meaning. For so long, they passed me by in a blur. But that night we met by the river—the night you gave up yourself in order to save a virtual stranger—my heart began to beat again.”
He took my hand and pressed it against his chest, and there it was—thump thump, thump thump, strong and beautiful. I would’ve given anything to keep his heart beating. The black abyss that had become my world in those hours I’d thought he was dead had faded, but it was a scar I would always bear. I couldn’t go back to that. Even if I had Milo, I would never have another Henry.
“I see the sunrise now,” he said. “Because of you, the days have color. Eternity has meaning once more. You found every broken piece of me and put me back together, even though I hurt you too many times for me to deserve it. You are the glue that holds me together. If I lose you, it will be the end of me.”
A knot formed in my throat. “You’ll never lose me,” I said, my voice breaking.
“Promise.” His gaze searched mine as he ran his fingertip up my spine.
“I promise.” I closed the minuscule gap between us once more, capturing his lips and trying to show him how much I meant it. “I love you. I love our family. I love our life together, and I can’t wait for the day when we’re back home, just the three of us, and this whole war is over. I swear to you that will happen. That will be our future.”
He cradled the back of my head, his palm searing against my skin. “I have waited an eternity for this love. I’m not going to let anyone, Titan or not, take it from us.”
“Promise?” I said, and this time it was Henry’s turn to kiss me.
“I promise.”
“Then do me a favor.”
“Anything.”
I shifted onto my back, rolling him with me. His body pressed against mine in all the right places, and I lifted my head high enough to rest my forehead against his. “Live this love now,” I whispered. “And never stop.”
* * *
In those seven days, I spent every moment I could with Henry. Walter ruled that despite him being mostly healed, Henry would remain in Olympus until the last possible moment, to give the council the element of surprise. Though Henry had a tendency to pace around mumbling things about his brother that I was all too willing to agree with, it gave us more time together.
When we weren’t playing our new brand of tag throughout the sun-drenched palace, we fought our way through the quicksand of my visions to see Milo. Cronus was always there, a silent reminder of the little time I had left with my family, but now Ava had become a permanent fixture, too.
The happier and healthier Milo became, the thinner and paler Ava grew, as if she was pouring everything she had into him. Maybe she was. Maybe she was the only thing keeping him alive. When I voiced that to Henry after returning to Olympus one day, however, he shook his head. “We are both immortal, and so is Milo.”
“What?” I stopped in the middle of the abandoned throne room, the only place we could go that didn’t feel stuffy. The sun shone a little brighter here, and the sunset at our feet seemed deeper, more real somehow. “But I thought everyone had to take the tests.”
“Members of the council do,” said Henry. “Demigods attempting to earn immortality usually have to prove themselves in some way. And royals take the test, as well. If Walter chooses to take another queen, regardless of her mortality, she will have to pass the same tests you did to earn her position. If Milo ever replaced me as King of the Underworld—”