Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

A lexis was up to something, and Penelope knew it. He had been thoughtful since they started to sail back from Greece to Venice, and she would occasionally catch the scent of cinnamon and firecrackers on his clothes, which told her he was testing some kind of magic.

Penelope had tried getting it out of him a few times, but he had only smiled enigmatically and said, "You'll see. Let it be a mystery."

When she had tried to point out yet again that he already had enough mysteries, he had kissed her so thoroughly, it had convinced her to drop the argument in favor of getting him out of his clothes. Even now, Penelope's gaze lingered on the shape of his ringed hands on the wheel of the ship.

Obsession , the waves crashing against the boat whispered to her. They weren't wrong.

But then, obsession had always shaped her life. She had been obsessed with finding Atlantis, obsessed with stopping Thevetat, and obsessed with the magicians and their secrets. She was obsessed with the unknown magic that was now in her veins.

And Alexis. Through it all, she was still obsessed with knowing him and having the chance to love him and be loved by him.

She regretted none of it. When Penelope followed her urges and obsessions, when she blocked out all the naysayers in her world, they always led her to greater, deeper truths.

Now, she was untethered from all the restrictions placed on her by her family, her career, and her bank account. She was free.

Some nights, she woke with anxiety squeezing her body tight with the thought that it would all be taken away from her. She would wake up and find herself in a cramped corner cubicle at a university, buried in mindless grant paperwork. The tedium of bureaucracy would slowly add weights to her ankles when all she wanted to do was run and dig until the world spilled out all its mysteries to her.

The part of her that was linked to the Archives throbbed with longing the closer they got to Venice. Yes, it was past time to go back to them. If nothing else, it was becoming too cold and miserable to dive every day, with winter closing in on them.

Penelope's eyes drew back to Alexis, who had begun to glow, an aura of gold shimmering around his broad shoulders and dark hair. The glamor he was whispering settled over the boat, and they sailed from the Gulf of Venice and into the lagoon. Sailboats as big as theirs weren't allowed to come into the city, but those kinds of rules didn't apply to the magician who had called the islands home since it was a cluster of huts on poles.

The dome of Santa Maria della Salute rose in front of them, and the gray-blue waves lapped against the hull— home, home, home.

Penelope never thought she would see the day that she felt a true sense of 'home' anywhere. She was wrong. Venice was a different feeling of home than the remnants of Atlantis that called to her, but both enfolded her in a sense of deep belonging.

Penelope moved from the side of the boat to slip her arms around Alexis.

"Home," she whispered.

Alexis drew her closer into his warmth and kissed her forehead before fixing his brilliant indigo eyes on her.

"Home," he repeated, and she knew he was talking about her just as much as the city.

Penelope's feeling of serenity lasted right up until the moment the boat docked, and Aelia appeared in a bright purple sweater dress and leather leggings.

"It's about time you got home!" she declared, hands on her hips. "You waited right until Christmas Eve? Talk about last minute."

"Why? What's wrong?" Penelope said, stepping onto the docks and into her rose scented embrace.

"There's too many men in the house, that's what's wrong," Aelia huffed.

"Where's Lyca?"

Aelia made a dismissive gesture with her hand. "We both know she hardly counts. Every time I go near her in the forge, she just growls at me. Zo has become worse than a nonna with solstice cooking. Con and Elazar are doing some kind of research in the library with Galenos, and Phaidros is being cagey with some kind of project."

Alexis stepped ashore and kissed Aelia's cheeks. "So nothing is wrong. You are just bored."

"No need for your sass, Defender. I just missed you, that's all," Aelia said with a smile. "You look positively feral. When did you last trim your beard?"

"We missed you too," Penelope replied. She turned to Alexis. "And I like your beard. Are you sure you don't want to get back on the boat?"

Alexis's eyes sparked with humor as he kissed her and led her to the entrance way into the villa. The doors opened to the Archives.

"What in the world?" Aelia said. She shut the door and opened it again, and it was still the Archives.

"It would seem the villa missed Penelope, too," Alexis replied.

Aelia rapped her knuckles on the door frame. "Really? You can't let her even take her shoes off and have coffee?"

Alexis nudged Penelope through the door. "Go, cara mia . I'll bring the coffee to you."

"And some of whatever Zo is baking?" she asked.

"Of course."

The door closed behind Penelope, leaving her in the warm, calm silence of thousands of books. She touched her hand on the column with the symbol of history at the top of it.

"I missed you too," she said, and the stone heated under her hand.

If you had told her a year ago that she would be living in a sentient, magical villa and in charge of an even more sentient Archive that housed the rarest books to have ever been produced in the known world, Penelope would have laughed herself sick. But here she was, and she wouldn't change a thing about it. She walked through the stacks, letting her fingers trail over the spines of the books and the labels hanging from the scrolls.

The office that the Archives had constructed for her already had its doors open for her by the time she reached it. On her desk sat a large sandalwood box. She opened it and smiled at the robe that was folded neatly inside of it. Just because she didn't like Christmas didn't mean she hadn't considered a present for Alexis.

Penelope had discovered the design of the robe in one of the books about the Citadel on Atlantis. It was a traditional robe that only the leader of the magicians could wear. Since Nereus's death, he was the one that all the others looked to for guidance. He was a natural leader and the most powerful of them all.

Besides, he loved his entari robes, and this was the only design that Penelope doubted he had. It was a gorgeous blue that matched his eyes and was embroidered with the golden design of the book and trident of the magicians on the back of it, as well as blessings written in the Living Language on the cuffs.

"I picked it up yesterday for you," a deep voice said from the doorway of her office. "The timing of your arrival is impeccable, Archivist."

Constantine strode in like he owned the place. Penelope didn't take offense to that because Constantine went everywhere the same way. He couldn't help the air of authority he had acquired through thirty plus years of being a general and an emperor and had never shaken it. People naturally deferred to him, and their eyes followed him wherever he went. Penelope would have found it intimidating, except Alexis was the same way.

"I appreciate that, Con," Penelope said, and he drew her into his broad chest for a bear hug. "I can't believe you're still hanging about here with us."

Constantine rubbed his bearded chin. "I'm not bored enough to move on yet. It's been good to be able to see everyone after so long, and we almost lost Elazar in the fight."

"He is okay, Con. Alexis got him out of the fire," Penelope said softly.

"It's not only about the fire. I enjoy his company, so I wanted to stay." Constantine's blue-gray eyes softened. "He's getting old, Penelope."

She suddenly understood his apprehension. Elazar was Zo's mortal and elderly son, and his loss would be inevitable. None of them knew if Poseidon's magic that Penelope had inherited had changed her own lifespan like the magic explosion that had contributed to the destruction of Atlantis had made the survivors so long-lived. Only time would tell. But Elazar was different. They all knew without doubt he had a mortal lifespan.

"I'm glad he decided to stay with us, too, and I can't wait to go through the library he brought with him," Penelope said.

Constantine chuckled. "You think our Zo was about to let his baby go back to Israel to live alone again? Elazar knows his father well enough to accept the inevitable without a fight."

"Dare I ask how the new kitchen turned out?"

"Perfect as usual. Zo has always had excellent taste in all things," Constantine said with a soft smile.

Penelope bit her tongue so she wouldn't ask him if he included himself in that sentiment. It was hard to tell whether or not Constantine noticed Zo's centuries-old crush, and Penelope sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to try and point it out to him.

Constantine turned to look over his shoulder. "You had better hide that box, darling. Alexis is coming."

Penelope shut the box and casually slid it under her desk. Constantine moved into Alexis's path through the doorway to strategically block her from view. "I hope you brought me coffee, Alecto."

"I didn't know you were down here, harassing my beloved," Alexis replied.

"I wasn't harassing her. I was merely enquiring if she had enough of you yet and was ready to upgrade to an emperor."

Alexis only grinned at his obvious goading. "You do know that Zo is the only one who is susceptible to your charm anymore. Even Aelia has moved on from you."

"Aelia is where she’s always belonged, with the one she was meant to be with," Constantine replied without a drop of jealousy towards Phaidros. There was no denying the truth that Aelia and Phaidros belonged together. He cocked a brow at Alexis. "And you wouldn't know whether or not my charm works on you because I've never tried to charm you, Alecto."

Alexis said something to him in Latin that was too quick for Penelope to catch, but she knew it was insulting because Constantine threw his head back and laughed. He moved out of the way, and Alexis placed a pretty silver pot of coffee down on Penelope's desk with a cup and saucer and an arrangement of Buranelli cookies, nougat, and Turkish delight. She had learned not to ask how old the dishware was, fearing the answer might make her too scared to use it.

"Zo really is in festive cooking mode," Penelope said and dunked a pistachio and almond crescent in her coffee. She groaned with happiness with the first mouthful.

"He's made me all my favorites, including pomegranate baklava. I'm surprised he remembered," Constantine said.

Penelope hid her smile. "I'm not."

Everyone had a soft spot for Constantine whether they liked it or not. Even Alexis, who he'd had an argument with for literally hundreds of years, was glad to have him back in the fold of the family.

"The kitchen is out of control. There's no way we are going to eat that much food," Alexis said, sitting in the chair on the opposite side of Penelope's desk.

"Don't worry. I'm taking him out tonight," Constantine said, heading for the door. "The basilica is doing Christmas Eve carols, and he promised to come with me. Do you two want to come as well?"

"Absolutely not," Penelope said around a mouthful of nougat. "I promised Aelia I would help her do that thing with the stuff." Constantine looked questioningly at Alexis.

"She hates Christmas," Alexis filled him in.

Constantine's brows shot up, the spark of challenge in his eyes. "Well, we will have to change her mind about that, won't we?"

Penelope only rolled her eyes at the pair of them and went back to her treats, the only thing that had ever been good about the holidays.