Wicked (Eternal Guardians #9) - Elisabeth Naughton Page 0,108
you find me?” she managed, trying for calm.
“I’ve always been able to find you,” he answered in a low voice.
She swallowed hard. Her gaze strayed to the doorway and the hall that led to the stairs.
“My uncle is still soundly sleeping,” Zagreus said. “He has no idea I’m here.”
Cynna’s gaze shot back to Zagreus, and her stomach tightened even more. His hand rested on the table, his long fingers slowly drumming against the worn surface as he stared at her across the room. She had a sudden urge to tug on the hem of the long shirt to ensure he couldn’t tell she was pregnant. But she was afraid to do anything to draw attention to her belly.
“Relax,” he said in a low voice. “I’m not here to harm you. Or him.”
Cynna didn’t believe that for a second. “Then why are you here?”
“To talk.”
“About what?”
“You.”
Cynna wasn’t sure how to read that. In the year she’d spent with the god, he’d never been much interested in learning about her. Hadn’t wanted to talk much to her, either. She’d been a trophy more than anything.
Tense minutes passed in silence. She racked her brain, trying to figure out what to say, what she could do to make Nick wake the fuck up…
“Why did you help him?”
Her thoughts came to a spinning stop when she realized Zagreus was talking about Nick. About what she’d done in that prison cell. When she’d defied Zagreus’s orders.
“I…” She glanced around the dark room, searching for an answer. She had no idea why he was asking this, especially after all these years. “Because it was the right thing to do.”
“You didn’t know him then.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Why didn’t you help any of the others? He wasn’t my only prisoner.”
No, he hadn’t been. She swallowed again, not liking the answer, but not willing to lie in case he could tell. “I… I wasn’t ready to help anyone before that. I was too wrapped up in my own pain to see anyone else’s.”
“But he changed that.”
“Yeah.” Her gaze slowly slid back to Zagreus’s, uncertainty swirling in her stomach because she didn’t know where this was going. “He did.”
He stared at her a long moment, then pushed out of his chair.
Tensing, Cynna took a hesitant step to her left, away from him, but he didn’t move toward her. Instead, he turned and studied the seascape hanging on the wall.
Something was off here. Cynna’s gaze narrowed on Zagreus standing with his back to her in the silence. The god she remembered was direct and to the point. If he had something to say, he said it then unleashed his wrath. He also had zero interest in art.
Was it possible he’d been telling the truth and that he wasn’t here to harm her?
She zeroed in on her gift, the one she hadn’t been able to conjure moments before because she’d been too scared, the one that granted her the ability to tell truth from lies. And realized…
He had been telling the truth. He wasn’t here to harm anyone.
“Zagreus?” she asked slowly. “Are you… all right?”
“That’s a loaded question,” he muttered. “Pretty sure we both know I’ve never been all right.”
Holy shit…
Cynna stepped away from the counter, her heart beating hard and fast, this time not from fear. Carefully, she said, “Is this about Talisa?”
He turned his head but didn’t meet her gaze. And for a moment she thought he wasn’t going to speak. Then he said, “How did you know he was worth giving it all up for?”
She wasn’t sure what he meant. But she couldn’t help but wonder… “How did I know Nick was worth giving up my revenge for?”
“Yes.”
Whoa. All her fear dissipated. Carefully, she moved toward the table and sat in a chair. “I didn’t know he was worth it.” Something in Zagreus had changed. Something that surprised him more than it did her. “I just knew it was time for me to stop doing the wrong thing and start doing the right one instead.”
He’d gone back to looking at the painting on the wall, but she sensed he wasn’t seeing it. He was lost in his own thoughts. In memories that had nothing to do with her and everything to do with a past that had shaped him into who and what he was today.
She wasn’t sure what compelled her to go on, but she suspected he was waiting for more. For something that made sense. And for reasons she couldn’t define, she wanted to give him that.