Page 49 of Crown of Serpents

Andromeda met his gaze with steely determination and spelt it out for him as simply as she could, “I don't want your help, Kleos. Not your protection, not your violence. I never asked for any of it.”

“But if he –”

“No.”

His shoulders slumped, and hurt flashed across his face. “I honestly don’t understand what your problem is — I’m only trying to help.”

Andromeda shrugged. “I don’t need your help. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got a floor to scrub … alone.”

Finally, Kleos rose to his feet. With an ironic bow and a wink, he said, “Of course, Your Majesty. I shall take my leave.”

Andromeda waited until he'd disappeared up the ladder before a wry chuckle escaped her lips. She muttered a curse, her words unfit for a princess, at Kleos's persistent need to rescue her. But then again, she wasn't a princess anymore, was she? That girl had died on the shores of Joppa days ago. Now, she was just a stowaway, adrift on a ship bound for foreign waters.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Medusa still lay in the captain's cabin, the rhythmic lullaby of the waves a constant companion during her lengthy bed rest. Andromeda had returned twice to look after her – once to bring her some bread and dried meats and another time to apply more salve to her leg.

The cabin creaked open, revealing Perseus. He wore a veil on his giant, stubborn head. It looked ridiculous, but Medusa kept her features unbothered. She knew he'd come to check on her, but she wasn't about to make it easy.

“How are you feeling?”

“Never been better,” she retorted, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

She wouldn't reveal the true extent of her pain, the throbbing leg and the splitting headache that had plagued her all day.

“Really? You've certainly looked better,” Perseus commented, a slight smile playing at the corners of his lips.

She waved her hand in an obscene gesture. “Charming asusual, I can see now why all those Joppan courtiers were swooning over that silver tongue of yours … or perhaps it was your dancing skills?”

Perseus ignored her insult and strode to the desk, settling into a chair beside her makeshift bed. “I suppose as long as you can still ridicule me for my dancing, you can't be that bad after all.”

Insufferable man.

“What do you care anyway? Wouldn't it have saved you trouble had I succumbed to my injuries?”

Perseus’s smile faded, his face suddenly solemn. “I—I was worried. You saved me.”

“That I did.”

“Why?” Perseus's voice was barely a whisper as he leaned forward.

Medusa looked away, her gaze fixed on the wooden beams of the ceiling. She knew she couldn't avoid the question forever, but the answer eluded her. It was a question she'd been asking herself.

“I've found the remnants of the shackles on deck. You snapped them in two,” he continued, “you could have escaped, taken revenge on my crew. But you stayed. You saved me. Why give up your one chance at freedom? Why didn't you flee when I ordered Kleos to take you back to the ship?”

Why indeed?

Medusa knew what he wanted to hear. Instead, she replied, her eyes flashing with anger, “Certainly not, so you could pester me about it afterwards.”

It was a line drawn in the sand. A line that Perseus paid no heed.

“Why did you save me?”he repeated.

“Because you were willing to die for these men,” Medusa finally burst out, if only so he might leave her alone. “You told your crew to leave you behind, knowing that you didn’t stand a chance against the monster. You could have fled and claimed your reward. But you stayed ... you would have died for those Joppan guards, men you didn't even know. And I couldn't let that happen.”

They both were silent for a moment. Perseus tilted his head,studying her with an intensity that made Medusa's skin prickle. He had looked at her many times — sleeping in her cave, blindfolded and tied up in that wretched cell, or dressed up as a priestess at the palace — but this gaze was different. It pierced through the layers she had built around herself, seeing her as she truly was. A warmth spread across her cheeks, unexpected and unwanted.

“Thank you,” he said.

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