When she didn’t respond, I looked over at her. Her expression was blank as she walked the wall.

“He doesn’t think he should be happy or have anything good in life,” I told her, and maybe I shouldn’t have said any of that, but I wasn’t sure if Alex really got the kind of place Seth had been existing in, what he was living. “Some of it has to do with what he had to do. After what went down with Ares, the gods used him to hunt down and kill those who sided with Ares. He was basically their assassin.”

Alex’s lips parted. “I . . . I really didn’t know that.”

“And I know all about the things he did when he was working with Ares. He hasn’t forgiven himself for that. Not that some of those things he’d done or been a party to even warrant forgiveness, but he . . . he’s stuck, and it’s not right,” I said, stopping when she came to the edge and peered down at me. “I know there are things you probably will never be able to either forgive him for or forget about.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Sometimes I’ve completely forgiven him. Other times I still want to punch him.”

“Understandable.” I met her gaze.

Several moments passed and then Alex turned her gaze to the sky. Her shoulders rose. “I worry about him.”

“You—”

“I worry about what he’s capable of,” she added, and I tensed. “I know that’s not something you want to hear and please know it’s not . . . it’s not coming from a bad place. Seth is . . . he gave up everything to make sure Aiden and I had forever. There is good in him, so much good, but . . .”

I thought about what Medusa had said. “But what?”

Her lashes lowered, shielding her eyes. “There is so much darkness in him.”

“I know,” I whispered. “But he can find the light.”

Alex said nothing.

“He deserves a real life,” I insisted. “He deserves a second chance.”

“Agreed.” She jumped off the ledge, landing nimbly beside me. “I mean, Seth has issues, but he deserves happiness. He really does.”

“I’m going to make sure he has that,” I told her, and I wanted to scream it from the mountaintops.

Alex’s eyes widened as she stared at me. “That’s pretty hardcore.”

I shrugged. “It’s true.”

There was a pause. “You love him, don’t you?”

There was no hesitation. “I’m in love with him.”

CHAPTER 24

With a hammering heart, I tried to hold still, to do exactly what Seth had ordered me to do, but this was pure torture.

Blissful, crazy, delicious torture.

Seth’s calloused palms glided up my inner thighs and around to grip my rear. I stared at the top of his bowed head. Part of me couldn’t get over the fact that he was on his knees in front of me.

Tension ebbed and crested, and I bit down on my lip as his tongue moved along the seam of my thigh. He was killing me. Slowly. Like he’d killed me that night before, when he finally returned from meeting with Solos and we snuck back to his room. We didn’t get a lot of talking done then. Our tongues and mouths had been busy with other things. We didn’t have a lot of time alone today either. Not when we had to spend the majority of the day preparing for the trip in the morning.

My hips twitched as his tongue moved closer to where I really, really wanted his tongue to be.

“Don’t move,” he commanded in a rough voice that sent a shiver racing across my skin.

At my sides, my fingers spasmed with the need to bury them in his hair and guide that wonderful, and somehow still incredibly annoying mouth over just a few inches. “I’m not moving.”

“You’re moving.” He kissed my inner thigh. “Restraint is an acquired skill.”

I glared at the top of his head.

“One that I haven’t really mastered.” Lashes lifted, and air lodged in my throat as our gazes connected. “Which will be sort of obvious in a few seconds.”

His warm breath danced over where I wanted him so badly. I held my breath. He moved his hands, using his thumbs to open me up.

“Oh gods,” I whispered.

His tongue skimmed along the heated flesh, wringing a tight gasp from me. He moved to the other side, avoiding the center, and he kept licking and tasting until my legs shook.

“Ambrosia could not be sweeter than you,” he growled, and then his tongue delved in. He lapped and sucked, and I couldn’t keep my hips still. There was no way. I moved against his mouth.

There was a stuttered heartbeat and then his mouth closed over me. Crying out, I let my head fall back as he suckled deep and hard. I fell right over the edge, into waves and waves of shuddering pleasure.

Suddenly, I was flipped around. A hand landed on the center of my back, guiding me over. My hands hit the bed and my arms shook as Seth gripped my hip with his other hand. I was still coming when he entered me from behind.

This position was new, and holy crap, I’d never felt anything like it. He was in and in deep, and moving, pounding. His strokes were hard and fast, knocking my hair forward and in front of my face. My arms gave out, but before I could fall forward, I was lifted up once more. He moved me, controlled me with an ease that was overwhelming.

And hot.

Really, really hot.

I was on my back and my legs were over his shoulders and he was in me, plunging and retreating, and the tension was spinning tighter and tighter again.

Seth’s striking face was a mask of determination, jaw hard and lips thin. His eyes were an incredible, luminous tawny color. My hips buckled and my back arched as he drove in, over and over until the tension broke apart once more, taking him with me. He stiffened, kicking his head back as he groaned out my name. Veins jutted out in stark relief as he pulsed deep inside me.