in the kitchens. Those are on the terrace level.”
So I’ll have to make my way from the attic to the basement in the morning. What’s going to be between me and whatever food they’ll give me? Zeus, for one thing. Fear seizes my lungs but doesn’t hold on long. It’s late and getting later, and the rush of running away is fading. One look at a bed and I’m longing to collapse into it and pull the sheets tight around my chin. Reya steps away to a closet set into the end of the hall. There’s room for one slim window. I can still see a slice of the sky. She opens the closet and pulls out a thin blanket, a pillow, and a maid’s uniform—a simple black dress, the sleeves folded back into cuffs. I put out my hands to take them, knowing I should fight this, but…
I can’t.
All of it feels strangely heavy in my hands. This small room is very different than the opulence of the others. “Is this what usually happens with the girls who don’t pass inspection?”
Reya laughs, the sound short and disbelieving. “That’s never happened before. Not like that. He either passes them through or assigns them some other job. He’s sent two or three straight back out—no, two.” She cocks her head to the side, seeming to consider her next words carefully. “And he never kisses them.”
A whole-body blush, which has to be nakedly visible. And more horrible, mortifying heat between my legs. The panties aren’t up for this. I clutch the pillow closer to my chest, grateful for anything to hold right now. “How do you know?”
“I’ve been working for him for a long time.”
Why did he kiss me? And more importantly, why didn’t he like it? I keep my mouth shut and hope. Sometimes, if you’re quiet long enough, people will keep talking. My heart pounds to recognize the door that Reya’s just opened.
If I’m going to survive being trained by Zeus—a thought that makes my knees feel like taffy—then I need to know more about him. Immediately.
My bet pays off.
Reya takes a deep breath. “I came here like you did.” Her eyes focus on a point behind me, and I don’t dare look away, even while memories flash through her eyes. Her gaze catches mine again, a dark mischief there—but something else too. “I came here like you did. I was so scared I almost cried in that room. Blinking back tears….” She shakes her head. “I was a mess. He made me his secretary that night.”
His secretary looks like this? “Then you don’t have to—”
“I’m his secretary,” she says firmly. “Anything I do is my choice, and I’m grateful for that.”
I hear the meaning behind the words as clearly as if she’d spoken them out loud. She might understand the situation I’m in. She might have some sympathy for me. But she will always, always, side with Zeus. He’s earned her loyalty.
How? How? He’s terrifying. Reya can’t truly be safe here. Can she?
“The uniform will do until Zeus sends more orders.” Reya reaches forward and pats my shoulder. “I’m not sure what he has planned for you. I’m not sure… well. Be ready.”
And then she leaves, the door shutting behind her with so much finality that tears gather in the corner of my eyes. I take stock of the hallway. Ten rooms, all of them with the doors closed except mine. Across the hall from my bedroom is a shared bathroom tiled in industrial-white with three shower stalls and two others. A stack of scratchy towels waits on a shelf by the sink.
In the shower, the water runs too hot, but I don’t care—I scrub at my face and my hair and the rest of me with combination soap and shampoo until my skin is raw, but I can’t get his touch off me.
I’m not sure if I want to.
I wash the lace panties with the soap too, wringing them out again and again under the water. Filthy. I made them filthy. He made me feel filthy. And something else too. God, it’s late. I wouldn’t be such a wreck if it weren’t so late.
The hallway is still silent when I tiptoe across the hall, back to my room. Nobody has occupied the other bed, so I hang up the bra and panties over the footboard and turn out the light. The maid’s uniform reminds me with every step that this was my best option. It clings to my