Page 145 of A Touch of Chaos

“There is a time and a place,” she said. “And I chose wrong.”

“Come,” Dionysus said, rising to his feet. He held out his hand and helped her up, a rush of warmth spreading through his chest when she did not try to pull free of his hold. He led her to a modest bedroom at the end of the hall. “This is where I stay,” he said. “If you wish to give your sister some space, you can sleep here.”

When he met her gaze, he found her staring back.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He lifted his hand to her cheek.

“I hate seeing this pain in your eyes,” he said.

“I do not know myself without it,” she said.

Dionysus didn’t know what to say, but her words made it hard for him to breathe.

“If I could take it away…”

“You would have to be death himself,” she said.

“Do not speak of such things,” he said.

“No? Even when I was the one who had to watch you nearly die?”

He stared at her for a moment and then asked, “Why did you come back?”

He had told her to go—ordered her to take her sister into the tunnels and not look back.

“I had to,” she said.

“You didn’t. You could have done as I said. You could have escaped in the tunnels.”

“No, I couldn’t,” she argued. “You risked everything to save my sister. You risked everything for me. Who would I be if I just left you?”

“Smart,” he said. “Really fucking smart.”

Then he pulled her close and kissed her, and while he would have liked to continue, he knew he had no time.

When he pulled away, he held her tightly in his grip.

“I must go,” he said. “We have word on Medusa’s location.”

Ariadne’s eyes widened. “Let me come with you.”

Dionysus felt his gaze soften at her request. He was surprised she’d made it, given that it meant leaving her sister.

“As much as I would like that,” he said, brushing her hair from her face, “Phaedra needs you.”

“She might need me,” Ariadne said. “But she does not want me.”

“That’s the truth for tonight,” he said. “That will not be true tomorrow.”

“You intend to be gone long?”

“There is no intention behind it,” he said. “I will return as soon as I am able.”

He did not even know if his rescue mission would be successful. The pirates had announced Medusa’s ransom on the black market, which meant that everyone who had been looking for her before would be after her now, and many of them—himself included—had no intention of actually paying their price.

Ariadne’s gaze fell to his chest, her fingers twisting into his shirt.

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