Bliss (18 page)

There was no way he was going to say he was sorry. After all, it wasn’t like he thought his subtle push against his father’s will would do anything. Yearning to reach out and touch her he asked, “Is she breathing?”

His father moved away from Kassandra and turned to him. Darius didn’t move. He wondered what his father was up to.

“It is good to see you again, son,” he said, embracing Darius in the tradition
al way.

The gesture shook Darius. His father had never been an emotional
Titan, but now he sensed turbulent of feelings running wildly through him. For the first time that he could remember, he really looked at his father. Although still one of the most powerful Titans he knew, his father had aged. Fine lines etched his face and there was a streak of white in his long black hair.

“Ah, now I see what has happened to you. I think I’ll have a talk with Zeus about that nephew of his. He’s always been up to no good, but this goes beyond what is acceptable. Now, I must finish taking care of this sad business. Your mother
...” his father’s voice actually choked, “your mother...she is unwell.”

Darius shook his head. It was uncanny how his father could discern everything that had happened to him by a simple embrace. Then again, he
had long ago discovered there was nothing simple about his father, one of the longest rulers of the north seas.

“Father, I didn’t know, but Kassandra, she...let her go,” said Darius, fighting the panic he felt when he look
ed at her. Her eyes were glazed and her pupils dilated. While her chest was moving it unnerved him that his father held this much power over her.

“Do not ask that of me. This is a responsibility that could be yours someday. Seth, like your mother, is infected with this terrible, dreadful calamity that is destroying our race.”

There was a harsh tone to his father’s voice that caused Darius to back up.

“Surely, you don’t think I could ever...that I would ever
…” his eyes quickly transfixed themselves on Kassandra. Her chestnut brown hair was streaming wild behind her while she floated directly in front of them. “I have no idea how to enthrall anyone. I’m not looking to take the throne. Seth and mother will get better. The Court of Cabiri said if I find the sacred artifact than there’s a chance we can stop this plague.”

“The Court of Cabiri actually said that to you... that doesn’t seem possible,”
said his father, eyeing both of his warriors.

“King
Sadok, Tartahounds are in the vicinity. We must move and get you to safety,” said Balarius, who had finally recovered from his painful contact with Kassandra’s foot.

Darius was actually grateful for the interruption.

“Blast those things. Hades and I are due for a long talk about his pets. Yes, Balarius, it is time we left this place. It reeks of death,” said his father, turning his back on Kassandra.

“What about her?” asked Darius, hoping he’d have the chance to take Kassandra to the surface.

As his father casually glided away, his voice sounded like a booming aftershock in Darius’ brain. “The choice is yours, son.”

The choice is mine…What does that mean? What choice?

“Darius is that you? Help me,” garbled Kassandra, her eyes blinking wide as she kicked her feet in an attempt to propel her body to the surface.

For one millisecond he did nothing except watch. He knew exactly how she felt about now. His father’s enthrallment had worn off, and she was swallowing mouthfuls of salt water. Once the water filled her lungs, her brain would start to get fuzzy and she would stop fighting, stop attempting to breech the water to the surface.

Drowning was not a painful way to die.
The power of the sea, once it claimed a victim, thankfully did it with a loving caress. Eventually the pressure of the water would cause her heart to stop and that would be it. Kassandra would be dead.

That thought sobered him into action. Without thought
, relying on instinct, he swam after her. Grasping her ankle he yanked her into his embrace. She fought him as he had expected. Pulling her in tighter so she couldn’t thrash around he did what his heart desired – he kissed her for all he was worth.

The
brek’ah
, the kiss of life, was not to be taken lightly. It was the one and only gift a Titan or Siren could give. Once given, a part of their essence was forever tied to that person. Once that person died, so did they.

Darius deepened th
e kiss. Forcing her head back while breathing into her mouth, he willed a part of his essence to fill her. He prayed he was doing the right thing.

The words ingrained into his being since the beginning of time rolled around in his head. He wanted to shout them out to the sea, but he couldn’t. He had to continue kissing her until she was able to kiss him back. Then and only then would he be sure she was safe.

Continuing to breathe into her, he felt the exact moment when awareness rushed through her. Her hands clasped his head and she returned his kiss greedily. Knowing this was the time, he released her mouth and unclasped her arms from his head. The simplicity of the ancient words rolled off his tongue.

“You are mine for all of time. Neither sea nor land will separate thee from me!”
He roared the words into the water. He felt the power of the sea claim him, filling him up with a renewed sense of energy.

Then Kassandra’s scream
s of agony sliced through the waters. All he could do was grit his teeth. The transformation was one thing she had to complete on her own, but Darius felt as if he might die simply from the pain of watching it.

Searing pain rushed through every cell of Kassandra’s body. She knew if she opened her eyes her body would be on fire, because that’s exactly how she felt - as if she was being burned alive. Her skin blistered and she felt the uncanny desire to rip it off. Anything to alleviate the hot, blinding pain consuming her body.

Thrashing around blindly
, she screamed again. To her own ears she sounded more like a wounded animal than human. Something was happening to her. Something so painful she knew she couldn’t take much more before she passed out.

Take a breath of sea water. Let the wa
ter heal you. It will be okay.

Darius’ calm voice penetrated her consciousness, cushioning her pain for a millisecond.
How could his voice sound so nonchalant while I’m on fire?
Then it dawned on her. She was drowning.

You are not drowning. Trust me
. You will be okay.

Again, his voice, with that husky, rumbling
cadence that sang, ‘I am male’ rang inside her head, and for the briefest of moments she felt as if his calm was soothing her burning pain.

Then a new
, eerily unfamiliar feeling crashed into her body. She felt as if her leg bones were melting. Her scalp itched and she could have sworn her hair was growing, but of course that was impossible. A warm sensation washed through her, and she blinked, finally feeling the worse of the searing pain ebb. She took a deep gulp of sea water. She had lived through whatever had happened to her body.

A gasp from Darius caused her to stare at him.

“
I had no idea you would be so beautiful. I mean, you were beautiful before, but now, like this, you are perfection,
”
he said, gliding around her.

“What are you talking about?” she asked. The sound that came out of her mouth was like nothing she’d ever heard before. Just who was this person speaking? Her stomach
did a nervous flip-flop and she didn’t care one wit for Darius’ perusal of her.

“Take a good look at your new self, Kassandra.”

His voice was soft and seductive as he glided closer.

She lowered her head and looked down. Gasping, she stifled the terrifying scream rising inside of her. Gone were her legs
. In their place was a long, graceful tail. She was a Siren.

How did that happen?
She bit the insides of her cheeks, hoping the stimulus of pain would wake her from this all-too-real nightmare. When she looked at her naked breasts that were now bobbing about in front of her, she couldn’t help the small hysterical giggle.

Self
-consciously she ran a shaky hand over her new body. She realized then that somehow her diving suit had disintegrated. Large breasts gave way to a slim torso, and then a gilded edge gave way to a sleek, velvety smooth tail. She could see her hair cascading around her body in long wavy streams. Hair that was now as long as she was.

This time there was no escaping the lunatic laugh bubbling within her. If she didn’t laugh she’d probably end up screaming until Hell froze over.

The feel of Darius’ warm hands on her waist, pulling her in tight, forced the laughter away.

“It’s okay
, Kassandra. I’ll explain it all to you,” he said, his fingers skimming the raised edge of her tail that separated her midsection. The feeling of his Titan body against hers was sinfully erotic.

A look of pure possessive passion and something else flared to life in his
eyes, causing those nervous dips in her stomach to jump into overdrive.

With his lips a whisper away from hers, he asked, “Are you okay now, sweetlips?” There was genuine concern in his voice.

Kassandra nodded, afraid to open her mouth again.

“You can speak telepathically to me now, but you can also speak out loud. The rapture inherently converts your mind. I will be able to understand you no matter what you say. In your new form, which I have to say makes you the loveliest
Siren in all of the seven seas, rely on your instincts. And, yes, darling, I can read your mind,” he grinned such a masculine smile that she blushed.

His sexy grin grew and a tingle cascaded up her spine directly to her enlarged breasts causing them immediately to peak and stand at attention.

Great, that’s just great. Now, he can read my mind and all I’m thinking about is sex and I’m not even sure how to... how sirens...okay, that’s it. Darius stop it. I know you’re listening so stop pretending you’re not amused by this situation. I think it’s time I got back. So do whatever you have to do to make me human again, okay?

She pushed
his body away from hers, attempting to put some breathing space between them.

“Kassandra, I...” he paused and
ran his hands through his long hair. Hair she yearned more than anything to run her fingers through. “I can’t.”

“Can’t what?”

“I can’t make you human again. Ever. I had to make you into a Siren or you would have died.”

“Darius, this isn’t funny. You
’re a Titan. Surely you have the power to make me human again.”

He
crossed his arms over his chest. The look reminded her of a wild, untamed warrior. The startling colors of his tattoo did nothing to diminish the fact he was a mythological being who was very much real. The idea should have terrified her. Instead it thrilled her. However, she knew without a doubt that if he could turn from a human into a Titan, then he could make her back into a human.

“You’re looking at things from a human perspective,” he said, obviously reading her mind.

“No kidding,” she replied, happy that at least her sarcasm was alive and well.

“You’re not, anymore. And I never was,” he replied, so matter-of-factly that it came out sounding smug.

“I’ve read everything there is about Titans and I know you have powers, so don’t kid yourself, mister. Turn me back, now!” She wished she had something to cover her breasts with. The sight of them kept shocking her. She had never had her friend, Melissa’s cup size, and she used to envy how Melissa could fill out a sweater, but she guessed, glancing again at her enlarged chest, that these beauties were off the charts. Then she recalled a lecture by Melissa telling her in no uncertain terms there were more cups sizes than the simple A, B, C & D that lined the shelves in the department stores. What would that make her, now? A definite F.

A ripple in the water warned her that Darius was moving closer. She let him grab her arms, bringing her in closer to his chest. Heat flowed off him, causing all of her weird hormones to quicken.

“Kassandra, what you’ve read about us is nothing but the skimming of the truth. And, sweetlips, while my powers are profound, I can’t change you back, ever.” He paused, his hand moving up to cup her chin, forcing her to look at him. “In fact, the only way to make you a Siren was to give you the kiss of life, which I’m afraid means you and me are once again bound together...only this time it’s for a very long time.”

“Kiss of life.” Her brain screamed with the unsettling truth of his words. All of the old stories her father had told her, and all of the myths she had read over the years streamed through her consciousness.

“Darius what have you done?” she asked, tears filling her eyes.

His cold stare caused her to shiver. “I did what had to be done. And now we’ve got to go.” His voice was back to its usual gruff, commanding tone as he propelled her unyielding body through the ocean waters.

It was then that the putrid smell she was becoming familiar with assaulted her nose and all of her other newfound senses. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Yes. Except it’s even worse.”

A swish from his powerful tale had them both darting through the ocean at top speed.

“You need to move your body, Kassandra,”

What, what is he talking about? Aren’t I moving my body?
Looking down she noticed he was right. She was attempting to swim only with her arms and not her entire body. Moving her lower half she was surprised at her own agility as her stroke picked up. With Darius’ hand still on her arm, it didn’t take her long to match his stride.

A grin lit up Darius
’ face. Her heart accelerated in response. He looked completely boyish, charming in fact, and that wasn’t good. Not good at all, because she wasn’t sure about her current situation. “Ah, Darius, just how long were you talking about?”

“Hopefully at least a couple more centuries,” he said, not once breaking his breakneck pace.

“You mean, me and you...we’re…um...bound together for
centuries
?” the words sounded weird even to her own ears.

“Oh, and that’s not all.”

She had to blink a couple of times to stop staring at the undersea kingdom she was now in. The myriad of colors, sea animals and fish was truly breathtaking.

“You’re
my mate. For life.” He darted a quick glance her way.

Oh, Darius, what have you done?
Kassandra knew that Darius thought he had done the correct thing by saving her. There was that honor of his again…but she wasn’t so certain. The Darius she knew as a human valued honesty and his family above all. Combine that with his strong sense of ethics and voila, here she was – a Siren, bound forever until she drew her last breath to a man who didn’t have any feelings for her.

He was a direct descent of a
god, a mythological figure who shouldn’t exist, and even though the librarian she was knew that most myths were based loosely on facts, that didn’t make her feel better. She knew without a doubt he would, for the rest of his life, regret what he had done to save her. She realized she still thought of him as a man, when her heart knew he was much more.

Could she live with herself, knowing she had doomed this
Titan, to a fate worse than death? She shook her head, trying to sort out her jumbled thoughts. Without a doubt, she knew she couldn’t. Somehow, some way, she’d find a way to make things right for him. He deserved that much.

Finding the courage to chart her own course, to undo the wrong that had befallen her living, breathing
Titan, eased the ache deep within her heart and soul. She would do it. She’d find a way to set Darius free. If it killed her in the process, she’d at least take pride in the fact she had done the right thing.