Chapter 17

Within twenty minutes, Lauren had not only wheedled Dimitri’s sister out of her phone—this one hopefully not tracked within an inch of its life—she’d also gotten her to take her to the one place in town with decent cell service. The local sports bar and bookie shop. It all made a weird sort of sense. Even complete Luddites needed connectivity to place their bets and watch the latest games. With assurances that she wanted only to take care of critical wire transfers, she stepped to the side of the bar as Alexi ordered them both food and drinks. Breakfast already seemed hours ago, and Lauren hadn’t really been focusing on her meal. Not with Dimitri in front of her in his half-naked glory.

Dimitri. When he’d kissed her, there in his house, it legit had felt like the earth had moved beneath her. Was she more exhausted than she’d realized? Was the island playing tricks on her?

Her attention was recalled by the crisp voice on the phone. It took only a few tries to get transferred to a real human, one of the perks of her name, she knew. You learned to take the good with the bad.

Lauren put the transaction through quickly, double-checked all the other accounts, and changed all the passwords, leaving strict instructions on what constituted any further “authorized” changes. The process only took a few minutes, which was the whole point of setting everything up in advance. At least now her money was safe. That was the easy part.

But she had another call to make. One she didn’t want to make on Alexi’s phone, if she could help it. The bank call was safe enough, even if Dimitri had a bead on his sister’s device. This one, Nicki had insisted needed to be more private. Plus, she had a second reason to find an untracked phone.

She made a show of wandering back into the little pub, wide-eyed and eager. Since it was afternoon, the pub was hopping—or as hopping as she expected it ever got on this tiny dot of an island. The clientele was mostly male, which was in her favor. She needed to single one of the guys out and…

Shit.She didn’t have any money. She wasn’t going to be able to call anyone if she couldn’t buy a phone from some hapless tourist. That wasn’t going to happen without cash. She’d have to find another way.

Trying not to let her irritation show, she rejoined Alexi and prepared herself for a long meal and a longer day trying to find clothes. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate Dimitri’s sister. The woman was sweet, practical, and strikingly pretty—her dark eyes big and flashing, her riot of curly black hair a perfect match to her buoyant personality. But Lauren didn’t have time for her. She didn’t have time for anyone. “Here you go,” she said, handing back the phone. “I only made the one call, and it shouldn’t charge you?—”

“Keep it.” Alexi grinned at her, and Lauren blinked at her, startled.

“I can’t keep your phone. I’ll run up charges.”

“Then Dimitri will pay them.” Alexi pointed to the phone. “It’s what he calls a ‘burner.’ Charming name, don’t you think? You burn it up and throw it out. Only mine stays good for much longer than he seems to think.”

“He gave you a burner phone?” Lauren frowned at her. So maybe the phone wasn’t tracked after all? “But why?”

“Because he’s a big, overprotective ox. And I say that with love and affection. But I have six of those phones in their boxes at home, minutes already charged to them, and I don’t know when I’m going to get to them.” Alexi smiled at Lauren’s confusion. “With Dimitri, you don’t always get reasons. He simply does things.”

“When did he start, though? Sending you phones?”

Alexi cast her gaze skyward. “It was a year ago, of course. After Prince Ari died.” She smiled grimly. “That’s why he said he gave them to us—so we could call him with any information about the prince’s plane. Such a tragedy, truly. We lost Dimitri that day as much as Aristotle. He said we might find—he didn’t know. Something. Wreckage of the plane washed up on the island. Information from the fishermen or divers. Something. He spared no expense—and not only for the family, but friends and neighbors as well. The local fishermen. Everyone.”

She shook her head. “We suspected he mostly wanted us to be safer. He took it very hard when Ari died. Went dark for days, wouldn’t eat. Came here, you know, but we didn’t see him. He combed the beaches and coves for debris. Very sad.” She sighed. “He blamed himself.”

Despite herself, Lauren found herself leaning closer. She didn’t need to pry into Dimitri’s life; it was none of her business. And yet the idea of the rough-and-tumble captain scavenging the rocky shoreline of this tiny island for wreckage that he had to know wasn’t forthcoming made her unaccountably sad.

“Why did he think Ari’s plane would wash this far south?” she asked. “I thought he took off from the mainland and crashed...” She frowned, trying to remember the details. “Wasn’t it near Thassos?”

“You know the story! But of course you do. I forget that the whole world was watching our little country for a while. Yes, Thassos is where they found the wreckage, after that storm blew up and the seas finally calmed enough for the search. But Dimitri, he was convinced Ari wasn’t heading to Thassos but to Samothrace, east of us. There is a small landing strip there, and the royal family has a house, as they do on many of the Greek islands. Dimitri became convinced everyone was looking in the wrong place.” She sighed. “He couldn’t let it go.”

“And did you? Find any wreckage?”

Alexi shook her head. “We didn’t. There was no wreckage to be had. And everyone looked. When he started giving out his phones to the fishermen, men you’d think would simply sell the things off to tourists and make some fast cash, they didn’t. We all felt for Dimitri and for his quest. The only things that have ever turned up, however, are parts and debris from Turkish planes. Which makes sense—we are one of the easternmost islands in the Aegean, and if the seas wish to offer up her finds, it’s often those that have washed over from Turkey. But that’s it. Dimitri looked over the Turkish debris for a while, then he, eventually, trusted us to know what it was we were looking for.” Her expression turned rueful. “He’s never stopped sending the phones, though. When he does, then we’ll know he’s finally on the path to healing, yes?”

They passed the rest of the meal on lighter topics, but Lauren couldn’t let the search for Ari’s plane go. She puzzled over it while they shopped—a euphemism, as when someone else is buying you clothes, you accept whatever largesse they see fit to give. As they moved through the tourist section of Miranos, a surprisingly thriving minimarket that catered to divers and sun worshippers alike, her attention drifted again and again to the open waters of the Aegean.

“It’s beautiful, I know.” Alexi stopped beside her, shielding her eyes as the sun glared down on them. “You will see, this is only the beginning. The sunset celebration is truly breathtaking.”

“This is the western coast,” Lauren said. “This is where he thought the plane would have washed up?”

“Yes.” Alexi pointed to a spot where the island stretched into the sea, like the defiant prow of a ship. “The water is relatively shallow there, and there are reefs that are treacherous to navigate. It’s a natural holding spot for anything the sea might wish to share with us. Dimitri used to camp out there when...ah, when he was little. A long time ago. Ironic that now that he’s a grown man, it’s become such a mix of despair and hope for him. Every tide brought new possibilities and ultimately new disappointment.”

Lauren scanned the open water. From this height, she couldn’t see the beach below them, where Dimitri had his villa. She knew without asking, though, that the beach was connected to the distant promontory. How many times had he taken his beach rover out to that lonely spot, casting out for an answer that wouldn’t come? Her heart shifted uncomfortably in her chest. Dimitri wasn’t her problem.

She closed her fingers around Alexi’s phone. Right now, she had plenty of her own problems to solve, and now was as good of a time as any to get started.

“Give me a minute?” she asked Alexi, waving the phone as the other woman nodded, apparently happy to settle onto a boardwalk bench to wait.

Lauren wheeled away, walking fast. Angling herself toward the center of town and the lone cell tower, she looked in either direction, though what she expected to see she didn’t know. No one knew she was here. No one could reasonably guess that she was here.

She hoped that that would stay the case, despite the calls she was making now.

She dialed the number and turned back to face the ocean. Her heart was in her throat as it rang—and rang.

No one picked up. Lauren closed her eyes, knowing she shouldn’t be so grateful. Her sister Maddie could have missed the phone call entirely, or been at one of her interminable practices. The only way to know that she was actually following Lauren’s instructions was to finish out the protocol. She swiped the text icon for the same number, keyed in the three letters. Her phone jumped in her hand less than a minute later.

“Lauren! Where are you? Mom and Dad are so pissed!”

Lauren closed her eyes against the sudden rush of affection. Maddie hadn’t been a planned child, to hear her mother speak. Her father, however, had doted on her from the beginning, in a way he’d never quite seen his way clear to doing for her. Lauren didn’t mind, because Maddie was so much younger than she was—eight years. A lifetime, it seemed, sometimes. Maddie had been a true gift to their family—she was sweet, special. And Lauren would make sure she would always be protected.

“Hey, sweetheart,” she said now, past the lump in her throat. “I’m fine, but I’m going to be out of touch for a few days, okay? I didn’t want you to worry.”

“Where are you? Are you in hiding? Mom said you totally ran away from a party.” The excitement in her sister’s voice made her heart ache. “You’re a renegade. This is so cool.”

“Yeah, it’s real cool,” laughed Lauren. “But keep my secret, okay?”

“Are you kidding? Of course. You better bring me back some awesome stories, though.”

Lauren sighed, looking out over the sparkling Aegean. “I’m working on it.”

They clicked off, and Lauren stared down at her phone, but only gave herself one long breath before she started dialing again.

When they’d talked a few hours earlier, Nicki had been absolutely insistent that Emmaline had to talk with Lauren personally whenever she was not around Dimitri—and she wouldn’t breathe a word of the reason why. That kind of restraint was definitely not like Nicki.

She pushed the call through and heard the connection click, then smiled wide as Emmaline picked up. “Lauren?” her friend asked, a little breathlessly.

“Em!” Lauren stepped beneath the cool shade of a brace of trees, instantly feeling better. Em just had that effect on people. “What’s up? Nicki was acting like you needed to share a state secret with me.”

“I...oh,” Emmaline said, and even with an ocean between them, Lauren could feel her friend’s tension ratchet up. “Crap, I didn’t think about that. Do you think this line is safe?”

Safe for what?Lauren glanced at the phone. “It’s a burner that no one is tracking.” She hoped. “I think we’re fine.”

“Okay, well—I mean, I have to tell you this, Lauren. You need to know. You’re on that island with Dimitri, and—I mean, you need to know.” Emmaline was talking at a speed of an auctioneer, and Lauren had handled enough delicate conversations in her life to know when to just be quiet and let the other person speak. Even as her eyes widened at Emmaline’s next words.

“O?ros isn’t the country we thought it was,” she blurted. “I mean, it is, but it’s so much more than just a cute little kingdom on the sunny side of Greece. It was founded by one of the descendants of Hercules and eventually became border control for the gods, keeping them corralled in Olympus and barely ever letting them pass through to earth.”

Lauren blinked. “Border control.”

As if she thought Lauren might tell her to stop, Emmaline rushed on. “There’s a gate, okay? And the royal family—Kristos’s family—are the gatekeepers, and they’ve been keeping the gods on their side of the wall for something like twelve hundred years and it’s a seriously big secret. Seriously, no one knows. But they told me, because...”

As she faltered, Lauren supplied the obvious reason. “Because you’re getting married, and that was something you should know up front.” Her words sounded normal, even sane. Even if there was nothing sane about what Emmaline was saying.

Even as she thought that, though, Lauren found herself turning this new information over in her mind. She knew the fabled history of O?ros, of course. She’d learned the basics of the country when she’d learned the language—the founding by a member of the Heracleidae, the literal hundreds of temples and statues still very much intact. But an actual connection with the real gods of Olympus? Wherein the intrepid royal family was set up as gatekeeper to Earth? Was that possible?

I mean...maybe?It certainly would explain the country’s strength over the centuries—its wealth and safety, and its undeniable beauty. The O?rois people were some of the healthiest in all of Europe, and the country had never suffered plague, nor war, nor blight…

But Emmaline was talking again, and Lauren refocused sharply when she heard Dimitri’s name. “Wait, say that again?” she demanded.

Emmaline exhaled a shaky breath. “I said, that’s why they were so freaked out about Henry Smithson going after you so aggressively. They think he may, you know, have a connection with the god Typhon. Not the actual god, I don’t think, but one of his minions. They don’t like him.”

“Yeah,” Lauren managed. She immediately recalled her conversation with Stefan in the limo, how she’d outlined Henry’s use of the name Typhon on his boat. When he’d said that the royal family wasn’t a fan of the god, she’d thought he was making a joke to put her at ease. But now…

She cleared her throat. “Are you okay?” she asked Emmaline, because in the end, that was all that mattered.

“Me? You know, I am. It’s not even a question of me believing them—I do. I totally do. And I told them I’d be telling you guys and Kristos didn’t officially forbid me, so...here I am. I knew I had to tell you as soon as possible. Like, right now. Especially now.”

“Okay, but why?” Lauren asked, genuinely confused. “Because of Henry? They really think he’s, ah...joined some sort of Typhon cult?” Once again, it sounded preposterous, but with as skeevy as Henry was, she somehow could see him falling in with the god of monsters. And if the gatekeepers of the gods thought that Typhon was amassing supporters or something, she could see how that would be a problem. But Dimitri was handling that problem, right? That’s why she was here. Alone with him. On a gorgeous island in the middle of the Aegean.

She grinned. If this was what she had to do to keep the world safe from the gods, she supposed she could handle it.

Emmaline sighed on the other end of their cell connection, still sounding unreasonably upset. “I mean, yes, but, um Lauren—there’s more.”

Lauren’s brows climbed. “More.”

“Yes. It’s... well, it’s about Dimitri.”