Warrior Rising (Goddess Summoning #6)(89)

“You lie!”

“If I’m lying, then let the sea monsters Hera helped save me from come up here and grab me.” Kat took a couple resolute steps to the edge of the water. The waves washed over her shoes as she waited, looking seaward, and then when the placid water didn’t so much as stir, she slowly turned her gaze back to Agamemnon. “You’re screwed.”

Agamemnon stared at her and what he saw in her eyes made his face drain of color. “Stay away from me, witch!” he cried. The king began to hurry back down the beach toward the Greek camp, golden robes flapping behind him like he was an oversized, gilded gull.

Kat stared after him and prayed with every fiber of her being that curses really did work in this world.

* * *

CHAPTER THIRTY

"You have to take me to Achilles,” Kat said.

“That will only get you killed, or worse. You’ve gotten close to Achilles. The berserker could easily target you. If that happens killing you would be the best possible outcome.”

“Bullshit! Getting Achilles back would be the best possible outcome. Now take me to him.”

“The battlefield is this way.” Odysseus gestured up past the dunes that eventually gave way to a field of wheat, a grove of lovely olive trees, and various temples that used to be quite busy, and then, beyond the temples, the massive walls of Troy. As they hurried toward the great city, Kat thought she recognized Hera’s temple where she and Jacky had first been zapped into this world.

“I’ll lead you as close as I can, but you’ll need to stay clear of the battlefield. It is no place for a woman,” Odysseus said.

“Odysseus, I’m not going to lie to you. I have no intention of staying clear of the battlefield. I’m going where Achilles is, and that’s all there is to it.”

“You aren’t Athena’s oracle, are you?”

Odysseus pulled her attention from focusing on not stepping on her skirts as she practically jogged to keep up with his long stride. “No,” she said. “I’m not Athena’s oracle.”

“Are you immortal?”

“I wish. Which means hell no. I’m just a woman.”

“Not even one of Athena’s priestesses?”

Something in his voice made her look up at him, and she saw a terrible depth of sadness in his eyes and remembered how he had looked at Athena. Then she also remembered how stark his expression had been when he’d said the goddess had lied to him. What had Athena done to him? He loves her, Kat realized. “Well, not exactly. I work for three goddesses. I guess you could say I’m closest to Venus.” She didn’t mean to sound oh-so-divine, but it was damn difficult to explain. “Look, there’s a bunch of stuff going on here, and it can definitely be confusing.”

“The goddess didn’t take me into her confidence. I thought she…” He looked away, clearly too hurt to continue.

Kat felt terrible for him. She didn’t know much about Odysseus or about Athena, but she recognized heartache and betrayal. She also recognized a decent man when she saw one, and she definitely liked Odysseus.

“Venus is the goddess who cooked up the whole thing with Patroklos to impersonate Achilles. Athena didn’t have anything to do with it. She probably didn’t even know about it.”

“I hope that is true. I hope she hasn’t been using me,” Odysseus said haltingly, and Kat could see what it was costing him to show such vulnerability. She’d seen it many times before in her office, and always when a man had found himself truly, deeply in love. Kat hoped Athena deserved him.

Kat decided to tell him as much of the truth as she knew. “I’ve seen you and Athena together and I can tell you that there is a bond between you, one she doesn’t appear to take lightly.”

Odysseus stared at her for a long while. “It is a difficult thing to love a goddess. I have a wife, you know. She’s been waiting almost ten years for me to return to our kingdom.”

“And do you love her?”

“Athena asked me that question recently. My answer was the same then as it is now. I honor Penelope as my wife and respect her as the mother of my son. But my love?” He shook his head. “That hasn’t been mine to give away since I was a youth.”

“What happened then?” Kat asked the question, but she was pretty sure she already knew his answer.

“I met Athena, and pledged my life and my love to her service.”

“You didn’t realize the seriousness of your choice then?” Kat asked.

“Oh, I realized it—I embraced it. I’ve belonged to Athena since the first moment I saw her. I have never regretted my love for her, even when it seemed I was no more than a slight favorite among many. I didn’t even mind being used as a pawn—I was her pawn, and that was enough. Until now. Today, for the first time, I find myself wishing I did not love the goddess.”

He sounded utterly destroyed, and even in the midst of the turmoil with Achilles and Jacky and Patroklos, Kat wanted to help him. “You and Athena have become lovers.”

Odysseus nodded, giving a little self-mocking laugh. “Yes, despite knowing that doing so is unwise, I have fallen gladly, joyously, into her arms. Remember this, Princess, or whoever you really are, when mortals love the gods there is a price to pay, and it’s usually the mortal who pays it. Achilles is the product of such love, and I have watched his mortality, his humanity, suffer for as long as I have known him.”