Poseidon (Contemporary Mythos Book 5)

I awoke the following day with my butt nestled against Poseidon’s hips, his large arms wrapped around me, and his breath scaling the back of my neck. During the happy years, there were so many mornings like this. Only the golden pillars of Atlantis would greet me versus a humble apartment bedroom. Could I go back to it? It sounded absurd, but was I still made for the life of royalty? Of a goddess?

“Is this okay?” Poseidon’s gruff voice mumbled near my earlobe.

I smiled to myself, nuzzling closer and pulling his arms tighter around me. “More than okay.”

“Survived the night without any more sea hags threatening your life. That’s a plus.” He grinned into my hair, inhaling me.

“Oh, good. You two are already sleeping together. Progress,” a woman’s fluttery voice filled the room.

We sat up, and I clung the sheets to my chest like I was naked. Poseidon conjured his trident, darting all three prongs at the throat of the blonde woman standing at the foot of the bed.

Her hands splayed and waved in front of her, producing a red wall of swirling glitter like a shield. “Woah there, spinach chin. It’s Aphrodite.”

“Aphrodite?” I kicked the covers away and rustled to standing, smoothing my hair out. “What the hell are you doing here? And in the middle of my bedroom, for that matter?”

Poseidon narrowed his eyes, keeping the weapon aimed at the love goddess.

“Seriously, P?” Aphrodite pointed at the prongs.

“Answer her question,” Poseidon barked.

Aphrodite fluttered her fingers, making the glittering shield disappear, and crossed her arms in a huff. “Yeesh. You do the family a favor and get a trident at your throat.”

“What favor?” I cocked a brow.

“I’m sure you’ve been wondering how you got out of the stars where my dear dad so graciously banished you?”

I stole a glance at Poseidon, who didn’t take his gaze from Aphrodite, his grip tightening on the trident’s hilt. “The thought crossed my mind.”

Aphrodite pointed at her chest. “You’re lookin’ at her.”

“You? But why?” I tapped a finger against my lips.

“Why? I had to have a reason? I am the goddess of love. Give me a little cred?” She hung her thumbs from the belt loops of her pale pink skinny pants.

Poseidon grumbled, making the trident disappear in shimmering sea spray. He stood and crossed the room to stand next to me.

Aphrodite pressed her palms together, curling her hands under her chin with a sparkling grin. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to see this.”

“Don’t get too excited. We’re not together.” Poseidon ran his fingers through his hair, followed by his beard, quickly grooming himself.

Ouch. He’d spoken the truth, and I gave him no clue to the contrary, but the words still stung like the wrath of a man o’ war.

“You’re right. I suppose you’d have been naked when I popped in. Poo.” Aphrodite stuck her bottom lip out as she tapped her white heel against the hardwood floor.

“Are you going to explain how you did it?” I scooted closer to Poseidon, aching to feel his warmth against my skin.

“I’m rather proud of myself.” She ruffled her wheat-colored locks and clapped her hands together. “With my dad’s power, there are always loopholes. It keeps him from being all-powerful. He turned you into a constellation, right? Which made your organic form non-existent. To pull you straight from the stars as you were was impossible, especially the goddess part.” The golden heart pendant hanging around her neck swayed on its chain as she paced.

“Go on,” I encouraged, fishing for Poseidon’s finger and curling mine around it once I’d found it. I caught a quick smile on him from the corner of my eye.

“It was a simple reincarnation spell. You’d be reborn as a mortal. A demi-god. And all you’d have to do is find Poseidon, agree to become Queen again, schlep on over to Zeus, and boom, done deal.” She made explosion gestures on each side of her head. “Nifty, right?”

“As much as I appreciate what you did, did you honestly think it’d have been that easy to find Poseidon in one lifetime?” I pressed my cheek against Poseidon’s arm. “I couldn’t remember who I was, and he didn’t know I was alive.”

Aphrodite snapped her fingers. “A small oversight on my part, but with continual reincarnations, it gave you all the time you needed to come together. However, I didn’t know the opposing curse annoying Athena invoked at the time.” She rolled her eyes and stared at her fingernail, flicking something from it.

“What curse?” Poseidon stepped forward.

“On you, surfer boy.”

Poseidon chuckled, looking at me and pointing to himself. “Me? She put a curse on one of the kings?”

“Yes. That whole Medusa business? My sister is a rather smart cookie. Medusa wasn’t the only one punished for your little frolic in Athena’s temple.”

It hadn’t bothered me. We weren’t together. He didn’t know I was alive. It still didn’t make the green-eyed monster any less ferocious.

“Out with it, Aphrodite,” Poseidon snarled.

“Okay, okay.” Aphrodite held her hands up and flicked her hair. “She knew she couldn’t punish you to the lengths she did Medusa, but when she heard about my spell—she cursed you. As many times as Amphitrite would be reincarnated, if you saw her, you wouldn’t recognize her. Until you became a changed man—selfless, humble, loving.” She shifted her weight to one hip, tapping a fingernail against her cheek. “She never did specify if it was one or all of those things.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Poseidon clenched his fists. “I could’ve found Amph hundreds or thousands of years ago? We could’ve already been together?”

“Fraid so, P. But hey, you finally found each other, right? Though, why the Tartarus aren’t you Queen again yet?” Aphrodite raised her thin, sculpted brows.

“It’s complicated,” I mumbled.

“I can’t believe her. You better believe I’m giving Athena a piece of my mind.” Poseidon started pacing, dragging his hands over his face and beard.

“Seid.” I touched his forearm, willing him to stop moving and look at me. “You said it yourself. My banishment to the stars had a positive spin to it. It made you a loving father and a changed man. If we would’ve met before we both had changed—this may have never worked.”

The skin between Poseidon’s eyes cinched, and he took my face in his hands. “You’re right.”

“Okay, so what exactly is complicated about this? Do you two realize how much love is coursing through this room? It’s almost strangling me.”

Poseidon winced and shook his head, pressing a palm to his temple. His hands fell away from my skin with a grimace. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Elani has the worst timing.”

“Elani? She talked to you too?” Aphrodite leaned against my bed frame.

“Yeah. She wants me to turn her. I just didn’t think it’d be that quick.” Poseidon rubbed the back of his head.

“If Elani’s anything like my son, once she knows what she wants, she goes for it.” Shooting her gaze to me, Aphrodite grinned.

“You’re leaving? Right now?” I asked, trying to hide the disappointment in my voice.

“Five minutes, Starfish.” He kissed my forehead. “I promise I’ll be back. It’s a favor for Eros.” He backpedaled, holding five fingers up before he disappeared.

“Eros? What’s going on, Dite?”

She played with the heart charm, working it back and forth on the chain. “My son found true love.”

“Found? What about Psyche?”

Aphrodite coughed and scratched the back of her head. “Mistakes were made, obstacles overcome, but the important thing is he found Elani. She’s a gem.”

“And she’s mortal…” I trailed off, turning away and walking into my living room.

“Listen. I’m not exactly the best to give relationship advice, but—” Aphrodite followed me, making exaggerated steps by planting her heel first.

“Shouldn’t you be the best, goddess of love?” I bit back a smile as I trickled fish food into the tank.

“You would think, but most people find the lack of my own relationship distrusting. Go figure.” She snorted. “But all I wanted to ask was why you’re so afraid. You were born for this, Amphitrite.”

“I know. And everything about it feels like home but—” Bunching my shirt at my stomach, I stared at the fish. “I don’t want to revert to that old version of myself.”

“Phi.” Aphrodite tapped my shoulder, causing me to turn on my heel to face her. “You’ve lived over a dozen full lives. Have experienced virtually everything a mortal can. What makes you think for a moment you haven’t learned from all these lifetimes? You won’t do it again. And neither will Poseidon. As flawed as he was, he missed you like Tartarus.”

A weak smile pulled at my lips. I did want to calm the seas once more with him at my side.

“And despite Zeus hounding him every other year to marry another Queen, he refused. Got pretty ugly up there on Olympus a time or two. Those two can fight like bulldogs, I swear.” Aphrodite blew out a breath.

He never married again. Not even for politics’s sake.

“About these other lives—” I turned to face her with folded arms. “I get flashes of memories so vivid it’s as if I’m reliving them. It’s damn near debilitating. I couldn’t risk it happening in the middle of a fight, or when I’m addressing the council, or—what kind of Queen would I be?”

Aphrodite fluttered her lashes with widened eyes. “You remember all of them? All of your lives?”

“Yes.”

“Well, shit.” Aphrodite frowned and scratched her cheek. “I didn’t see that one coming.”

Flopping to the edge of the bed, I sulked. “I’ve tried to suppress the flashes, but the power behind them is too strong.”

“Maybe—” Aphrodite sat next to me. “—it’d be different when you’re a goddess again. You’ll have the strength to fight them?”

“I don’t think I should take that chance. There have been mortal lives at stake with some of the battles Seid and I have fought. I’d never forgive myself if someone died because I froze during a flashback.” Balling my hands into fists, I beat them against my thighs.

“What a bummer,” Aphrodite whispered, clicking her nails together before snapping her fingers. “I got it. Mnemosyne.”

“The Titan?”

Shaking her head with a fluttery cackle, Aphrodite slapped my shoulder. “Olympus, no. When Dad imprisoned them, she transferred her powers to a river in the Underworld.”

Gripping the mattress, I turned to her with a raised brow. “What kind of powers?”

“Memory.” She grinned with her chin lifted.

I sucked in a breath, holding it until my lungs burned.

“Phi, you don’t have to make a decision now, but promise me you’ll think about it?” Aphrodite rested a hand on my knee, making me jump.

“Of course, I’ll think about it.”

“That’s my girl.” Aphrodite squeezed my thigh.

My mind dove into the possibilities of what life would’ve been like if we were to have lived mortal lives as a family. An animated image of my children surrounding the tank and feeding the fish swam through my brain. Rhode stood on her tiptoes, trying to reach it, and Triton picked her up. Closing my eyes, I pushed off the bed to stand. “I abandoned my family once. I’m not doing it again.”

Aphrodite followed and gave me a side hug. “We’ve all done things in our formative years we regret, even if some of us would never admit it. Olympus knows I could be a real harpy back then, but I’d like to think we still all had our moments.”

Chuckling, I nudged her in the side with my elbow. “Careful. You’re starting to sound like Athena.”

Aphrodite gagged before giggling.

The swirls in the carpet came to life as I stared at them, transgressing into a paintbrush in my hand swirling in water. An emerald green dress clung to my legs as I raised the brush to the canvas, painting a landscape of rolling green hills and a perfectly formed stone castle against a brightly lit horizon.

“Phi?” Aphrodite’s voice echoed through my mind.

The feel of the brush’s handle became less and less concrete as I pulled myself away from the memory. Aphrodite tugged on my shirt sleeve, and I snapped my gaze to hers.

“It just happened, didn’t it?” Aphrodite’s brow furrowed as she stroked my hair.

“How long was I staring into space?”

She continued to soothe me. “A few minutes. Please, please consider the river, Amphitrite.”

“I need to talk to Poseidon,” I whispered, gulping.

Aphrodite nodded and stepped back after giving my arm one last reassuring squeeze. “The hardest part is over. You found each other. You’ll figure it out.”

“Thank you, Dite.”

She smiled, sparkly and radiant. “Anytime, toots.” And she was gone in a blast of glitter and rose petals.

I stepped to my fish tank, swirling my fingertips through the surface, preening as the fins occasionally brushed my skin. Closing my eyes, I whispered, “Poseidon.”

In a breath, he appeared behind me, his arms enveloping my waist.

He kissed my nape and splayed his hands over my stomach. “You rang, Starfish?”

“Everything good with Eros and—what was her name?” I sank into him, tracing my hands over his arms, still keeping my eyes closed.

“Elani. And mmhm. She’s a goddess of love, and they’re bonded. I did my part. Rest is up to them.” He pulled me tighter against him, trailing his lips over my ear, moistening it.

“Any other interruptions I should be expecting in the next twenty-four hours?”

“By Olympus, I hope not.”

Turning to face him, I cupped his cheek. “I spoke with Aphrodite about my constant flashing memories.”

“Oh? Did she have an idea how to stop them?”

I let my gaze fall to the hemp bracelet on his wrist, running my fingertips over one of the shells. “The Mnemosyne River.”

“I forgot it even existed.” He grinned and tightened his grip on my waist. “What are we waiting for?”

“Seid, I don’t know how it works. There is no way in Tartarus I’m losing my memories of the kids, of us, of my life as Cordelia? I won’t let it happen.” Slipping away from him, I turned my back and cupped my hands over my mouth to stifle a whimper.

His hand slipped over my elbow. “Then we’ll talk to Laurel.”

“Laurel?” Sniffling, I gazed at him over my shoulder.

“Apollo’s wife. He made her leader of the Muses.”

The Apollo I remembered was anything but selfless. His arrogance almost rivaled that of his father.

“No shit.”

Poseidon let out a hearty chuckle. “I know, I thought that too, but Laurel can get us in touch with a Muse, and maybe they can give us more information. Their mother was Mnemosyne after all.”

A newfound hope erupted in my chest like a geyser. “Yes. Let’s do it.”

“Your chariot awaits.” He held his hands out to me with a wry grin.

Slipping my palms over his, I slid into his arms, and he ported us away. We stood in a studio with ballet barres on three walls, mirrors on the fourth, and speakers aligned in each corner. A blonde woman with her hair in a bun stretched on one barre, gasping when she spied us over her shoulder.

“Poseidon,” she breathed out, clapping a hand over her chest. “Muses, you startled me.”

Poseidon pressed a hand to my lower back, urging me to step forward. “Laurel, this is Cordelia or as she used to be known, Amphitrite.”

Laurel’s sky-blue eyes widened as she fluttered toward us, her pointe shoes clonking against the floor. “The Amphitrite?”

“Yes, it’s—complicated.” I shook her hand.

Laurel smiled and cocked her head to the side. “You’re mortal.”

“As she said—complicated,” Poseidon added with a smirk.

“Well to what do I owe the visit from the King and Queen of the Seas?” She folded her arms, making the black leotard on her torso tighten across her chest.

“We hoped you could call one of the Muses for us. Any of them would do. We have some questions only they can answer.” Poseidon wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

Laurel closed her eyes for several moments before blinking them open. “Absolutely. Euterpe is the only available one, but she’s already been summoned. Should be here momentarily.”

“Thank you.” I distracted myself by scanning the studio. “Is this place yours?”

Laurel nodded with a broad smile, displaying her arms at her sides. “Yes. Apollo and I bought it to have our own place to practice.”

“And Apollo? How’s that going?” Poseidon asked gruffly.

Laurel batted a stray piece of blonde hair from her eyes. “I couldn’t ask for a better partner in virtually every aspect of life.”

My emotions seemed to be on overdrive lately as the serene look on her face brought tears to my eyes. Forcing them back, I pressed a hand to my chest with a warm smile. People—even gods—could change.

A whoosh sounded behind us.

“Apologies for the delay,” Euterpe started, dusting off her robes as she moved to stand beside Laurel. “I had to finish scribing the notes for a new piece before I forgot them.”

“No matter.” Laurel smiled and rested a hand on Euterpe’s shoulder. “Poseidon and Amphitrite have a question for you.”

Euterpe’s eyes widened at me, and she bowed her head. “Amphitrite, I had no idea you were back.”

With vigor, I shook my head and held up a palm. “No need for bowing. I’m not Queen.”

“Yet,” Poseidon added.

My cheeks warmed, and I smiled.

“The Mnemosyne River. How does it work exactly?” Poseidon folded his arms, his jaw tightening.

Euterpe cut a glance to Laurel before looking back at us. “You wish to have memories erased?”

“Me. Yes.” The words came out as a whispered squeak.

“If you decide to drink from my mother’s river, you must know this—only the memories you hold dear will remain. Be certain you know what those are, or you will lose even the happiest of memories—” She paused, making sure I looked her in the eyes before concluding. “—forever.”

I stumbled backward, and Poseidon caught me, pressing his muscular chest to my back.

“Are you certain? There’s no way to pinpoint the memories?” Poseidon traced his fingers over my biceps.

Euterpe shook her head with a frown. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what memories are you trying to get rid of?” Laurel played with the string of her ballet skirt.

Did I want to lose the memories of my past lives altogether? No, not really. They were as much a part of me as Amphitrite and Cordelia, but my family—this life was far more important.

“Memories I don’t need anymore.” I looked up at Poseidon and slipped my hand into his.

“Do you need me for anything else, my liege?” Euterpe turned to Laurel.

Laurel bowed her head. “No, Euterpe, thank you. Go finish your symphony.”

Euterpe turned to face us. “I hope you get the answers you seek, Amphitrite.” After a swirl of her arm, she disappeared.

My heart thumped against my chest. “Seid, let’s go to the Underworld before I lose my nerve.”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded instead of answering him, unsure if I could say the words.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Amphitrite. I hope the river works in your favor.” Laurel gave a warm smile, followed by a graceful curtsy.

“Thank you, Laurel.” I squeezed Poseidon’s hand, urging him to port us.

Poseidon hugged me to him. “Tell Apollo it’s his turn to host poker night.”

Laurel laughed and tapped the wooden block of her pointe shoe against the floor. “I’ll be sure to do that.”

My hair flew behind me as Poseidon took us to the Underworld. It’d been so long since I was here. The chill in the air and the smell of sulfur surrounding us sent a shiver through my bones.

“It’s right in front of you, sweetheart.” Poseidon kissed the top of my head. “All you have to do is drink if this is what you want.”

I had my forehead pressed to his chest; my eyes closed so tightly it made the skin above my nose ache. After taking a deep, calming breath, I slipped away from him and turned to the dark river water, the sconces hanging above us in the dank cave reflecting orange shimmers over the surface. Dropping to my knees, I scooped the water into my palms and held them in front of me, hovering near my lips.