There was a white satin aisle runner with chairs on either side. Candelabras were set strategically along the path, giving the whole scene a soft glow. Fireflies fluttered over the water, their lights blinking off and on, just as they had done the night I proposed. It was simple and elegant, just like Kara.
I had loved many women over the centuries, but this one was different. She brought out something in me I hadn’t felt with the others—a sense of being complete. A rather odd statement for the God of War to make, but it was true.
“Nice! Ares is finally getting some. I’m so proud. Maybe now you’ll stop walking around with a stick up your ass.”
I stood up and looked at the hundreds of graves in the cemetery. “You were all brave men,” I said. “It was an honor to go into battle with you. Thank you for your service and your sacrifice. May it not have been in vain.”
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I debated deflecting the question, but my curiosity was too great. “Before I left a few months ago, did you…aim one of your arrows at me? Or anyone else I know?”
I dropped the letter on top of my desk and sighed. There were things that I wish had been different between us, but I believed that we had made some progress in overcoming some of our issues. All I could do now was pray and wish them well, wherever they were at the moment.
I pulled her closer to me, this time being the one to initiate the contact. My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest as she fell against me, wrapping her arms around me like she was holding on for dear life.
I was a bit surprised. Minotaurs were rarely seen in the mortal world anymore. There were small groups in various mountainous regions, but I hadn’t heard reports of them being in Greece in several centuries. Had Alastor recruited some help in his imagined fight with me?
Gods, give me strength. I looked down into her eyes and saw a fire there I hadn’t noticed before. A stray strand of hair had come loose and was hanging in her face. I reached up and tucked it behind her ear, letting my hand gently cup her face for a moment before pulling away. “I don’t want to see you get hurt,” I said quietly.
The last time we saw them, they were still standing on the shoreline, watching us sail away. I never saw the pirate crew again, although I did hear stories about Captain Tooth and the Aye-Aye Crew for many years after our encounter. They certainly gave me an interesting tale to tell.
He thrust his sword toward my midsection, and I quickly stepped aside and watched him stumble forward. I gave him a boot to his behind, sending him tumbling. “You know, you’re supposed to be this big, bad pirate,” I said, “but you fight like a baby. My sisters would have beat you already.”
“This is one of the dumbest things Tooth has ever done,” he said. “Shanghaiing an immortal.”
But then the damn pug did something dirty and underhanded. Something that, to this day, has never been done to me during any battle or fight.
But it was what he was holding that caught my attention the most. It was a black pug wearing a small black leather tricorn with a brown feather on one side.
Kara displayed a certain grace when she was using those weapons. A sense of…” he thought for a moment, “…fluidity, for lack of a better word. It was like she and the weapons were one. To be honest, it was like watching you when you practice. She’s very good.”
