The King of Hearts - Jovee Winters Page 0,34

creature was massive, the crown of his head rested against the ceiling, which was easily twelve foot high. I was a man of six in a half foot, the monster was nearly twice my height and far broader than I was. He looked to be at least twenty one stone, if not slightly more, whereas I was twelve. The differences between us was sobering.

“Who are you?” he asked again, voice deep and animalistic as one might imagine a bull man would be. But it was resonate and surprisingly clearly. There was a slight accent to it, he was not originally of these parts. Crete, maybe?

“My name is Eros,” I said honestly.

The creature said nothing for a moment, but then he stepped out into a swath of light. It was a myth that there was only one minotaur in existence, in truth there were several. The most famous being the son of King Minos, but that creature was more animal than man. He was mad with animal aggression and resembled a man but very little.

This minotaur was smaller than Asterion, but it was easy to spot the more obvious differences between them. Whereas Asterion was a beast covered in shaggy rust colored fur, this minotaur had his hair closely shaved. His pectorals had barely any hair upon them. Really, only once you reached his thighs did, he begin to appear to look more like his cousin to the north.

If not for the bull horns that curved elegantly from the top of his head, he looked more like the satyrs of Olympus than a minotaur of myth and legend.

“Twice now I’ve been visited by the gods,” he said it curiously, cocking his large head. His russet colored hair was pulled back in a ponytail. His brows were thick and shaggy, covering heavy brow bones. His face looked flat, like a cyclops had made sport of him. His teeth were large and blunt, much like a horse’s.

He was not attractive in the slightest, but there was a keen intellect that stared back at me through his dark green eyes and for some curious reason, I imagined that even in him Psyche could find some sort of beauty.

She seemed to be able to find beauty in what others deemed repulsive.

My fists clenched.

“You say you were visited by a god before me. Who?” I asked softly.

“He was called Ares. A tall and imposing man dressed all in black with fire in his eyes.”

Of course, mother had sent her lover to do her dirty work for her.

I nodded.

“Yes, that doesn’t surprise me. Did he say what he wanted?”

“And why should I answer you? You are not much of a god, as far as gods go.”

My brows lifted. I hadn’t expected the minotaur to be kind, most creatures, even half breeds, weren’t. But I’d also not expected his censure.

Still, I swallowed my need to defend myself. The truth was, I was considered less than nothing amongst my own peers, how could I fault him with keeping that same view? To all on Olympus, I was nothing but mother’s lackey. I clenched my jaw.

“If you know about the gods, then you know my connections.”

He sneered. “And what is love to me, boy?” he growled. “None could love me and I am sure I could never love a pathetic creature like a human. For too long they have mocked and jeered my kind. Speaking about us as though we were beneath them and worthy only as it pleased them.

He rattled the chains on his wrist I’d not seen him wearing just moments ago.

His contempt for humans was evident. And in my heart, I knew that should he gain possession of Psyche, as mother clearly intended, his hated for her kind would come spewing out of him. She would suffer for all that others had done to him.

But for all that, the minotaur still intrigued me. How had he come to be here? He seemed far more intellectual than the average half breed. Too bright to have been caught so easily.

“You’re curious about me,” he said it matter of factly.

I shrugged, not bothering to deny it.

He shifted, glancing quickly over his shoulder, before taking a seat on a protruding section of stone that could serve as a bench. “It’s not as though I’ve anyplace to be. And considering that tomorrow I am to be married,” he snorted inelegantly, “I find myself in a different sort of mood. Ask your questions. I will answer them.”

The fact remained that this minotaur was