Page 121 of Priceless

For a solid second I swore the world went quiet, including my heart. “The whole day?”

“The whole day, little nymph. It’s just us.”

My jaw dropped, making him laugh. “They let you do that? You wanted to do that?”

One arm came around my hips as we kept going up the hill. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Ocean.” Then, quieter, “You’re our Omega.”

My mind still doesn’t want to accept the fact that this was entirely for us. Not us, for me. This was a fucking national landmark. Scratch that, it was one of the most famous places in the entire world, and they bought out the day so I could see it the way no one else will really get to.

Tears pricked my eyes, and that same sense of happiness flooded my veins. It wasn’t about the fact that they’d spent their money. That was incredible, and I wasn’t foolish enough to think it didn’t matter. It was a fucking privilege to be married to a pack so wealthy. But it wasn’t about that, it was that they’d thought about it. They thought about what I’d want and what would make it special, and made a plan.

It wasn’t just throwing money at me or substituting that for a connection or an experience. He was here with me. Invested with me.

“I thought maybe we’d go over there first.” Everett showed me the map on his phone of the far side of the complex with a big, pillared temple. A monument to an old god of fire. “Work our way back here to the main event.”

The main hill that rose to our right held the most famous temples and the ruins scattered around the bottom.

“Yes.”

He pointed to a small cart resting by the abandoned ticket stand, like it was waiting just for us. “Let’s go.”

I felt like I was on top of the fucking world. We’d seen almost everything, and now I was on top of a rock near the base of the main attraction, looking at a view of the city that went on for miles. The sea sparkled in the distance, the sun burning down with gorgeous clarity.

I’d had to reapply sunscreen twice, with my husband’s very enthusiastic help, but it was that or get burned. I had no plans to spend the rest of my honeymoon nursing a sunburn, so I made sure of it.

Every moment here felt soaked in history, and there was a kind of peace in knowing I was walking the paths so many had walked before. Especially since we were alone. It was so much easier to imagine it as it once was. With the olive trees in full bloom and people journeying to the temples with the flowers they needed to offer, among other things.

History was what brought on my love of flowers in the first place. They were in all the stories, and unlike everything else, I could see them and imagine. Pomegranate flowers and anemone. Apple blossoms and crocuses. Daffodils, also known as Narcissus. And as soon as I realized all the flowers had hidden meanings, I was a goner.

When I turned from the view, Everett was waiting near the stairs, watching me. I swore he’d been watching me more than everything around us, and I didn’t hate it.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

More than ready. Excitement tingled at my fingertips. Because this was the best part. Everything was great, but this is what you really came to see.

We walked past the theatres where worshippers had celebrated and spilled wine while watching the gods come to save them at the last second, and up the sun-soaked stairs into the pillars that made me feel small.

The top of the mountain spread out in front of us, the biggest temple right there. Right there.

“It’s incredible.”

“It really is,” Everett said.

Statues of beautiful women lined one of the smaller temples. Or the same woman. The goddess this entire place was dedicated to. More than one temple for more than one aspect of who she was.

All I could do was look around me and feel a sense of fucking awe. It was gorgeous and overwhelming, and there was a nameless swell of emotion in my chest. The crux of being in a place that was once the center of everything and somehow felt like it was still the center of everything. Like my life was narrowed to this moment, and it all spiraled outward from here.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” I whispered.

“Any time, little nymph.”

I smiled as we walked toward the entrance of the largest temple. “I think the nymphs probably stayed closer to the water.”

Everett nodded. “You’re right. While you’re here I should call you my goddess.”

A laugh burst out of me, but he didn’t look like he was remotely joking. “Everett.”

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