Page 88 of Poseidon's Island Flower

My little shy god had a jealous streak.

Thoughts of being predestined to him came to mind as we walked. That I didn’t have a choice in falling for him, that I didn’t have any say about my future, but hell, I knew what I felt the first time I saw him.

Bond or not.

The spark, the magic, the heroism, I had already concocted in my head when he saved me. And dammit, I was going to keep him. I would not say some bond was to blame for my attractiveness to him; I had done it on my own.

If the pairing goddess wanted to take credit for matching us up, that was all fine and dandy, but it was me that had the final say. Or rather, the first say.

Maybe he should bring out his tail again.

And I mean, sure, the bond looked like it had worked for everyone so far. No one had talked about divorce. Look at Uriel and Lucifer, the goddess got it right for them, and they couldn’t possibly be any more different.

As I accepted that, as I knew my heart belonged to Poseidon, I was now left with the task of telling him he had my heart. But I also worried about my friend and my brother. What would become of them as time went on?

They would wither away; they would grow old, and then they would…

I swallowed hard as Poseidon led me into the throne room. We were in one of the last rooms of the palace we had yet to explore. Besides the basement, which he felt should be left for last.

Which is kind of worrisome.

He mumbled about creatures being too excited and was waiting for some sedatives to calm them down.

Yeah, that’s comforting.

These creatures in the basement were those yet to be unleashed. Well, he told them they could leave and live in the world of Bergarian, but they all waited until he found his mate. They wanted to share his joy, because once they left Poseidon’s kingdom, they weren’t permitted to come back. They had to live their lives and find their mates just as the rest of his creations had so many years ago.

Poseidon kept his gaze in front of him, not taking in the sight that was his throne room. White marble, the purple moss-like carpet and the beautiful chandeliers dangling every twenty feet of the glass ceiling made for a majestic sight. Just like everything else in the palace, it was magnificent and hardly used without a single sign of wear and tear.

“Do you ever use this room?” I asked as we strode along the carpet.

Poseidon didn’t answer, just kept his hand on my lower back. He was always touching, always had one hand on me or was at least within a few fingers’ reach of me. Each night before bed, he got between my legs too and, of course, I reciprocated. We hadn’t taken the next step yet, because I had two burning questions that needed to be answered before I did.

And let’s face it, I would have to be the one to bring up the sex question because my Poseidon was too shy for that. Not when his family lived forever, while my human one would not.

“No, rarely,” he said. “Like I’ve said before, I never got many visitors.”

“And why is that?” I grabbed his hand and made him turn to face me. His face was pensive as he held my hand, entwining our fingers together.

“I’m different.”

“Yeah, you’ve said that. But that isn’t an excuse,” I argued. Sure, I was being snippy, but had he not seen the gods that sat at his table every night for dinner? They were alldifferentin their own way. I mean, Uriel was as different as they came.

“You have something else to tell me, don’t you? More than what you’ve already shown me?”

Poseidon sighed. “Yeah, I do have something else. I’m not hiding it, just pushing back the talk.”

“Then tell me.” I pulled his hands up to my lips, kissing his knuckles. “I don’t know why, but I can feel it here.” I rubbed my chest. “I feel you are upset, and you have been upset for days. But I don’t know why.”

“It’s the bond. You can feel things I feel, know when I am hurt, sad. And I’m not the only one who is hiding feelings, Lani. I know you are hiding something from me too…”

I bit my lip. “Yeah, I guess I am.” I squeezed his hands.

“And I haven’t been hiding it to displease you. I am just embarrassed. I do not wish for you to see me as weak while my siblings had no problem getting over their issues about our struggle. I also don’t want to put any burden on your shoulders. You’ve been through so much because of me and–”

“Hey now.” I placed my finger over his lips.

I didn’t care that some bond told me he was upset. I knew it by the way he carried himself, how he walked, how he would look at me like I was the world then saw himself as nothing. He acted like he was a burden. But he was far from it. No bond was needed to tell me we were supposed to be together, I knew we were supposed to be.

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