Page 63 of Guided by the Stars
I walk over to the bed and push the dress over and sit there.
“Nora is fine, I know you’re worried for her,” Jax says. I turn to him because I want to know more and I consider him to be my lifeline to her. Jax has been so great since the beginning, even when he didn’t have to be. I grab onto his arm, pulling him towards me.
“How do you know? Is she being treated ok?” I ask. Because I need to know and since he is telling me, it means he has a way to know. It could be thesighthe is always going on about.
Smiling, he grabs my hand and kisses it tenderly. “Now, Beautiful, I can’t tell you all my secrets, but she is fine for now. I have to ask you to keep this between us. No one, and I meanno one,can know, do you understand?” I nod becauseI know he is trusting me with a secret, a secret I’d guess even Kai knows nothing about. “I figured you’d want to know before you go, this dinner is not like others you have been to.”
“Yeah, I’d say so, with that outfit. And I’m in the Underworld, a place that is not supposed to be real. Technically, this is all a myth, with a Greek god who stole his wife and here I am going to have dinner with him. So yes, all of those facts clued me in, Jay.”
He laughs as he pulls me towards him. I noticed he is the touchy-feely type, but I kind of like it. “You and Kai have the same tattoo,” I say, and his arms go stiff.
Oh shit, I did it, stuck my foot in my mouth.
“Hades branded me on my hand so everyone would know I belong to him. Poseidon traded my brother and me off after he broke us in. I ended up here as a teenager and went through more ‘training’, as Hades calls it. That is when Kai and I bonded.” I lean my head on his arm as he talks, it’s a comfort I can offer. “Often we go through the same punishments or they force us to watch the other. Persephone is the worst of them, though. At one point, even Hades felt bad for us, but she drove that hatred for Kai, and since Kai cares about me she uses it against us.”
I pull back out of his arms and he runs his fingers along the scars on my back and I bring my eyes up to his soft brown ones and run my hand through his hair and down the side of his neck. “So the torture Kai went through is a common occurrence?” I questioned. His answer is a simple nod. I gathered as much from Kai, but I still asked. I know it must have taken a lot for him to have confessed what he did. “I can also say that you two are like me. We don’t give our trust away easily, nor do we allow people to see beyond what we wantthem to see.” His eyes are shining with questions. He wants to know about the scars.
Looking down at my lap, I decide to trust him. “You shared something with me, so it’s only right that I share a secret with you.” I take a deep breath and I let it out. “When I was younger, I was in and out of shitty foster homes where the people only wanted to collect the checks they got. There was this couple that used me as a babysitter, as a maid, and just whatever they needed in the moment. I mean, I was used to that by then, but one day the lady caught her husband cheating and smashed up all his things. When he came home drunk, she lied and said it was me.” Jax pulls me towards him. But he stays quiet, which I’m thankful for.
“See, he was abusive, so she said it was me so he wouldn’t hurt her. At first he yelled and told me to clean up the broken dishes. I went to fetch the dustpan, but he didn’t like that very much and told me to do it with my hands. I cut myself on a shard of glass and there was blood everywhere.” Pulling away from him, I stand and lift my shirt to show him my back. “I guess bleeding made him mad. He hit me with his belt and the buckle is what caused the scars.” I keep facing the wall and I’m brought back to the present when the bed shifts. Jax touches my hand to move them from my back and hugs me, bringing my back to his chest. He smells amazing, different from Kai. Jax’s scent reminds me of fresh-cut grass on a summer day with a hint of those crisp green apples, so it’s tangy and sweet. That is what Jax is, a summer day. Kai is a cold winter night when you light a fire, the smoke and the sweet scent of cedar bonfires and hot chocolate. Kai and Jax, so opposite, yet similar in some ways. Therefore, I feel so close to them because they are my matches.
“Your secret is safe with me, Ade.” He kisses the top of my head. “Thank you for trusting me the way I trust you. No matter how broken you think you are, you’ll always be the most beautiful soul I have ever seen.” At this moment I think I finally understand why he calls me Beautiful. It isn’t because of my looks, but what he thinks my soul is like.
Is it crazy to have a connection to two people at the same time? Yes!
But it’s crazy to imagine that the Greek mythology we learned in school is real. I never felt pulled to people besides Nora, but this is an instinct I can’t ignore. I trust them. I realize this, and now they both have pieces of me that they could throw in my face or use against me.
The door creaks open and we break apart. Kai enters and his eyes seek us out. Jax walks over to Kai, each nodding their heads at the other. It’s the way they communicate to each other, in a code. I know I haven’t earned the right to those secrets, not yet, and perhaps I never will. I keep thinking of me and Kai as forever, but what forever do we have? I am a plaything for these gods and he is a prince in his own right. I know that one way or another, I will leave here and I will have to leave him behind.
“Dinner is soon, we should get ready,” Kai announces and Jax walks to the door. Before leaving, he turns to look at me and blows me a kiss along with a wink. He walks out, shutting the door behind him. “I see you gained his confidence.” Kai stalks over to me and he tilts my head back. I’m left staring into his eyes. “I knew you were trouble the moment I laid my eyes on you, but you did something most have wanted their entire lives,” he whispers.
I flick my tongue out, licking the corner of my lips and his eyes follow. I love how he watches my every movement. “Tell me, Kai,” I whisper his name and his body trembles with passion. “What did I do?” I have to keep my legs closed tightly because seeing how much he wants me makes my pussy quiver with desire.
“Gained our trust. Many have fought for it, many have offered things in exchange, but none have ever gained my confidence and few have gained Jax’s. Tell me, my Skoteinos Angelos, are you an evil sent to destroy me?” He bends over me, close to my ear, and I inhale his smokey, burning-cedar scent. My heart picks up, there never has been anyone that can do that to me, not even Jax calls to me like this. “Or one meant to show me there is still fire in this darkness I call a heart?” His breath sends shivers through me.
“Umm…” I say, because what am I supposed to say to that? For the first time in my life I’ve been left speechless. My body is weak, my knees are jelly and if I wasn’t sitting down, I would have face planted.
“Come, I’ll help you clean up for dinner.” He pulls back, taking my hand and leading me to the bathroom. I swear this is so crazy. He took me against my will, but something happened during my time here.
I think I have fallen for this Greek god.
His hand in mine is so warm and it seems like something is moving around in my stomach. Is that what Nora was talking about, the butterfly feeling you get when you know you like someone? He walks me over to the sink and sits me on a stool. “I know it’s not ideal, but we have to make Hades happy for now, he will expect you to dress for the occasion.”
He brings out makeup but it’s not mine, it’s Nora’s. I smile but say nothing. “First thing first, let’s get you in the shower.” I nod, biting my lip as I eye him and he is eye-fucking me because we both remember what happenedin that shower. It was the first time we allowed ourselves to come together.
I peel off the shirt I have on, and his eyes darken with lust. Standing up, I kick my shoes off next before removing my shorts, slowly giving him a show. He swallows, his adam’s apple bobs and his breath hitches. I take my underwear off slowly, making my way to the shower before I jump in. I throw a wink at Kai over my shoulder, curling my finger at him, beckoning him to follow me. He kicks his shoes off and I get under the water, allowing it to run over my head to the rest of my body. I don’t know how Kai knows the perfect water temperature, but this is something I am getting used to, he knows my body so well.
He wraps one arm around my waist as he rubs a loofah over my body. “It’s getting hot now,” I say, and his hand reaches out to touch the water and it instantly changes. It’s cool, and it drips instead of spraying, like a waterfall. “You control the water as well?”
“I am very gifted, my Skoteino. You may also have power over water.” He smirks and trails kisses along my back as he continues to wash my body. “I promise if you behave tonight at dinner and be a good girl, I’ll reward you.” He runs his hands through my hair as he shampoos it and it feels amazing. Is this what I have been missing out on by not being with someone? I moan as he keeps massaging my scalp. But then again, probably not, because giving someone an immense piece of you should be something only done once, and though I have broken myself in half, I am glad it was with Kai. Even though my feelings are muddled, I know what I feel for Kai is real. I have lived in the dark most of my life. I was afraid of this, being intimate with someone. Giving a part of myself away and letting them hold it andhave control over it. My parents being dead didn’t help with that. It made those fears worse, because it means we never have control and you could lose that person with a snap of your fingers.
“Kai, is there a future for us?” I ask because I just need this out now so that I can prepare myself. He flips me around and tilts my head back so the shampoo rinses out of my hair. He kisses along my jawline.
“You know, most people believe the Underworld is like Hell, with fire everywhere, but it’s not. It is, as you have seen, black and bleak and green with the mist. You Adriane, are my fire in this place and I don’t know what’s beyond today, so why not make the most of it now?”
I know he’s willing to risk himself for me and Nora. And he’s right, right now is what matters and whenever this comes crumbling apart, because it will, I can at least look back and say I have no regrets. I can lock up these feelings because it’s better to feel this at least once in my life, and who else could ever understand my soul better than Kai? I push up on my tiptoes and kiss him tenderly, agreeing with him.
He turns the water off and leads me out of the shower. It disappoints me that we didn’t reenact our last shower. I really wanted to have sex with him under the spray of the water, but I understand that we have a dinner to attend. Kai wraps a big robe around my body, it’s so soft and fluffy. He leads me back to the stool and brushes my hair. Who’d have ever imagined the Prince of the Underworld brushing someone’s hair?
