Fantasy Lover(60)

She left him in the bathroom and went to dress.

Julian rose slowly from the tub, then toweled himself dry. He heard Grace in her room, opening the door to her second closet, and in his mind an image of her naked body scorched him.

A crippling wave of desire crashed through him with such force, that it almost sent him back to the floor.

He braced his arms against the vanity as he fought with himself. "I can't live like this anymore," he breathed. "I am not an animal."

He looked up and saw his father in the mirror. He glared at his reflection, hating it.

He could feel the sting of the whip as his father beat him until he could barely stand. "Don't you dare cry, Pretty-boy. Not one whimper. You might be born of a goddess, but it's this world you live in, and here we don't coddle pretty little boys like you."

In the back of his mind, he could see the look of hatred on his father's face as he knocked him to the ground, and grabbed him in a choking headlock. Julian had kicked and fought, but at fourteen, he'd been too young, too inexperienced, to loosen the commander's hold.

His face contorted by a contemptuous sneer, his father had dragged his dagger down Julian's cheek, laying it open to the bone. And all because his father had caught his wife staring at Julian while they ate.

"Let's see if she'll lust for you now."

The throbbing pain of the cut had been unbearable and the blood had poured down his face the rest of the day. By the next morning, the wound had vanished without a trace.

His father's wrath had been immeasurable.

"Julian?"

Startled, he jerked at the sound of a voice he hadn't heard in over two thousand years.

He looked around the room, but didn't see anything.

Unsure if he'd heard the voice, he spoke quietly. "Athena?"

She materialized before him, just inside the doorway. Though her clothes were modern, she wore her hair in a Grecian style piled high on her head with black ringlets falling down around her shoulders. Her pale blue eyes were gentle as she smiled. "I've come on behalf of your mother."

"She still can't face me?"

Athena looked away.

Julian felt a sudden urge to laugh. Why did he even bother to hope his mother might want to see him?

He should be used to it.

Athena fingered one of her dark ringlets as she watched him with an odd half-sad look on her face. "You have to know I would have helped you had I known about this. You were my favorite general."

All of a sudden, he understood what had happened to him all those centuries ago. "You played me against Priapus, didn't you?"

He saw the guilt an instant before she shielded it. "What's done is done."

His lips curling with anger, he glared at her. "Is it? Why did you send me to that battle when you knew Priapus hated me?"

"Because I knew you could win, and I hated the Romans. You were the only general I had who could have vanquished Livius, and you did. I was never prouder of you than I was the moment you took his head."

Bitterness roiled through him. He couldn't believe his ears. "Now, you tell me you're proud?"

She disregarded his words. "Your mother and I have spoken to Clotho on your behalf."

Julian paused at her words. Clotho was the Fate in charge of lives. The spinner of destinies. "And?"

"If you can beat the curse, we can return you to Macedonia, back to the same day you were pulled into the scroll."

"I can go back?" he repeated in numbed disbelief.

"But you won't be able to fight anymore. If you do, you will change history. If we send you back, you must swear to retire to your villa."

There was always a catch. He should have known better than to think for even an instant that they would really help him. "To what purpose?"

"You will be in your own time. In a world you know." She looked around the room. "Or you could stay here, if you prefer. The choice is yours."

Julian snorted. "Some choice."

"Some is better than none."

Was it? He wasn't sure any longer.

"And my children?" he asked, wanting, no, needing his family to restore the only two people in life who had ever meant anything to him.

"You know we can't undo that."

He cursed her. The gods could only take from him. Never once had they given.

Athena reached out and touched him lightly on the cheek. "Choose wisely," she whispered, then vanished.

"Julian? Who are you talking to?"

He blinked as Grace paused in the hallway.

"No one," he said. "Just myself."

"Oh," she said, accepting his lie without question. "I was thinking of taking you back to the Quarter this afternoon. We could visit the aquarium. What do you think?"

"Sure," he said, leaving the bathroom.