Page 108 of The Cursed Chalice
My ring sparkles under the bedroom light. Slowly, I drag it off my finger and set it on the side table. The small bracelet Hecate gave me catches my eye. I unclip it and hand it to her. “Thank you for everything. It’s either Talia or me that dies. And I don’t want it to be me. I want to live.” I throw my sneakers into the suitcase.
I pause, trying to catch my breath and remembering the way he saved me from Elias and his men, how he took me in…
“I love him so much, and he says that he loves me, but fuck. I am drowning in doubts and fucking insecurities.” I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand.
“So instead of fighting, you’re running?” Hecate takes the bracelet in her palm.
I don’t answer. I continue packing my suitcase.
“Soraya,” Hecate calls my name, and I turn to her. She walks up to me, and the air around her hums. “Sometimes freedom is not found in running but in standing still.”
I blink up at her. “You don’t understand.”
She lifts my chin. “I understand more than you think.” Her gaze moves to my suitcase. “You can live in an unfamiliar land and still wake up in the same prison. Or you can stand your ground when the walls fall. The choice is yours.” She squeezes my palm gently.
Her words burn into my brain. I look down, and in my hand, she places the ring and bracelet in my palm. I blink, and she is gone. The room feels like an empty cavern.
What did she mean “stand still”? Then I hear a scream. No, it was a painful roar.
ARES
I hurt her. I didn’t mean to. If only she would understand that I am trying to figure this shit out for her. I almost dug my hand into my chest just to give her my heart.
I am still standing in the storm of her words, when I smell hints of rose, amber, and oud.
Aphrodite.
She glides into the kitchen, radiant and beautiful, with gold bangles on her wrists and a soft smile on her face.
“I came to say sorry,” she purrs.
The way she says “sorry” sounds like a lie, a mockery.
“For what exactly?” I ask.
“For upsetting your girl, for upsetting you.” She lifts her delicate shoulders. She places her hands on my chest and glides them up to my neck. “I only told her what she deserves to know. Is that better than lies?”
I move her arms from around my neck. “You didn’t come here to apologize.”
Aphrodite smirks. “You’re right. As much as I hate to admit defeat. I admit it. This one loves you.”
“And I love her.”
Aphrodite smiles. “I bet you do.”
She swirls her fingers over the table, and gold dust pours from her tips, forming into a bottle and two glasses.
“Then let’s drink to the future.” The liquid inside looks rich and dark. She pulls the cork, and a smoky, bitter smell dances in the air. I squint. “What’s in this?”
Aphrodite shrugs. “Black sap and nightshade honey.” She pours into the two cups. “It’s a drink fit for a god.”
“It sounds like poison to me.” I lift the glass to my nose.
“You think I would poison you? Ares, I loved you. Don’t you trust me?”
Trust coils hot in my gut.
“No, I don’t, Aphrodite.”
