Page 38 of Another Damned Storm (Another Damned #3)

HOOK

I stared at the marks on my wall. A mere thirty of them.

How has it only been one month? Perhaps my perception of time was skewed after the way the fates had manipulated everything, because it felt like lifetimes had passed since the last time I’d held Never in my arms.

My one saving grace—and perhaps the most torturous part of it all—was that the connection we shared had somehow managed to survive our separation.

I was beyond grateful for that link to her, but there were times when the emotions and the struggle pouring through were so intense that I could barely think.

She wasn’t holding anything back.

No matter how much it hurt, however, I couldn’t bring myself to close the door on my end. It was all I had left to hold onto.

“Hello, Atlas.”

I rolled my eyes at the sound of my father’s voice. The temptation to tell him he wasn’t welcome on my ship or in my realm danced on the tip of my tongue, but I bit the words back as I turned. “Iapetus. ”

“It’s just us in here, Atlas.” He motioned to my quarters. “You can call me Father.”

I could, but I wouldn’t. “What can I do for you, Iapetus?”

His brow twitched down before smoothing again. “I thought perhaps we could catch up on lost time.”

Suspicion slipped down my spine like a cold rain. “By that I’m assuming you mean you’re here to check up on me.”

He eyed the round dining table and strode to it, taking the seat facing me. “Sit, Atlas.”

“I’m fine on my feet.”

Again, a hint of displeasure colored his features. “I insist.”

It took several seconds to convince myself to comply. Never’s defiant nature truly had rubbed off on me. But it was also the thought of her that led me across the room. I might hate my father with every fiber of my being, but he held her future in his hands.

It was wise to play nice.

I eased into the chair, crossing my ankle over my knee. “Do you have any news of Never?”

“I’m afraid not, but I have given this arrangement of ours a great deal of thought. I believe it was unfair of me to tie your fate to hers.”

On the contrary, that was precisely how I wanted it.

She was mine. If she suffered, I wanted to share in her suffering.

If she died, I wanted to die beside her.

I certainly wouldn’t expect someone like him to understand what she meant to me, but in the interest of discovering what nefarious game he was playing, I inclined my head for him to go on.

“How would you like to return to Othrys, for good this time?” he asked, feigning a fatherly warmth he’d never actually possessed.

The answer to that was easier than it had ever been. I wasn’t the least bit interested. And yet, he had to have a reason for asking. “Have I served my sentence to your satisfaction?”

He paused as if in thought. “You have done reasonably well.”

So, no, I had not. Which made the offer nothing more than a calculated move, and I was pretty sure I knew what he was after. “Will Never be joining me when her time in the Alius is up?”

He raised one pretentious brow. “She is doomed to fail in her effort. You must know that.”

If he truly believed that then he understood nothing about her. “Shall I take that as a no?”

Iapetus pulled in a deep breath through his nose before leaning forward and resting his elbows on the polished wood. “If you return with me today, you can never know what becomes of her.”

I shouldn’t have been the least bit surprised, but what had me scratching my head was how, in all these years, he hadn’t changed even the tiniest bit. Everything he did, everything he said, was a maneuver of some kind.

“Respectfully, I must decline,” I said, keeping my expression neutral.

Disappointment flitted across his brow. “I’m offering you a chance to come home, Atlas.”

“I appreciate that, but I won’t trade Never for a new life in Othrys.”

He shook his head and straightened with a disgusted huff.

“You can’t be serious. You do understand that when she fails, she will be destroyed, as will you.

You won’t be reunited for a tearful final farewell.

Your life will end with hers, without so much as a single word ever passing between you again. ”

I was fully aware, and while his words were meant to cut deep, they changed nothing.

“I will not give up on her. It might be a miserable and trying thousand years, but our connection is stronger than ever. I have no doubt she knows that I love her, and I will continue to remind her what she’s fighting for every day. Every moment.”

A dry smile twisted my father’s face. “Ah, did I forget to mention that detail?”

“What detail?” Dread turned to stone in my gut.

“You may feel what she is feeling, but as far as she’s concerned, your connection died the moment she stepped foot in the Alius.”

All I could do was stare at him. How damaged must a soul be to find pleasure in hurting others in such perverse ways?

I’d always known he was a heartless bastard, but this was a new low even for him.

I swallowed down the hate that rose in the back of my throat. “As I said, I will not give up on her. Ever. There is nothing you can offer me that will make me change my mind.”

His lip curled. “Still the same reckless fool, I see. I had hoped your time in the Nassa would have brought you a bit more perspective.”

I had all the perspective I needed. “If there’s nothing else, I have responsibilities that need tending to,” I said, getting to my feet.

Iapetus shook his head. He looked as though he had more to say, but he flashed away without so much as a goodbye. That was fine by me. If I never set eyes on him again it would be too soon.

But what he said about my connection to Never gnawed at me. Why would he allow me to feel what she was feeling only to leave her in the dark?

The answer was obvious: because it was all part of his torture, for both of us. She was alone in the Alius, with only her own thoughts and emotions to guide her. That meant I couldn’t help her, but it also meant she wouldn’t try to shield me from what she was going through .

I sank down onto the settee and rested my head in my hands.

A thousand years of raw, uncensored emotion from the woman I loved, while she was fighting for her family, for me, and for her own sanity. It might sound horrific to him, but I knew it was nothing compared to what she was going through.

As the weeks passed, Never’s powerful and erratic emotions slowly stripped my nerves bare, and I began to understand the true nature of my father’s torture.

How could one woman feel so much? She was always on. Every day. Every hour. Every minute it seemed. Always fighting fear and doubt. Always shoving down hope because it hurt her too much to let it in.

Not to mention the physical pain. Plenty of that made its way to me, too. I could only imagine the brutality of the battles she was fighting.

The woman was so much stronger than she gave herself credit for, but with every day that passed, I could feel her hardening inside. And I’d never felt more helpless or worthless in my life.

I confided the truth of my situation to Leo, and while he did his best to sympathize, he couldn’t do much to help. No one could.

When another month was marked out on my wall, my father returned with the same offer: return to Othrys with him, forget about Never, and I could return to my old life amongst the gods. He even offered to sever our connection to help ease the transition.

I refused.

Maybe he was telling the truth and Never couldn’t sense me at all, but it helped me to pretend that she could.

So, instead of drowning my sorrows in enchanted rum until I blacked out, I took to walking the beaches and trails of Nusthena at night so I could pour my heart and soul into that one-way connection.

It was on one of those walks that I came across a familiar silver chain. The metal glittered in the moonlight, half-buried in the damp sand. It was Never’s chain. The one that once held my pendant.

Without thinking, I kneeled and reached for it.

“Careful, Atlas,” a familiar voice warned.

I pulled my hand back and looked up to see Rue stretched out on a nearby rock, her reptilian tail dragging lazily in the shallow water.

“I was starting to wonder if you would ever return to this realm,” I said.

She offered me a half-smile. “It’s good to see you too, Captain.” She nodded toward the chain. “Do you remember what happened the last time you touched that necklace?”

The memory of that moment came flooding back. How could I have forgotten?

The last time, I was hit with a gut-wrenching vision of Never and she was unlike I’d ever seen her before. Her skin glowed with an ethereal amber light, and she was in what I would have described as the fight of her life. Only the physical fray was nothing compared to the battle raging inside her.

“You knew what would happen to her,” I said, glaring at the demigorgon.

She sat up and swiveled to meet my gaze head on.

“Why do you think I left?” Her eyes flicked to the chain at my feet.

“That was all the warning I could offer. Once I had the vision and saw who was involved…” she let out a bitter laugh.

“I couldn’t stay here. Your father would have locked me away to keep me from helping you. ”

I balled my hands into fists, then opened them slowly, letting the stretch pull through every knuckle before asking, “Why would you risk coming back now?”

“Because the wheel is already in motion. There’s nothing either of us can do to interfere.”

A fact I was painfully aware of. “And why stage this meeting?” I asked sharply. It wasn’t that I meant to be rude, but I wasn’t in the mood for more games.

She cast me a look soft with empathy. “Because I can see you, Atlas.” She tapped her temple. “Even when I don’t want to. Your thoughts when you wander this island are deafening. And I see her as well.”

A jolt of excitement tore through me. “I thought your power was limited to the realm you were in.”