Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107826 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107826 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
She blinks those big dark eyes at me. “When was your first?”
I don’t want to talk about this. I’m not sure why the fuck I thought it was a good idea to bring it up. But she’s focusing on me instead of the memory of earlier today, so I answer her honestly. “I was fourteen. One of the, ah, priests at our orphanage was showing too much interest in Pandora, so I told him to fuck off. He waited until everyone was asleep that day and then came to my room with a knife.”
She lifts her head a little. “He gave you one of those scars?”
“Yeah.” I touch the long, ragged one running diagonally across my stomach. “He almost gutted me.”
I brace for sympathy or pity or some kind of self-righteous bullshit about how no child should have to defend themselves from adults. It’s not how the world works, though, and I don’t have time for anyone who isn’t already aware of that.
“You killed him.”
I blink, half-sure I heard her wrong. “What?”
“You killed him.” Her smile isn’t anywhere near as sharp as usual. “Right?”
I had. I snapped his neck and then passed out from blood loss. I woke up on my fifteenth birthday in the hospital with Minos standing there, bathed in sunlight and looking larger than life. I still don’t know how the fuck he found out about it, but no authorities ever came around asking after the priest’s death, and by the time I was well enough to leave the hospital, Minos and I had come to an agreement.
When I checked out, I didn’t go back to the orphanage.
I went to Minos’s home, and Pandora came with me.
At the time, it seemed like a gift from the gods. Minos was a hard taskmaster, but he was fair, and I never had to worry about his gaze lingering too long on me or Pandora. That alone was worth the cost he demanded. “Yes. I killed him.”
“Good.” She closes her eyes. “It’s not the heroes who slay monsters. They’re too honorable. Always giving second chances and…” Her breathing goes jagged. “I have a brother. Another one. Younger. He’s a hero, and he almost got himself killed playing white knight. I’m glad he’s not here to see what Olympus has become. He wouldn’t survive it.”
I know about the younger brother. Hercules. A handsome fucker with bright eyes and the kind of shine that makes me want to dent it on principle. He’s nothing like his siblings, nothing like Aphrodite in particular. “Probably not.”
“I hate you.” She finally moves, inching back to lean against the wall at my side. Her shoulder touches mine and she kind of melts against me.
“I know.” After a slight hesitation, I wrap my arm around her shoulders and tuck her more firmly against my side. She lets loose a tiny little sound that might be a sob. Neither of us comment on the way she shakes and presses her face to my shoulder.
I should be happy. This is part of Minos’s plan. Introducing the knowledge of the assassination clause to the Olympus population is key to destabilizing things and keeping the Thirteen more worried about their lives than about what Minos might be up to. He hasn’t explicitly said that he hopes the various murder attempts succeed, but clearly it would be to his benefit.
If Aphrodite dies, I will be free. No longer married to a woman I didn’t choose. No longer the laughingstock of this fucking city.
But the thought of this city without her in it isn’t one that brings me joy.
Instead, the thorny feeling in my chest tears deeper.
22
ADONIS
I find them in the shower. Theseus looks almost relieved when I walk through the door, but he won’t be after I’m through with him. He knew. For hours, he’s avoided my texts and left me thinking that the most I had to worry about was my heart getting entangled after what we shared last night.
Instead, he’d known all day that Eris had been attacked.
She looks weak and scared. Neither is an adjective I would ever use to describe the woman I love, but it’s the truth. My stomach drops out and I step into the shower, heedless of the spray. It takes a few seconds to turn off the water and grab two towels from the cabinet. One gets dropped on Theseus’s lap, and I use the other to wrap around Eris and lift her into my arms.
“I can walk.”
“I know.” I don’t put her down. I can’t put her down. Her little tremors reach me, even through the thick fabric of the towel. Gods, has she been like this all day?
Even as I think the question, I know better. “You stubborn fool. You pushed it down and pretended like nothing was wrong, didn’t you? I bet you even took clients.”