Page 73 of Guided by the Stars
I turn around, facing away and then turn my head to look back at him. I watch him walk towards me, biting my bottom lip. I close my eyes, it’s now or never. I plan to tell him the last piece of myself. “My mother overdosed when I was ten, I was the one who found her. After my father died, she used drugs to cope, and she also sold her body to afford her habit. I took care of her and myself. The men she brought around were very vile, the way they treated her, like she was trash, and the looks they gave me made my skin crawl. I normally hid in my room. She was on the couch when I left for school, which wasn’t always unusual; it’s why I didn’t think much of it.” I pause, it’s hard to finally tell someone other than Nora this secret. “When I got home she was in the same spot, that’swhen I went to her, but it was too late. She was cold. I saw the needle in her arm. I noticed her sunken face and the foam that had dried around her mouth. I hate that I didn’t notice it before I left, that I was so stupid. Why did I not check? She chose to leave me, Kai. She felt she had nothing worth living for.I am nothing.” Kai unzips the dress and I know he has to have seen the scars I showed Jax, but he has never commented before.
Kai peels the dress off me and I step out of it. “You’re not nothing. Don’t ever think that way.” He kisses my back softly.
I moan, but remember that I need to get this all out now. “The foster homes they put me in were the worst you could think of. I was abused, mentally and psychically. They beat me more often than not.” I hear a crash outside the door and within seconds the room is full of shadows, but they have circled us and we are in a bubble. The crash was because I didn’t lower my voice and I am guessing Jax heard. It’s fine. I turn around and touch Kai’s handsome face, his stubble beneath my hand is such a turn on. His eyes are so fascinating, they always lure me in.
“Names, Skoteinos Angelos, and I swear you can dole out your own punishments,” he rasps as he brings my hand to his mouth, placing kisses on my palm.
I lick my lips as I shake my head. “That isn’t what I want, especially after what I just saw Kai.” I look away. Even though I’m sharing my secrets, me being whipped and marked by his father is one I won’t share yet. “I’m sharing this with you because…” Do I love this guy? Yes, in a way I guess I do, but I can’t tell him that, not yet. So I give him a truth I know that I can say out loud. “Because I trust you, no one else knows this besides Nora. It’s why I have been so tough most of my life. It’s the darkness you see in me. I know it well because I have lived in it my whole life, it’s where I’m comfortable.” I’m left standing in my bra and his boxer briefs.
He lowers the shirt over my head and helps me bring my arms through the sleeves. He pulls me into his arms and I melt into him. The shadows are still around us, but he doesn’t let them near me. He is keeping them away from us, cloaking us in them. They pulse with coldness, but they aren’t creepy, not in the way Hades’ are. I am grateful that Kai has stayed quiet, but I don’t know what he is thinking. I can tell he is angry by the hard set to his eyes. He is trembling but stays silent. Not just out of anger for what he has heard, it’s also that he understands that something has shocked me to my core. I am sure Jax is too, but it’s something he needs to know.
I’m broken far worse than what people think. I’m rotting from the inside out, and from the moment I met Kai, I felt that same connection I did with Nora. I fought it. I pushed when he pulled and I pulled when he pushed because I didn’t want to admit to myself that I felt it. I needed no one, and now I’m finding that I want Kai. In all honesty, it’s more than want, I need him. He is the half of me that is missing. I look at him and I want to tell him, I plan to tell him. I am going to make this leap and hope I don’t fall alone. I am not ready to say those three words, eight letters. But I will tell him I choose him. After that I will have shared most of my secrets, all except for two. One I am keeping so he will remain safe from his father. The second one is that I am falling for him. I know these two will be the hardest to share. So for now, I keep them.
I lean into his chest, and he wraps his arms around me. “I’ve never allowed someone as close to me before, but tonight things changed. Maybe it was seeing the souls being tortured, but I guess it’s better to…” I stop myself again because love is such a strong word, and if he doesn’t love me, I know it will break me, so I just stand on my tiptoes and kiss him. I allow this kiss to tell him what I cannot. I pull away and look him in his eyes and see so much in them. I know that even if I am stuck here for eternity, maybe I can find happiness with him.
“I want you to know, I choose you Kai. I know this won’t be easy, but I am willing to give myself to you.” He kisses me so fiercely and I wrap my body around his. I pull away and smile at him. “Your turn. I want to know what lies in the heart of my Prince of Darkness.” Those words influence his body as he pulls me tighter to him, and I can see desire and so many other things come alive in his eyes.
Alexius
When the Sun Rises
“Finally. Took you two long enough!” Daemyn strolls into the kitchen, clapping his hands together like I won one of the damn chariot races we used to compete in. “Those screams...that shit sounded fucking hot. Surprised you didn’t keep going.”
“Daemyn!” I caution, holding back the temptation to rip that smug smile off his face. We’ve shared a lot of crap in the past, including women. Nora, though, she’s different. She won’t be one of them.
“Got it, man.” He nods towards me, recognizing my warning. “We never had the chance to talk last night. You looked like shit.” He takes a seat, pouring himself a cup of wine. “What happened this time?”
What didn’t happen, is the easier question. An assignment with Aphrodite is like playing Russian roulette, you never know what she’ll drag you into. I guess that’s why Zeus makes us babysit her. She’s sexy, cunning, and lethal. Most of all, she’s reckless and impulsive. Last night’s shit-show was no different.
She ordered us to a peninsula close to one of my brother’s islands. It’s on the western side, owned by nymphs who forced us to wait hours before they allowed us past the barriers. Aphrodite didn’t care, she wouldn’t give up. She had a debt to collect and was getting pissed the longer she had to wait. By the time they showed us the way through, Aphrodite walked in, took the crystal goblet owed to her, and stole the entire bag of treasure from the leader.
Bearing jewels, rubies, and a fucking mirror, Aphrodite came out running and yelling for a portal, with an army of nymphs chasing behind her. She’s quick, I’m just faster. I had no other choice than to go in for her, dodging the water attacks so I could get Zeus’ prized goddess to safety.
We’d almost made it to the end of the barrier, close enough to the threshold to cast a portal, when they sent waves of raging water crashing over us. They froze the area around us, keeping us captive in the undertow. I was blocking each hit until one nymph formed a blade of ice and launched it towards Aphrodite. I reacted as I was trained to do, protecting her, and the ice pulled me under and trapped me with rocks deep beneath us.
I vaguely remember her scream. It all blurred as I watched in amazement at the power seeping out of her, stilling every single nymph. Her illusion washed over them, distracting them enough to let me manipulate the ice and get us the fuck out of there.
“So, she stopped all of them?’’ Judging by Daemyn’s face, he is as shocked as I was. She uses her voice often to manipulate you, drawing you into her, enticing you to whatever fantasy she has created. This was not like that. It was bigger, making all the nymphs turn on one another. A sight I’m not sure I’ll ever forget.
He eyes me, knowing full well that I was gone for longer than necessary. After the shit with Aphrodite, I was forced into a meeting with Zeus and his elite guards. Not only are we elite, but now I’m part of a damn search team assigned to nothing other than finding the very thing I’m hiding. The asshole is desperate. He walked us through every place he has searched in the Mortal World, instructing us to not leave any corner unsearched, expecting us to travel to the Mortal World at his demand. He’s going to be watching us closely. It’s going to be a fucking bitch of a time going on daily runs with eyes always on me and more time spent away from Nora. Guess the good news is, he’s still in the dark, unaware of what he’s even looking for.
“Did you get another message?” I finish another glass of ambrosia, switching our focus to Adriane. We’ve had zero luck finding anything useful, and if Hades is ready to tie her to his world, then time is slipping away. I’ll be damned before I let that happen, even if it means following Orpheus’ scrolls and finding a way into the Underworld. He detailed every move when he risked his life to find his wife. More barriers have been put in place since, but no matter the sacrifice, I’ll do it for Nora.
Daemyn shakes his head, reaching past me to steal the bottle of ambrosia. “Nope, nothing yet,” he says, that same smug face from earlier returning. “I would have told you last night, but I didn’t think Nora could handle both of us at once. Speaking of which, where’s our girl? I need to congratulate her for cracking you.”
“Shut up.” He stops mid-drink, his carefree attitude leaving. Everything about last night was incredible. Except there is no way she deserves congratulations for some asshole god fucking the virginity out of her. If only I would have known.I knew she was innocent, just not that innocent. “I messed up. She has to live with this mistake,” I admit with defeat.
My head jerks and shooting pain radiates from my left temple as Daemyn pulls his hand back from the punch he just delivered. “Bullshit!” he spits out, squaring his stance, pushing his head inches from mine, pitch black eyes staring me down. “You hurt that girl, I’ll make you pay,” he threatens and spit flies in my face with his sneer of disgust. “She deserves more. Man the fuck up!”
Thunder booms, my veins ignite, and all I see is blinding rage. My hand rams forward, locking around Daemyn’s neck, pinning him to the fridge. His pulse is beating hard as I squeeze tighter, sending flares of electricity into him.
The burning red circles in a thin line around his pitch-black eyes warn me that his fury is building. Before I can react, his hands ignite with flames, and the heat of the burn digs deep into my flesh as his hands crash against me, his power searing into my heated veins.
“Calm…down,” he chokes out, pushing his power through, battling against my wrath.
It takes seconds until I let his calm seep in, coating my pulsing temper. I grunt, loosening my grip and unclench my hands, letting him go.
“Shit! Sorry, man! I didn’t mean it like that.”
