Warrior Rising (Goddess Summoning #6)(70)

“And since you thought you were a sea god, a boat was perfect for you,” Kat said.

“Clearly you’re using the same reasoning my parents used. And, yes, I did insist Patroklos take me directly to my boat. On our way to the cove the weather changed quickly, as it often does in Phthia. A squall moved in. I actually saw fishermen returning to shore. I scoffed at them—cowards! And Patroklos and I set sail.”

“Patroklos was in on your parents’ scheme?”

“No, they’d just used him as a pawn. My cousin went with me to sea because he would follow me anywhere.”

Kat watched his face soften when he spoke of Patroklos. “You love him very much, don’t you?”

“He is brother and son to me,” Achilles said simply. “So we sailed into the storm. We were just far enough offshore to get ourselves in serious danger when a wave hit us and I was washed overboard. Patroklos was screaming for me and trying to throw me a line, but the storm-tossed waves were unusually violent.” His lips tilted up.

“Unusually? You mean as if a sea goddess had stirred them up?”

“That is exactly what I mean. I was foolish and reckless, but I wasn’t stupid, and it didn’t take me long to realize I was drowning. I remember trying to call for my mother, but the waves stifled my cries. I cannot tell you how much seawater I swallowed before the dolphins came, but it was enough to have me utterly panicked.”

“Wait, did you say dolphins?”

He chuckled and nodded. “Dolphins. They butted and bobbed me around, keeping me on the surface as if I were a melon they were playing with, until they got me up on the beach.”

“So they saved you?”

“Oh, yes, they saved me. They brought me safely to the main dock of Phthia, which was filled with fishermen and fishwives, and my parents, along with most of the royal court who just happened to be taking a stroll down to the docks at that moment. They were all there in time to see me butted out of the water, half drowned and completely naked, by a school of dolphins.”

“Naked?” Kat started to giggle.

“Naked.” Achilles nodded again. “Somehow while they were battering and butting me around they managed to pull off all of my clothes, even down to stripping me of my sandals.”

“You must have been quite the sight,” Kat said, while trying to control her fit of giggles.

“Apparently I was. They talked about it for years. You can still make some of the old servant women cackle hysterically if you bring it up.”

“Did it have the desired effect on you?”

“You mean did it scare some sense into my foolish young head?” He lifted a shoulder. “Yes and no. I realized I could drown, and I suppose I was more careful after that—or at least more careful about my arrogant proclamations. The boy it really worked on was Patroklos. To this day he loathes boats and turns a sickly shade of green just thinking about sailing.” Achilles smiled and took the wineskin from her. “And that, my lady, is my unflattering childhood story.”

Kat laughed and clapped while he took a long drink of wine. Then when he handed it back to her he leaned forward and kissed her, softly, on the lips. She closed her eyes and leaned into him. Not aggressively, just warm and inviting, letting him set the pace. When they finally parted both of them were breathing heavily, but she could see no sign of the berserker in his clear blue eyes.

“I can hypnotize you again,” she whispered.

“I know you can.” He touched her face and let his hand slide down to caress the slope of her bare shoulder. “And I will allow you to if you feel you must.”

“But?” she asked.

“But I would like to make love to you without the spell. I want to experience all of it, and not just as a wonderful dream. Will you let me, Katrina?”

* * *

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Achilles studied Kat’s expressive brown eyes while he waited for her to answer him. He could feel the increase of his breathing and heartbeat, but both were always elevated when he trained, and the berserker never possessed him then. I don’t need him then. I don’t need him now, he repeated silently to himself.

“Yes, Achilles, make love to me.”

Her words speared through him. “You’re not afraid?” he said.

“Of course not. As long as you’re here, I’m safe.”

He pulled her into his arms and held her close against him, inhaling the clean, wet scent of her hair and feeling the slight dampness of her skin. By all the gods he would not let her trust in him be misplaced! He wasn’t a callow boy anymore. This would not end as his first love had.

Achilles kissed her, reminding himself to move slowly, to stay in control. She opened her mouth and his tongue met hers in a sweet, exploratory dance. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and she leaned into him, causing the blanket to fall free from her body.

She froze, midkiss. With steady, deliberate moves, Achilles leaned back so that he could see her naked body. He held very still while he looked at her, and then reached out and ran his hands in a long caress from her neck, down over her breasts, the curve of her waist, all the way over hips and thigh. Then his eyes met hers again.

“You are exquisite,” he said reverently.

Kat smiled then, and Achilles saw the future in her eyes—his future. The one he’d stopped dreaming about, stopped believing in. She had brought it back to him as a true possibility. He didn’t know what wonderful thing he’d done to cause the goddesses to bless him with this woman who was such a miraculous gift, but he silently promised them that if they gave him a lifetime with her, he and his children, and his children’s children would honor them always.