He pulled my face back and looked deep into my eyes. “How are you here in the underworld? You’re alive.”
I pulled out the coins and Cronus grinned. “Thanatos. My new best buddy.”
“Hey, what about me?” Hyperion called out, tone only half-joking.
Cronus freed me from his deathly-tight hug to embrace his actual best friend. “I knew you wouldn’t let her come alone. Thank you, brother.”
Standing at Cronus’ side, he held me against him like he was afraid to let go. Rhea moved a little closer, her face set in what I liked to think of as her “resting bitch face” stare.
“Hey, Rhea. Death looks good on you.”
Me and this bitch would be frenemies for life.
She grinned, shaking her head, but when she opened her mouth to speak, she sort of froze before she could start. Eyes wide with shock, she ran her gaze along my body, slowing over my stomach, before she gasped.
Oh gods.
“Shit, what?” I looked down, wondering if some of that nasty water had given me a rash.
“Cronus,” Rhea breathed. “She’s pregnant.”
I think I time traveled then, or left my body, because my brain short circuited and everything spun. The oppressive heat, dizziness, and underworld flu overtook me, and I fell backward into Cronus’ arms.
Through my daze I heard Hyperion say, “Ahh that makes sense.”
Cronus stared at my belly, chest heaving as he held me. Our eyes met, and I wasn’t sure what my face was saying, but his didn’t look as freaked out as I would have expected.
“Is the baby okay?” he asked Rhea, not looking away from me.
“Heartbeat is strong,” she said. “But best to get her out of here and back to Earth obviously.”
I raised my hand, finding some equilibrium. “Hold up. What the fuck is going on?”
Cronus reached out and caressed my cheek. “Rhea can sense when someone is pregnant.”
“It’s a wonderful gift when it isn't your ex-husband’s twenty-something girlfriend,” the Titaness said with a slight curl of her lips.
Holy shit. This was really real. The underworld flu was actually a small case of unprotected sex resulting in me being pregnant with a Titan baby.
“We were attacked. She used light magic,” Hyperion told Cronus. “I thought it was the power Thanatos’ had leant her … but now I’m thinking it might be because of …” He cleared his throat. “The little one.”
What? Seriously, what? Was he saying my fetus had given me light magic?
Cronus reached out and cupped my belly, which now that I looked, seemed a bit more pronounced than normal. The rest of me had gotten skinnier, but the belly was holding strong.
“Hold up, we just barely … I mean it’s only been a few days. The baby is in no way developed enough to be shooting light magic.”
#BabyMama #BabyTitanOnBoard #HolyShit
Rhea waved her hand. “Wrong. You’re about ten weeks I would say. Time is different down here, and by the time you make it back to Earth, you’ll probably be about four months along.”
What. The. Fuck. Did she just say?
“Food. I need food.”
My poor baby went ten weeks without food! Wait, how was that possible? How was I not dead? What the hell was happening?
Cronus stroked my face. “Don’t try to figure it out, love,” he said softly. “It will be okay. Especially if Thanatos leant you power.”
#DelusionLand #TimeForAFamilyVacationThere
“Ten weeks pregnant with a baby Titan. Okay. Great.”
I was fine. Totally fine.
Cronus looked at the other two. “Can you give us a moment?”
They nodded. “We’ll stay close,” Hyperion said. “The Erynomus is on this level now, so we need to hurry this along.”
Cronus’ jaw tightened and he watched them for a second as they walked over to a dense patch of trees. Snapping his attention back to me, he helped me stand on my own feet again before he unearthed a water tree. Breaking off a branch, he placed it to my lips.
“I know this is a lot to take in right now, but I just want you to know that I’ll be there every step of the way with you.” His promise was so sincere, and I was such an emotional wreck, I started to cry.
My mind went to the Google search page I’d first done on him: “Is it true you swallowed all your babies after they were born?”
Cronus grimaced. “Jesus, Maisey. Zeus spread that rumor. Come on now.”
Right. Okay. Got a little sidetracked.
“So … you’ll help me raise the baby. Eighteen years?” I was suddenly feeling insecure that he’d stay around. We were still in a new relationship and I wasn’t sure I could raise a baby on my waitress salary.
He chuckled. “Eighteen? Titans live forever, and that’s exactly how long I’ll stick around, Maisey. Forever.” Leaning forward, he captured my lips in a scorching kiss that had me wishing we could start making a baby again. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said as he pulled away. “It’s you and me, always.”
“I’m so happy I got drunk and accidentally used my blood to open your prison,” I said in a teary rush. “It’s a love story as old as time.”
#NotConventional #ButSeriously #FuckConvention
A stomping sound broke my bliss.
Rhea shrieked, “Erynomus!”
Cronus’ eyes flashed with anger. “Let’s kill this demon and get the hell out of here.”
Chapter 4
“Kill him?” I asked, stuttering over the words. I mean, it wasn't like I hadn't seen plenty of death since hooking up with the Titan of death and destruction—that wasn't Cronus’ literal title but it felt like it should be. “Shouldn't we just take these coins and get the freak out of here. I mean, seriously, we don't have to stick around.”
He chuckled. “Fuck. I have missed you so much. Just so you know, when you arrived, I was working out how to rig the portals so they might take us back the other way, up through the lands. I refuse to spend a hundred years getting to you only to find you'd died from old age.”
The fact that Cronus and our baby were going to live forever, and I had maybe a good seventy more years—if I kept up with yoga—ahead of me, was something we would have to discuss later. But for now, we were about to be attacked by a bull monster.
“We’re together now,” I said in a rush. “Let’s keep it that way.”
Hyperion and Rhea dashed forward, standing between us and the raging beast.
“Why aren't we just leaving again?” I asked, as we scrambled toward them, Cronus putting his body between mine and the scary thing.
#ImGonnaMarryThisGuy #GetMeToVegas
“Because it’s our fault the Erynomus was released,” Cronus said, “and this time he’s apparently come back with more brains than before. Soon he will decimate this underworld and souls will suffer. I can't let that happen.”
Dammit. Why did he have to have a good heart? I mean, it was great and all, but right now I might have been okay if the grouchy asshole Titan that’d first popped out of the prison was back.
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” I said, pressing my hand against my stomach. “He definitely wasn’t mindless, despite Hyperion lulling me into a false sense of stupid, originally.”