Bathymaas looked down at her arms and the strange bumps that always came to her whenever he was near. “What are these?”
“Chills.”
She ran her hand over his biceps. “You have them, too. Do you also want to touch me?”
“I do, my lady.”
“And yet you don’t.”
“I told you I wouldn’t dishonor you. I would sooner die than cause you any harm.”
Her vision clouded and her throat tightened as he spoke. She blinked several times, but instead of getting clearer, her vision worsened and something wet fell down her cheeks. “What is this? Am I going blind?”
With a tender expression, he lifted his hand and gently brushed his thumb against her face. “They’re called tears.”
“Why do I have them?”
He tenderly dried her cheeks. “Whenever something hurts inside you or something touches your heart they can manifest unexpectedly.”
Frowning, she looked down and lifted the Egyptian amulet from between her breasts. “But my heart is here. Nothing has touched it.”
Biting back a smile at her innocence, Aricles placed a single finger between her breasts. “No, my lady, your heart is in here.” But as he spoke the words, he realized she didn’t have a heartbeat. He scowled.
She held her amulet out to him. “I’m not like you, Ari. When I was a child, I discovered that those who are born to mothers have hearts and heartbeats and that I do not. I asked my father about it and he gave me this amulet and said that it contains his heart that he lost to me the moment I was created. He said it holds his love for me and that even though I’d never understand what love is, that so long as I wore my amulet, I’d have a piece of him with me to keep me safe in his absence. This is my heart.” Her frown deepened at the happy expression that brightened his face. “Why do you smile like that?”
“Because you now have two hearts, my lady. Your father’s and mine.”
She still didn’t understand what he meant. Placing her hand to his chest, she felt his heart beating. “Yours is like my father’s. Strong.”
“Even so, hearts are fragile and easily broken.”
“How?”
“It doesn’t take much. When you love someone, a single tear,” he wiped away another of hers, “or frown can shatter a heart. And if something happens to the one you’ve given your heart to, their loss can break it into so many pieces that it never heals again.”
Her jaw went slack. “Then it’s a good thing you gave yours to me to keep. For I can never die or be harmed.”
His smile widened. “I am lucky, indeed.”
“And this physical side of love… is it important?”
“No. Love can endure without it.”
“Are you sure?”
Aricles nodded as he brushed back a piece of hair from her face. He knew that they would never be physically intimate, and while a part of him craved that experience, he loved her enough to not ask for something he knew he couldn’t have. Something he wasn’t worthy of. But at the same time, the thought of not sharing these quiet afternoons alone with her, of not having her drill him with random odd and embarrassing questions, hurt more than he could bear. “I am.”
Suddenly, she pulled her amulet off and placed it around his neck. The stone amulet was still warm from her body temperature. “What are you doing?”
She placed her hand over it. “You gave me your heart. It’s only fair that I give you mine.”
He smiled at her precious and innocent sweetness that touched him all the way to his soul. “It doesn’t work like that, my lady. Love isn’t about fairness. It’s about emotion.”
“You are about emotion. I’m about fairness.” She patted her necklace. “This is fair. I don’t need two hearts and you can’t live without one. So I have yours and you have mine.”
And he would never treasure anything more. He placed his hand over hers and reveled in the inner beauty that was his goddess. “Thank you, my lady.”
Bathymaas inclined her head to him as she stared at their joined hands. For the first time, she was beginning to understand why people did the strange things they did.
Not for themselves, but for others.
As she’d told Ari, she couldn’t be hurt or killed. But that wasn’t true of him. And the more she thought about something happening to him, the more her chest tightened. The harder it was to breathe. Even without asking, she knew this was physical pain. Something she should be completely ignorant of.
Yet that was no longer true.
Somehow, they had exchanged hearts, and if anything ever happened to Ari…
She honestly feared what she might do. When her father had given her a heart, he’d never said what would happen should it break or shatter. All her life, she’d kept it safe. But now that Ari had it, she could no longer keep it from getting hurt.
Most of all, she couldn’t keep him from harm.
“Be careful for me, Ari.”
“Always, my goddess. You are the very air I breathe.”
Warmth spread through her at those words. For some reason, they were important to her.
Just like him.
August 23, 12,251 BC
As soon as they dismounted in the small town nearest the cottage where they’d been born, Galen pulled Aricles to the side so that he could whisper while Bathymaas looked about at the people who called Didimosia home. “Why is the goddess with us?”
“She wanted to see a wedding.”
Glancing back to where she waited with their horses, Galen grimaced. “She makes me nervous.”
Aricles smiled at his brother. “Relax. She won’t harm you.” He clapped his hand against Galen’s shoulder then returned to the woman he loved and adored.
Dressed in the finest white silk, she was beauty incarnate and looked extremely out of place in the mortal realm. For his brother’s wedding, he and Galen were dressed in their best chitons and chlamyses. But compared to her, they looked like the rubes Galen accused them of being.
Her ethereal gaze swept his body, making him even harder than he’d been. “Ari… It is so strange to see you in clothing.”
Aricles blushed as several people turned to stare at them with great curiosity.
Bathymaas frowned as she noted their reactions. “Did I say something inappropriate?”
“No, my lady. They thought something inappropriate.”
To his shock, her cheeks darkened. “Is this embarrassment?” she whispered to him.
“Do you want to fall into a hole where no one can see you, and take back your words?”
She nodded vigorously.
“Then yes, my lady. That is embarrassment.”
The most adorable scowl contorted her beautiful features. She leaned closer to whisper in his ear. “I don’t like this emotion, Ari.”
“Most people don’t.”
“How does one cope with it?”
“We keep our chins up and carry on with as much pride as we can manage.” He took her hand and placed it in the crook of his elbow so that he could lead her toward the local gathering hall his father had rented out for Perseus’s wedding feast.
Running ahead of them, Galen went in first, with his arms raised. “The party may commence! The most important person is now in attendance.” He grabbed Walla, one of the girls they’d grown up with, and carried her to a corner where the wine was kept.
Bathymaas arched a brow at Aricles over Galen’s words and actions. “Should I ask?”
“Mental defect from when I threw him out of our crib for stealing my rattle. We usually overlook it.”
Bathymaas laughed then froze… as did Aricles. Eyes wide, she swallowed audibly. “I found that funny.”
He smiled at her. “You have a most beautiful laugh.”
And that made her smile.
Realizing what she’d done, she quickly squelched it. Panic gripped her and that, too, made her panic all the more. As Lilliana had done with Caleb, Aricles had changed her. Greatly. He was so unlike anyone she’d ever known. So sweet and gentle.
Kind.
And the more he explained emotions to her, the more she knew she felt them. Especially whenever he was around.
But she would have to be more careful lest someone else realize that she was no longer without emotion. As the goddess of justice, she should never have experienced them. Ever. How could she be impartial or just with emotions clouding her judgment?
And yet, she liked what Aricles made her feel.
All of it.
Steeling her expressions, she allowed him to lead her to his father and introduce them. A much older and thinner version of the twins, he wasn’t quite as tall, but still she could tell where Aricles and Galen had inherited their good looks.
He offered her a kind smile. “So you’re the goddess who stole my boys from me. I can see now why they didn’t hesitate to follow you.” He gave her a quick wink. “Were I a hundred years younger, I’d have gladly followed you, too.”
She inclined her head to him. “Thank you, Master Praxis.”
“You made it!”
She turned at the happy male voice to see a shorter, younger version of Aricles and Galen. All the men in their family seemed to be virtual copies of each other. Same rabidly blue eyes and reddish-brown hair…
Same handsome smiles.
Aricles hugged his younger brother then introduced them.
Perseus bowed proudly. “My wife and I are honored by your attendance, goddess. Thank you for allowing my brothers to come. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”
She glanced to Aricles, who was more like a father to Perseus than Praxis was. “I don’t think I could have kept them away… even with my powers. They are terribly devoted to you and your father.”
Blushing, Perseus ran back to his petite blond bride, who was as obviously in love with him as he was with her. Bathymaas watched as they embraced and he kissed her with the same amount of passion she’d felt when she kissed Aricles.