as many minutes. She heard. She heard everything. She must have. I’m lightheaded, waiting for the room to fold in on me and crush me. In the light, she’s even more beautiful. A dark-blue gown that skims the floor. Dark hair, shining and perfect. I’ve never once been able to get my hair to look like that. And her lips….
Why would he want to kiss me, when he could kiss someone like her? Someone who would obviously pass inspection. I’m sure she has her own room. Her own floor maybe. A pinprick of jealousy burrows itself into my heart. Am I jealous of her status or the fact that she’s standing so close to him, hardly flinching away, fully clothed? I’m a wreck.
“House this one with the maids,” Zeus says, and Reya glances at me with an impassive expression. How many girls like me has she seen? How many of them came here thinking this was a good place, and if not good, at least not hell? “She hasn’t earned a room of her own yet.”
Humiliation bursts over me again, and goddamn it, I have been trying. I stood there without crying, even though I wanted to, and I didn’t flinch when he— “But the other women earned theirs? They just stood there. I kissed you.”
Zeus steps closer, watching, watching, and an alarm shrieks in the back of my mind, a screeching sound, a plea. Get out, get out. He’s not a man; he’s a predator, and I made a mistake.
I keep making mistakes.
I should know better than to confuse nice clothes and a shining castle with goodness. It’s not fair, and a sob winds itself around my heart and dies there too.
His teeth should not be so white.
His jaw should not be so square.
He shouldn’t be so beautiful while he rips my dignity to shreds with only a glance.
I shouldn’t be this turned on, this on edge, from being embarrassed like this. I shouldn’t be thinking about his lips on mine. I should not be wet between my legs.
It’s awful.
And I do not want to go wherever the gorgeous Reya is going to take me. I’m torn in two. The sensible part of me—the one that got the hell out of my house before my father trapped me—says I should follow her, now. That I should insist on leaving before I take another breath of this man’s air. I’m sure he’s counting them.
I’m sure he’ll know exactly how much I owe him. And the other part of me wants to stay. To follow him around like a lost puppy. If I stay close enough, then… then….
What am I thinking? Stay far. I need to stay as far as I can. But that’s not what’s going to happen. Amusement. That’s what’s going to happen. His amusement.
He watches for a moment longer, sunshot eyes glowing with a thousand wicked ideas, a million. Wicked ideas that make my blood run hot and then cold. “Those women just stood there, yes. Those other women passed inspection, yes. Those women weren’t you.”
5
Brigit
He doesn’t let me stay.
Those women weren’t you.
Zeus delivers this line and turns easily on his heel, hands in his pockets, like he crushes people all day with a smile on his face. Golden. He’s golden, head to toe. He pauses only to lean down and tell Reya something. She’s got her notepad and pen and dutifully writes down what he says, but I can’t hear it. His voice is too low, and the rush of blood in my ears is too loud.
I can’t take my eyes off him. You don’t look away from danger, especially if your own body is conspiring against you. Use what senses you do have. I pin my eyes to the back of his jacket and watch as he fills the doorframe and disappears.
Numb fingertips, numb lips. It was hot before, scorching, and now the room feels like a cloud has gone over the sun. A shiver tiptoes up the length of my spine.
“—you okay?”
Reya comes back into focus with a blink. “What?” She comes and takes my arm, and I think she means to be comforting, but it reminds me of a jailer leading me to my cell.
She rubs one thumb in a slow circle on my upper arm. “Are you okay?” she repeats.
No. “I’m fine. I’m… good.” I’m only standing here in panties and bra and skin that’s raw from being in his presence. Great. I’m doing great. “Where do the maids sleep?”
I can feel her