Page 25 of The Shadow Gods

My body flared with heat as his scent enveloped me. He made a sound, low in his throat, before tearing away. “I can't hold you close enough.”

Closer.He wanted me closer. One peek toward the road revealed we weren't going anywhere soon, so I drew my hands between us, cupping his face between my palms.

“You.” I studied him, his tan skin and the curls that fell across his forehead. The scar along his face and the way his lips pressed together like he was trying to hide a smile. “You take my breath away.”

He leaned forward to press his forehead to mine. Then, gently, he dipped his head to graze my nose with his until our lips were perfectly aligned. Right before our lips met, he shut his eyes tight and let out a breath.

Slow.

Maybe I needed to slow down. This could be too much for him. He'd shared more about his past than ever before, and he'd taken the leap to show me how he felt.

I began to let my hands fall from his face, but he reached for me, clapping his hands over mine to keep me in place. “Hold me.”

Forever.It took nothing for me to fall in love with him. It was there, holding him, feeling the tremor that ran through his body, that I gave in to my feelings. I couldn't see the future, but this was worth the risk.

“Are we stopped?” Pollux's deep voice had Orestes opening his eyes.

With a rueful smile, he leaned forward to touch my lips with his and then moved back into his seat. “There was an accident.”

Behind us came the sound of the guys shifting in their seats. I glanced in the rearview mirror. Pollux crossed his arms over his chest and slouched until the back of his head rested on the headrest. “Wake me up if you need me.” And then he was out again.

As I turned around, I caught Paris staring at me. His blue eyes were warm, but it still felt weird when I realized that I'd made out with Orestes in front of him.

I was doing this more and more—becoming wrapped up in each of them so much I didn't take into consideration that I could be hurting, or embarrassing, the other guys.

But Paris didn't look angry or embarrassed. Instead, he unbuckled his belt and leaned forward until we were a breath apart. Turning his head, he suddenly nipped my ear and whispered, “Thank you.”

He pulled back, still smiling. Had I been a little less sure, I could have asked for what, but I knew. For his friend. For giving him something that could make him happy.

Something that could give him hope.

Pollux

Idreamed about my twin brother, Castor.

It had been a long time, so long that, as we stood across from each other in whatever plane of existence this was, I couldn't speak.

“Why are you staring at me?” he asked. His voice was different from mine. In every other way, we were a mirror image, but not in this. His was smooth and deep and had none of the jagged edges mine did.

“It's been so long,” I replied. “It's hard to believe sometimes that you existed.”

He grunted and then went quiet.

His hair was longer than mine, curled over his forehead and ears, and he wore the same tunic he'd died in. I realized we were shrouded in shadows. Maybe that was why I examined him so closely.

“Why did you make this choice?” he suddenly asked.

The choice.

He was killed in battle, and in my grief, I’d begged Zeus to bring him back. That's when my father had given me the choice. Give Castor half my immortality or be separated from him for eternity. I thought I'd made the right one. I thought I made the choice that ensured my brother and I would never be apart.

I had no choice.

“I could have died a mortal,” he said, “and had an afterlife that meant more than thisnothingness.” Castor gestured around us.

There was nothing, just like he said. In every direction were dull green rolling hills. “The only thing that changes is the sky—gray, light gray, a suggestion of sunlight. But I'm alone here.”

Castor and I were twins, and I had thought our lives were linked. We had been born together, and we'd die together. But my father was a god, and Castor's was mortal. It was a fact that hadn't mattered until we stood poised on the brink of death.

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