Page 89 of The Shadow Gods

He kissed me. “Me too.”

A little while later, we untangled ourselves from the sheets and each other and went into the tiny bathroom. There was a shower, barely big enough for one person, let alone someone Pollux's size. He studied it, tapped my butt, and pointed. “There go my plans.”

He warmed it up for me, though, and stood outside it, brushing his teeth and talking in between brushes. It was so normal and familiar, I grinned all the way through my shower.

When I got out, he wasn't in the bathroom anymore but back in the cabin. He'd stripped the sheets from the bed and piled them into a nearby hamper. “I'll get some more. We can't sleep in those.”

Right. My stomach gave a little flip-flop with what we'd done. Pollux and Achilles had said I couldn't get pregnant. I believed them, but—I put my hand over my stomach. What if they were wrong?

What kind of mother could I be? Would my baby be as cursed as I was? I mentally stomped that thought into the ground. I wasn't cursed, and no one I ever loved was cursed, and if, by some strange miracle, I ever had a baby, they certainly wouldn't be cursed. They would be loved and protected.

“Leo?” Pollux put his hand over mine, pulling me back into reality. He stood, shirtless, towering over me. I shook myself and gazed up at him. “What's the matter?”

“I was thinking about babies.”

He squeezed my hand and pressed gently against my hand. “Are you worried?”

“No.” We stared at each other, holding our hands against the place it was highly unlikely a baby would ever grow. Something about it, though, felt magical. “And it makes me a little bit sad. But also relieved.” None of us were in the place where we were ready for a baby. “I don't really know how to feel.”

“Would you hate me if I said I was disappointed it won't happen?” he asked, glancing up at me from under those dark brows.

I wouldn't. “No. I'd understand. Isn't that crazy?”

He shrugged. “I don't think so. We love each other, and we're hoping for a future together. Usually, when people love each other, they make a family. Sometimes that's with children. Sometimes it isn't. But it's not crazy.”

I closed my eyes and let myself feel his hand against mine and the warmth of his body.

“I love you, Leo.”

I smiled before I opened my eyes. He squeezed my hand, and I leaned against him, dropping my forehead against his chest. “I love you too.”

Leo

Pollux stayed close, which worked for me. I didn't really want to leave his side. The bed was small and not made for someone Pollux's size, let alone me and Pollux, but somehow it was perfect. I sat between his legs, propped against his chest, and read my book. He had taken another book and was reading it closely. Every so often, he folded down a page. When I asked what he was doing, he told me there was something that jogged a memory or seemed important, and we'd talk about it later. Then he'd shush me, kiss me, and shush me again.

Castor weighed on my mind as I read. More and more, I thought about the place where he was trapped. A place where he was utterly alone, but where he had enough power that the injuries he inflicted there could follow me here.

The door opened, and Hector, Achilles, Paris, and Orestes came inside. There wasn't room for them, so we packed like sardines, taking up every corner of space. Hector frowned at us, Achilles winked, but Orestes and Paris seemed strangely emotionless. A bead of worry bubbled inside me and popped.

“Achilles told us about Castor,” Hector announced. “What happened to telling us when something happens?” His words were curt and harsh and cut right into me.

I opened my mouth to respond, but Pollux beat me to it. “We did tell you. Achilles told you. You wanted more?”

“Yes,” Hector replied. He crossed his arms, staring hard at me. I folded beneath it, ashamed.

Pollux shifted behind me, body tensing. One of his arms came around my waist and pressed against my belly. “Hector, enough. We didn't do anything wrong. I'm in here, researching, and she hasn't stopped since the second we left England. You're just jealous.”

I froze beneath that heavy hand.Jealous?I thought...I studied Hector and then Paris and Orestes. Was that what I was seeing? Was that what was making my stomach twist?

Hector went motionless, except for his eyes. The blood drained from his face, then returned, making the spots of skin above his beard bright red. “That's a low blow, man. It has nothing to do with jealousy and everything to do with being ready to protect Leo and fight.”

“See...I don't think it does.” Each word was laced with poison, and it burned through me like acid.

“Pollux—” I shifted so I could see his face. “Pollux.”

But he ignored me. “You had time with her.” He pointed to each one of them. “You all had moments with her, and I waited. This was the best bloody day of my life until you walked in here with those faces.” His voice shook with anger. “Fuck you.”

“That's not it,” Paris said, but it was too late. They'd started something.

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