Goddess of Light (Goddess Summoning #3)(84)

"I'm afraid that Artemis and I will have much to explain. He is our father, and he loves us, but regardless of that fact, the God of Thunder will not be amused that we allowed ourselves to become trapped in the Kingdom of Las Vegas."

"Uh, it's not really called a kingdom. It's just Las Vegas, located in the state of Nevada. Like Rome is a city located in the country of Italy." At least it's kind of like that, she thought, not wanting to launch into a whole United States of America geography lecture.

"Not a kingdom?"

"Absolutely not."

They walked on down the red dirt path several paces before Apollo spoke again. "I probably appear very foolish to you, calling Las Vegas a kingdom, getting carsick, cutting myself shaving, not knowing about sunscreen," he said, not looking at her.

"Not half as foolish as I would be if I was suddenly plopped down in the middle of Olympus."

He glanced over at her. "You have been to Olympus, and you did not make a fool of yourself."

"No," she snorted. "I was too busy being drugged with your sister's magic and then turning into a flower."

Apollo stopped and faced her. He lifted his hand, as if he meant to touch her, but he didn't follow through with the gesture; instead, his fisted hand returned to his side. "I am ashamed that both of those things happened to you. I should have been able to protect you from them. My only defense is that I am new to this emotion, this being in love, and I find it" - he paused; his gaze met hers and held - "distracting."

Pamela drew a deep breath. "I know exactly what you mean."

Apollo's expression shifted subtly, but he said nothing more than, "Do you?"

"Yes," she started walking again. She wanted to talk to him; she needed to talk to him, but she couldn't do it standing still.

"I already told you that I was married, and that it was a bad marriage."

"Yes," he said.

"I want you to know the reason it was bad, and then I think you'll understand why this has been so hard for me, why I've resisted loving you."

"I'm listening."

"I met Duane while I was in college. He's ten years older than I am, and he was already a successful professional. I thought he was dashing and smart, and he seemed so kind. He wanted to take care of me. I understand now that I didn't fall in love with who he really was; I fell in love with the fantasy of the life we were supposed to make together. But love is love." She lifted one shoulder, as if trying to shrug off the uncomfortable admission, "and we married the month I graduated from college. From the day of our wedding on, things changed. We bought a house together." She laughed humorlessly. "No, scratch that. Duane bought the house. He insisted that it would be better if the title was in his name alone. He said it would be quicker and easier. Just like my new car was a 'gift' he surprised me with. Again, the title was only in his name. I remember one day just a week or so after our wedding. He was out of town, and he called. He liked to call. A lot." She paused. Just the memory of Duane's constant checks on her, how he had sent members of his family and the small group of selected friends he approved of to "keep her company" so that he always knew where she was and what she was doing made her feel edgy and frustrated. Her boots bit into the trail with a satisfying crunch as she picked up their pace in an attempt to vent the old frustration. It was in the past, she reminded herself; she had escaped it, and it would never happen to her again.

Apollo watched silently as Pamela struggled with the emotions reliving the past caused her. He wanted to help her - he wanted to wipe away the hurt - but he knew that the past was a battlefield each individual had to fight. If Pamela couldn't vanquish her old demons, they would forever haunt her future. Their future.

"Anyway," she continued, "that day he asked what I was doing, as he always did. I said hanging a new picture. I'll never forget how his voice changed. 'Don't you think I'd like to be there with you to do that?' he'd snapped. I hadn't even considered that hanging a picture without him would be a big deal. It was. We had been married less than one month, and it was that day that I began to feel trapped." She couldn't repress a shudder.

It had gotten worse - so much worse. She had almost given up and let Duane consume her, but from somewhere deep within her she had found the strength to fight. Slowly and quietly she had worked to establish herself in her field. And to secretly put away money so that she could buy her way free of him. People think leaving an abuser is all about growing a backbone. Pamela knew how wrong they were. Leaving an abuser is about having a plan, and then having the means to follow through with it. Her plan included a kick-ass lawyer and a business of her own. She drew her spine up straighter and finished her story.

"I don't want to go into all the gory details. Suffice it to say that he smothered me for almost seven years before I finally got free of him. Then it was almost two more years before he stopped calling and coming by and showing up places he knew I frequented. Always there... he was always there, waiting, as if I were an errant child who would soon realize the error of her ways and come back home." She glanced at him. "It has just been during the last six months that he has left me alone."

"He hurt you." Apollo's voice was low and tight as he entertained thoughts of what he would like to do to this Duane after his immortal powers were returned to him.