Page 23 of Midwinter Night's Prince

“By the gods.”

She didn’t think she’d even been so terrified.

It was all Seth’s fault. She directed her glare to his annoyingly gorgeous, smug frame as she got to her feet.

“Now perhaps you’ll listen when I tell you a place isn’t safe,” he had the gall to say.

She was going to gut him like a fish. “You fucking ass—”

She didn’t finish the stream of insults that had been ready to burst out of her mouth. Her body was yanked forward, pulled by an inexplicable force, so fast she could have vomited.

"Blair!"

What was going on?

Despite the violence of the torrent carrying her, she felt him, so, so close. Seth was chasing her, with all of his vampire speed, using the strength of his lightning to reach her.

And it wasn't enough.

She hit the ground hard, and pain shot through her foot, up her lower leg.

Shit.

Blair fell forward, and hurled the contents of her stomach on soft, bright pink grass.

Dizzy and still sick, she lifted her eyes, only to wince. The sun was too bright. Everything was too bright. Too beautiful. The air smelled so sickly sweet, she could barely take it in.

"That's all right, dear. You'll be fine in a moment. You poor mortals are too used to the filth of your industrial world. Welcome to Olympus, daughter of Eve."

Oh, no.

She dragged her eyes up a slender pair of golden legs, covered by soft, translucent raw silk. The creature was perfection, from her curved thighs to her sculpted breasts and the arch of her elegant shoulders.

Her face was too much. Too beautiful. Too cruel.

Her survival instinctskicked in. This wasn't the time to sass, to flee, to fight.Blair did the only thing a mortal could do.

She knelt to the goddess before her eyes.

13

THE CHOICE

Seth had seldom been given any reason to attempt to push his limits, to see just how far and how fast he could go. Fate saw fit to test him today. And he’d failed.

That meant one thing. The creature who’d pulled Blair was strong. Too strong.

She was gone. Blair had been inches away from him instants ago, and now, she’d completely disappeared down the portal at his feet.

To a simple mortal, the pathway between rocks might have appeared entirely ordinary, but it brimmed with potent, old magic. Not only the long-lost spells necessary to take flesh and consciousness through space and time, but also shields built in order to keep certain things away. No pure Enlightened could hope to pass through a portal such as this one, and the measure had protected mortals from the whims of the old gods for centuries. To a half breed such as Seth, using a portal was possible—though quite painful, as he remembered well from his childhood.

Nineteen years. It had been nineteen years since he’d been lured for the first and only time. Since then, after learning who he was, what he was, the forces beyond had constantly attempted to get him back to Olympus, tempting him with hexes, spells, and threats. The pain he’d suffered had ensured that none of their tricks had worked…until now.

Blair was bait dangling before his eyes. He knew what she’d suffer on the other side every second he hesitated to cross.

There were only two women for whom Seth might be tempted to face the gods. Blair wasn’t one of them. He should wash his hands of the whole business. Over there, Blair was entirely safe from Aveka’s reach. Hell, Seth should have thought of it himself and kicked her down the portal months ago.

She wasn’t his problem. It wasn’t his fault she hadn’t listened to his warning. Seth had known the taste of his soul would attract his divine enemies.

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