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“Absolutely.” Her scrutiny deepens. “Kara…normalis for the unchosen. The masses who are content with…settling.”
“Being at peace with yourself isn’t the same as—”
“It’s such a nice day. Let’s not squabble over labels, sweet one.”
I pull in air, battling the onset of a fume. She only means well with the endearment, as my intuitive side confirms. I just wish the other side, still grinding like I’m a dismissed servant, would settle down.
She isright about one thing. The day is truly perfect, weatherwise. I lift my face to appreciate its clarity and warmth.
“Hmmm,” I croon. “Sometimes a girl just needs the wind in her hair and the sun on her face.”
“Built-in stress relievers,” Hecate remarks. “Athena and Califia certainly knew what they were doing when sculpting this canyon.”
“Califia. The great spirit of California.” I lower my gaze with a quizzical frown. “But Athena too? Isn’t she busy with stuff like war?”
“Yes. But wisdom as well. Remember that she was born as an adult, similar to how California graduated to statehood without being a territory first.” An impish grin teases her lips. “That, and she was in the neighborhood a great deal.”
“The…neighborhood?”
“A generality. Someone had to ensure that the wild wild west stayed true to its nickname.”
As we ascend a small knoll, I look over the miles toward the sapphire haze over the ocean.
“And speaking of wilder things…” At the crest of the hill, she disengages our hold with a diffident laugh and clasps her hands at the front of her waist. The pose brings her a Mother Superior vibe. “Tell me how you and Maximus met.”
My senses tell me she’s still just genuinely intrigued, though I’m bursting with a question of my own in reply. “You really don’t know?”
“Only what’s been printed in the tabloids. Which, as you know, are as reliable as a disappearance spell. Trusting the acropolis gossip chains is going out on a similarly sketchy limb.”
A tighter frown takes over my face. “What are they saying? In both places?”
Once more, her gaze darkens, but her features barely fluctuate. “The mortals think you’re a student who paid your way into Alameda. The new library bears your mother’s name, after all.”
“Only one wing,” I bite back. “And not a single one of those reporters thought to hack into my transcript and learn Iearnedmy place at college, grade by grade?”
She hauls in a steady breath.
I want to scream, anticipating what the rest of her account will reveal.
“At least the humans agree on their specifics. In Olympus, the theories vary. Some say you’re a demon unwilling to accept your destiny, who seduced your teacher to escape your incubus. Others think you’re already a succubus and used your wiles on both Maximus and Hades. But neither of those are my favorite.”
“Oh God.” I moan. “There are more?”
“Just the theory that you’ve always been merely mortal and Veronica has covered for you since birth. That your incubus was convinced to capitulate so fast because your mother disclosed that secret to him.”
I press a hand to my forehead. “So there’s nobody who wants to accept the basic truth? Maximus and I are in love. Neither of us forced it. Neither of usneededit.”
“But now you cannot imagine needing anything more.”
I drop my hand, pressing it over the new detonation that threatens my composure. The cacophony takes over my heartbeat.
“It’s obvious to anyone who gets within ten feet of you two.” Her tone teases, but her demeanor is open, accepting. As if she knows it’s the perfect medicine for my soul in this moment.
My exhalation is a jittery rasp. “He’s everything to me.”
“I know that too,” she assures me. “As we all do.”
Though this beautiful witch has admitted that her powers don’t extend to omniscience, it’s once again like they do. She seems to know exactly what I need to hear—but more than that, how I yearn to hear it.
