Page 15 of Fortune's Favor

I can feel her words all the way to the core of me. Like a physical slap. But I can see the golden ropes wrapped around our entwined hands now and they’re building, twining into our armsand up and up. Until they’re wrapped around our hearts and my own heart blazes with gold.

“He does. He might not know it but he does. He’ll never leave me. And he’ll fight with everything he’s got to keep me. Python will never win. Take your victory and go to him. Leave me alone.”

Her face twists. “I don’t know that I will. Your power and my power will make us unstoppable.”

Shaking my head, I hold the gems tighter. “How did you feel when you were stripped away from him when he was killed and taken by the gods?”

She sighs and it’s like wind through the trees. “Like my very soul was stripped from me.”

“And yet you’d do that to another woman with no thought to her own pain?”

Her brow creases and she glares at me. “That’s different.”

“No, it’s not. Love is love. Pain is pain. Gods, goddesses, humans. We all struggle to heal from pain. It’s all the same.”

“It’s for the greater good,” she mutters under her breath but I can see her thinking.

“Is it? Because I think that’s the same thing that the God that killed Python would say. Wasn’t that Apollo and didn’t he get in trouble for it?”

“He did.”

“Why do you think?”

“Because he took away a light of the world!” She yells, her fists tightening at her sides.

“Or is it because he caused many people pain that was unnecessary. Especially you.”

“He tried to make me work for him and tell him the future and I refused.”

“And what did he do?”

She sighs again. “Imprisoned me until I gave in. But I never did. I starved myself because I was never going to work for him. I’d rather die.”

“And so would I. I will not work for Python. That’s your job. My job is here. With my family. My love.”

Something tugs at my hand, trying to pull me away and I hold tighter, the gems cutting into my palms.“Go away and leave me alone!”

The cobra rears up behind her slim form and then he coils around her and she smiles, her palm rising up to touch his snout. “My love. I’ve missed you so. Centuries. Centuries that I’ve been calling for you but you didn’t hear me.”

“I’ve been looking everywhere, my bride…”. His hissing voice makes me shudder but there’s something else in his eyes. They’re not black voids anymore. They’re soft and full of joy. “I’ve missssssed you sssso,” he hisses.

“Take me home. Let’s leave these mortals to their petty squabbles and go home to Olympus. Where we belong.”

“Only if you come with me and stay forever.”

Her mouth twists and her skin flushes as his coils tighten around her. “I’m bound to you by love. Forever.”

Wind whips around us again, lightning flashing wildly, a void opening up behind their two entwined figures. Black clouds swirl around them and then…they’re gone. And the storm ebbs to a softer, gentler rain and wind.

My eyes open and I jump in my seat when I see everyone staring at me.

And I see Jerry’s arms wrapped around a man holding a dagger as they struggle.

But then, with a swirl of black clouds, he disappears into the ether, screaming and slashing out, his dark eyes wild and glowing red with hate.

“What the hell just happened?” I say, stunned, pulling one hand loose and rubbing my forehead.

Alex pulls my other hand up and kisses it gently. “We won. They’re gone.”

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