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The arrow hit Achilles in thequill, spilling ony, Achilles heard Katrina screaed on Paris, burying him under an avalanche of swords and blood
The berserker, so newly banished, slaht the possession, but as his body began to burn, the pain overwhelh the red haze he watched her snap the golden chain from around her neck and wrench open the locket
"Venus! Hera! Athena! I call the three of you to me to claim the boon you swore you would owefrooddesses appeared as Achilles was driven to his knees Body andlost to the berserker
"I fulfilled my part of the deal," Kat said "The boon I want is Achilles I claim the man and ask that you save hian to lose hope when the goddesses exchanged surprised looks It was too much Katrina had tried He had tried His fate was unavoidable--what had been purposed by the gods could not be changed, not even by the gods the his humanity He wanted to die a man, not a ly at each of the goddesses
"Darling, if you choose this you cannot return to your old life," Venus said
"You will live and die in this ancient world," Athena said
"Be very sure this is your wish," Hera said
"I’ve never been surer about anything in my life," Kat said "Please save him"
Venus smiled "You have already saved him Take his hand and call him to you"
Venus blew a kiss at her, and Kat felt the shock of divine power fill her body She hurried to Achilles His body was coulfed in fire, but she didn’t hesitate She reached through the flarasped his hand She felt no heat, no pain, only the surety of her love for him
"Come to me, Achilles" Her voice reverberated across the Trojan plain, oddesses
Kat felt Achilles shudder Soave under her hand Auto, ruined body of the berserker-ravaged warrior stepped a golden man He was ser His body was free of scars His eyes were a brilliant, clear blue Gone were the pain and despair, regret and guilt that had been his coazed at Kat with an expression of happiness so complete that her heart felt as if it would burst with joy Achilles pulled her into his ar her hand, he faced the three goddesses Achilles dropped to one knee Thestopped and all eyes turned to the goddesses
"My nae thatas h their veins"
"Actually, darling, your name will be remembered forever," Venus said
"No, Goddess" He pointed back at the burning body that had been reduced to send, not a od"
"I have discovered that being a s," Athena said, her gray eyes finding Odysseus
"Go with our blessings, h it can even cause Fate to change her course," Hera said
Still clasping hands, Achilles and Katrina walked fro them The ar, after almost a decade, was finally over
So it ith no little sense of shock that Kat heard an ear-piercing scream They were in the middle of the dunes between the Greek and Myrmidon camps when a small party of soldiers stu led by a rope around her slender, white neck She held her head high and ignored everyone and everything around her The other wo the others--it was she as shrieking and crying
Kat recognized the hysterical woman instantly "Holy crap, it’s Briseis"
"After all I’ve done for you, you dare cast a called the line of warriors to a halt "Briseis, I have already assured you that I will arrange for your return to your father and will send with you a handsome bride price Your father will be able to make an excellent match for you"
"My father is a reprobate! The reason that I’ain I say that is not uard "Escort my lady to the ship I have provided, and see her safely off with the next tide"
The warriors saluted hi Briseis away
"I curse you, Agamemnon! You reject love, so love will be your downfall!"
Agamemnon yawned "I’m afraid you’re too late I’ve already been cursed by love once"
"Fucking asshole," Kat aze turned her way Kat watched his eyes glance past Achilles, discount him and then widen in disbelief and return to him She looked up at her lover His lips were curved up in his little half saze
"Make that three times you’ve been cursed by love," Achilles said He didn’t shout, but his voice carried easily over the dune "You deserve no less than to be destroyed by that which you thought to use against others"
Agaroup hurried away toward the Greek calanced at Kat as they continued walking "Was it you who cursed him the first tilad of it," Achilles said with a chuckle
"I wish I could reamemnon," Kat said softly to Achilles as they came to the Myrmidon beach where the black-sailed ships were docked just offshore "Well, I suppose I y You know, Jacky is just as bad at y as I hich is…" Kat ran out of words as the heartsick truth hit her Jacky was still in the modern world
"Remind them," Achilles said
"Huh?" Kat said
"Didn’t the goddesses grant Jacqueline a boon, too? Remind them, and if it is her wish, they will return her"
Kat grinned "And Patroklos"
He mirrored her smile "And Patroklos"
She opened the locket that she still gripped in her fist "Uh, Venus Sorry to bug you again, but I think the three of you forgot that Jacky gets a boon, too And I know for a fact that she would like to come back here with Patroklos So, if it’s not too much trouble I’d really appreciate it if--"
With an abrupt pop Jacky and Patroklosan exceedingly short, tight, nurse’s "uniform" The kind that can be found in smut shops, especially around Halloween, coarters and red come-fuck-me pumps She was obviously in theof her long, waving, blond tresses Patroklos, whoan open-backed hospital robe He was sporting several different sizes and shapes of bandages, the most evident of which rapped around his neck Patroklos was very obviously alive and very, very obviously fire
Jacky blinked and looked around, eyes widening "Oh, Jesus wept! Could you not have waited a fewherself into her friend’s arms while Achilles and the Myrently on the back and coeJacky how utterly stank she hen the sea began to boil Achilles , mostly naked Patroklos behind hi for the Myrod arose froined anything like the being who towered out of the sea over thee Instead of skin he had scales that were shaded all the colors of the oceans His white beard curled down to his lets around his shoulders Barnacles made of diamonds and sapphires and aqua a trident carved froainst the sea floor, causing waves to froth in the nor the Myrmidon fleet bob precariously like a petulant child’s bathtub toys
"The walls of Troy have been breeched!" His voice booer keep out the Greeks, so they will also no longer keep out the sea This is one oath old Priaain, as if he was getting ready to lead a charge, but the clearing of a lovely voice fro around
The beautiful Thetis of the Silver Feet stepped delicately forward, gliding over the top of the waves as if she was strolling on dry land "Poseidon, wouldn’t you like to reward the iven you Troy?" she said