Jack Frost was almost too beautiful to be considered real. Looks were very deceiving, for Elle was feeling he must be a demon in disguise.
“Well, well, well…” Jack said softly, his velvety voice saturated with malice. “Looks like my betrothed was attempting to kill me…” As his grey eyes flickered to the lamp tightly clenched in Elle’s hand, she gulped.
“No!”
Elle was surprised the answer came from her. She was feeling she was going to be too terrified around him to say a word. Jack’s eyes narrowed, and Elle figured now was the time to elaborate. “I was trying to go home, and then I figured you’d try to kill me again, and so I got the lamp, right, and then I ran…”
“Are you nervous, Evangeline?” Jack questioned, raising an eyebrow.
“N-no. This is how I normally talk when I accidentally run into former fairy tale characters that wish me dead.”
He raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “Do you make such an event common practice?”
Was he attempting a joke? Elle couldn’t be sure; they were interrupted before she could give it much thought.
“The rumors are true. She is hideous,” the woman named Voluptas sniffed, strutting down the hall with the swagger of a runway model. Thankfully, she was fully clothed.
Elle’s dark head swiveled to stare at her. She was silently surprised that Jack didn’t turn his head to acknowledge Voluptas’ presence. His eyes remained fixed on Elle alone. “So you were trying to make a grand escape and just happened to stumble upon my room, huh?” Jack carefully asked, ignoring Voluptas altogether.
Elle bobbed her head in a nod, her grip on the lamp in her left hand tightening.
“She was obviously brewing a plot to kill you,” Voluptas offered, crossing her thin arms. As Elle looked at the young woman, she felt as though she must be a supermodel. She had flowing golden blonde hair and a gorgeous, flawless complexion. The woman had curves, and she wasn’t above showing off those curves by wearing revealing clothing. The V-neck of the dress was so deep, it reached her belly button.
The red dress the woman was wearing was so very short up front, it barely reached her mid-thigh, while the back of her red gown was a thin see-through material that flowed behind her. The woman was short, however. Wearing heels that looked to be three or four inches tall still put her at nearly an inch or two lower than Elle’s 5’7” height. Still, the woman was gorgeous. She was the good-looking type that could make any man want her and any woman envy her.
Elle was enjoying the scowl the gorgeous goddess was throwing her. It seemed the woman’s nastiness was stemming from the fact that Jack’s arm was still holding the top of Elle’s chest to keep her pinned to the wall.
Even though Elle despised Jack’s touch, she liked annoying Voluptas solely for her previous remarks regarding how hideous she was.
“How was I going to kill him with a lamp?” Elle countered dryly.
Voluptas seemed taken aback by being spoken to. “Do you dare speak to me, child?”
Elle started to chuckle dryly. “No, Einstein. I’m speaking to my invisible friend behind you.”
As Voluptas frowned, she turned around to survey the area. Elle stared at the gorgeous blonde in amusement, now oblivious to Jack’s strong arm still holding her in place. With wide coffee-brown eyes, Elle turned back to eye Jack incredulously. “Well, I can see you two obviously aren’t together because of her amazing intellect.”
The corner of Jack’s pale pink lip twitched in nearly a grin before he seemed to think better of doing such a thing. His arm pressed tighter against Elle, making her grip the lamp in her hand even tighter.
“Was that an insult, you hideous creature?” Voluptas shot back in a growl.
Elle developed a sly smile across her lips as she returned her gaze to Voluptas. “It wasn’t a compliment, idiot.”
That one insult alone caused Voluptas to attack. She moved very quickly toward Elle, causing Jack to drop his hold on her immediately. He saw the same thing she was holding as Elle did. A sliver of silver flashed. Elle quickly realized the woman had a knife similar to what Jack had the other night. Voluptas was trying to strike her with it. Without even thinking, Elle took the lamp in her hand and threw it at Voluptas’s pretty face as hard as she could.
It didn’t matter that Elle was right handed; she still managed to do a nice job of landing the crystallized base of the lamp right to the nose of the horrible goddess. Almost immediately upon impact, blood started squirting out the woman’s nose as the dagger and heavy lamp clattered to the floor.
A low string of profanities issued from Jack’s mouth, surprise on his features as he watched Elle dive for the dagger. Voluptas started yelling out of pain and anger, but Elle didn’t bother to pay her any attention. As soon as she had the dagger, Elle accidentally fell into an awkward and painful somersault before standing. She was certain it looked more impressive than it was. Elle started backing away slowly with the dagger in her hand as Voluptas’s eyes welled with tears.
“You shall pay for that!” she seethed, her kaleidoscope-colored eyes holding an ugly stare. Blood dripped down onto her pretty gown, causing her to grow even angrier.
“Bring it on,” Elle challenged, wiggling the dagger with her right hand. Even Jack seemed timid to approach her now that she had this strange-looking dagger in her hands.
Voluptas’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “I shall make you live to regret ever crossing the goddess of sensual pleasure. Make no mistake about that!”
Elle couldn’t help but find her threat entertaining. Sensual pleasure? Elle thought that was a stupid thing to be a goddess of. Besides that, the girl was barely five feet tall. Elle held no doubt she herself was at least a good six or seven inches taller than her when the girl wasn’t wearing heels. She wasn’t afraid of Voluptas.
“Bring it on, Barbie. Let’s do this,” Elle replied coolly, holding the dagger close in case Voluptas tried approaching again.
“What is going on here?” a familiar voice yelled in exasperation. Elle found Khione watching the situation with wide eyes. Her beautifully pale features were holding the utmost of shock. Her green eyes alternated between staring at Elle and Voluptas. “What in Zeus’s name is going on here?” She sounded near hysterical.
Jack gave a roll of his muscled shoulders. “Would you like a nutshell version, sister? My betrothed was hiding in my room, I found her, and now she and Vee are quarreling.”
Khione turned to face Elle, her expression now holding positive delight. “Did you come to your senses to finally realize my brother is your destiny?”
Jack gave a cackle of laughter in response as he watched Elle’s horrified expression. “Heavens no. She was trying to escape…or trying to kill me. The details are rather murky.”
Khione’s beautiful face pulled into a frown. “And how did Voluptas gain these injuries?” Elle looked back at the Goddess to find her top lip was swelling as blood dripped down her face. She even had a broken nose.
“The mortal attacked me!” Voluptas cried in exasperation, running forward and roughly pushing past Elle before throwing herself at a person who now arrived behind Khione. “She threw the weapon at me with intent to mar my beautiful features!”
Elle resisted snorting at the over-dramatic flair the woman had. Her brows raised in surprise as she recognized the new arrival. It was the young man who gave her the snow globe the other day.
“Shh, do not cry, Voluptas,” Eros soothed as he held her. “I’m sure she did not mean—”
“She attacked me, Father! I demand her to be put on trial!”
All eyes suddenly transferred to where Elle stood quietly. There were many things that Elle could have said in this given moment, but only one detail was puzzling her. Eros looked hovering between the ages of sixteen and seventeen. Voluptas looked twenty-five at least. There was no way there could be a father/daughter relation there.
“Did she just say father…?” Elle asked, quirking a brow at Khione.
&nb
sp; The pale Khione nodded her head quickly, appearing before Elle in the blink of an eye. “Voluptas is the daughter of Psyche and Eros…their only child together,” she added in hastily.
Elle didn’t understand why the word only was added to that sentence before she saw the anger flash through Eros’s kaleidoscope-colored eyes. Harming his only child with Psyche made Elle realize something immediately.
She was in deep trouble. As Eros soothed his crying daughter, Elle had a very bad feeling she just angered one of the only allies she had in his place. Cupid glared. Jack Frost stepped close to Elle, a pale finger sliding under her chin to tilt her face up to look at him.
“Perhaps I never needed to worry about this arranged marriage after all,” he said, a sly grin spreading across his handsome features. “You’ll do yourself in with your own bad decisions, my little Firecracker.”
Chapter Eleven
Voluptas threw a near-temper tantrum. After a lengthy rant that Eros did not seem to want to disagree with, it was decided Elle was to be put on trial. Within three seconds, Eros disappeared before reappearing to explain that everything was set to try Elle.
This was surprising. Trials were normally a lengthy process that took months to arrange. Usually after an original arraignment, it could take up to six months to appear in court again.
That was not the case when it came to gods and goddesses. They moved fast when they wanted to punish you. Zeus was assembled almost immediately as Elle was transferred to a new place altogether within the blink of an eye. One moment she was standing in a long hallway after hitting Voluptas, the next, she was in another large room.
For a moment, Elle thought she was back in Boreas’s throne room. It looked nearly the same, except that this throne room was mostly decorated in large quantities of gold. Golden columns, golden windows, golden floors and ceilings. As Boreas’s throne room had been specifically designed to revolve around winter, this new temple’s theme revolved around gold and luxury.
A large granite statue of a man and woman were in the room…two pieces that Elle recognized as sculptures of Zeus and Hera.
Next, she saw a man who looked to be hovering around his thirties sat upon a large golden throne stationed directly in the center of the room. The man had cropped brown hair and the same electric blue eyes that Elle knew she’d seen somewhere before. They resembled Aiden’s—Apollo’s—greatly. The man wore golden armor and gladiator sandals on his feet. A lightning bolt symbol was imprinted upon the man’s golden throne. He had a strange aura to him, one that gave off the strong amount of power he radiated. Elle strangely knew this man was Zeus without really needing an introduction. He did not have a beard like his granite counter part, but he gave off the strong sense of authority that made Elle immediately tell who he was supposed to be. There was a slightly smaller throne beside the man, this one empty. Elle glanced around to find she did not arrive here alone. Eros and Voluptas stood off to one side. Eros provided his still heavily bleeding daughter a handkerchief. Jack stood idly nearby as well, watching Elle with an almost curious expression. Khione did not come with the group, causing Elle to find she had no allies at the moment. She was alone.
“This better be important, Eros. I have a meeting with Poseidon and Amphitrite this evening,” said Zeus bitterly. Whether he was upset at Eros or at the prospect of meeting with Poseidon and Amphitrite, Elle couldn’t be sure.
Eros provided a deep bow before straightening himself. He cast Elle an annoyed glance. “My lord, my daughter was attacked by the betrothed of Jack Frost—”
“Whoa! Don’t lie. She attacked me first!” Elle interrupted, sending a glare at the young Eros. It was one thing to try and get her in trouble for something; it was another to lie about it altogether.
“SILENCE!” Zeus boomed, a strong wave of thunder echoing somewhere in the distance. “You shall not interrupt someone when they are bearing witness,” he said gruffly.
Elle’s mouth immediately snapped shut. She shrugged defensively as she shuddered in place. Her memories of her father’s stories were coming back to her; Zeus wasn’t well-known in mythology for his kindness. There wasn’t much room for responses when a man had thunder echo in the skies when he shouted.
“Well, Eros,” said Zeus, with a quick glance towards Elle. “Did Voluptas attack the mortal?” he asked, taking Elle’s interruption into consideration. He was at least fair with listening to what she had to say, Elle had to give him that.
“Of course not…” said Voluptas as heavy tears flowed down her lovely cheeks. “S-she attacked m-me for no reason!”
Elle rolled her eyes as Zeus sat straighter on his throne. “Well, this is rather simple enough. The mortal is guilty and deserves punishment.” He sighed, tapping a finger against his throne.
Guards circulated around Zeus’s throne started inching closer to Elle, swords drawn.
“What? She attacked me with a knife and wanted to kill me!” Elle shot back hotly. “Where do you think I got this knife from?” She waved a dagger around airily. “Ask Jack! He was there!”
As Elle looked to Jack Frost with hopefulness that he would spare her from whatever horrible punishment Zeus had in mind, she found Jack wore a rather uncaring expression. His grey eyes danced with heavy amusement as a diabolical smirk was cast in Elle’s direction for a brief moment.
“She’s right. I saw the whole thing.” Jack slowly nodded, looking rather grave. “I saw her attack Voluptas where she even exclaimed she planned on killing her. Throw the heaviest punishment at her, Lord Zeus. Or a lightning bolt—”
“You evil, foul, talking snow cone!” Elle snarled. “You’re lying through your teeth!”
Jack feigned total innocence as he merely shrugged his muscled shoulders. “It’s the word of two versus one,” he said softly, slowly approaching Elle while wearing a slick grin. “A god and a goddess’s word against a lowly mortal…” he said, stepping so very close Elle could take in his strange scent of mint and pine needles. “Tell me, Evangeline, which would you enjoy more: having your insides eaten by a creature you fear most or being turned into a speck of dust?”
Even though Elle was terrified and feeling ready to cry, she did not want to provide Jack Frost happiness for seeing her in pain. “Either,” she replied coolly. “Dying means I get out of marrying a monster like you.”
Jack’s lip curled as he stood a little straighter. “You’re showing a little more confidence than you were last night, mutt.”
Elle’s left eye twitched lightly as she grit her teeth. The memory of his insulting her late father was still fresh in her mind. “Last night I was taken by surprise someone could turn to ice. Now, I’m just hoping you get placed out in the sun so you can just melt and disappear,” she spat.
Jack raised a brow. Elle realized she seemed to have stumped him. A slick smirk slowly crossed his handsome, pale face. “You think I’ll melt…interesting. Maybe your brain still is the size of an acorn after all…”
“Drop dead!”
“I’m immortal.”
“Then go lick a pole, you talking ice cube!”
“SILENCE!” Zeus boomed once more. Thunder rumbled in the background. He looked deeply annoyed and maybe even on the verge of a massive headache. He pointed a finger toward Elle before a loud shriek suddenly distracted him.
“IF YOU SO DARE AS HARM A HAIR ON MY GODDAUGHTER’S HEAD, YOU MIGHT AS WELL PACK A TUNIC AND GO LIVE WITH HADES!” a female voice boomed with powerful authority.
Zeus’s eyes winced ever so slightly as Elle jumped in fright. The shriek scared her terribly. Jack, Eros, and Voluptas seemed unfazed as two newcomers entered the large golden throne room. There was a young woman dressed in a beautiful flowing gold dress and a golden fitted breastplate. She had glorious diamonds studding the long tail of her dress. She wore golden gladiator sandals and held her long mane of golden hair to the side, clipped together with glittery golden bands. This woman was just as beautiful as any other goddess Elle had seen so far. A tall, glitter
ing golden crown sat atop her head, causing Elle to admire it in awe.
There was a young man accompanying the goddess. This man wore simple jeans and a vintage grey Aerosmith t-shirt. The young man’s hair was a wild craze of dirty-blond messiness. His hazel eyes were bright and glittering with excitement. As soon as the young man spotted Elle, a large smile appeared on his lips. “It’s her!” he said gleefully, sending Elle an excited wave.
Elle stared at him, completely unsure of what to even say or do. “Hera,” acknowledged Zeus, casting another look toward Elle’s direction. “The mortal attacked Voluptas—”
“I have someone who bore witness to the exchange against the supposed victim,” said Hera coldly, casting a narrowed set of eyes at her husband. “Hermes, if you will…”
Elle stared at the two newcomers in wonder. It felt similar to being surrounded by celebrities. Hera and Hermes were another two members of Greek mythology. Elle knew who the two of them were immediately before knowing who Voluptas was.
Hermes stepped forward. “Hello, Father,” he said, bowing low before standing. He cast Elle a sly smile as he winked at her. “Evangeline is innocent. Voluptas took hold of the silver dagger of Delphi and planned on striking her. Evangeline was quicker, striking her before Voluptas could act. No crime was committed. It was purely an act of self-defense.”
Zeus gave a stiff nod, looking as though he believed this wholeheartedly. Elle couldn’t be sure, but she felt the leader of the gods held slight fear for his wife’s temper. Elle couldn’t tell if he was agreeing with what Hermes said out of respect for his son’s word or fear of Hera. Judging by his glance, Elle was thinking it was perhaps the latter.
Zeus kept casting Hera looks of what seemed to be nervousness. “Why is it the two quarreled, my son?”
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