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“I’m not following you,” he lofted, tone light. “You just happen to be going in the same direction I am.”
I picked up the pace, and so did he. He may not be following me, but he also wasn’t letting me get away.
“It’s not true,” I spoke up. “My mom wouldn’t keep something like that from me. She just wouldn’t.”
“I’m pretty sure you know it’s true. You told me about an echidna and cerberus when you were jumping on my head and flailing around,” he said to my red cheeks. “They don’t exist in this world. They exist in mine.”
I was quiet for a minute, fighting to dispute that. How could I believe there was a world with monsters but not one with magic?
I don’t know, but it’s still not true!
“What are they?” I asked softly. “Why did they take my mom?”
“I’m going to need you to explain that.” A gentle hand on my shoulder stayed me. Alexander turned me to face him. “Because it still doesn’t make sense. What happened to you, Aella?”
I swallowed hard. I’ve told my story to so many people so many times—and all of them laughed, scoffed, or dismissed me. No one believed, and now here this guy is. Selene brought me to him. Promised he’d take me to Olympia, and less than twenty minutes after meeting him, he told me more about my parents than I knew for eighteen years.
Was it really this simple? Was my lonely nightmare over? Had I finally met someone who would help me?
Alexander took my hand again. “I’ll believe you.”
I broke. It all came spilling out in one rushed, teary mess.
“—then it said if I wanted my mom back, I knew where to find them,” I cried. “That was two years ago. Two years! Who knows what they’ve done to my mom in all that time.”
“Rhea and Cronus,” he breathed. At some point, we ended up on another bench. “This is— This is just—”
“Don’t say crazy.”
“I’m trying not to.” He tossed his head. “Aella, I believe everything happened exactly as you say it did, but I also can’t believe it happened. The spell to open a hole in the barrier between our worlds is a closely guarded secret. For two monsters to not only know the spell but for them to use it to kidnap a mundane woman...” Looking around, he dropped his voice. “That’s not just a disaster. It’s an act of war.”
“It is?”
“Oh, yes,” he said roughly. “It’s why the barrier exists in the first place. To keep themin. But I don’t understand; if they’ve known for two years or more how to get out, why haven’t they done it?”
Alexander was talking to himself again. Part of me thought it was cute that he talked out loud when he was figuring things out. The other part of me barked at the first part to shut up. I was on a mission to find my mom, not swoon over strange men who claim to be a god from another world.
Even if he is handsome. And nice. And believes in me. And holds my hand with warm, calloused fingers to comfort me. And—
Stop!
“Unless the monsters don’t know it,” Alexander said softly. “Not the whole of them, at least. It was just those two who were sent into this dominion with a specific purpose... to kidnap a specific woman.” His eyes flicked up, gazing at me with a new expression. “Who from my world knows about you, Aella? Whydid they go through these extremes to get you to cross the barrier?”
“No one knows about me.” My reply was instant, then I looked down. My fingers traced the bracelet. “But someone has to, don’t they?”
“Tell him nothing of me, girl,” Selene whispered in my ear. “He cannot hear me. He can’t see the bracelet upon your wrist. Not even in Olympia does invisible jewelry speak. Wouldn’t do for him also to believe you’re delusional.”
My throat tightened. I shoved my arm with the bracelet behind my back. “I can’t know who or how many people know I exist,” I said clearly. “My dad had family, right? He had friends. Maybe he didn’t keep me a secret from everyone.”
Alexander inclined his head, accepting that easily. “True. But family or friends wouldn’t send monsters. Matter of fact, if it’s you they wanted, why didn’t they take you? Why take your mom?”
“I’ve been asking myself that question every day for two years.”
“Fuck,” he breathed, wrapping his arms around my waist. I squeaked to find myself pulled into a hug. “You’ve been through such a nightmare all by yourself. I’m so fucking sorry.”
Wide eyes and slack jaw fell under the curtain of his sweet-smelling hair as my chin fell on his sturdy shoulder. It was only then I realized that was the first time anyone hugged me in two years. Not even Mom’s parents did when they picked me up from the police station—broken and crying.
Slowly, my hands came up as if trying to remember what to do. I wrapped around him, goose bumps popping at his strong, muscled body. How could someone so tough also be so soft and warm?
