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Love isn’t about fairness. It’s about emotion.”
    â€œYou are about emotion. I’m about fairness.” She patted her necklace. “This is fair. I don’t need two hearts and you can’t live without one. So I have yours and you have mine.”
    And he would never treasure anything more. He placed his hand over hers and reveled in the inner beauty that was his goddess. “Thank you, my lady.”
    Bathymaas inclined her head to him as she stared at their joined hands. For the first time, she was beginning to understand why people did the strange things they did.
    Not for themselves, but for others.
    As she’d told Ari, she couldn’t be hurt or killed. But that wasn’t true of him. And the more she thought about something happening to him, the more her chest tightened. The harder it was to breathe. Even without asking, she knew this was physical pain. Something she should be completely ignorant of.
    Yet that was no longer true.
    Somehow, they had exchanged hearts, and if anything ever happened to Ari …
    She honestly feared what she might do. When her father had given her a heart, he’d never said what would happen should it break or shatter. All her life, she’d kept it safe. But now that Ari had it, she could no longer keep it from getting hurt.
    Most of all, she couldn’t keep him from harm.
    â€œBe careful for me, Ari.”
    â€œAlways, my goddess. You are the very air I breathe.”
    Warmth spread through her at those words. For some reason, they were important to her.
    Just like him.

August 23, 12,251 BC
    As soon as they dismounted in the small town nearest the cottage where they’d been born, Galen pulled Aricles to the side so that he could whisper while Bathymaas looked about at the people who called Didimosia home. “Why is the goddess with us?”
    â€œShe wanted to see a wedding.”
    Glancing back to where she waited with their horses, Galen grimaced. “She makes me nervous.”
    Aricles smiled at his brother. “Relax. She won’t harm you.” He clapped his hand against Galen’s shoulder then returned to the woman he loved and adored.
    Dressed in the finest white silk, she was beauty incarnate and looked extremely out of place in the mortal realm. For his brother’s wedding, he and Galen were dressed in their best chitons and chlamyses. But compared to her, they looked like the rubes Galen accused them of being.
    Her ethereal gaze swept his body, making him even harder than he’d been. “Ari … It is so strange to see you in clothing.”
    Aricles blushed as several people turned to stare at them with great curiosity.
    Bathymaas frowned as she noted their reactions. “Did I say something inappropriate?”
    â€œNo, my lady. They thought something inappropriate.”
    To his shock, her cheeks darkened. “Is this embarrassment?” she whispered to him.
    â€œDo you want to fall into a hole where no one can see you, and take back your words?”
    She nodded vigorously.
    â€œThen yes, my lady. That is embarrassment.”
    The most adorable scowl contorted her beautiful features. She leaned closer to whisper in his ear. “I don’t like this emotion, Ari.”
    â€œMost people don’t.”
    â€œHow does one cope with it?”
    â€œWe keep our chins up and carry on with as much pride as we can manage.” He took her hand and placed it in the crook of his elbow so that he could lead her toward the local gathering hall his father had rented out for Perseus’s wedding feast.
    Running ahead of them, Galen went in first, with his arms raised. “The party may commence! The most important person is now in attendance.” He grabbed Walla, one of the girls they’d grown up with, and carried her to a corner where the wine was kept.
    Bathymaas arched a brow at Aricles over Galen’s words and actions. “Should I ask?”
    â€œMental