Warrior Rising (Goddess Summoning #6)(53)

“Of course, my lord.” They walked silently for a few steps and then Kalchas asked, “Shall I cut a fat black bull from the herd, great king?”

“Yes, I do believe you shall.”

Kalchas hesitated. “My lord, forgive me, but I must remind you that Zeus has made it clear he favors Priam. Would you not be risking his wrath to, in theory only, instigate his daughter’s death?”

Agamemnon smiled slyly. “One would believe so, except that I happen to be under the protection of Hera herself. And even Zeus does not like to evoke the anger of the Queen of Olympus.”

“Excellent, my lord. I know just the bull…”

Kat woke slowly. She felt fabulous. She stretched languorously, thinking that it must be Saturday, which meant she didn’t have to be in the office at all. Mimosas sounded good. She’d call Jacky and they could meet at the Stonehorse Café for the bottomless Saturday mimosa special—to hell with that stupid diet idea. She would love her thighs as they were, and a size ten just wasn’t that big.

Then she rolled over, opened her eyes and glanced down at said size ten thighs, which were, at that instant, very bare, very young and very size two to fourish and reality crashed back.

She gave the pillow beside her what she hoped was a nonchalant look while she held her breath. His side of the bed was empty, and she breathed again. Then she blinked and squinted. No, his side of the bed wasn’t empty. There was something on his pillow. Kat sat up. It was a long, thin lotus blossom the color of moonlight. Smiling, she picked it up and inhaled its delicate scent.

Achilles, the famous warrior who had been written about for thousands of years, had given her a flower. It made her ridiculously, romantically happy.

“Yes, indeedy, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”

Humming softly to herself Kat got up and washed. Then, naked except for Venus’s golden heart pendant, that I hadn’t needed, she thought smugly, Kat searched around the bed, trying to find her discarded clothes. She was just starting to worry and consider wrapping the sheet around herself and going in search of Jacky when she noticed layers of new silken robes draped across the back of a chair. The undertunic was a buttery yellow, and the over-robe was the same heart-stopping blue as Achilles’ eyes. The outfit was diaphanous and gorgeous and probably worth a small fortune.

Clearly it was good to be Achilles’ girlfriend.

Her tuneless humming changed to the chorus of “I Feel Pretty” as she got dressed and combed her hair, thoroughly appreciating Polyxena’s long, thick locks. Then she ducked out of the tent, pausing to blink and adjust her eyes to the sunlight.

As the day before, there was food ready at the campfire. Stretching and thinking about how sex always made her hungry, Kat headed to the table—in time to see Jacky coming from the direction of the Myrmidon tents. She was stretching, too, and looking sweetly rumpled. The two friends met beside the campfire.

Jacky looked Kat over from head to toe.

“Well, shit. Now I’m worried,” Jacky said.

“About what?” Kat said around a piece of excellent goat cheese she’d snagged from a laden tray on the table and popped in her mouth.

“Natural disasters.”

“Jacky, what are you talking about?”

“What do you figure are the odds of both of us gettin’ laid on the same night?”

Kat grinned. “Today, I’d say pretty good.”

“Which is definitely abbey-normal. So I’m just sayin’ it makes me worry about lightning strikes and tsunamis and such.”

“Don’t be such a cynic. Everything is going to be just fine. Actually everything is going to be great.”

“Lord, I’d forgotten how nauseatingly optimistic sex makes you.”

“It is a beautiful day, isn’t it?” Kat said.

Jacky shook her head in disgust. “You seriously have it bad.”

Kat bumped Jacky with her shoulder. “So Patroklos wasn’t any good in bed?”

“I did not say that.”

“You’re kinda grumpy.”

“I’m not grumpy. I’m—” Jacky paused for effect. “Sore. This little white girl body needs some breakin’ in.”

“Oooh!” Kat laughed. “No, what you are is stank. Okay, I want all the details.”

“You first. Clearly you fornicated with your boy. You’re still in one piece so I’m assumin’ he didn’t turn into a monster. Details, please…”

Kat broke off a piece of bread and dipped it in a dish of spiced olive oil. “No, he didn’t turn into a monster. Yes, we fornicated. And, yes. It was soooo good.”

“He stayed under your diabolical slut sex spell the entire time?”

“I am not diabolical. And, yes, mostly. There was a moment of concern at the end, but everything turned out fine.”

“In other words, your magical va-jay-jay saved him.”

“That’s certainly how I like to think of it.” Kat hesitated, then added. “Jacqueline, I like him.”

“Ah oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, so where is this going?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, it’s perfectly acceptable that you like him, nice even. But what’s the next step? Are we completing our mission?”