Darkness Becomes Her

“I regret nothing,” she hissed.

“Oh, surely you must. Your hurricanes grew uncontrollable. Maybe if you hadn’t been so overzealous, you could have held on to the Aegis and not dropped it into the sea.”

Athena’s intake of breath told me Michel had revealed something he shouldn’t have known. But Michel only grinned. “There’s not much to do in prison other than talk. … If your father, the great Zeus, were alive today and knew you’d lost his Aegis, one of his most powerful weapons, the one you killed him for, I bet the irony would amuse him, no? Without the Aegis you’re no longer invincible. “

Athena stiffened, her eyes narrowing in on Michel. Then she yanked me hard, pulling me closer. “Aegis or not, I am still more powerful than you. And this little shit”—she flicked my hair—“will be my new Aegis. I’ll remove her head from her body, flay the skin from her bones, and with it make a new shield, a better Aegis than the one before. Or perhaps I will make my next Aegis a breastplate or a cape.” She ran a finger down the side of my face. “Skin has many uses.”

Josephine laughed. “I think you’re forgetting, Athena. You killed the only god capable of crafting you a new Aegis. Losing your mind along with your wisdom, perhaps?”

Oh shit. My eyelids fluttered. Not only did Michel have a death wish, but so did Josephine. Her words made Athena’s fingernails dig deeper into my skin and pierce the flesh. The sting shocked me, but just for a second. Blood streamed in a slow, thin line down my forearm.

Athena’s anger mushroomed. A suffocating, heavy energy enveloped us. “I don’t need to wait to use her now. I think I shall like seeing you die first, Josephine.”

“You cannot use the girl,” Josephine countered. “She hasn’t reached maturity.”

Athena’s cruel mouth quirked. “Well, how about I speed up that process?” She shoved her palm against my chest.

“NO!” Josephine lunged, breaking the circle. Athena flung out her other hand, sending Josephine flying back into the wall. Sebastian appeared behind Athena.

Michel shouted, “Sebastian, don’t!”

Sebastian’s arm went around Athena’s neck. A headlock. He squeezed hard, but her flesh gave way just long enough for his arm to pass through. He fell backward, with nothing to hold on to.

Heat spread beneath the goddess’s palm, seeping into my chest, through my body and into my head. The same astounding pain I’d had in the street engulfed me, burning my brain, enlarging the blood vessels that ran under my scalp and making them throb and stretch. A screech erupted from deep within my core, rising, until it burst from my mouth. It didn’t sound human.

Just as my eyes drifted closed, I saw Michel holding Sebastian back from attacking again and Josephine standing to realign the circle. The council members began chanting, the line of power among them thickening. But it didn’t matter. I was dying. My head was going to explode, or implode, or melt.

I never knew I could scream so hard, so loud, or for so long, as though the sound was fed from the pit of my soul.

I saw flashes, then, in my mind. A beautiful woman who looked like me. Kind. Loving. Devoted. In a temple, a temple by the sea. A baby crying. So much death. Through the ages. Misery.

It had to stop. It had to stop. God! I didn’t want to die!

I grabbed Athena’s wrist with my right hand and clamped down hard, trying to pull her palm away and end the agony.

Anger suddenly came to the surface, for a brief second blocking out the pain in my head. My chest swelled with it. All those images, all that death, all that hurt on my family because of Athena. I’d done nothing wrong, none of us had.

I opened my hot eyes.

My hand squeezed so hard, with every ounce of strength I had. My eyes locked with Athena’s. “I. . hate. . you,” I hissed, wanting to get it out before I died. “For all that you have done to them. . for being an evil. . fucking. . bitch!”

Athena flinched, eyes widening for a fraction of a second. Just a small flicker of pain and a jerk to her arm. My jaw tightened. She pressed harder against my chest, but I was somehow pulling her hand away.

I glanced down at my hand wrapped around the goddess’s wrist, where Athena’s white skin was turning hard and gray.

What the hell?

Both shocked, we let go at the same time.

But I took the advantage. I was good at shoving things aside and saving them for later. All that mattered now was the fight. I balled my fist and gave a swing that would’ve made Bruce proud. My fist connected with Athena’s jaw, sending her head snapping sideways.

My heart pounded. The pain inside my head made my vision waver. I couldn’t feel my knees and wasn’t exactly sure how I was still standing, but I put both hands up, ready for a comeback.

Slowly Athena’s hand went to her jaw. Astonishment swam in her emerald eyes, and I swear I saw a glimpse of vulnerability and embarrassment. I took a wild guess and decided that no one had ever slugged the goddess of war before.

And then she was gone.

Just like that. There one second, gone the next.

My legs gave out and I dropped to my rear on the dance floor, the gown billowing around me, making me feel very small and very much like the child everyone called me. A child pretending to be a big girl in her frilly ball gown. A child who didn’t know anything about the world she found herself in. A child compared to the old and ancient beings I’d come to know.

Michel released Sebastian. He ran over, skidding down to his knees. “Ari. Are you okay?”

Numb, I could only nod.

Josephine marched forward, her heels clicking on the floor, and yanked me up by the arm. “Get up. We have work to do.”

“Josephine,” Michel’s low voice boomed. “That is not the way to treat the person who just saved this entire house from annihilation.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but the other members had moved closer too, obviously not happy with her treatment of me. She dropped my arm. “Fine.” She turned to them. “Athena has gone back to lick her wounds, but this is only the beginning. She will wage war over this child.” She lifted her skirts and swished away, yelling at the maids to unlock the doors and motioning for the stunned orchestra to begin their music again.

“Josephine is right.” Michel offered Sebastian a hand to help him off the floor.

I brushed off my skirts as Sebastian rose, standing across from his father, a father he hadn’t seen in years. He glanced from his father’s face to their linked hands. Emotion swam in his gray eyes, and he suddenly looked like a child as well. Michel pulled him into an enormous hug.

I left them alone, watching as the guests came back into the room. The orchestra began playing, and a line of waiters came in carrying trays of hors d’oeuvres and champagne.

But the one person I noticed above all others was Violet, gliding across the floor with a spring in her step, the purple skirt flouncing, her mask down. She came right up to me, lifted the mask, and said, “What’d I miss?”

The absurdity of what had just happened finally took its toll. I laughed. I couldn’t stop it once I’d started. Violet just stared up at me with her usual stoic eyes. Then she said, “I’m tired. Let’s go home.”

I blinked, the laughter fading.

Home.

The threat of tears stung my eyes. I opened my hand. Violet slid her tiny hand in. “Yeah. Let’s go home.”

Screw the council. We were leaving.

We strolled out of the ballroom and away from Josephine’s call to come back.

Athena wouldn’t lick her wounds forever. I knew that. But right now, I needed to go back to the old house in the GD and try to be normal for a little while, even if it was just for the night.

“Hey! Wait up!” Sebastian caught us as we exited the house. I stopped in the middle of the street. The parade was over, but people still hung out in groups, still not ready to end the party.