The Warrior God (The Ares Trials #1) - Eliza Raine Page 0,70

was out of my vision. A moment later I heard a door slam. Cold fury trickled down my spine and it wasn’t all for him. I was angry with myself. I was a fool to think he cared about me. I was a fool to have kissed him. Worse, I was a fool to want to do it again.

I slammed my own door hard when I was inside my room, just to prove that two could play at the stamping and sulking game. I was so caught up in seething with him that the sight of Zeeva on my bed surprised me enough to elicit a small yelp.

“Calm down,” she said inside my head. I glared at her.

“Where the fuck have you been?”

“Meeting with my mistress,” the cat answered, blinking slowly. The sight of her did something to my slightly fried brain. Other than my little knife and my Guns N’ Roses t-shirt, she was the only truly familiar thing I had in Olympus. I had been pouring my issues into the uninterested ears of my cat for the last eight years, and seeing her there, when my brain was so full of conflicting emotions and useless information, made my mouth move before I could stop it.

“Yeah? Well since I last saw you, I defeated a Hydra, nearly burned my damned arm off, kissed the fucking God of War, got threatened by the Goddess of Love, and attracted the interest of a creepy-as-fuck deity who embodies pain. I could have done with some freaking assistance before now.”

Zeeva’s tail flicked as I took a deep breath, still glaring. “You kissed him?”

I closed my eyes. “Yes. And Aphrodite’s crazy, and he’s an ass and I just shouldn’t have done it,” I groaned.

“No. You probably shouldn’t have,” she said. I opened my eyes and looked at her.

“Zeeva, please. I need more than anyone is giving me. I need to know where I came from, I need to know how to use my power, I need to know if I can trust Ares. Why am I connected to him?” I stopped myself adding, why can’t I stop thinking about him?

“That is precisely why I have been with Queen Hera,” she said. “I needed her permission to help you. When I saw what Ares did to you in your first fight, I went to her at once.”

My mouth fell open. “I thought you said you didn’t care about me?”

“What I care about is you surviving these absurd Trials and catching that demon.”

“Why?”

“Because that is what my mistress wishes. Now, I can’t tell you where you came from. Before you protest, that is because I do not know. I have my suspicions, but they will not help you until I can confirm them.” I clamped my mouth shut, stopping the protestation she had correctly guessed was coming from escaping. “I can, however, help you access your power.”

Excitement exploded inside me. “Seriously?”

“Yes. Hera and I believe it is important that Ares can’t take it all again. If he went too far, he could kill you. And the easiest way to stop that from happening is to teach you to control it yourself. But Bella, you must use it with wisdom and restraint, or you will drain yourself.”

“Drain myself?”

“Yes. Lots of demigods who come into their power late get overwhelmed by it. If you were to do that in Pain’s test tomorrow, against a foe, draining yourself could be fatal. It would leave you unconscious and Ares powerless. Do you understand me?”

“Yes. I’m not as impulsive as I seem, I swear.” That wasn’t entirely true, but her words were hitting home. I had no intention of dying in Pain’s fighting pit, power or none. Excited energy was making my palms sweat, and I was rocking back and forth on my slippered heels. “How do I use my magic?”

“Motivation is at the heart of it. Once you know where inside you the well of power is, then needing or wanting something badly enough will activate it.”

“How do I find this ‘well’ of power?”

“Where is your weapon?”

I blinked at her. “You mean my flick-knife?”

“Yes.”

I reached into one of the deep pockets in my billowing skirt and pulled out my little knife. “What’s this got to do with my power?”

“You are bonded with that weapon. It is small and unassuming, but fast and lethal. It represents you.” I looked down at the knife in my palm. I’d never really thought about it like that, but it made sense. “You have been