Page 26 of Pandora's Pain
“I’m a god, Dora. Do you seriously think a door would be able to stop me?”
“I thought common courtesy might,” I muttered.
Alex chuckled.
I needed to remember he not only had good hearing but could see into my thoughts an undetermined amount. Which was a bit of a nuisance, if anyone asked me.
“There’s no such thing as common courtesy when you’re on a mission from the gods.” He sounded so flippant it made my blood boil.
I rose to my feet, anger coursing through me and making me see red. Quite literally actually. It was almost like the gold specks I’d seen before, just a different color.
“Get out,” I demanded through gritted teeth.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do, Dora.”
How I hated him calling me that. It was my full name or nothing, particularly to asshole gods.
“I can, and I will. I have been degraded and shamed for far too long to put up with your shit, now,” I half-shouted. “So, get out of the fucking bathroom.”
He stared at me, probably taken aback by how angry I was. To be honest, I was a little surprised, too. I’d learned to make myself small and unnoticeable while enduring my punishment. Maybe that was the problem. I’d suppressed my anger for so long it came bursting to the front now.
Oh, well. There was no feeling guilty about it. He really was being ridiculous.
Without saying a word, he disappeared, leaving me alone again. Good, I could deal with alone. Especially when I was avoiding the real problem at hand. Alex was going to expect me to actually do something about locking people away in the box, whether I wanted to or not.
And I was already doubting I could do that to Ashton. Zavier and Brock didn’t seem all that bad either.
Maybe my best bet was to not go for them at all. Theoretically, someone like Kiki Riker would also work. If men counted as sin, then surely women did too? We were just as capable after all.
Though that meant we were just as capable at doing good too.
Why did this have to be so damned complicated?
If only there was some way of convincing Hades just to give me a couple of sinners. Unfortunately, not an option. I’d pissed him off well before I opened my box. He was even less likely to help me than Zeus was, and that said a lot.
So, I was in need of a plan. And it had better be a good one. Could I use one of the men to lure women like Kiki? No, that wouldn’t work. Or if it did, there were too many risks involved. Like them falling for Kiki and me accidentally murdering her and stuffing her into the box out of pure jealousy…
That took a slight turn for the worse.
Maybe I should find someone who was too good. If I tried to lock them in the box, then it’d fail, right?
Grunting in frustration, I grabbed strands of my hair and tugged sharply. The pain was welcome, mostly to ground me. If I did the things I was thinking of, or even what I’d been sent here for, then I was really no better than the gods themselves.
Was that really how I wanted my legend to end? Pandora, releaser of miseries and torturer of souls. Not quite the reputation I was going for.
Not the worst title I could have, but definitely not something I’d put at the top of my resume either.
I groaned, stretching the skin of my face beneath my fingers. It was probably highly unattractive to watch. At least no one could see me. As long as Alex actually received the message.
Switching on the shower, I let the steam fill the room before stripping myself. A scalding shower was all I needed to wash away the shame and sin. At least, that was the idea.
The water ran down my skin, refreshing it and giving it the healthy glow it had been missing for centuries. I could say what I wanted about the gods, but I was grateful for their demand for physical perfection. Without it, I’d be skinnier than I’d like. Before I’d left imprisonment, I’d been able to count my ribs, and my nails had already turned black.
I’d been a mess. And now I wasn’t. Which might very well have been a curse, given the circumstances.
But no, the gods had said something about giving me the ability to attract sin. Which almost sounded like magic to me, though I’d never been that kind. But how did that work? I sighed, leaning my head back under the water and letting the drops beat down on my shoulders. I supposed my only option was going to be asking Alex. For obvious reasons, I didn’t really want to do that. I just hoped he’d actually be forthcoming and not his normal self. Was it something I’d be able to choose to wield? Or was it just my natural appearance? Kiki hadn’t seemed too impressed with my looks, so maybe not.
Thoughts of my body led to thoughts of Ashton’s body. The idea of his piercing skimmed through my mind, filling my head with dirty and overly descriptive details of his length and thickness.
