"No." That was the honest truth. She was in a class all by herself.
"Then I'll call her."
How did he keep getting himself into these messes? Kat would flip without his explanation. "Why don't we wait until tomorrow to talk to her then? Let her rest tonight."
"Okay."
He was grateful Geary didn't push this. By tomorrow he might have a better idea.
Suddenly someone was pounding on the study's door.
"Excuse me," Solin snapped angrily from the other side. "Last time I checked, this was my house. Why am I locked out of my own study?"
Arik moved to open the door. "Anything to piss you off, Brother. Why else?"
Solin scoffed as he entered the room. "Oh, that's easy enough to do. Basically the fact that you breathe does that."
Arik closed the door and turned to face him. "Love you, too."
"Of course you do, like a plague on your privates."
Well, at least Solin understood the nature of their relationship. "So what brings you back?"
"What part of my house did you miss?"
Arik countered with his own argument. "What about the part that we could stay here if we needed to?"
Solin opened his mouth to retort, then snapped it shut. He was silent for a few moments before he spoke again. "I did say that, didn't I?"
"You did."
"Fine," he said irritably, "stay. But whatever you do, put down a blanket or something next time you two want to get frisky on my hardwood floors. That's just... disgusting."
Geary sputtered at his indignation. "How do you-"
"He's a demigod," Arik answered in an unamused tone, cutting her off. "Never get too close to one if you want to maintain secrets."
Her cheeks pinkened to let him know she was quite embarrassed by it. "Well, that's not fair."
Solin gave her an arch stare. "You seem to have an issue with fairness, don't you?"
"I don't like things to be disorderly, if that's what you mean. There should be a degree of fairness in the world."
Solin snorted as he looked at Arik. "She's priceless." He returned his cold stare to her. "Sweetie, in our world, fair's got nothing to do with anything. He who has the greatest power wins. It's why we're all willing to kill each other off without flinching."
She cast a confused look at Arik before she responded. "But you helped me and Arik. Why would you do that if you really feel that way?"
Solin shrugged. "What can I say? It's so much more enjoyable to snatch victory from the hands of the gullible. You guys make the most delightful sound of agony when you're betrayed."
There was a part of her that wanted to think he was kidding, but another part wasn't so sure. He sounded pretty damn sincere. She glanced at Arik, who was every bit as skeptical as she was.
"Are you in with them then?" Arik asked.
Solin gave him an exasperated smirk. "If I was, do you think I'd let you stay here?"
Arik shrugged. "I don't know. It wouldn't hurt you. It's not like letting us stay here will make them hate you any more than they already do. If anything, our presence here would piss them off, which would be a bene for you. As you said, it would be a way to snatch victory from the gullible."
Solin turned completely stoic. His face, his demeanor, even his voice. "I won't defend or explain my actions to you or anyone else. My motives are my own. Good, bad, indifferent."
Geary cocked her head as she noticed something about him while he spoke. A slight tenseness on his face. "What are you afraid of?"
Solin curled his lip at her. "I fear nothing."
"You fear intimacy, don't you?" she asked. "With anyone. That's why you say nothing about yourself. It's why you prefer to traipse through dreams rather than sleep with women in the flesh."
"Thank you, Dr. Ruth." You would need a chain saw to cut through the venom and sarcasm in his voice.
"But I honestly don't think you know even the most basic thing about me. So until you do, you should keep your opinions to yourself."
"You're right, I don't. But the question is, does anyone? Can you name me one single friend you have or have had in the past?"
"I don't need friends. All they do is eat your food, drink your beer, then spew your secrets the first time you do something that displeases them. No offense, but when you have as many enemies as I do, you keep your secrets under lock and key. Isn't that true, Arikos?"
Arik's gaze met hers and it softened in a way that made her heart speed up. "Sometimes it pays to trust the right people."
Solin curled his lip at them. "Such rotten sentimentality, and gullible until the end-both of which will ultimately get you killed. It is, after all, how I got you converted." He paused for effect before he stepped toward Geary to address her. "You should have seen him, Megeara. He was so sure he could take me in a fight. He was getting all ready for it when I did the unexpected."
"And that was?" she asked.
"I turned my human lover loose on him. She was in a dream state and had no idea what she was really doing. Arik, being the good Oneroi he was, wouldn't fight her. Protect the humans at all costs-that's their credo. Unless the human is a half-breed." He spat the words as if they were bitter tasting on his tongue. "Then we deserve to die for no other crime than the fact our father went slumming with a hard-on and knocked up some bitch who couldn't keep her legs crossed."
Solin invaded her personal space, making her take a step back as his blue eyes snapped fire at her. "So don't talk to me about fairness. I've no patience for it or you, and that, little human, is all you need to know about me."
Backing away, Solin raked them both with a sneer. "Stay or go. I really don't give a shit. But if you stay, I want you to continue your play upstairs in a bed, like civilized people." Then he turned and left them.
It took Geary a couple of minutes to recover her composure from his unwarranted rancor. "Well, isn't he Mr. Happy Sunshine?"
Arik didn't respond as he studied the floor.
Geary took a moment to consider everything Solin had told them, including the piece of history that explained another mystery in their relationship. "So he's the one who turned you. I'm surprised you would even speak to him."
He took a deep breath before he answered. "Honestly, I'd rather have my brains ripped out through my nostrils, but I wanted to stay with you and without the permits you would never have allowed me near you. I had no choice except to call on him. Besides, you can't blame him really. He has every right to hate us."
Her chest tightened at the thought of Arik's seeking out a bitter enemy for no other reason than to be with her. It was incredibly romantic, if not somewhat stupid. "Compassion looks good on you, Arik. You should wear it more often."
He took her hand into his and toyed with her fingers. "I'm trying to, but honestly, I'd rather be wearing you." He offered her a smile that warmed her heart.
"Ooo, that was a good one."
He lifted her hand to his lips to nibble her fingers. "It's the truth."
God, she was in love with this man... god... or whatever he was. They'd known each other such a short time and yet it seemed like forever. She'd confided everything to him, and here he was, trying to help her.
How could she let him go?
She already knew that answer. She couldn't. He'd come to mean too much to her. And as that thought went through her, it was followed by another. There was someone who knew more about this than Tory or even Arik.
" Apollymi?" she let her mind shout, hoping that the Atlantean goddess hadn't abandoned her.
"Yes, child?"
"Is there some way to free Arik from his bargain without killing him? Can he be made mortal?"
"A god can do anything. Free me and I will grant you any wish you have."
"Do you swear it?"
"On the lives of my Charontes. You free me and you will never want for anything so long as you live."
Geary pulled Arik into her arms and held him against her. She was grateful he couldn't hear her thoughts or her conversation with the goddess.
He felt so good in her arms... She never wanted to let him go.
Don't make a pact with a god, her mind warned. In all her ancient readings she couldn't recall a single time that such a bargain had worked in the favor of the person who made it.
Not once.
But that was fiction and this was real. Apollymi was real and so were Arik and Solin.
Geary would allow Arik to take her back to Atlantis and then she would let Apollymi guide her. After all these centuries, the goddess would be free again.
Geary's only hope was that Apollymi would keep her word. But even then, Geary's doubt was strong.
What choice do I have?
She couldn't allow him to die if she could stop it. And she was willing to make a deal with the devil to ensure Arik's life.