The Warrior God (The Ares Trials #1) - Eliza Raine Page 0,43
over myself as I nodded. That was definitely it. And now I knew that, I could ignore it completely, and concentrate on getting through the Trials and saving Joshua.
But it wasn’t Joshua’s eyes that burned with promise in my mind as I drifted off to sleep.
Waking up in the softly lit Moroccan-looking room took me so much by surprise the next day that I was sitting bolt-upright, searching for my knife before I had even blinked the sleep from my eyes. The events of the last - I didn’t even know how many hours - tumbled through my head as I stared around at the beautiful room.
I was once the Goddess of War. I was meant to be like this. I finally had a reason for all the fuck-upery in my life. And there was power inside me that could make me even better.
Guilt doused out the excitement rippling through me as the awful image of that blackened hand on the girl’s face came to me, Joshua laid on the stone table beyond. This wasn’t about me. Once Ares had his own stupid power back I would be free to learn how to use mine, and then I could get excited. But first, I had to save my friend.
Guilt-driven determination settled over me as I swung my legs out of bed. If Ares was going to refuse to let me use my own power, I would have to find a way of working with him that wouldn’t get me killed, like it almost had at the fighters’ camp. I pulled on my jeans and unzipped my bag, looking for a t-shirt.
“It would be a shame not to wear that leather armor you were so excited about,” said a lazy female voice. This time I didn’t jump in surprise. I was starting to get used to Zeeva showing up in my head uninvited. Plus, she was right about the armor. I’d clean forgotten.
“Morning, Zeeva.”
“It’s in the closet over here.” I looked around for her, finding her sitting in front of one of two large dark-wood closets.
“Thanks,” I said. “Am I supposed to wear something underneath it?”
“That’s up to you.”
I thought about it as I opened the closet wide. There were dresses in there. Lots of very pretty, brightly colored flowing dresses, covered in sparkling jewels. I paused, cocking my head at them. I literally couldn’t remember the last time I had worn a dress. With a small shake of my head, I pushed them along the rail until I came to the brown leather corset.
It took me a full ten minutes to work out how the many metal catches and thick leather cords could be adjusted, but eventually I had the thing on. I stood in front of the mirror that lined the inside of the closet door and moved experimentally, watching as a massive grin overtook my face.
I looked like I felt, for the first time in my life.
My black skintight jeans were more like leggings anyway and moved with me, but my top half... The wide straps that had been added to the corset made it feel secure as well as protecting my shoulders along with my ribs and other important organs. I had chosen to wear nothing underneath the armor because the body of it came high enough that I wasn’t at Eris levels of cleavage, but it still made me feel... well, sexy as fuck. The material lining the inside was intensely soft, not rubbing or moving at all as I bent over and stretched, testing it.
“I look badass, right?” I asked Zeeva.
The cat flicked her tail. “Yes,” she said. My eyebrows shot up. I had expected her to mock me.
“Really? You really think so?”
“Yes. You are beginning to look as you are supposed to look.”
“I knew it!”
What would Ares think of it? The question was in my head before I could help it, and I replaced it quickly with, what would Joshua think of it? Probably that it would encourage my violent psyche, I thought with a frown. I gave a small shrug and closed the closet. My violent psyche might just be what saved his life, if I could survive Ares’ Trials.
A loud bang on my door told me that I was about to find out what Ares thought, whether I wanted to or not.
“We must leave,” his gruff voice hummed through the heavy wooden door. I grabbed my knife off the nightstand, pushing it into my pocket, and opened the door. The God of