“Uh, one bar of gold that is.” I looked at Cronus. “Assuming we have that.”
He nodded. “We do.”
The crone mulled it over, no doubt trying to figure out a way to get more, before she shook her head. “Fine. Was gathering dust anyway.”
Cronus reached out his hand and they shook on it. “Meet us in the morning with it.”
She waved him off. “Sure, I’ll just go grab it in my spare time.”
Ignoring her—he knew she’d figure out a way to make it work—he turned to me. “There’s one thing I want to do before the trials tomorrow.”
Mmmm yes. Me too. Let’s do it.
He grasped my hand as I awaited him transporting us to our Bali hut so we could have sex for the next twelve hours, only stopping to sleep and eat. When we landed inside of an elevator instead, my eyes widened.
Cronus reached out and pressed floor three.
“Where are we?”
The elevator rose, and as the doors opened my eyes landed on a small sign.
Southwest Maternity Ultrasound.
My throat tightened with emotion as tears filled my eyes. “We’re going to see the baby?”
He nodded. “We need an ultrasound picture to put on the fridge in our new home.”
My lips pulled into a huge grin. I had never felt so fucking happy in my life. Cronus held my hand as he signed us in at the front desk, and then a nurse called us back.
“How did you set this up?”
I could just imagine Cronus calling in an ultrasound appointment between saving the world.
“Theia helped.”
We had very good friends and family.
We were led to a small dimly-lit room with a padded table with stirrups.
#Whoa #AlreadyPregnant #TheBondageSceneIsUnnecessary
“So, we’re going to do a growth scan and check the sex of the baby,” the ultrasound tech said as she read her clipboard.
We nodded. We knew from Rhea’s special powers that it was a girl, but we’d feign surprise for the tech’s sake.
After squirting cold gel on my belly, she pressed the wand to it.
“Whoa,” the lady said as a high-pitched ringing sound burst from the speakers of the ultrasound. She turned the volume down, her face all screwed up and confused. “Sorry about that. The machine is being a little temperamental.”
Turning back to the screens, she stared at what looked like a blob of light, and now we had squinting to go with the confusion.
Uh oh. Titan superpower baby was messing with the ultrasound.
Chill out, baby girl, we just want a picture. It’s safe, I mentally told our little girl. The whining sound stopped immediately and a thump-thump, thump-thump filled the room.
Sobbing laughter escaped at that beautiful sound.
“There your baby is. Hello, little one.” The ultrasound tech moved the wand over my belly and the perfect outline of a little face formed on the screen.
Cronus cleared his throat and I looked over to see his eyes were a tiny bit shiny. The technician walked us through all the body parts, checking everything was perfectly formed. Which it was.
“So, it’s a girl?” I asked to double check. I mean Rhea could have been fucking with us.
The tech nodded. “A healthy little girl with ten fingers and ten toes.”
Cronus reached over and squeezed my hand as the lady printed out our pictures. It felt so much more real to me now, seeing her tiny face with that button nose, chubby cheeks, and what looked like a mess of hair.
My God, she was so beautiful.
After getting some prenatal vitamins from the front desk, Cronus and I headed back to the ground floor. When we stepped out of the elevator, he pulled me in his arms. “I’m not going to let anything happen to either of you.” He rubbed my belly, a brief flash of red, like lava, appeared in his eyes. “Tomorrow I will win the sins, and then figure out a way to kill Zeus. Once and for all.”
I had no doubt he was right, but fear gnawed at my belly just the same.
“Now what?” I looked up at him.
He leaned down and kissed my forehead, pressing his lips there for a long moment, sending sparks of energy across my skin. I would never have enough of this feeling … of being loved by Cronus.
“Now I think you and the baby should get some rest,” he said when he pulled away. “I’ve organized for Koios to protect you at Bali. I need to run drills all night with the other Titans … Zeus will use every trick in the book to defeat us.”
I frowned, dreams of our night of sexcapades dashed. “I don’t want us to be separated.”
The thought of Cronus running drills off-world made me sick to my stomach.
His brow furrowed. “All right. I’ve got an idea.”
He grasped my arm and in a flash we were back on the world where their tournament was going to be held. Hyperion and Rhea were throwing huge logs and seeing how far they would go.
“Be right back.” Cronus zapped away and returned in a flash carrying a huge king bed mattress. He laid it on the ground and then zapped away again. This time when he came back, he held a pop-up two-room tent. A smile pulled at my lips. He was always so thoughtful.
Walking the bed and tent off into the woods a bit, he set it all up for me and dressed the bed in a down comforter.
“Your humble abode, my lady.” He opened the tent flap and gestured for me to walk in.
I was exhausted. Who knew what time or day it was when you were off-world. All I knew was Momma needed a nap.
“I love you,” I told him as I slipped under the covers and he handed me a pair of earplugs.
“And I you. I’ll be right outside, and I’m stationing a Titan at the door at all times.”
I nodded and he kissed my cheek before leaving the tent. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the ultrasound picture. “You’ve got a good daddy, baby girl. We just need to get through the next twenty-four hours and then we can all live happily ever after.” I stroked the little profile view of her face.
She kicked my belly and I fell asleep with a smile.
Chapter 10
I actually slept the entire night, waking briefly when Cronus crawled into bed beside me, covered in dirt. It must have been in the early morning, because he woke me with breakfast not long after.
When it was time to start the tournament, nerves clawed at my gut. Narida, who had disappeared briefly, returned just in time for the first round. I watched as she strode across to Cronus, handing him a small box. Cronus lifted the lid briefly, and I could have sworn a beam of sunlight emerged before he slammed it closed again. I hadn’t been able to see it that clearly, but that was most definitely the “all powerful” ring.
“Thank you,” he told her. The box disappeared into his “pocket” again and I sent out a silent prayer that when the time came, that power wouldn’t kill him.
Cronus crossed back to me then, leaving Hyperion to keep the Titans organized.
“Was that the artifact thingy? The ring?”
#TechnicalTerm
I felt a bit like Frodo Baggins talking about the one ring to rule them all. #NerdFacts #LOTR4Life
He nodded. “I’m still not sure it’s the real deal. I searched for a long time to find it, but eventually figured it was myth. Narida must have been sitting on it as an insurance policy for years, just hoping she’d figure out how to use it.”