Despite my agony, I willed myself to lift my hand up and smash the pen onto the ground.
It snapped.
I groped around amidst the plastic fragments. This was complicated by giant black spots swimming through my vision as the pressure in my head mounted. Blood continued to stream down my cheeks and my organs felt a little jumpy.
Sharp metal pricked my finger. Pathetically grateful for small miracles, I snatched up the tiny metal spring that powered the damn clicking of the pen.
Holding it in my right hand, I turned my left wrist over, facing up. My arm shook so hard that I had to slowly crawl over to the wall and lean against it, trapping my left arm in place to keep it still enough to work on.
I couldn’t see anything, my body was slick with sweat, and my right arm trembled madly, but I had never been so determined to master a fine motor skill. I had to pick this lock or I was dead.
I sent up a prayer of thanks to Theo for having taught me how to both jimmy and pick locks so I could pull a prank on queen bee Bethany Russo-Hill the night of the Halloween school dance. A prank that had ultimately led me to Kai, his kiss, and this entire crazy mess.
Sweat joined the blood streaming down my cheeks. My bottom lip had gone numb from me biting it so hard.
But what felt like an eternity and some of the most creative cursing I’d ever uttered later, my left cuff fell to the stone floor with a dull thunk.
It was the greatest sound I’d ever heard.
My eyes stopped bleeding, my skin stopped boiling, and the pain went down from “kill me now” to “kill me in about a half hour.”
But each breath still felt like inhaling a lungful of hot, broken glass.
Getting the right cuff off was a lot trickier since I was practically useless doing stuff with my left hand. Having clear vision again and insides that didn’t feel like they might liquify helped.
Finally, blessedly, I got free.
I ripped the chain from around my body and tossed it deeper into the room, then sprawled limp in a jelly fish imitation on the ground.
The pain was gone. Let me rephrase. The manacle pain was gone. My body still felt like it had done a tango with a freight train. Every inch of me hurt.
I couldn’t move. Couldn’t do anything except will my body to return to its normal functioning.
Inhale … Exhale … I calmed my racing heart down to a slow gallop, eyes fixed on the perforated ceiling tiles and florescent lights favored by soulless institutions everywhere.
All this pain that Zeus had rained down on me. I wondered if he’d have hurt Persephone as easily. I doubted it, given the way he’d spoken so glowingly about her, even knowing that she’d been planning to instigate a coup.
I wearily rubbed a hand over my eyes. There were a lot of important reasons for me to get Persephone’s memories back. But maybe, if I was being honest, my biggest one was to know what it had felt like to be that loved. Instead of being killed without a second thought, the way Zeus was behaving with me now.
For someone who was such an absence in so many ways, Persephone’s presence was impossible to ignore.
Though I’d have rather died than admit any of this.
I rolled onto my side and pushed up with both hands to swing myself into a seated position. Gingerly, I massaged my limbs, my breath hitching at the pins and needles screaming to life in my hands and feet.
A large table blocked my view of the rest of the room. I used its metal legs to pull myself up to standing so I could get a sense of where I was, then flinched, jerking my hands off it when I realized the table was made of cold steel. The kind used for autopsies.
The table had been designed for beings that were at least fifteen feet tall. So on the plus side, it was roomy. On the minus side, it recalled pointy things that could cut me open.
No way was I going to to let Zeus slice into me. I glanced out at the rest of the room to see if there was anything useful.
My heart sank.
Other than the table, the only other item in the room was a nightmare of a machine.
About ten feet tall and three feet wide, made of black iron, it had “FeE” embossed on its frame, just like the manacles. The frame held a wide vertical board, about seven feet high. Also attached to it were all manner of hooks, blades, saws, lightning rods, and miscellaneous scary things.
My imagination ran riot with all the ways Zeus would have that monstrosity deliver pain in the morning. Didn’t matter. I couldn’t let Zeus get that location from me.
Ignoring the dread in the pit of my belly, I forced myself to creep toward the torture device to examine it for something that could get me out of here. Something to get me through the wards and past the guards.
I came around the front of the machine and screamed.
I wasn’t alone.
Strapped to the board, manacled, and totally unconscious, was Kai.
As much as I wanted painful payback for his having betrayed me and left me to die, I wouldn’t have wished being manacled on Hades and Zeus themselves. Not to mention whatever they’d done to him with this torture device. I had to uncuff him.
His arms lay limp at his side, the chain connecting the cuffs pulled tight across his muscled torso. Thick metal bands secured over top of the manacles, held him across his upper body and hips. I’d have to get him down to pick the locks.
I took a step closer, scared of what state he’d be in. Pain? Probably. Madness? Maybe. “Kai?” Nervously, I pressed two fingers to his throat. His pulse was faint but at least he had one. His eyes fluttered open for a second, then fell heavily shut.
I peered at the machine and luckily found a release lever pretty quickly. I wedged my body up against Kai’s and pressed the lever with my foot. As I suspected, the bands holding him snapped open and had I not been there, Kai would have crashed to the ground.
Sadly, I wasn’t the strongest at the moment and while I managed to mostly cushion his fall, my left hip smashed hard into the floor.
Several swears later, I’d managed to prop him against a wall so that I could pick the locks on his manacles. His eyes were still closed. His breathing unsteady.
I took his right wrist in my hand, again feeling his pulse. Stronger, but thready. I’m sure it was residual fatigue and not anxiety that caused my hand to shake as I inserted the tiny metal spring in the lock of the cuff and began to work on it.
“You stupid bastard,” I muttered. “Going after Hades.” I wanted to be angry seeing him like this, watching his shallow breathing, rather than let myself feel the fear and concern that gnawed at the edges of my consciousness.
His left hand closed over my forearm with the tiniest tremor. Kai stroked my skin with his index finger. He sighed. “So pretty.” Kai’s voice came out like pure raspy honey—you know, like when you’re still coming to from a dream.
I fumbled the lock as a tiny pang of happy shot to my heart. “You’re delirious.” He had to be, because there was no way in his right mind he’d compliment me like that. That was far too sweet.
I moved his left hand away to get a better angle. After a moment, his right cuff popped open.
Kai’s arm thudded uselessly to the ground.
How long had he been like this?
I repositioned myself so I sat cross-legged and bent over the lock on his left cuff.
Kai’s right hand reached up to gently tangle in my hair and pull on one of my somewhat matted ringlets.
I couldn’t help myself. I leaned into his hand. Let him stroke my jaw with his blistered fingers. Closed my eyes as he gently traced my eyelashes.
I felt my entire body come alive and push my pain aside in a giant sigh of bliss.
This wasn’t the time for indulging in fantasy or our insane attraction. We had to get out of here and nothing had changed between us. I grasped his hand and placed it down by his side.
Once his left cuff finally came off, I tugged him forward so I could yank his body free from the chain wrapped around his torso. I had to grappl
e with his dead weight to keep him from falling over. Hot fury at what they’d done to him flushed my skin. My light danced weakly out of my palms, desperate to blast things at the unfairness of it all but I had to conserve what little I had for our escape.
As soon as Kai was free, I threw the entire manacle contraption across the room, where it smashed against the wall with an angry clang. Kai slid back against the wall.
“Oi!” I held my breath as our Gold Crusher guard pounded on the outside of the door. Loudly bitching about crap job postings, he stomped away.
Big sigh of relief. I was alive. That was a plus. And there were two of us, which would increase our chances of getting out of here. That’s all I could let myself focus on. Rage, sorrow, the state of the relationships I had with various males—all had to wait. I shoved my emotions down deep inside me.
Survival trumped teen drama.
I glanced down to find Kai gazing up at me. Not talking, just taking me in.
I refused to squirm and stared back determined. My mouth was oddly dry. I swallowed a few times and refused to look away. Knock yourself out. I hadn’t survived everything to this point to be undone by his charms.
Upon closer examination, Kai’s usual hotness seemed tempered by exhaustion. Dark circles marred the skin under his rich brown eyes that reminded me of espresso. His stubble was fuller and his dark hair had grown out slightly, the tips curling just past his ears. The tiny silver scar which he’d gotten courtesy of Persephone when he’d abducted her seemed more pronounced against the streaks of dirt and dried blood on his face. His lips were cracked and swollen.
Too bad none of it lessened my attraction.
He smiled dopily at me and I leaned in, realizing that his eyes were glazed. The manacles may have come off, but Kai still rocked a massive after-shock.
I flashed back to the last time I’d seen him. In all his true eighteen-foot-god glory, there’d been a moment right before he abandoned me, when he’d sent me this look of incredible tenderness. I’d never been sure if I’d really seen that look or just wished I had.
Back in his earth form and six-feet-tall, Kai looked at me the same way now. Somehow, it made him look vulnerable. He tugged on his battered black shirt. In anyone else, I would have sworn it was a nervous gesture. I could see how the chains had shredded the fabric, leaving his skin beneath it red and raw. His eyes dipped away briefly before returning to my face.
Slowly, he drew his denim-clad legs up to his chest, to prop himself upright. His hard thighs visible through the many tears in in his jeans were of no interest to me. I looked at them twice just to make sure. Just to take my mind off the bloodstains and bruising, I told myself.
My fingers twitched, wanting to reach for him. I crossed my arms, and stuffed my hands into my armpits.
Kai’s brow furrowed. He blinked slowly with those ridiculously fringed lashes then reached out to take my hand. His skin was rough but his touch feather gentle.
Goosebumps broke out all over my body.
Kai leaned in to me and nuzzled his face into my neck. His arms circled me and he held me tight, inhaling my scent and cradling me like I was the most precious thing in the world.
Either Kai had a severe head injury or he’d been possessed, because he was never tender like this.
I gritted my teeth. He made it very hard to hate him.
I couldn’t shake the thought that this was another of his famous mind-games. That he had faked being out of it from the start. However, I still wanted answers. Maybe a warm, pliant Kai would be a talkative Kai. And if he shut up fast, then I’d know he was just playing me.
I wasn’t above exploiting the situation to find out.
And that’s all this was—a fact-finding mission. “Kai,” I murmured.
His hold on me tightened.
I felt so warm and safe. Facts. I was here for facts.
“Tell me why you took Theo’s chain.” The chain that had been forged so Zeus could bind Prometheus to a rock and have an eagle eat his liver as punishment for giving mankind fire. Since Prometheus no longer had any power in his human form, it was his only weapon. “You stole it. Knowing it was all Theo had, just so you could what? Go after Hades in his poisoned state?”
“Had to,” he rumbled, his voice scratchy, as if he hadn’t spoken for a long time. It was growly and sexy and his slightly foreign accent was the tiniest bit more pronounced. For some reason it made me think of rumpled beds.
No! Not beds. Bad, nasty things like uh—
Kai nipped on the hollow of the left side of my neck which remained my Kryptonite. Every nerve flared to life screaming “more” as lust ripped through me and my mind went blank.
I placed my hands on his chest and tried to shove him back. Get some breathing space. Oxygen was exceedingly elusive right now.
In response he nipped me again.
Had Kai come with a medicine label it would have read: take sparingly. Side effects may include: full body tingling, inability to catch a breath due to tightening ribs, and wonkyheadedness.
“Focus, Kyrillos,” I ordered sternly. Or at least muttered weakly before letting out something embarrassing close to a moan as he licked the spot he had nipped.
Yeah, definitely a moan. It only fired him up hotter.
I couldn’t let him touch me. Was not going to let him fondle his way into forgiveness.
Answers. Now. I had to get back in control of this situation. I’d turn the tables.
I held his arms in place at his sides and nuzzled his jaw. “The chain, Kai. What happened?” The skin under my lips felt bristly and tasted salty and I sort of forgot this was supposed to be an assault tactic as I fell into the spiciness of him.
“Chose you, Goddess,” he mumbled. He groaned and tumbled us to the floor.
“I know,” I tensed under him. “You wouldn’t ever let Hades hurt Persephone.”
Seriously, I so did not want to be reminded of her right now.
“You.” He was starting to slur.
I ignored the tinge of guilt I felt knowing that he really hadn’t come to his senses properly. Was still in a stupor and would never have been answering me otherwise. “Yes. Me. I am Persephone. But I’m Sophie. Do you get that?” I bent a knee and placed my bare foot against the cool floor, the better to support his hot, heavy weight.
Kai suckled the skin above my collarbone.
My last iota of reason jumped up and down in my brain reminding me of my real purpose. The rest of me tried to beat it into getting with the pleasure program, but he was a determined little bugger.
Kai’s head dropped against my chest.
I dragged my foot along his leg, sliding it against his toes. I gave him a prod.
“Hades poisoned himself,” he got out thickly, rolling off me.
I sat up abruptly, hot anger flooding my system. “That bastard! He framed me.” But why? Any way I looked at it, I came up blank.
I shook my head. “It doesn’t make sense. If he wanted me out of the way, he’d have killed me. Not frame me.”
Kai raised himself enough to lean over me, staring into my eyes. His expression stayed partially glazed and dazed, evidenced by his blinks that were becoming slower and slower.
I cupped his chin in my hands. “Stay with me here, bad boy.” I needed to understand.
“Test.” Blink.
“For …” I prompted.
“My loyalty.” He paused and I waited, unsure if there was more. “You … or him.” Very slow blink.
“But if you went after him then that meant …”
His gaze softened and he started to sway. “Chose. You.”
I laid him on the ground in case he fainted and considered what he’d said. It was sweet, I guess. “You chose Persephone again.”
“Chose Sophie,” he mumbled. His lids fell shut.
Holy. Hannah.
I scrambled to my feet and began to pace.
That was … wow … he chose me. Me. Then again, especially since his little revenge
trip had failed, he still needed me to defeat Hades.
I stopped pacing and stood over his body, staring down at him with a frown. Perhaps “chose” was a little vague. Somewhat undefined.
I squatted down next to him, watching the rise and fall of his chest.
What verb would he have used with Persephone? Want? Desperately need to kiss? Those would have been perfectly fine verb choices for me, too.
Love? I didn’t want that. Kai and love were a dangerous, potentially lethal combo. But there it was. The specter of her once again.
I was stuck in a not-love triangle with myself.
I was a means to an end and not the end itself. I wanted to open my mouth to ask why he chose me but I couldn’t make my lips move. I could single-handedly take on the minions of the Underworld and Olympus, but I didn’t have the guts to ask the boy I crushed on a simple question.
Kai stirred fitfully. “Never again,” he rasped.
“While I’d like to believe that of a whole bunch of situations, for now, you gotta wake up and help us get out of here,” I said, slapping his cheeks with my hand, hoping he’d come to.
I may have slapped him a bit too hard, because his eyes snapped open and he snatched my hand in mid-air before it could land on his cheek again.
His eyes narrowed. “Tell me I’m hallucinating.” His voice was low and still rough, but lucid.
Yippy. Totally back to normal.
I yanked my hand free. “I can see how you think that sounds like ‘Thank you, Sophie, for freeing me with your fine lock-picking skills,’ but really, it’s nowhere close.”
“You freed me?” Could he sound more incredulous? Doubtful.
I shrugged modestly. I was so going to enjoy Kai thanking me.
Kai pushed to his feet with a rustle and only the tiniest sway. If I hadn’t been watching him closely, I wouldn’t have seen any sign of weakness. He peered closely at my face. “Blood?”
I raised a finger to touch the tracks of dried blood along my cheeks.
He cast a suspicious glance behind me then stormed over to the two sets of manacles, hauling me along for the ride.
My Date From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy Book Two) Page 3
