Free Aphrodite by Kaitlin Bevis Page B

at the balcony. “Much less anything further. He’s offering you something, or he’s holding something over you. And I’m telling you, whatever it is, it’s not worth it. If even half the myths I’ve read are true, he’s bad news. We’ve got to get you out of here.”
    The heat of my anger dissipated, leaving me cold inside. My knees folded under me as I sat on the couch, hunching forward to cradle my head in my hands. “I can’t leave.”
    “I know you want to find out what’s happening to the demigods, but I can help you. “Adonis sat beside me. “I won’t forget whatever happens. I can’t be charmed, and I’m still willing to investigate for you. Put a glamour on me, and let whoever is behind this think I left the ship with you. You can meet me when we get back to Florida. I’ll fill you in on everything I saw.”
    The chill from my soaking-wet dress bit into my skin too much to ignore. I pushed to my feet and fumbled for the zipper. “That isn’t what I meant. I can’t leave a ship in the middle of the ocean, any more than you can.” My hands were shaking too much, my fingers too numb. I swore. “Do we have scissors?”
    “What?” Adonis stood. “No. Here, let me.” He cleared his throat, and once he finished unzipping the dress, he moved away from me. “You can’t teleport?”
    “No.” I waited until Adonis walked to the kitchen, careful to keep his back to me, before shimmying out of my dress. Reaching into the suitcase, I pulled out a pair of yoga pants and an oversized gray shirt. Socks! My feet rejoiced when I slid the cotton fabric over my freezing-cold toes. I finger-combed my hair, and wandered into the kitchen. “Excuse me.” Reaching past Adonis, I grabbed a bottle of water.
    “Wait.” He grabbed the bottle and put it back in the fridge. “Let’s get something warm. I’ll call” Adonis broke off, his gaze sweeping over me. “Uh, um. You know what, room service will take forever.” He recovered. “Is coffee okay?” He rummaged through the drawer under the coffee maker. “We’ve also got tea and hot chocolate.”
    “Coffee’s fine.”
    He nodded and frowned at the coffee maker, then started fiddling with it. “Can’t Persephone teleport you out?”
    “I’m not from this realm, so no.” When my chest tightened, I forced myself to breathe. You’ll be fine. I propped myself onto one of the barstools and leaned my elbows against the smooth counter, gazing across the wide expanse of living room, and focused on taking deep breaths.
    The coffee maker clicked. Behind me, I heard Adonis draw two cups from the cabinet. “Can someone from this realm teleport you out?”
    I shook my head. “ I have to be from this realm or have permission from Poseidon to teleport.” I turned to study Adonis. “Who’d you have in mind?” Poseidon was, to my knowledge, the only sea god left.
    Adonis shrugged and turned to the coffee maker. The sound of liquid pouring into mugs filled my ears as the scent of hazelnut wafted into the air. “Eh, well, if you turned me into a god in this realm, then I’d technically be from—”
    “Turned you into a—” Incredulous, I spun on my seat to face him. “What the hell kind of idea is that?”
    Adonis shrugged, looking embarrassed. “It’s not something I want. I’m just problem solving. Throwing ideas out there.”
    I gaped at him. “What makes you think it’s even possible?”
    “Didn’t Hercules get turned into a god?” Adonis passed me a cup of coffee, but I set the mug down on the countertop without taking a sip.
    “For a little while. He died from lack of worship back when most of the other gods did, but—” I took a sip of my coffee, considering my words carefully. “It’s not an easy process for either party.” There was almost no power involved in apotheosis, the process by which a demigod was turned into a full deity. All it took was a spark to activate the ichor in a demigod’s blood. “And there’s a