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“ N ow, why are you letting your emotions get the best of you again? I thought you’d moved past that?
” Yumia’s words only served to make Hollyn feel more insecure.
How was she going to face her father and control herself if she couldn’t even express her anger in a situation where she clearly deserved to feel angry.
Instead, she held out her powerless hands and said, “I don’t know what to do.”
“Good!”
“How is that good?”
“Well, I don’t believe the first step to knowing what to do next, is admitting that you don’t know what to do next.”
Hollyn’s brain hurt with Yumia’s illogical logic.
“Let me ask you this. What are you most afraid of, Hollyn?”
Without hesitation, Hollyn said, “Failure.”
“And what happens if you fail?”
Hollyn gave a small, incredulous laugh. “I’m imprisoned for the rest of my life.”
Yumia shrugged, and Hollyn wanted to scream at her nonchalance.
“Maybe. Maybe not. After all, that could have already been your fate if your mother and your aunt hadn’t intervened. I’m just saying that failure isn’t the end. Failure is just a lesson to learn. What you do next determines whether you’ve learned anything or not.”
Hollyn knew Yumia was speaking truth, but it still didn’t help her understand who to trust.
“I feel so confused.”
“Ah, yes, the video, Thian, Katerina, and Kai. It is a muddled mess, isn’t it?”
“You know about all of that?”
Yumia smiled, showing her bright, white teeth. “Girl, there isn’t much I don’t know. Ha!”
“Then, if you know so much, who should I trust? Who’s telling me the truth?”
“Hmm. So, the question is, who is actually behaving loyally, and who has an agenda. That’s what you need to ask yourself? What is everyone’s agenda?”
“How do I figure that out?”
Yumia laughed. “You ask them. However, you have something that they don’t know about.” Yumia held out her hand. “Give me your hand.”
Hollyn laid her palm into Yumia’s, aware that she might just end up against the wall again. Instead, Yumia said, “Ask me something you want to know the answer to, something you think I might lie about.”
“Did you really teach Grigori?”
“Yes.”
A cool, blue flame covered their joined hands and turned green instantly.
“Now, really test me.”
“Did you enjoy my cooking?”
The cool, blue flame flickered for a moment while Yumia deliberated. She finally said, “Yes!”
And the flame turned an instant scarlet.
Yumia laughed heartily. “Haha! You are one of the worst cooks I’ve ever encountered. Definitely, don’t quit your day job.”
Hollyn lifted her arms and embraced Yumia in a tight hug. “You really are an amazing teacher! I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”
They pulled apart and Yumia smiled. “You’ve done it for yourself. I just gave you the push you needed to get there.” She gave Hollyn a cheeky grin, “Now, who’s your daddy?”
Hollyn finally understood the question and how to answer it.
“I’m my own daddy now!”
“Exactly! Always remember that you have control of you. You have power and strength. Use them!”
They hugged once more before Hollyn left Yumia with one last wave and headed back to the room where Thian and Kai were in a shouting match with each other.
“You’re a son of a bitch who tried to convince her I didn’t want her anymore!”
“Bastard! How dare you accuse me of doing anything other than exposing her to the truth!”
“I’ll show you the truth!”
“Not before I show you!”
Hollyn came into the room just as the two men, their hands gripping each other slammed into the vase of roses, sending them crashing to the floor and glass scattered everywhere.
They, then, went careening into the piano keys, making a loud discordant noise as they fell into the white and black keyboard.
They ignored Katerina and Hollyn’s cries to stop, but Hollyn was over it all, and with a zap of her blue magic, she separated them to opposite sides of the room, restraining them against the walls.
Thian growled, “He started it!”
Kai shouted, “And I’m going to finish it!”
“Both of you need to shut up and listen!” Hollyn commanded in a no nonsense voice.
Reluctantly, the two men took their gazes off of each other and looked at Hollyn. She released them slowly and walked to the center of the room.
“Now, I’m going to ask all of you some questions, and you’re going to answer honestly. Everybody agree?”
Hollyn focused on each person in turn and watched as each nodded. She held up her hands in a motion that suggested everyone stay where they are while she walked toward Katerina. Hollyn held out her hand, and Katerina laid hers on top.
“Katerina, did Poseidon set Kai up?”
“Yes. He sent Kai with Triton and Polyphemus who left him so that I could do my part.”
Their hands glowed green, and Katerina nearly pulled away, but Hollyn grabbed her hand and said, “It’s okay. No harm will come to you. I promise.”
Once Katerina relaxed once again, Hollyn asked her, “And what was your part?”
Katerina took a deep breath and glanced at both Kai and Thian for a moment before she focused back on Hollyn and explained, “I was supposed to give him lotus wine, which makes a person lose all sense of time and makes them forget anything other than the moment. But Kai was resistant to the lotus wine. It took three drinks to put him in a state of total unconsciousness and three more to stop him from saying your name over and over.”
Again, their hands glowed green.
Hollyn swallowed hard and asked, “Did anything…intimate…happen between you two.”
Instantly, Katerina said, “No! Nothing happened.”
Hollyn was never so happy to see the color green.
She nodded at Katerina and took a step back. With purpose, she turned toward Thian and held out her hand when she was standing in front of him.
“This is ridiculous! I wouldn’t lie to you, Hollyn.”
“Prove it.” He blew out a frustrated breath and laid his palm on top of hers. Almost instantly, their hands flamed red with energy.
“I haven’t even asked the first question, Thian.”
He pulled back. “Fuck! Okay! He’s going to kill me, but Poseidon sent me here with you with a plan to seduce you. I was supposed to show you the video and be the one to pick up the pieces when you fell apart. But, you didn’t fall apart. You’re too damn strong.”
“Let me see the video again,” Hollyn demanded.
Thian shook his head in disbelief, but he did as she commanded and pushed play on the screen once more.
The sound of people partying filled the small speakers, but Hollyn wasn’t focused on that.
Instead, she zeroed in on Kai’s lips. She swiped her finger across the screen, rewound it, and watched it again.
Clear as can be now, she saw what Kai was mouthing, with his eyes closed.
“Hollyn.” His voice was close enough that she felt his breath on the shell of her ear.
He’d come up behind her and was watching the video with her. She turned and faced him fully. He’d said her name in the video. Even drugged out of his mind, he’d been thinking only of her.
She met his gaze. “I knew I could trust you. I’m sorry I ever let anyone make me doubt it for a second.”
He took her hand in his and lifted it to his mouth for a gentle kiss. “I’ll always come for you, Hollyn. I love you.”
“I love you, too!”
The whole room turned a tinge of green as energy encompassed the pair. An invisible electric current seemed to pass between them as the world around Hollyn faded, and she focused on one thing and one thing only—Kai’s lips.
The kiss was magnetic, pulling them together in a slow touch that turned passionate in an instant.
Hollyn wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her tightly to his chest, sliding one hand up to cradle the nape of her neck.
Hollyn’s whole body sang with desire, and she moaned when he slid his tongue into her mouth, deepening the kiss.
For the first time in days, Hollyn felt that all was right with the world.
As she ran her fingers through his hair and felt the tendrils of sensation swirling in her mid-section and shooting lower, she knew that no matter what else was going on in her world, one truth would never change—she loved Kai.
After a few more passionate moments, Kai and Hollyn pulled back and stared into each other’s eyes.
Kai smiled a crooked smile. “I missed you, baby.”
Hollyn nodded. “Let’s never do that again.”
With a laugh, Kai said, “Agreed. No matter what comes, we’ll face it together.”
With an assurance she wasn’t entirely certain she could follow through with, Hollyn told him they’d face everything together, but deep down, she was afraid that in the end, she’d have to face her father…alone.