The Dragon Legion Collection(43)

They could have been alone in the underworld.

“You knew Cerberus would attack me,” he said, then gestured to his leg. “Was this what you wanted?”

“I knew I wouldn’t be able to speak to you unless you shed blood.”

Damien blinked, then shoved a hand through his hair. “I didn’t know that.” His eyes narrowed and Petra knew he was thinking about what he had seen, weighing his experience and observations against her words. She’d never met a more analytical or observant man and a part of her wanted his attention turned upon the riddle of her again.

“Because you don’t pay attention to stories,” she chided. “You never have.”

“They’re not real.” He was dismissive, just as he’d always been. “I’m interested in truth.”

Petra folded her arms across her chest. “So, you’ve given up on prophecies?”

Damien inhaled sharply and she saw that he wanted to take a step back. His trepidation made her angry with him again. “Stories are as real as you and me,” she informed him. “Or do you prefer to think of every kind other than the Pyr as just stories?”

Damien grimaced, which she could have anticipated, then avoided the question, which was even less of a surprise. He bent to press the flat of his hand against his wound, as if he’d close it by sheer willpower. “I always hated snakes,” he muttered.

Petra refused to feel sorry for him.

At least, she refused to give any sign that she felt sorry for him.

“Then you should leave. This place is thick with them.”

He glanced up. “Why are there so many?”

“Darkness, the underworld, lost secrets and hidden desires. It’s all the business of snakes.”

He almost smiled and Petra was shocked by how alluring she found him. “And I’d know that from listening to stories.” His words were low, teasing, in the same tone he’d always used in bed. He looked up, a glint in his eyes, and if Petra could have blushed, she was sure she would have.

“Just because they’re stories doesn’t mean they don’t contain facts,” she said as she’d said a hundred times to him before. She was startled when Damien said the same words simultaneously. She loved the sound of his voice mixing with hers and was impatient with herself for being so easily seduced.

Maybe he had learned something.

But he’d left her once he’d discovered what she was.

“That’s how I know it,” she said, her voice harder than she’d intended. “But there are thousands of them here. Run now, while you can.”

Damien straightened, leaning closer to her. She could almost feel his gaze boring into her mind. “Is that what you think I did before? Run away?”

Petra held his gaze unflinchingly, letting him see that she did think that.

Damien raised a finger. “This time, I’m not leaving without my son.” He cast a glance back at Charon, who still waited. “Where is he? The ferryman won’t wait forever.”

His determination was familiar, as was the resolve in his eyes. Damien always achieved his goals and never expected any woman to deny him.

But his words were unwelcome. Just as Petra had feared, she’d only been useful to him. He only cared about his son. Anger burned hot in her chest and she enjoyed the fact that she could shock him in turn.

“Sadly for you, he and I are eternally together.” Petra stepped away from the pillar, revealing her figure to Damien.

His gaze fell to her round belly. “But you’re pregnant!”

Petra gave him a skeptical look. “You did have a part in that.”

“But...” He was at a complete loss for words, and Petra realized she’d never seen him so confused.

She wouldn’t feel compassion for him.

She’d savor the sight of his plan failing to come together.

“I was pregnant when you left,” she reminded him more gently than she knew he deserved. “Not quite this far along, but still visibly pregnant.”

He swallowed and frowned, his agitation clear. His reaction undermined her determination to despise him. “But you shouldn’t have been on the ferry while you were pregnant. You were going to go home after our son was born.”

“I changed my mind.” Petra waited, hoping for some sweet confession and knowing she shouldn’t believe it if it came.

“I thought...” His voice faded. Damien looked at her, then back at Charon. When he turned to face her, his expression was set. Petra knew he’d decided something, but wasn’t prepared for him to snatch her off her feet.

“What are you doing?” she cried. She struggled, as much against his grip as her own unwelcome reaction.

“I’m saving my son!” Damien lifted her in his arms with both care and firmness, then began to march back toward the waiting ferry. Charon watched, silent and still.

“Idiot!” Petra said as she twisted in his arms. “That’s impossible.”

“Doesn’t seem to be impossible. We’re doing it.”

“Your son’s as dead as I am. Neither one of us can leave.”

“Are you going to tell me to listen to stories?” Damien taunted. “How about Eurydice and Orpheus?”

“He looked back at her at the gates and lost her forever,” Petra snapped. “Although why you should feel any common ground with a man with no control over his desires, I can’t begin to guess.”