Page 69 of Sweet Obsession

“I love you.” He says it with a quiet certainty that shakes me right down to my core. “But I can’t leave my people with this threat hanging over them.”

“I know,” I repeat. And I do. He wouldn’t be the man I fell for if he was willing to shirk his responsibilities. If he was as selfish as I’ve been my entire life.

Poseidon holds me so tightly, I can barely breathe. “After.” He kisses my forehead, his whole body shaking. “After this is over, I’ll come for you.”

Hope flares, so strong that it almost takes me to my knees. I dare to lift my head, to meet his amber eyes. “What?”

“Iloveyou.” He stares intently at me. “I can’t abandon the city and my people now, but this will be over one way or another soon. When it is, I’ll leave Olympus and come to you. I promise.”

It’s not something he can really promise, not beyond a shadow of a doubt. There are so many things that could get between where we are now and the future I want so desperately that I can almost feel it in my hands. Circe could win. Zeus could win and demand Poseidon’s presence for reconstruction efforts. Poseidon coulddie.

Or none of that could happen and time will unravel the spell we’ve cast on ourselves. He’ll come to his senses and realize what he feels for me is a confused mix of hormones and proximity.

But even as I think that, it can’t kill the hope inside me. Thisisn’tcircumstantial. It’s real. I know it is. I just have to have faith. “When you come, I’ll be waiting. No matter how long it takes.”

“I won’t hold you to that.”

It’s such a Poseidon thing to say that I go onto my toes and kiss him. “You don’t have to. I’m holding myself to it. I love you, too,big guy. No one else compares.”

We stand like that for several long beats before he sighs and steps back. “I have to make a call.”

I wander around the bridge as he pulls out his phone. After the efficiency of the attack, it feels strange to be out of danger, at least temporarily. I’ll have to watch for knives in my back after I get back to Aeaea.

Fuck, I can’t believe I’m doing this. That deep selfish part of me that I don’t think I’ll ever fully shed wants to walk back on my plans. I could stay here…and be a burden Poseidon has to constantly worry about protecting. Zeus probably still wants me dead, my helping them or no. He doesn’t seem like the type to allow loose ends to become a problem. There are other people under Poseidon’s command like Polyphemus who were hurt by my father’s plans and actions. Poseidon won’t be able to focus fully if he’s worried about me.

My staying here could get Poseidon killed.

Even without that? I can’t help thinking of the crew member hiding in that officer’s shower, the rest of them kneeling on the deck and waiting to hear if they’ll live or die, all dependent on the whims of the rich and powerful. All because they wanted to provide for their families. How many people like them have been hurt by those in power in Aeaea? I’ll probably never know the number, but for every one of them who is hurt because I was selfish when I could have done something to change their lives for the better…

I have to go home. I have to do the right thing. Not to benefit me, butbecauseit’s the right thing to do.

Poseidon hangs up and turns to me. “Let’s get going.”

Watching him move about the bridge, getting the ship ready tohead out, is a lesson in delicious agony. He’s so capable and focused and beautiful, and I can’t believe I’m planning on walking away, even if it’s not forever. It certainly feels like forever.

The ship starts moving slowly, but quickly picks up speed, angling away from Olympus and taking the most direct route to leave the bay. It seems like something that should take hours—days—but all too soon we’re leaving Olympus’s waters.

It’s almost anticlimactic. I watched my sister fight for her life in the waves created by the barrier coming down, and now I’m just…sailing to freedom.

Again, that selfish part of me, the one that’s kept me alive all this time, whispers that I should embrace that freedom fully, should hand off leadership to one of the crewmates on the deck and take off for wherever Ariadne has landed. There’s no one to stop me, no one to check up on if I’m going where I said I would.

But it would be the wrong thing to do.

I sigh. “It’s really frustrating prioritizing the well-being of many over myself.”

At the helm, Poseidon huffs out a sound that’s almost a laugh. “Tell me about it.”

“You could come with me.” I guess I still am that selfish, because I don’t hesitate to throw the offer at him again. “Fuck Olympus. They’ve never deserved you. I don’t, either, but at least I’m aware of that fact.”

His smile is sad and weighs me down from across the room. “You know better.”

Yeah, I guess I do. I cross to him and hug him from behind, letting the steady beat of his heart soothe me as much as I can besoothed in our current circumstances. “Can you sail?”

He tenses slightly. “Yes. I haven’t in a long time, but it used to be something I did often.”

“I’m going to leave you a sailboat in the port closest to Aeaea.” He tenses further, but I keep going. “It’s an open invitation, big guy. I’ll wait, however long it takes. When you’re done with what you have to do here, come for me.”

He’s silent for what feels like forever. “I will. I promise.”

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