When I get back to my room and Shaye stands up from sitting on the bed, something eases in my chest.
“Here.” I push the box to her.
“What’s this?” She arches an eyebrow but opens the fancy, wooden box with swirls etched into the top and sides. “Chocolate?”
“Do you like it?”
Her smile lights up her whole face. “Of course. May I?”
“They’re for you.” I kick off my boots and sit on the bed, watching her. I could watch her all day.
She tentatively picks one of the pieces of candy up and pops it in her mouth. Then her eyes close and she sways on her feet. “Gods, this is divine.”
“Glad you like them.”
“Why don’t you try one?” She opens her eyes and offers me the box.
“Nah, they are all for you, gorgeous.”
“But they are really, really good.”
I pull her into my lap, kissing her until she sighs against my mouth. “You’re right, the chocolate is good, but still not as tasty as you.” As much as I want to sink into her again, I need to talk with her. I set her down on the bed and know this will be hard for her. “Have another.”
“Will you kiss me again if I do?” she asks breathless.
“Later.” I straighten and stand but wait until she’s eaten another piece before I continue. “What happened last night?”
She pales, looking down at her hands holding the chocolate box. “Nothing.”
The fact she’s lying to me makes me want to take her over my knee and spank her. “Shaye!”
“Can I have some water?” she chokes out. “This chocolate is spicy.”
I nod and open my mini-fridge but all that I have in it is beers. I hand her one. She pops the top and then drinks several swallows before she looks back at me.
“Been a long time since I had a beer. Last time was when Anubis— Gods —why can’t they be normal or even sane.” She hiccups. “I mean how fucked up were my mom or dad or whoever the hell-spawned me not to even tell me who they were? Like even the demi-gods with one-eighth blood know their god patronage. While I’ve got nothing.”
Her words stun me, and I gape at her. “Don’t you know how lucky you are?”
She chokes out a half-laugh/half-cry. “Lucky? What are you talking about? I’m stuck in this hellhole for life or however long I can last in the fighting rings. I’m cursed is closer to the truth.”
“But you aren’t defined by who your god patronage is because neither you nor anyone else knows it.” Does the Warden though?
“Yeah? I would trade with you in a heartbeat.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying.” No one wants to be me. No one wants to have the god-parent that I do. To have people and gods alike shudder when you’re near.
“Guess parents everywhere are fucked up.”
I’m curious now how she’ll react if she knows the truth about me. Will she shun me? Run in fear like so many have? I flex my muscles, desiring to see her in awe and a little fearful of me. “Especially if your father is Hades.”
She blinks at me like I’ve just said the Easter Bunny is real. “Wow, the Hades?”
I wait, expecting screams or whimpers. Even begging not to cast her into the Underworld. Instead, she picks up another piece of chocolate and slides it into her mouth.
And that’s when I realize how damn good she is at pulling the wool over my eyes. She’s distracted me while changing the topic.
“Shaye, answer my question. Tell me what happened last night. I know about you and Skul.”
Her eyes bulge and she half chokes on the treat. “You do?” she squeaks and quickly puts the beer and chocolate on the bedside table. When she looks back at me, she doesn’t say anything but blinks with a startled deer-in-headlights expression.
“H-how did you know?”
Considering I’ve come clean about my dad, well, what’s the harm in telling her about my power. “My affinity comes with powers that permit me to glance into recent scenes from a newly dead.”
She gasps. “You saw it, didn’t you?”
I nod. “Why were you there?”
She swallows hard and breathes heavily. “The warden sent me on a mission to explore something called Project X from Skul, but instead I found Nelos taking out Skul. Nelos said he got sent a request to take out Skul, but he assumed it was from the Warden. Something’s going on.”
I’ve heard rumors for a while now that Nelos was an assassin, but many laughed it off. Yet my little girl here seems more shaken up by me finding out than him being a hitman.
But that’s not my problem. They have a past that I can tell from having watched them together. My concern is keeping Shaye safe.
“I think someone wants me dead. They’re framing me perhaps, or they hoped Nelos would accidentally turn on me. I don’t know.” Worry flares behind her gorgeous eyes and my insides shatter to see the ache on her pretty face.
I take her into my arms and hold her tight against my chest. “I give you my word, I will find a way to fix all of this.”
Chapter Twelve
Shaye
After staying in Xanth’s arms for so long that I am close to falling asleep, I pull myself free from his arms. “I should go back before someone notices me gone.”
Redressing quickly, I look up to find Xanth watching me like I’m a juicy piece of chocolate with a yummy fruit-filled center. I shiver in pleasure despite the fact we just had sex. But I’m feeling a bit safer in his presence even though I shouldn’t. He’d told me who his father is, and I openly shared my problem… something he intended to fix, and I want to cling onto those words, to stop feeling so scared all the time, to have more people in my corner when it feels like the world is trying to swallow me. He might have left me during my fight in the pit, but I want to believe it wasn’t with malicious intent.
Then he saved me from the prisoner trying to rape me in front of everyone and got me chocolates.
And I don’t know if it’s his pulsing aura that screams danger or the fact that he’s a demigod with freaking Hades as his god-patronage.
He snatches my chin, holding my face still, and nibbles at my mouth before his tongue glides inside. My toes curl as I close my eyes and sink into his kiss.
Bang, bang, bang!
I jump back from the banging on the door.
Xanth frowns and pushes up from the bed and slowly goes to see who it is. “Yeah?” he calls out.
“The Warden wants you... now!”
My heart races. Does the Warden know about us now? Or that Skul is dead and I didn’t get anything from him? I wrap my arms around myself. And what about Nelos and his... wolf demon or whatever it is? Acid burns the back of my tongue and I scoot further back into Xanth’s room.
Xanth glances over his shoulder at me. “Stay here,” he whispers.
Like I would go anywhere unless I had to, but I give him a nod.
He turns back to the door. “Tell Warden I’m on my way.”
“Not good enough,” the man’s voice answers. “I’m to take you to him. Stop stalling, let’s go.”
“Fuck,” Xanth curses under his breath, looks at me with reassurance, and opens the door enough to exit.
It clicks closed behind him and I’m alone. Like really alone. I haven’t been without someone breathing down my neck since I got here. And the bed. I practically wanna roll around in it and sleep until Xanth drags me out of it. But I can’t sleep. My stomach is in knots about why the Warden wants Xanth so desperately enough to ensure someone brought him.
I chew on a fingernail while I debate what to do. And I don’t want Xanth punished because of me. Then there’s Nelos and everything with him killing Skul. If I don’t give the Warden the information I was supposed to get, he’ll force me into the pit. I swallow hard. I can’t go back there. I have to figure something out to save my ass and possibly Nelos’ and Xanth’s too.
My stomach rolls, but I take several deep breaths to calm myself. I have to do somet
hing. First though, I need to find Nelos and make sure he’s okay. Ask him what the hell happened that he’s got a fire wolf inside him. He might know Skul better than me as I never met the prisoner. Together, we might come up with something to give the Warden that will keep me out of the fighting arena. And I want to better understand why he killed Skul. Was that something he did often? My stomach knots at the thought and I lift my shaky hand to the doorknob.
I can’t stay here. Not when I have so many unanswered questions and I am sure Nelos is looking for me or will be if I don’t show up at lunch in about half an hour. Plus I’ve already missed shower time. Not like I can grab one anytime I— wait —Xanth has a bathroom in here.
With me sucking on my bottom lip, I peek into the small bathroom. And godsent is a shower. I let out a squeal of joy. Can’t take advantage of the bed and sleep, but I can get clean without an audience or having to wash superfast in fear the water will be shut off.
I strip off the prison uniform and start the shower, letting the water warm up. Goosebumps dance along my skin.
I even squeeze a bit of Xanth’s toothpaste onto my finger and quickly brush my teeth. Steam fogs up the mirror and I climb inside the shower. A sigh escapes me as the hot water heats my skin. I miss this. Miss being able to have the simple freedom of showering without fear. Miss being normal.
Tears prick my eyes from everything I’ve lost. My life. My future. My friends. And I haven’t even heard anything from Deirda since she visited me in what feels like forever ago even though I know it’s only been a few weeks. Or has it? Time in this hellhole is screwed up. I feel like I’ve been here for months rather than weeks.
And I’m never getting out of this prison.
My shoulders hunch. I can’t hold back the tears now and I let myself cry. Sobs shake my body as I give in to the grief and longing of what I’ve lost and what I can never have.
On top of that my foster grandmother hasn’t visited me yet. Has she really forsaken me? The water hits my back and shoulders, and I let it wash away all the aches, though I keep going back to my real parents. Everyone I talk to in prison seems to know their godly parents, yet me… I’m clearly a nobody as neither my mom nor dad have made a show. I've given up a long time ago daydreaming about who they could be and now I tell myself I no longer care. But I’m no idiot and can’t ignore the burrowing ache deep in my chest that they must think I am so unimportant they refuse to acknowledge I even exist.
That hurts damn deep and pierces my heart.
I don’t know how long I stay there with the water cooling against my back. I scrub a hand over my eyes, trying to dry my tears.
Quickly, I grab the shampoo and wash my hair. Oh god, he even has conditioner! I work on my tangled ends and let the stuff soak into my hair while I wash with the soap as fast as I can. My teeth are chattering because all the hot water is gone.
Then I rinse my hair and body and shut off the shower.
I yank off one of the towels from the shelf and wrap myself in it.
Whispers sound so close that I freeze.
Is there someone in Xanth’s room?
My breaths lodge in my throat as I creep forward to the door. I crack it open, but the room is empty. What the hell?
I lean back against the door, shaking my head. Maybe being in prison is making me paranoid, or I’m finally losing my mind.
Turning back to the sink, I pick up a comb and start working out the tangles, but it’s easier since I was able to use the conditioner.
I’m about finished when another murmuring echoes through the bathroom. A dryness claws up my throat. Where is that coming from?
There is no such thing as ghosts.
I pause and close my eyes, listening. The sound is coming from my right, next to the shower. I frown at the wall and notice three vertical grooves that are spaced about three inches apart, but nowhere else in the bathroom are lines like these. I trace my finger down each of them. They seem to be a sort of folding hinge or something. I push against one then the other. Nothing.
There’s no lever or button I can see. But I don’t see Xanth having something like this purely for decorative purposes.
I push on the third panel and the wall shifts slightly under my palm. So I keep pushing until the whole panel moves out of the way. Underneath are dozens of cameras. One shows the exercise yard. Three cameras show different areas of the cafeteria. A few are pointed to the hallway connecting some cells. Another is the showers.
I clamp my hand over my mouth, not believing what I’m seeing. Xanth is a Peeping Tom? I try to tell myself he has to watch because he’s a guard, but then why have this in the bathroom and concealed?
My eyes rove over the different screens and I stifle a cry at seeing my cell. Crymson is dancing, waving her hands in the air while Everly looks to be singing or yelling from her bottom bunk. No sign of Lene.
With my throat tightening, I push the panel back into place. My hands are shaking as I dress back in my prison outfit, but the shirt is ripped. Damn it. I hunt around, but don’t find any needle and thread anywhere. Doesn’t matter anyway, my hands are shaking so badly, I’d probably have a jagged seam. I tied the end together and press my arm to that side to hide the damage.
I was right, I can’t stay here. And now that I know Xanth’s been secretly watching me, I can’t wait a moment more to get out of here.
Dressed, I rush to the door and yank it open. My breaths turn to pants as I flee down the hallway.
I glance over my shoulder, expecting Xanth to show up and stop me. My mind races as I run down the hallways. I spin around a corner and then another before I realize I don’t know where I am.
The sharp odor of acrylic paint fills the air. There’s a glistening sheen to the walls like they’ve been freshly painted. A cell door hangs open and the stench of blood and something else I can’t name hangs heavy in the air.
I take a step backward, preparing to turn and run when a male chuckle sounds behind me and my throat closes.
“Well, well, if it ain’t the last person to see Skul alive come to pay her respects.”
The words punch me in the gut. I whip around to face three guys and a girl looking at me like they want to rip me to shreds. Two of the men have their hair shorn so short they look bald but have dark skull tattoos over most of their hair. The girl has red hair twisted in tiny dreadlocks about an inch long and has the same skull tattoo on her throat like a choker. The last guy has a buzz cut, but not as short as the others and no tattoo on his head, but a spade one under his eye followed by four black teardrops on his cheek.
I hold up my hands. “Please, I don’t want trouble. I-I didn’t do anything.”
“Then who did?” the spade guy asks. His hands, covered in tattoos, twitch at his sides.
Even though I know who killed Skul, I can’t tell them about Nelos. Let them think what they want.
I square my shoulders and try to push past them.
The girl shoves me so hard I stumble and grasp the wall to keep from falling. My hand comes away sticky and coated in gray paint.
“You’re not going anywhere,” the other one says with the skull tattoo. “Not without a pound of flesh taken, god-killer. You were seen going down to where Skul was last, so now it’s time to pay up. Life for a life, right?”
Chapter Thirteen
Xanth
I walk in line with Samuel, the other guard, trying to read him. He’s one-sixteenth Athena and even I know better than to piss him off. His goddess once turned a woman into a giant spider merely for bragging her weaving was better. Add in that Athena is the goddess of wisdom and I don’t want to have to deal with that shit. I’ve got bigger things to worry about.
The Warden’s door stands open. Shit. Not a good sign.
I march inside and Samuel closes the door behind me.
Instead of being behind his desk, Warden stands looking at a painting of Mount Olympus on his wall with all the Greek gods depicted in it. Even fucking Poseidon waves his trident
from the ocean in the distance. But my father, the great Hades everyone fears, and hates is nowhere in the frame.
“What did you find out from Skul’s body?”
This was the question I dreaded answering, because if I did, it would implement Shaye. I clench my fists and ready for the pain. “Nothing. His soul was burned out along with his insides.”
Death doesn’t startle me, though the Warden turns with his face pale and his eyes pinch. Many fear death, but to me, it’s the only thing anyone can count on. Every fucking thing after birth is a crapshoot. Gamble on dying and you’ll never be disappointed.
“You’re sure there was no at the time of death images?” Warden straightens.
“Must have been a quick death,” I say even though I felt Skul’s pain as though it had been my own. “They must have caught him by surprise.”
He faces the painting again as though dismissing me, but the tension in the air is heavy and thick.
I need to get back to Shaye. If the Warden has any inkling she’s involved in this murder, he’ll kill her himself. Murders in the ring are one thing as the Warden profits from the damn gods' entertainment. Someone going vigilante on his inmates is another. Plus, too many demigods dying unwarranted will bring questions about his security. No one will trust him with their priceless garbage.
I shake my head in disgust. The gods are a fickle lot. Many of them, like whatever god or goddess made Shaye, couldn't care less about their offspring. But as soon as someone hurts or kills a demigod without their patron god sanctioning it and heads will explode.
“If anything turns up,” the warden says, his voice close to a growl with his impatience “Bring it to me immediately. Even if it’s a glimmer of a vision you missed.”
I don’t wait for him to dismiss me and stride to the door opening it.
Sinful Gods: Paranormal Romance (Hell's Playground Series Book 2) Page 7