Wicked (Eternal Guardians #9) - Elisabeth Naughton Page 0,31
of his lips ticked up in the shadows. A smirk that shot another sultry blast of heat all through her. “My cenote lair was memorable.” His humor faded. “Of course, it was demolished long ago. Which you already know.”
His father had obliterated Zagreus’s underground hideout nearly twenty-eight years ago when he’d discovered Zagreus had double-crossed him.
Talisa wasn’t exactly sure why Zagreus had betrayed the god-king of the Underworld, nor did she care. The gods were always deceiving each other for one reason or another. All she cared about right now was learning something useful she could use to get out of this nightmare. And not antagonizing the powerful immortal in front of her.
Her mind spun with what she could ask without doing just that.
He leaned forward to rest his muscular forearms on his knees. “I know you have questions, mono mia. Now is your chance to ask them.”
She blinked several times. Mono mia? My only one?
What the hell did he mean by that? And why in Hades did it sound so damn decadent?
She shook off the strange feeling of déjà vu—again—and clenched her jaw. “Who changed me into”—she lifted her arms and looked down at the silly white gown—“this?”
“The nymphs. After they bathed you. You were muddy from before.”
Before. When she’d tried to run from him and tumbled into the dirt.
“Where are my clothes?”
“Being cleaned and mended.”
“When do I get them back?”
“When I decide you deserve them.”
He had her clothes, which meant he had her dagger, dammit. She glanced around the barren room. The shelves were now empty. Any books or candlesticks she could use as weapons had been removed.
Her temper inched up, but she worked to keep it in check. “Where are my friends?”
He studied her a minute, and she was sure he wasn’t going to answer, then he surprised her and said, “The male opened a portal after we left and sent the female home.”
“How do you know that?”
“My traveling companion saw it happen. He reported the news to me after we arrived here.”
She hadn’t noticed any companion with Zagreus in that club but refrained from asking more. She was just thankful Elysia was safe. “What about Max?”
“The blond male who attacked me?”
Her jaw clenched. He knew exactly who she was talking about. And Max had been defending her, not attacking for no reason.
Zagreus shifted his weight to one hand on his thigh and shrugged. “I have no idea. Probably dead.”
She pushed out of the pillows and gasped. “You ordered your satyrs to kill him? You son of a—”
“I already told you, they weren’t my satyrs.” His words were clipped, his voice harsh, and any friendliness she thought she’d heard before was long gone. “And I’ll remind you who you’re speaking to, female.”
Her mouth snapped shut. All too late she remembered he was a god. A powerful one. One who could incinerate her with a flick of his wrist. But that word—dead—was all she could focus on.
“This male meant something to you,” Zagreus said in the silence.
“Yes,” she snapped, working like hell not to yell. Trying—at the same time—not to give in and cry. “H-he was my cousin.”
Zagreus stared at her so long, she was sure he was just waiting for her to completely break down, but she wasn’t about to give him that. She swallowed back the misery and lifted her chin—again.
He dropped his hand from his leg and shrugged once more. “Well, if he’s of any special importance, those satyrs will realize it before they kill him. He could still be alive yet.”
“Special importance for what? For you?”
“Not for me. Regardless of what you think you know, I have no ties to the satyrs anymore.”
He pushed out of his seat before she could ask what that meant. But instead of stepping toward her as she expected, he turned for the door. “The satyrs may no longer be mine, but you are. The sooner you accept that, the better.”
He yanked the heavy wood door open and glanced back with a withering look that stopped her from popping off again. “The candlestick was a bad idea. You’ll remain in this room until you can prove you’re no longer a threat. Tomorrow night, you’ll join me for dinner. If you can get through that without incident, I’ll consider letting you out of this tower. But don’t get any bright ideas. The castle walls are heavily guarded. I see everything, and this, princess, is your new normal. The choice to be a prisoner or a guest is entirely yours.”