“Yeah.
I mean, it’s a
pretty good copy, but I still don’t understand—”
Chiron turned, glaring at him. “It’s not
a copy of the rod of Asclepius, you moron,” he growled. “It
is
the rod of Asclepius. I’d know that
damned thing anywhere.”
That was the last straw. “Okay, you want
to cut me some slack here?” Nick snapped. “I’ve have a really tough couple of
days, plus I just found out that not only do mers exist, but so do the Greek
gods.” He waved a hand at Chiron’s misty midsection.
“And
whatever you are.”
The blue gaze turned chilly. “I’m a
centaur.
The
centaur, if you like.
The first one.”
“Fine, you’re
the
centaur. But you can’t expect me to believe that I found the
actual Rod of Asclepius in a junk shop in a Florida beach town.”
Chiron folded his arms across his chest.
“Why not?”
“Because real
life doesn’t work like that!”
Nick barely stopped himself from
shouting the words. “This shit doesn’t even happen in movies! It’s totally
ridiculous.”
The centaur tsked at him. “You’re
disturbing your patient, doctor.”
Flushing, Nick glanced at the bed. Aidan
had rolled onto his back, giving him a wary look. “Shit. I’m sorry, Aidan. Try
to go back to sleep. You,” he turned back to Chiron. “Follow me.”
“By all means.”
Chiron nodded
at the walking staff. “Just bring that with.”
“Why?”
“Humor me.”
Cursing under his breath, Nick grabbed
the staff and started to slam the closet door closed, catching himself at the
last moment.
“Outside.
Now.”
He stomped back into the living room,
Chiron on his heels. Ian, Bythos, and Aphros were on the couch, heads close
together. “Guys, could we have some privacy?”
Ian straightened up. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, except that Mr. ‘I’m the first
centaur’ thinks that this,” Nick brandished the staff, “is the Rod of
Asclepius.
The real one.”
He almost dropped it when the snake’s
head rose and turned to him.
I don’t understand why that surprises
you so much, physician. And don’t drop me. You do and I swear to Gaia I will
give you such a bite.
Nick could feel his eyes bulging as he
stared at the now-living snake wrapped around the staff.
“W-what?”
The snake ignored him, head tilting to
the side as it looked at the centaur.
Chiron.
“Pythia,” Chiron said, nodding
respectfully.
“Didn’t expect to see you again.”
You either, old
friend.
I didn’t think you were allowed to get involved in
mortal matters anymore.
“Technically, I’m not. But someone,” he
glared balefully at the sea gods on the couch, “keeps pulling me back in.”
Hm.
Well, I for one
am pleased to see you again.
The snake now considered Nick.
So,
you’re my new pupil. Well, needs must, I suppose.
The words sounded in Nick’s head, soft
but perfectly clear. Somehow, he made his jaw work. “Why do you sound like Judi
Dench?”
I have no idea. Your mind is choosing my
voice. Why are we wasting time discussing this? Chiron, have you set up a
lesson plan yet?
“Whoa, what?”
The centaur held
up his hands. “I’m just here to check on a punctured merman.”
The snake snorted, undulating higher on
the staff.
You know perfectly well that you’re to be the mentor to the Bearer.
Don’t try to wiggle out of the agreement just because you’re technically dead.
Nick’s head spun back.
“Technically dead?
How can you be technically dead?”
Chiron spread his sparkling,
semi-transparent hands. “Do I look alive to you?”
The snake’s tongue flickered out,
touching Nick’s hand.
Chiron was accidentally wounded by Hercules
when the hero was forced to fight off a band of maddened wild centaurs,
she
said.
His foreleg was pierced with an arrow poisoned with the blood of the
Hydra, which burned ceaselessly. As he was immortal, he couldn’t die from his
wound,
only suffer until the end of time. Hercules persuaded
Zeus to allow Chiron to give up his immortality to Prometheus, who had been
chained to a rock in the Caucasus and left to die for the crime of giving fire
to Mankind. The brave centaur was then placed among the stars by Zeus himself,
and his body formed the constellation Centaurus
.
“Which just goes to show that humans can
find patterns in absolutely anything and history is written by the winners,”
Chiron said sourly. “I’m not among the stars, whatever that means, and there
was no place for me on Olympus without my immortality, so my half-brother Hades
was kind enough to let me wander around like this.”
Ian cleared his throat. “Um, this is all
fascinating, but I think we might want to let Nick sit down before he falls over.”
Nick realized he was weaving slightly.
Chiron gave him a judicious look. “Yeah, your color’s off. Grab a seat, kid.”
Still clutching the staff like a
lifeline, he stumbled to an armchair and sank into it. “I don’t understand any
of this. What’s a Bearer? Why am I supposed to have lessons? What lessons?” His
voice rose with every word. “I just wanted to get away from my asshole
boyfriend!”
“And there’s the meltdown,” Ian
muttered, coming over and kneeling next to his chair. “Nick, listen to me.
You’ve already had to take in a hell of a lot today.” He glared over his
shoulder at Chiron. “Let’s table the whole Bearer thing for now, okay?”
The centaur shrugged.
“Fine
by me.”
You’re right. We’re putting too much on him.
If it was possible for a snake to look
embarrassed, Pythia managed it.
We’ll discuss this later, Nicholas. For now,
attend to your patient. If you need my assistance, simply take the staff and
call my name.
The snake wound back down into its former position and
froze, becoming carved wood again.
“My patient—oh, shit.” Nick tried to
lurch up from the chair, but Ian pushed him back down. “No, I need to check on
him.”
Chiron held up a hand. “I’ll do that. Slick,
get the kid some alcohol, stat.”
****
Leaving the stunned mortal in the care
of Ian, Chiron went back into the guest room. As he’d expected, Aidan was still
in bed, curled away from the door and suspiciously still.
Chiron checked the IV line,
then
smirked. “You can stop pretending you’re asleep,
tadpole. I can hear you thinking.”
Reluctantly, the merman rolled onto his
back, large eyes blinking in the dim room. “You’re really Chiron, lord?”
“In the flesh.”
Chiron waggled
transparent fingers.
“So to speak.
What can I do you
for?”
Aidan struggled to sit up. “Where am I?”
“You’re in the home of Bythos and
Aphros.” He shrugged. “Technically it belongs to their mate Ian, but it’s all
the same thing in the end.”
A look of shock crossed the mer’s face.
“I’m in the Storm God’s home?”
“Yeah, but he started out as a human so
don’t get all worshippy or anything. He’s short and annoying. You’ll probably
like him.”
The mer visibly gulped. “Oh. Are the sea
lords very angry with me?”
That surprised the centaur.
“For what?”
“For getting shot by a human.
For having to be rescued and taken in.”
The merman’s fists
clenched, and he glanced away. “Mers are supposed to be better than that.”
Chiron sighed. Merfolk pride was a
fierce thing. “I wouldn’t worry about it,” he said. “Even if the human who shot
you says anything to his friends or family, they’ll just think he’s crazy.”
“Still, I let myself be seen. Be
wounded, even. That was just pathetic.”
“Right now, the idiot who shot you is
probably in more danger from the Wonder Twins than you are, so stop beating
yourself up. How’s the leg?”
“I’ve had worse.”
Chiron nodded. “You can thank your healer
for that. Getting Aphros to fetch some morphine was inspired.”
“My healer?”
The merman
looked at him now. “You mean Nick? He’s going to take care of me?”
“That’s the plan.” He considered the
glint in the mer’s green eyes. “You seem really happy about that.”
“He’s
mo chuisle
, lord.”
The translation popped into his head. The
Gaelic term of endearment literally meant “my pulse,” but was more commonly
translated to “my beloved”. It was also the term used by the mers for an
agapetos
. “Oh, Gaia,” he groaned.
“Tadpole, how much time did you spend with him?”
Aidan’s expression softened, turning
dreamy. “Long enough to feel his hands on me and learn his scent, lord. He’s
mo chuisle
, I know it.”
“Yeah, I bet you can,” the centaur muttered,
rubbing his forehead. “But you’re not going to do that right now, understand?
You can sex him up after your tail’s healed.”
“I have to wait that long?” Aidan said,
dreaminess turning into worry. “Lord, I can’t. What if he meets someone and
mates them instead?”
Chiron thought back to Nick’s comment
about an asshole boyfriend. “Yeah, I don’t think you have to worry about that.
Now, do me a favor, stretch out and get some rest. If you do that and promise
to keep your hands to yourself, I’ll send your
chuisle
in.”
“I will, lord.” The mer settled back
against the pillows, already blinking heavily from the morphine. “Thank you.”
Chiron sighed. “Don’t thank me yet,
tadpole.”
Easing his way through the door, he headed
for the living room. Nick had already finished his prescribed beer, judging by
the empty bottle on the end table, and was working on another one. The twins
had disappeared, and Ian sat next to Nick, poised on the edge of the cushion as
if he thought the doctor was about to explode.
Chiron clasped his hands behind his
human back. “Well, the good news is, your guest is still alive,” he announced.
Nick’s head came up at that, his eyes slightly
blurred by the alcohol. “What’s the bad news?”
“The bad news is, he misses you, so put
down your drink and go give him a goodnight kiss.”
Glaring, the doctor shoved his beer
bottle at Ian and got to his feet. “Don’t think that this is all over,
Sparkles,” he said, wobbling slightly. “We’ll talk tomorrow after I sober up.”
“Sparkles?” Chiron clapped a hand over
his heart. “I do believe I’m insulted. Next you’re gonna want to see my cutie
mark.” He jerked his head towards the guest room door. “Get in there, kid. Your
patient needs you.”
Muttering something under his breath,
Nick pushed past him. Chiron heard the bedroom door open, then close.
“Humans these days.
Try to help them, and they just get
snotty.”
Ian winced. “Why are you needling him?”
“Gotta get my
kicks where I can.
Speaking of that, I’m outta here—with any luck I can still catch Tara getting
chomped on by a great white. Call me if the mer gets worse.”
Smirking, Chiron disappeared.
****
Nick crept into the bedroom, acutely aware
that he was more than moderately buzzed.
Just
check on him, say good night,
then
go crash on the
couch.
Aidan was on his back, hands clasped
over his belly. “Hi, Nick.”
“Hi.” Nick made himself move to the side
of the bed, picking up Aidan’s right hand to check his pulse. It seemed a
little sluggish. “Is your heartbeat normally this slow?”
Aidan frowned. “I don’t know. I never
really noticed before. Is slow bad?”
Nick tried to think past the beer. “Not
necessarily. People who are very physically fit have slower heart rates.”
Which was an accurate description of the merman.
Even in his
human form, Nick was willing to bet Aidan could take on an Olympic swimmer and
beat him handily. “Just want to make sure you’re not bleeding.”
Aidan flipped up the blanket, revealing
a creamy expanse of muscled flank. The bandages around his thigh showed no sign
of blood. “I’m all right. See?”
Nick swallowed hard, trying to ignore an
almost painful desire to lean over and lick the muscled groove leading to the
mer’s groin.
Bad
doctor.
No licking the
patient, even if he could be a freaking underwear model.
Gingerly, he grabbed the edge of the
blanket and pulled it back over Aidan. “Uh, I meant internally.
Any sensation of pressure, sharp pain?”