The King of Hearts - Jovee Winters Page 0,33

away. I could see it in the tension lines of her body. Her hands were fisted by her side and her look was one of expectation mingled with disappointment that I had even tried to deceive her.

I swallowed hard. No other mortal had ever been so quick to identify my godhood. But she had. Because she was different. As I was different.

I sighed and lowered my eyes, rubbing the side of my bald head. “You play a dangerous game with me, Psyche. You should not be so close to me. You should not be standing here.”

She smelled so bloody good though. Like dewdrop roses and honeysuckle.

I inhaled deeply, squeezing my eyes shut as I allowed my head to be filled with her.

I felt the heat of her body mingle with my own as she leaned in. “Tell me who you are? Who you really are?”

I opened my eyes. Staring at her miserably. Giving my head the slightest shake.

Disappointment flashed through her eyes, before she too sighed wearily.

“Fine. Then just tell me one thing. You can’t? Or you won’t?”

I knew the distinction and I knew why she was asking.

I shouldn’t even tell her this. But I couldn’t keep hurting her.

“Can’t.”

She nodded, but to me it appeared a weight had suddenly lifted off her shoulders.

“Why are you here, my lord?” she repeated and I wanted to correct her, I hated the sound of such a pompous title upon her sweet lips. But I knew she would ask more questions I could not answer.

Though there was one question for her that I thought perhaps only she could answer.

“A beast?”

She blinked, and confusion shaded her eyes. “What?”

“I seek the beast of the isle. Where is he? Who keeps him?”

I saw the recognition suddenly flare in her eyes and she glanced over her shoulder.

“The minotaur?” she hissed it as a question at me, seeming nervous and anxious.

I nodded, wondering why she should seem so scared.

Wetting her lips, she appeared suddenly fidgety where she hadn’t been before. “Fa…father keeps him. In the dungeons. And that’s all I know.”

Then she turned on her heel and was swiftly gone, the stench of her fear a lingering odor in my nostrils.

I had to stop mother’s vile plan. I had to save Psyche. No matter the cost.

Eros

* * *

Every footstep sounded thunderous in my ears.

The dungeons, for it was that, was dank and dark as any good dungeon should be. And though I was a god and had nothing to fear from a wild creature like the half bull man, I still tasted the adrenaline tang of nerves on the back of my tongue.

The minotaur couldn’t kill me, but he could hurt her. Creatures built of curses could be divided into two camps. Those less creature and more man, and those less man and more creature.

A creature with more of his humanity intact could be reasoned with. But a monster with nothing but the driving force of his bestial nature moving through him could not be. If I bumped into the bull headed male and he spoke as a man I was reasonably certain I could do something.

But what?

I still didn’t have a clue. I had no plan here. But that’s the only way it could be. Mother was less likely of discovering my duplicity if I winged it. My own pinned wings shivered in response.

My palms were sweaty. I rubbed them down the front of my shirt, gods, why was this so stupidly hard for me? It shouldn’t be. I was a damned man. Fully grown. I had a right to my own opinions, didn’t I?

But it seemed my brain and my heart were in direct conflict, because I felt a little as though I’d just swallowed a greasy ball of wax and my stomach was rioting in response. Not for me though, that was the wildest part about all of this. I was the one taking on all the responsibility but not once had I worried about what would be done to me should mother discover my perfidy.

“Who are you? And why are you here?”

Sucking in a sharp breath, I twirled. Realizing I’d been so lost to the thoughts in my head that I’d not noticed the looming presence standing just in the shadow before me. A drop of water plopped down at my feet, running through the crevices of this ancient, twisted labyrinth.

Peering through the shadows, I was easily able to make the creature out. I lived in shadow. Shadow could not hide anything from my gaze.

The