Warrior Rising (Goddess Summoning #6)(60)

Achilles laughter was loud and long and uninhibited.

“What?” She frowned at him. Okay, she wanted him to laugh and smile more, but not at her.

He kissed her hand again. “I have not been touched by a woman in a decade and you are apologizing to me for something I think of as a miracle. You are an odd, magical woman, Katrina Marie Campbell.”

“Call me Kat,” she said. “And it really wasn’t ethical what I did. I don’t want you to think that’s how I normally behave.”

His amused expression sobered. “Are you truly sorry about what has passed between us?”

“No, I’m not sorry about what happened. I’m sorry that I didn’t talk with you about it first.”

He smiled. “And I would not have believed you, and quite probably sent you away for your own protection. No, Kat, you have nothing to be sorry for, unless you do not want my devotion and my protection and my love, because I wish to give you those three things, along with so very much more.”

Kat took both of his hands in hers and looked straight into his blue eyes. “I do accept your devotion and protection and love, and I also want something else from you.”

“Name it and if it is in my power to give it to you, I will.”

“I want you to stay out of the fighting until we’re sure you can control the berserker. And I specifically want you to stay away from Hector.”

“The prophecy said that I was destined to die after I killed him.”

Kat squeezed his hands. “Then don’t kill him! How much easier could that be?”

“At this moment I cannot imagine what could provoke me to fight Hector.” His snort was self-mocking. “I hold no grudge against Hector. I know he is an honorable man, well loved by his family and the Trojan people. I don’t enjoy cutting down honorable young men in the prime of their lives when they have done nothing to me.”

“Good. That’s settled. So we stay here together and we work on your self-hypnotism abilities.”

Achilles gave her a horrified look. “I can’t bespell myself!”

“Achilles, how many times do I have to explain to you that it’s not a spell? It’s nothing more than breathing and concentration and relaxation.”

“You really believe I can learn to control the berserker?”

“I don’t know if you can control him,” she said honestly. “What I do believe is that I can teach you how to be sure he doesn’t possess you, so that you won’t have to control him.”

Achilles got up and paced back and forth beside the bed. “If the berserker no longer possesses me…” His words trailed off.

“Then your whole life won’t be about fighting,” Kat finished for him. “Your fate would change. Is that what you want?” Her chest felt tight while she waited for him to answer.

He stopped and looked at her. “I could return to my country, marry, raise children and know love and peace and forever put war and death and hatred behind me.”

“You could,” she said.

“It sounds like a dream. The kind of unbelievable dream I had for two nights with you.”

“But it wasn’t a dream. It was real.”

“Then perhaps the future that I’d thought impossible can be real, too. Yes. It is what I want,” he said firmly.

“All right—let’s make it real.”

Achilles moved back to her bedside. “You say it like it can come true, like my fate can be changed. When you look at me like this, and speak thus, I almost believe you.”

“Believe me, and more importantly, believe in yourself,” Kat said.

Achilles bent and kissed her gently on the lips. She could feel his hesitation and knew that he was afraid to push the line of intimacy between them, which she completely understood. No way did they need a return of the berserker, especially not when Achilles’ belief in himself and his ability to fight the monster off was so shaky.

Thankfully, at that instant, her stomach let out a huge, obvious growl. Kat laughed. “I’m starving.”

“Again,” he said, with his slight smile. “I’ll have the maidservants bring—”

“Ugh, no!” she interrupted, already swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. “I need to get up—walk around—take a bath.” He looked like he was going to argue with her, but she held her hand out to him. “Could you help me with all three of those things?”

“Anything within my power,” Achilles said, taking her hand and wrapping it securely through his arm.

Kat thought she felt surprisingly good for a woman who’d been poisoned, almost eaten and in a coma for four days. By the time she’d reached the bench outside their tent, she was definitely steadier on her feet, even though she sat down and let Achilles call for food and drink. Jacky was over by the campfire with Patroklos (who Kat thought looked utterly love struck), and they both hurried over to her.

“How are you feeling? Having any dizziness? Shortness of breath? Blurred vision? Anything still feel paralyzed or sluggish?”

“Fine. No, no, no and no. Would you just relax? I’m definitely—”

But before she could finish the sentence, Aetnia rushed over to her and threw herself at Kat’s feet, clutching her ankles and sobbing.