Page 110 of Poseidon's Island Flower

Good, he should be sweating. Being able to harness this much power and hold it over another god was a magnificent feeling. Hermes’s shoulders sagged and his knees trembled with the intensity of my seething rage.

The thunder rolled in the distance, the lightening piercing the sand on the beach. Even Zeus, the King of all the Gods stepped back, watching the lighting creep up the sands and land outside the windows.

The window panes rattled again, light blinding the enlarged living room. Candice quivered in the corner, fearful squeaks emanating from her lips.

“Can you cool it?” Zeus snapped. “I realize I fucked up, but that doesn’t mean you can scare my–Candice.”

“I’m not yours,” Candice forced a fake bravado. “I’m not anyone’s, I just want to know if Lani is okay! First Cy is this shy little thing that Lani fawned over and now he is the sea god? Just let me see her.” Candice stood, her legs shaking from the continuous rolling thunder. The house, despite a firmer foundation, still groaned beneath her feet.

“Very well.” I raised my hand, beckoning her to come with me. Zeus stepped forward, his fists balled as he struggled to contain his annoyance. I put my arm around her, guiding her behind the massive pillows and led her to Lani’s room.

“Don’t touch her,” Zeus snapped. “You have no right.”

I raised a brow, water seeped over the slatted floorboards where Zeus stood. He backed away, but the kelp that slithered through the slats grabbed his ankles and twisted up his legs in a vine-like fashion. Hermes backed away his eyes widening in fear.

“I suggest you watch your tone, Zeus. You may be the high king, but you are in my kingdom now. I own the sea, I gain my power from the water beneath, and you are far enough from your own kingdom that you have no power here.”

Zeus growled in his throat, fisting his hands at his side as the kelp tightened around his neck. He watched Candice’s back turn, following me into the guarded bedroom.

I grabbed my trident that hung in the doorway so Candice could enter. As she did, Zeus longingly watched, waited, and listened to Candice sigh in relief at seeing her friend.

I smirked inwardly, knowing the exact punishment that Zeus would have.

“Keep them comfortable,” I told Silas. “This won’t take long.”

As we entered the bedroom, Candice pushed back the overhanging fabrics and gazed at Lani laying on the bed. She slept soundly, her body changing under the influence of a blissful and peaceful coma.

Her tanned skin glowed, and her ringlets of hair draped over the silk pillow. Flowers adorned her hair, and a beautiful blue diamond necklace adorned her neck.

“She’s really changing?” Candice muttered. “She really is going to become like you?”

I sat on the chair next to the bed, allowing Candice to sit on the bed next to her friend. I could see the relationship between the two was strong. When one was struggling, the other was there to provide a sense of stability and a reminder that they were not alone.

I nodded to Candice, my hand reaching over and tucking a curl behind Lani’s ear. Lani’s hair had grown longer and healthier in just the short time we had been bonded.

“And you really are Cy? The timid little guy?”

I chuckled, smiling at Lani. “Yes, I am.”

“You don’t act like the same guy? How do I know it’s really you? Now you’re all this ‘big tough guy,’ and Cy wasn’t like that.”

I shifted my body into the human form I created for myself. Slightly shorter, leaner, and definitely not as muscular. Candice inhaled sharply, her eyes squinting as she struggled to comprehend the scene before her. “Oh my god.”

“I am still Cy, just a better version now that Lani is with me. I’ve been through many trials in my life, and I was slowly wasting away. Lani is part of my soul. She has healed me when I was weak, and now I will show her I am stronger with her.”

Candice rolled her tongue over her lips in thought. She took her hand and touched Lani’s skin. “It's hard to believe. All this.” She waved her hand around the room. “But if anyone deserves it, it’s Lani. I just wish she would have told me what was going on.”

I frowned. “She did want to, Candice. She wanted to tell you everything before we bonded, but I’m afraid that her untimely kidnapping interrupted that. Despite being a god, I felt the power of my primal instincts surging through me. I had to perform the ritual, or drastic measures would have been taken.”

“Like sinking the island?” She giggled. “That’s so romantic. I bet she ate that up.”

“That she did. She very much did,” I chuckled.

Candice stared at Lani, watching her breathe. If there was any other person or god in the room, I would hurry them out the door. But Candice needed this since she had spent days wondering where her friend was.

But there was business that could not wait, and with Zeus's angry growls emanating from behind the door, it had to be taken care of quickly.

“Candice, there is something I must speak to you about.”

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