The others quickly follow after him.
But Master Rostova’s dark eyes flood my mind, and the small ounce of hope I’d been feeling dashes away, and I know I will never get the chance to relish in our combined success if everything plays out according to what he wants.
This fucking sucks.
Chapter 15
Sweat beads on my skin and if my muscles weren’t burning in protest, I’d have sworn I was in hell.
“All right, you win. I give up.” I mutter from the ground, the coolness of the earth soaking through my t-shirt. Or maybe it’s my sweat?
I breathe in deeply, my chest burning as I take in the cool air. Ever since that day three weeks ago, we’ve been training for the Trials every. single. day.
“Come on, Serena. Get your ass up. We have another half an hour before dinner, and I don’t want anyone complaining because you died,” Declan calls out, nudging me with his power.
A groan pulls from my lips, and I sit up, glaring at the man before me. My eyes roam over his bare chest and the sweat glistening across his skin.
I’d first started training with Dane, but… my cheeks heat at how it ended up. Hot kisses and a crazy amount of teasing and torment. After the second time of walking in on an intense make-out session, Declan declared Dane could no longer be my training partner.
Which was probably a good thing.
Dane is unlike anyone I’ve ever known. They all are. A flood of warmth fills my chest, but that’s quickly swallowed by the quilt eating away at me.
No matter how his hands and kisses have burned their way into my mind, I can’t go any further with him. Or with anyone. That’s not a betrayal even I want to commit.
“We have two weeks, Serena. Two weeks to make sure we survive, and so do you,” he breathes out, his exasperation clear in his voice. Strong hands hold my sides, and I’m picked up from the ground in one swift motion and dropped unceremoniously onto my feet.
I narrow my eyes on him. “Don’t you dare make me curse you, Dec? You really don’t want to end up like Dane.”
He quirks his eyebrows, and his lips twitch at my remark, and I can’t help but stare at them. The heat between us continues to grow as his hands slide from under my arms and down to my hips, the path lighting a trail on my skin.
“You mean, getting to feel what you feel? Kissing him?” he asks, and my mouth goes dry at the desire swirling in his eyes. “Or having a set of monstrous tits?”
I snort, and he laughs. “The last one,” I reply as I stare into his eyes.
He shrugs, and his thumbs trace back and forth over my hip bone. I shiver at his touch. “I’m sure you wouldn’t do that to me.”
“Oh?” I lick my lips, the movement followed by his eyes, which, now I look, I realize are swirling with enticing shades of glistening pink and lustrous red. “Why would you think that?”
His lips pull as he leans forward, their softness brushing my ear. “Because I’m a child of lust and love, Serena,” he whispers, and I shiver, my hands itching to pull him close.
“But I… I thought you… Persephone.”
“Yes, you got that part right,” he says. “But the gifts of Persephone are only one part of me.” I open my mouth, but he places a finger over my parted lips. “Yes, I was blessed by two goddesses. Persephone by bloodline. Aphrodite, well… she took a liking to me. And as children of the Goddess of Pleasure, we are full of passion and desire. Would you really want to give that up? Not ever being able to feel my lips on your skin? To feel my hands caressing you? To feel me hard against you.”
I gasp at the desire pooling inside me. Everything in me is begging to say yes, but before I can even pull him to my lips and find out exactly what he’s talking about, he releases me and sweeps his foot under my legs. I hit the ground hard on my back, the wind knocking from my lungs.
“Never let your opponent get the better of you, Serena. You never know what powers they might have hidden up their sleeves.” He turns, and I watch him walk away, my body rippling with desire and need—and also aching. I rub the back of my head where it hit the hard dirt. Asshole.
“But how did he do that?” I whisper, my body still aching for him, even though I know it was all a lie. His hooded eyes fill my mind, and I bite my lip, the motion sending waves of pleasure through me. “What the actual fuck,” I whisper, standing on wobbly legs to approach the backdoor.
My hand trembles as I slide it open, and I sigh in relief that the kitchen is vacant. How the hell am I meant to explain this? I open the cupboard at the far end of the kitchen where we have a few bottles of liquor stored, pick out my favorite scotch, and head up the stairs to my room.
The friction of my clothes on my skin sends waves over pleasure to every cell, and a groan pulls from my lips. What the hell did he do to me? I rest my head against my wooden door, drawing in a shaky breath before I twist it open and close it firmly behind me.
Silence fills the room, and I sigh in relief at Lore and Keaira’s vacant beds before I fall to my own and crawl toward the headboard. The silkiness of my sheets feels like a soft caress under my hands, and I whimper.
“I’m going to kill him. Slowly… painfully.” I twist off the cap of the scotch and take a long, hard pull, the burning in my throat not even coming close to
