The Deep End of the Sea (37 page)

I don’t. Instead, I just shrug and say, “Together.”

One of the most defining traits of the gods I’ve determined is that anytime they look at you, it’s done with an intensity no mortal can match. And this is the case now, what with my mother scrutinizing me within an inch of my immortal life. It’s hard not to squirm like a youth would, especially considering I am no youth. “That was before I knew you were our daughter.”

I turn to face her fully. “I truly appreciate your concern, Persephone, I do—”

“Darling, have I mentioned how good it would do my heart to hear you call me
mother?”

I smile, flashing back to my arguments with Kore over the use of my name. It is another change in my life, one I am still learning to embrace. “Mom ... it’s just ... I am no longer a little girl. I’ve been alive for thousands of years. I grew up a long time ago, all on my own—”

She chokes up, but I can’t let the guilt she still needlessly carries distract me from this message. “And while I’m delighted that we are becoming a true family,” I quickly lean forward to press a kiss against her cheek, “I also think it’s important to remind you that my life and my choices are mine to make, including whom I love. I would hope that you, of all people, would understand this.”

She knows what I mean. “I hardly see how our situations are the same—”

I say gently, “You mother told you that she knew what was best for you. You wanted Hades. You knew what was in your heart. You knew he was the one for you. Well, it’s the same for me. I know what’s in my heart. I love Hermes. Absolutely, unequivocally, am head-over-heels in love with him. And love for our kind is a forever thing, isn’t it?” I squeeze her hand, and the surrealism of the situation is not lost on me. “Besides. Don’t you normally think the sun rises and sets on him?”

A guilty flush steals across her porcelain skin. “Fine. Yes, I love him dearly, and know him to be the finest of characters. And I will forever be grateful to him for uncovering the truth about you. It’s just ... it’s different now. You’re my daughter. I will always worry and wish for the best for you.” And then, her eyes roll towards the ceiling. “Do
not
tell your grandmother that, understand?”

I tease, “That shouldn’t be a problem, as I thought I was banned from talking to her.”

She laughs. “You most certainly are.” And then, more soberly, “I just want you to be happy, darling.”

“I am,” I say, and the fantastic thing is, I really, truly am.

I close my eyes and turn my face up towards the sky. There is a fine mist coming down, all gloriously soft and drizzly, and it feels divine against my skin. I pity the people nearby who are hovering under umbrellas. Don’t they know rain is magical?

“Happy?” Hermes asks me, his arm warm around my shoulders.

“I love Paris.” The smile stretching across my face almost hurts, it’s so big. Aphrodite threatened to come along so she and I could shop, but Hermes made her swear to stay at home.

“I knew you would.” He kisses the side of my face, bringing it back down towards him. And then, mischievously: “Pemphredo tells me that your bedroom in Wyoming was quite Parisian.”

I laugh. “It was.” I turn into his embrace and spy the Eiffel Tower in the distance. It is sunset, and soon the Tower will be lit up in thousands of twinkling celestial lights. I’m reminded of another magical night filled with lights. How I thank the stars above that I was smart enough to steal a kiss from this man. “Is it weird that I miss it?”

The side of his face finds mine before his forehead slides down my cheek so he can kiss the space where my chin meets my neck. “Do you mean the bedroom? You can still have it, you know. We can recreate it in Olympus if you’d like once our new house is finished being constructed. If you mean your house in Jackson, well ... love, it’s still there, waiting for you for whenever you want to visit. Jackson will always be one of our homes.”

We
.
Our
. “I like the sound of that,” I tell him. I shiver as his lips graze the line from my ear to my chin.

“You can have an actual Parisian bedroom, too,” he says softly, placing one last, gentle kiss before pulling his head away far enough so he can look into my eyes. They’re green again, and oh-so-beautiful.

I cannot get rid of my grin. I must look like a blithering idiot, drunk on sheer happiness. “I like the sound of that, too.”

“I had a talk with your father,” he tells me, and it strikes me that lately, he’s been referring to Hades as
your father
, instead of
my uncle
.

“Must we talk about my parents right now? I can think of some other things we ought to be talking about. Like ... where to find macarons. Or
chocolat chaud
.”

His laugh is that wonderful exhale I’ve come to adore after so many years of knowing him. “I mention this talk, because it’s important.”

I groan. “We are having such a wonderful time. Do you really want to muck things up by bringing up my overprotective father?” I rest my hands against his chest. “If you tell me he forbade us from being with one another, I say we do as he did and not as he says.”

His eyes twinkles in the gloriously gloomy Parisian twilight. “It was a good talk. We came to an understanding.”

Is he funning me? Because the last time my parents and I discussed me moving out with Hermes, my father raged about the room over how I was much too young to even consider declaring myself in love with anyone, beloved nephew Hermes or not. “Explain.”

He doesn’t, of course. Instead, he leans forward and kisses me in such a hot, intimate way that I actually do forget, for several delightful, frustrating minutes that we are in public. Because when we are together, like this, we really are alone. He and I.
Us
.

It’s always been us.

I let out a whimper ... or is it a groan? Forget the macarons. Or the
chocolat chaud
. All I need is him. As his kisses once more turn me inside out, I try to stay coherent long enough to calculate how soon we can get back to our hotel. Even though we made love just hours before, I’m already ready to take him back to bed and work on our epilogue.

His mouth leaves mine and traces a scorching path down my neck. “Do you remember when you queried as to why I wasn’t married yet? And how I told you that it was because I had yet to ask the woman who owns my heart? It’s far past time I rectify that.”

The hotel is, what, a ten-minute walk, and if we leave right—wait.
What?
I pull back at the same time he does.

“Nothing would make me happier than my best friend, whom I happen to be desperately in love with, agreeing to spend eternity with me. Dusa, love ... will you marry me?” He’s already dropping to one knee, just like a scene out of a movie or a book. Like a human would do, not a god who could have anyone or anything he wants without asking if he put his mind to it.

But then, that’s what has always set Hermes apart. He isn’t like the rest. He’s the very best of both worlds.

He takes my hands and kisses them. People around us stop and stare, their umbrellas tilted so they can see us all the better. “You and me,” he says, and his smile is sunshine against the soft gray of the dying day. “Forever.”

“Yes.” And then, again: “Yes!” Because there is no other answer I could ever give and not be true to my heart.

I am in his arms again, and we are twirling, and laughing, and life is so sweet, so perfect in this moment. There is clapping all around us, wolf whistles and cheering; this is the City of Love, after all. And we are most assuredly, deliriously, wonderfully in the throes of forever love.

This is my fairy tale. And it most definitely has a happy ending.

If you or anyone you know is a victim of sexual assault, you do not need to suffer in silence. Contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE to speak with a counselor, visit the RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) website at
http://rainn.org
, and/or connect with an online counselor via RAINN’s confidential Online Hotline at
http://online.rainn.org/
to learn more about your options.

Ægir
—In Norse mythology,
Ægir
is the god of the ocean and king of the sea creatures.

Amund
—Norse given name derived from
Agmundr,
an Old Norse name meaning
respectful protector
.

Andlát
—Icelandic word for death.

Angelia
—Minor Greek deity personifying greetings and proclamations.

Anubis
—Egyptian jackal-headed god of mummification and the afterlife.

Asphodel Meadows
—The area where ordinary people end up in the Underworld in Greek mythology.

Aphrodite
—Greek goddess of love and beauty.

Apollo
—Greek god of the sun, light, and truth.

Ares
—Greek god of war.

Athena
—Greek goddess of wisdom and warfare.

Automatons
—Metal people and creatures created by Hephaestus in Greek mythology often used as protectors.

Ceto
—Greek primordial sea goddess.

Demeter
—Greek goddess of the harvest.

Elysian Fields
—The area where the heroic and virtuous end up in the Underworld in Greek mythology.

Glykia mou
—
Greek
endearment for
my sweetheart
.

Gorgons
—In Greek mythology, female monsters who could turn people to stone.

Graeae
—Three minor Greek deities who personified sea foam; also known as the Gray Sisters, they shared a tooth and an eye.

Hades
—Greek god of the Underworld.

Hel
—Norse goddess of the Underworld.

Hephaestus
—Greek god of blacksmiths.

Hera
—Queen of the Greek Gods and Goddesses

Hermes
—Greek god of commerce, travelers, and athletes, as well as a guide to the Underworld; considered to be the messenger of the Greek pantheon.

Hestia
—Greek goddess of the hearth.

Kardia mou
—Greek endearment for
my heart.

Matakia mou
—Greek endearment for
my eyes
.

Medusa
—Monster in Greek mythology known as a Gorgon; had snakes for hair and could turn people to stone by looking at them.

Minn hirra
—Old Norse for
my lord.

Nymph
—Minor female nature deity in Greek mythology.