Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Pushing myself up, I paced as far back and forth as the leg manacle would allow me. You can’t give up, Aella. The goddess wouldn’t be so determined to complete the ceremony if complete control over me didn’t matter.
Maybe that’s because there’s a way to undo what she’s done to me. I seized on the wild thought. She said this story was already written in the fabric of the universe, but that was anger in her voice over the abrupt end of the ceremony. That was not supposed to happen, so while I still have my mind, I need to use it. Find a way to stop her.
I nodded to myself—determination creeping in. This was the only plan I had left. I tried to escape Olympia. I tried offering my life to a typhon. I tried execution.
I even tried killing myself. I had the blade in my hand and everything. But the natural fear of death crept in, and that was all she needed to turn me, and then the monster throw the dagger into the sea. Now it was time to do something I never thought of.
Save myself.
“Those irons make a gods-awful racket clanging up and down with your pacing.” Alexander leaned in my doorway, tearing bites off another apple. “Is this the first time you’ve slept indoors? We civilized folk like to be considerate to our neighbors beside and below.”
“Like you and your bedmate were last night?” I barked. Gods, what was with this guy? He just riled me up the wrong way. “If they’re so loud, take them off.”
He grinned. “Just the mere fact that you want something, makes me disinclined to give it to you.”
“Oh, yes? Then I really like your mouth. Please don’t cut it off and shove it up your ass.”
Alexander’s laugh was deep and rich like the amber honey that sweetened my favorite treat.
It made him even more loathsome.
“Wow. You did an excellent job hiding that fighting spirit.” Amusement looked good on his smooth lips and thick brows. Although I had yet to see an emotion that looked bad on him. “I do like that she’s come out to play now. You’ll need this side of you to survive the academy.”
I dismissed him. “If you’re not here with food or keys to these manacles, go away.”
Alexander didn’t seem to have heard. “So, what are you? Daughter of Ares? Daughter of Keres?” he mused. “I met a daughter of Keres on the Satyr Plains. She could make a beast’s limbs come apart with a look. They’d just unknit themselves like the threads holding them together came apart. I’m making it sound less painful than it is.”
No, that sounded plenty painful.
“Doesn’t matter what I am.”
“Does your name not matter too?” he asked, moving into my line of sight. “Or do you prefer the many nicknames I’ve chosen for you?”
“My name doesn’t matter because of your many nicknames,” I returned. “Even if I told you, you’d still call me traitor.”
He gave me a long look. “Fair enough. How about this? If you tell me your name and where you’re from, the nicknames stop.”
“Really? No more traitor, rat, or pretty paper?” The last one was new and confusing. Why did he call me pretty with so much disdain?
Alexander laid a hand over his heart. “You have my word.”
Weighing my options, I couldn’t find a downside. My name wasn’t a secret. I just didn’t want my interrogator, Jason, to believe he could get me to open up. Too much knowledge of what was going on in my head would get him killed. He hadn’t been kind to me, but neither had he been cruel. I didn’t want him dead.
“My name is Aella Galanis. I’m from a small village trapped between the sea and stone. Port Delphin.”
He bobbed his head, then flicked over my shoulder. “Did you get that, Jason? Aella Galanis. Port Delphin.” I whipped around, eyes bugging at our shadow listener. “Now you can dispatch a few Apollo sons to find out everything there is to know about her.”
Alexander shook his head, walking out. “Gods, I should take over questioning her. It’s much easier than you’re making it look.”
“I— You said—”
“Pack your bags, Aella,” he broke in. “Tomorrow begins your new life in Deucalion Academy.”
I told him what I thought of that through the slammed door and all through the night while he tried to get off with his tavern maid. His guest finally gave up around midnight, but I didn’t—shouting and swearing that he’d never get me through the gates of the academy.
I needed to find my way out of another pair of chains. All the time I had left would be devoted to searching spell and magic shops for a way to dispel an actual parasite in my soul. I’d visit every library. I’d learn everything there was to know about every deity there was. I would not go to Deucalion Academy.