Omega (39 page)

“
No hard feelings. There
are ambassadors here to see you at lunch. The world is quite abuzz
with you.” He appeared pleased.

“
Yeah.” I didn’t trust
myself to say more.

The doctor placed a bandage on my thigh. I
watched him clean up the area, dreading standing up for fear of
pain. He handed me a small bottle of painkillers, and I rose,
testing my leg. My thigh was completely numb, though nothing was
helping my bruised ribs. I joined Cleon at the door of the small
medical clinic on the compound.

He led me away. Leandra and two security
guards trailed. Dressed in workout clothing, I suspected I’d
probably spend the rest of the day in a dress again.

We crossed the compound to my villa, and the
Magistrate paused at the entrance. “Niko is beefing up security in
anticipation of the ambassadors and politicians who will be in
attendance. I’ll leave my personal guard here for you.”

I tensed. He made it sound like he was doing
me a favor, but I had a feeling he no longer trusted me. “Thanks,”
I said and walked in the front door. “I’ll be ready before
one.”

Which was in about forty minutes. I groaned
internally.

“
What the hell happened
last night?” Leandra demanded the moment she closed the
door.

“
I don’t want to talk
about it.”

“
You completely
disappeared and show up torn up!”

I sighed. With Cleon gone,
I wasn’t afraid to limp or hold my bandaged ribs. “I got no sleep.
Please,
please
can
I lay down? I promise to tell you but I gotta do it
horizontally.”

“
Fine.” Leandra stalked
angrily back to my bedroom.

I stretched out across the bed and sighed
deeply. “You have a gown picked out?”

“
Don’t try to change the
subject!”

I rolled my eyes and stared at the ceiling.
I told her in as few words as possible about my adventure. The bed
beside me sank beneath her weight. She perched and listened
intently, frowning.

When I finished, I waited for her reaction,
not completely sure I understood everything that happened.

“
Glad to hear Herakles is
okay. We knew where he was but not how he was,” she said, pensive.
“What is this between you and … Adonis? He’s a
monster
at night?”

“
Yeah. Long story. He’s a
nice monster who helps me.”

“
And an asshole human
butcher during daylight who was supposed to kill or crucify you, if
I recall.”

“
It’s
complicated.”

“
I wish …”

I twisted my head to gaze at her.
“What?”

“
I wish we’d had more time
to establish our network. I get nothing about the intentions of the
Triumvirate in my reports.”

“
I still can’t believe you
nymphs are spies.”

“
Good ones. We should know
something.”

“
Look, Leandra.” I
grimaced as I sat up. “I don’t think it’s possible to know what
members of the Triumvirate are planning. Did you have any idea
there was a secret city beneath this one?”

“
None.”

“
Exactly. They hide their
secrets too well even from the other members.”

“
Still. We owe it to you
and the priests to know more.”

“
You’ll figure it out.” I
pushed myself off the bed. A platter of bakery items was on the
breakfast nook table. Brightening, I went to them. I always ate too
much when I didn’t get enough sleep. “Omigods these are
amazing!”

“
If you eat too many you
won’t fit into your dress.”

I ignored her and stuffed the rest of the
croissant into my mouth before double fisting a fresh raspberry
scone in one hand and Danish in the other. Trailing her into the
massive closet, I chewed and looked around tiredly.

“
The Magistrate insisted
you wear something the traditional colors today,” Leandra said. “I
don’t like it.” She held up a cream colored dress with a high waist
tied by a sunny yellow silk sash.

“
It’s pretty,” I said
through mouthfuls of pastry.

“
Not the dress, idiot,”
she said with a noisy sigh. “I don’t like that he wants you dolled
up more than usual.”

“
Ambassadors.”

“
Ambassadors attended the
soiree. He wants this occasion to be special.”

I was too fatigued to really care. “He won’t
do anything to me yet,” I said. “Right?”

“
I’ve heard absolutely
nothing indicating he will.”

“
So … maybe it’s just
super formal.”

“
Maybe.” She frowned. “Put
that down and change!” She snatched the remains of the scone out of
my hand and tossed it into a garbage can.

I did as she told me then sat at the vanity
where she did my hair and makeup. She grumbled about the amount of
effort it took to hide the dark circles beneath my eyes and the
bruise on one cheek from my altercation atop the wall. When she
finished, I gazed at myself in the mirror.

“
Wow. You can’t even tell
I got punched,” I said. “I look good.”

“
You’ll pass.”

“
I’ll never be as pretty
as you. I know.”

She smiled at me in the mirror, a wicked
gleam in her eyes. “You’re wearing heels.”

“
Oh, my gods, Leandra! I
can barely walk today!”

“
Shut up. I picked them
out for you already.”

I didn’t think the Silent Queen had servants
talking to her like this. I sighed and rose, sliding my feet into
modestly high platform heels. “Hey, these aren’t bad.”

“
You’ll kill yourself in
stilettos, but these are sturdy. Like you.”

“
You’re such a bitch,
Leandra!”

She laughed.

I smiled, unable to stay angry with one of
the only people I could trust.

“
Excuse me.” A second
servant came to the door and offered a shallow curtsey. “You have a
visitor.”

At least this one knocked
instead of dragging me out of bed.
I
walked a few steps cautiously then found the shoes steady enough.
Limping to my bedroom door, I exited into the hallway and didn’t
make an attempt to stop the hobbling movement until I was about to
enter the foyer.

I paused, already sensing who was present
without seeing him. Facing the balcony overlooking the gardens, I
saw Adonis at the railing in his normal black SISA uniform, sans
mask. His clothing clung to his tall, lean frame, and my eyes
drifted down him.

Leandra was frowning again. She trailed me
to the double doors but remained there while I approached Adonis.
His gaze was on the garden.

The awkwardness of my trip home last night
was forefront in my thoughts, despite my attempt to pretend Adonis
and Mismatch were two different people. I crossed my arms and stood
in the middle of the balcony.

“
Mine’s not dead,” I said
in the tense silence. “The garden.”
Gods,
I’m such an idiot.
What was it about the
man I should want nothing to do with that left me fevered? Stupid
beyond normal?

“
I don’t have minders,
either,” was his response. “Send her away.”

I hated when he told me what to do. But I
turned and waved Leandra back. I drew nearer as well, sensing …
something about him that wasn’t normal. I leaned against the
railing as well and gazed at the flowers below.

“
I’m leaving for a while,”
he said at last.

“
To where?”

He glanced at me.

“
Not that it’s my
business. In fact, it’s not. Why are you even telling me?” I
babbled. “It’s not like …”
I
care.

Amusement lifted the strange darkness in his
gaze. He seemed more aware, more present today.

More like Herakles the day I fixed him.

“
Something happened to
you,” I said.

“
Yeah. It did.”

“
I didn’t do it this
time.”

“
No. My memories returned.
Those from before I met you. From a time too long ago for records
to exist and those of the four thousand years I spent as a stone
beast before you reanimated me.”

“
Four thousand. My
gods.”

“
Yes, the gods. Only they
could devise such a brutal fate.” The bitterness in his tone was
unmistakable.

“
Who were you
before?”

He turned over his right wrist, where the
faded birthmark of an omega letter was present. “A prince of Greece
who fell under a terrible curse.”

“
The grotesque prince.
Your history is amazing.”

“
It’s something.” He
turned to face me. “But I have to leave to find something I left
behind.”

“
From four thousand years
ago?” I arched my eyebrow skeptically. “It won’t be sitting where
you left it. That’s for sure.”

“
Which is why this might
take me a while. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Why are you telling me
this?
I didn’t voice the words this time,
afraid of the potentially damning response. “Okay,” I said finally,
aware he was waiting for me to speak.

“
You remember how to
contact me if you need help?”

“
In case you can’t feel my
body or something?” I asked then laughed awkwardly.

He gave an almost-smile before closing the
distance between us. He reached out to lift the teal gem from its
place at the center of my chest. I barely remembered to breathe
watching his long, strong fingers caress it.

“
Hold it in your fist and
think of me,” he said.

I met his gaze, fluttery and fevered as
usual when he was close enough for me to smell him, and nodded. It
was so much more intense dealing with him during daylight than the
monster at night.

Leandra would tell me I was slow, but it
dawned on me in that moment what was between us. I’d mistaken the
tension between a man and woman attracted to one another for the
natural connection I shared with Adonis. Part of what I felt was
the natural bond, but this was deeper, more intense, less fleeting,
than anything I’d ever experienced for the boys at the
campground.

I didn’t want Adonis to leave because I did
care – too much.

“
I know you’re in danger,”
he continued, oblivious to my thoughts. “But I have to do this. I
have to understand who I am … or was.”

“
You’re on a journey like
I’ve been on,” I replied. “I do understand. Were you like … you
now?”

“
A butcher?”

I nodded half-heartedly.

“
The world was very
different then. But yes, I was every bit what I am now. Enslaving
or slaughtering entire races of people I defeated in battle. My
edge comes from who I am, not what Lantos made me
forget.”

Gods how his words bothered me! I had never
been as confused by one person as I was him, either. An admitted
butcher with no remorse – yet the capacity for gentleness and
kindness.

“
Your fists are clenched,”
he observed quietly. “It’s not anger, is it?”

“
No.” I forced my hands
open. “I have no idea what this is.”

He studied me, mercifully
quiet, even though I suspected we both knew what
this
was.

“
I never expected you to
rescue me or help me. I’m finding out I can’t expect that of
anyone,” I said and shifted back onto solid ground.

“
No, you
can’t.”

I hated that he agreed with me. He dropped
the gem without moving out of my space and cupped my cheek with his
warm palm. Sparks of electricity tickled me from the inside out. I
had no real urge to move and began to sink once more into the spell
I always did around him. Half amazement, half fear. I’d found the
one man who met Herakles’ conditions. Not only did Herakles hate
him but he was downright scary. I resisted the urge to nuzzle his
wide palm, uncertain how to react.

“
You have to survive until
I return,” he warned me. “Do what you must, however bad you feel
about it. Lie, kill, steal. Your focus must be on
surviving.”

What does he know about
what’s coming?
“This isn’t how humans give
pep talks.”

“
Survive,
Alessandra.”

I swallowed hard, overwhelmed by his
intensity, and nodded. “I will.”

His hand fell away from my face. “I brought
you something.” He averted his gaze as he said it.

I started to smile curiously. He bent to
retrieve a satchel I hadn’t noticed leaning against the railing.
Wordlessly, Adonis handed it to me and moved back. I opened it and
then laughed.

“
Mrs. Nettles!” I
exclaimed and reached in to pull the squirming animal out of the
dark satchel. I hugged her, now fully aware of her connection to
me. “I can’t believe you kept her all these years!”

Adonis cleared his throat in discomfort. He
was as adept with emotion as Herakles was. “Yeah. She can’t go with
me.”

“
So are you lending her to
me or can I keep her?”

His jaw clenched. I was struggling not to
laugh, always tickled when I thought of tough Adonis-Mismatch and
his stuffed toy.

“
She’s yours,” he replied
curtly.