Venus Rising: Book 3 Aphrodite Trilogy (The Daughters of Zeus 6)

by Kaitlin Bevis

“You serve as a nice symbol. A cautionary tale. The rest of the islanders may feel sorry for you, or they may hate you. But no one wants to be you.” The smile never left his face as he reached behind me and opened the door. “Good luck out there.”

  Chapter X

  Medea

  THE DEMIGODS around me leaned forward in anticipation as Narcissus leveled the Steele at Elise. Their golden bodies crowded me, breaking my focus when I tried to teleport Elise away. The narrow lobby felt too small. Too bright. Too loud. And after moving the island I was too drained to help her.

  Steele met flesh with a solid slice, and I held back a scream, certain I was about to watch her die.

  But she didn’t. I stared, torn between disbelief and relief as the terrified girl’s knees gave way, golden hair tumbling forward to cover her face in a tangle. She looked so small, so frail, so broken. Whatever had happened when I teleported her with the island left ugly scrapes and gashes up and down her narrow frame. Her golden skin was already darkening to varying shades of purple.

  Narcissus yanked her back to her feet and looked out at the bloodthirsty crowd he’d created. His narrow golden eyes glimmered with self-satisfaction. The immaculately dressed demigod puffed up his chest, standing tall and strong as he spoke, no doubt saying something pointed and smug before he dragged Elise away, but I couldn’t hear him over the roaring in my ears.

  She’d survived.

  “So much for Elise being a goddess.” Otrera grabbed my hand and towed me to the front of the line, her braids swaying with her purposeful stride.

  “That doesn’t make sense,” I insisted as I followed her. Elise had to be a goddess. Or she at least knew about the Adonis imposter. But the way he talked about Aphrodite and the way he’d looked at her. . . . I wasn’t wrong about this, I knew it.

  I hissed in pain as the nurse pricked my skin. Steele wouldn’t kill me like it did a god, but it seemed to hurt me more than the other demigods. My powers wouldn’t heal me from this cut, and they’d be less predictable until I was fully healed. Just what I needed.

  Otrera offered her arm to the nurse next. She didn’t so much as flinch when the Steele pricked her flesh. “We done?”

  The nurse nodded her assent, and Otrera didn’t waste any time stepping out of line and herding me past the front desk. “I’m going to find a way to get us off the island,” she murmured in a low voice, glancing around to make sure she wasn’t heard. “All of us.” She shot a significant look toward the back of the lobby where Elise stumbled into the lobby, looking dazed.

  Narcissus just sent her back in here?

  Really?

  We weren’t the only ones who’d noticed Elise’s entrance. Demigods crowded around her, some shouting questions, some jeers and insults, and a few made half-hearted attempts to get the others to back off. The noise came together in a cacophony of hatred latching on to a ready target.

  “Come on.” Otrera grabbed my arm and pulled us right into the fray, elbowing and shoving anyone who didn’t move out of our way fast enough.

  I stayed safely in her shadow, grabbing Elise’s hand when we reached her. “It’s going to be okay,” I lied in Greek, knowing she could understand me. Elise could understand any language, and anyone who heard her speak heard her in their native tongue. No other demigods that I knew of could do that particular trick, but then she probably wasn’t a demigod. The three of us formed a chain with Otrera at the front, towing us toward the door.

  “Back. The hell. Up.” Otrera snarled at Calais when he stumbled into her, pushed by the force of the crowd.

  “Why are you sticking up for her?” the muscular demigod demanded, puffing out his chest.

  Loud jeers followed his question and I winced at the names they called Elise. Adonis, the fake one, had suffered the disdain of the demigods for his dalliance with Aphrodite, but this. . . . This was darker. Angrier. I could see it in the hatred in their eyes. To them, this was personal.

  Why? I didn’t understand the double standard. Adonis had hooked up with Aphrodite knowing she was a goddess. They didn’t know if Elise had any clue that the Adonis on this island had been an imposter. I knew her better than anyone here, and I wasn’t even sure of that.

  Elise’s composure was cracking. The more people crowded around us, the faster her breath came. I remembered finding her on the floor of the hospital all those months ago, in the throes of a full-blown panic attack, and my certainty wavered. She’d known. Hadn’t she?

  “We just want answers,” someone shouted.

  “She just got sliced open to satisfy your curiosity,” Otrera spat. “That’s enough for now. We’re taking her home. Get out of my way.”

  Otrera shoved and bullied her way through the crowd, yanking Elise and me along with her.

  The second we stepped out of the hospital, we were struck by a deluge of rain. But Elise didn’t react. Her clothes clung to her skin, her hair dripped, and she blinked water out of her eyes. But she didn’t stop moving forward, her face a mask of shock.

  “Shouldn’t we run?” I yelled over the rain, glancing back toward the glass door.

  Otrera stared at me for a moment, as though trying to find words buried beneath an accent that only grew thicker the more panicked I felt. “No,” she said when comprehension dawned on her face. “No one is walking out of that hospital until they all know for sure no one inside is a glamoured god.”

  “That’s why you had us go first.”

  “Do you think they would have let us leave otherwise?”

  “Let us?” It didn’t seem like they let us do anything.

  “They know where to find us.” Elise’s voice sounded hollow. “And they weren’t worked up enough to forcefully keep us there. Yet.”

  Yet?

  We rounded the corner of the mud-soaked path. The second the hospital disappeared from view, Elise slipped her hand free from mine.

  I started in surprise. Somehow, I hadn’t noticed we were still holding hands. When Otrera’s hand dropped away next, I felt smaller. More vulnerable. Glancing back toward the hospital, I confirmed again no one was following us.

  “Excuse me.” Elise made an abrupt right turn into the tree line.

  “What are you doing?” I followed her off the dirt path, swatting away the low-hanging vines dripping with rain water. They didn’t slow Elise down at all. She was like a breath of air, passing through the trees with little more than a stir. When I finally managed to reach her, I came to an abrupt stop.

  She leaned against a giant fern tree, her gold palms digging into the trunk as if it was the only solid thing on this entire island.

  “Medea.” She said my name harshly, her voice punching the second syllable, but she broke on the third.

  Otrera grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back through the tree line. “Give her a moment,” she chided.

  “But . . .” Thunder rumbled, emphasizing my concern. We needed to get to the cabins. Inside. Where we’d be safe from the elements and people alike.

  “Medea.” Otrera lowered her voice, her golden eyes darting to the tree line. If the frigid rain bothered her, she didn’t show it. “Her Adonis is gone. And if you’re right and she knew exactly who he was, that sucks for her because she got left behind. But if you’re wrong . . .” Otrera held my eyes, making sure I understood. “Then it’s worse. A lot worse. But even excluding him all together, she almost died today and just got thrown at an angry mob.”

  I nodded, feeling sick. She knew about the false Adonis. I’d been so sure of it. But . . . what if she hadn’t? What if she really was a victim in all of this?

  Otrera’s gaze softened. “How are you holding up?”

  “I’m fine,” I lied.

  The athletic demigoddess reached for my hand and gave a gentle squeeze. “Well, I’m here,” she offered. “If you decide yo
u’re not.”

  Otrera gave Elise a few minutes before heading into the tree line, nodding for me to come along with her.

  We found Elise curled against the trunk, her arms wrapped around her knees. She dragged air into her lungs in sharp gasps that had just enough voice for them to sound like sobs. She didn’t look much like a goddess. Just a girl, sitting in the mud, battered and bruised from her swim ashore. She looked like something that could break.

  “Elise.” Otrera knelt beside her. “Do you take anything?”

  Elise stared at her uncomprehendingly.

  “Medicine,” Otrera said, speaking in a calm, slow voice. “Something for anxiety?”

  Demigods got a major health boost from their divine parentage. Colds, hangovers, and minor illnesses were rare, but the chronic stuff hit us every bit as hard as regular humans.

  Elise shook her head.

  “Tell me how I can help you.”

  You can’t. Elise didn’t say the words, but her eyes and her shaking head telegraphed them loud and clear.

  Otrera backed off, giving Elise time to compose herself. When Elise’s breathing evened, Otrera helped her up. “Come on. Let’s get you inside. You’ll catch your death out here.”

  Elise gave a mirthless laugh at that, but allowed herself to be led back to the path. I fell into step beside her and noticed red beads of water trickling down her arm.

  “You’re still bleeding.” I’d already stopped, and a quick look at Otrera revealed her own shallow cut had clotted as well.

  Did Narcissus just cut Elise deeper, or was she reacting differently than the two of us?

  Elise glanced at her arm as if the appendage had just materialized there, foreign and strange. “Oh. I’ll grab another bandage when I get to the . . .” She trailed off when we rounded the corner in front of her cabin. The door was open. Through the narrow opening, I could see the place had been thoroughly trashed.

  “They were probably looking to see if he had anything hidden here,” Otrera said, watching her carefully.

  Emotions flickered across Elise’s face, too fast for me to name before settling into resignation. “Makes sense.”

  Not to me. Elise and Adonis hadn’t had much in their cabin. Only the standard furniture found in every cabin of the former resort we’d claimed as our own and very few personal belongings. There was no reason to be this destructive.

  Stepping inside, I saw overturned furniture, broken splinters of wood and glass, and torn papers littering the floor. Elise drew in a sharp breath when she reached her room. Every single article of clothing the two of them owned had been tossed throughout the room. It even looked like someone had taken a knife to their mattress.

  Why? They’d come here with nothing. We’d brought them here with nothing. Everything they’d been given had gone through all the safety checks. What did Narcissus’s thugs think they would find here?

  Nothing, I realized. There might have been some justification in looking for notes, but not for doing all of this. This had been done to scratch an itch. It felt good to destroy things when you didn’t have to live with the consequences.

  Elise stood frozen in the doorway of her room. She drew in a shuddering breath, her composure fracturing. “You don’t have to hang out here. I’ll work on cleaning up the mess.”

  Clean up this mess? There was no cleaning up this mess. Anyone could see that. “Why don’t you stay with me?” I offered. “I’d feel better if I wasn’t alone.”

  “Would you?” Elise asked, a sad kind of laughter evident in her voice. “Or would the rest of the island feel better knowing I’m being watched twenty-four seven?”

  “I left Jason with the gods.” Jason. My husband, the leader of DAMNED. He’d saved me. He’d used me. And, unchecked, he would have led us all to our destruction. I let the weight of the words sink between us, waiting until she met my eyes to continue. “You think they’re happy with me right now? There’s safety in numbers, for you as well as me.”

  “She’s right,” Otrera agreed. “Look, why don’t you grab what you can salvage, then we can head on over to Medea’s. A shower and some dry clothes will go a long way in making you feel better. Promise.”

  Elise stared into her room in dismay. I tried to put myself in her shoes. Imagine what it must be like to realize that someone else had been in my space, had destroyed my things. But I couldn’t imagine it.

  “Hey.” Otrera’s voice turned sharp to get Elise’s attention. “This is temporary. Medea is teleporting us out of here as soon as she recovers from moving the island. We’re not going to stay here with them.”

  “You’d leave your people?” Elise asked, sounding mildly surprised.

  I hesitated. My plan had been to convince the demigods to take the Pantheon’s terms. As I crossed the threshold into her wrecked room, I made a decision. I was getting the three of us off this island as soon as I could teleport. The rest of the demigods had chosen Narcissus over me. They didn’t want to negotiate. They just wanted blood.

  Well, let them have it. We weren’t going to stick around to suffer the consequences of their stupidity. “They’ve made their choice.”

  Elise’s gaze slid from me to Otrera. “And you?”

  “I just want off this island before things get ugly.”

  “Why did you come here?” Elise stepped forward. “I’ve never been able to figure that out. She makes sense.” She pointed at me. “Glauce too, but you? What could Jason have possibly offered you to convince you to come to this island?”

  “I just didn’t want to be Zeus’s next incubator,” Otrera said with a shrug. “That danger’s long gone now. The island was supposed to just be a place to live that was safe. Hidden from the gods. I never wanted to go to war. All we wanted was to be left alone.”

  “You were left alone.” Elise’s face went frosty. “Once Zeus died. You still don’t get it, do you? You attacked first. The poison, the weapons, the missing gods. That was all you.”

  “We were defending ourselves.” Otrera narrowed her eyes at Elise. “We all voted on that. But we didn’t get a vote on whether or not to accept the terms of the truce, and the way that Narcissus is allowing dissenters to be treated means we likely won’t get a chance. At least not honestly. If I can’t have a say, then I don’t want to be here.”

  “You don’t think there are others who feel the same way?” Elise pressed. “Don’t they deserve a chance to leave too?

  “Maybe,” Otrera agreed. “But they’re never going to speak up now.”

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “You don’t know a lot about mob mentality, do you?” Elise glanced at me, the ghost of a sad smile still on her face. “Of course you don’t. Why would you? Narcissus is working them up into a frenzy instead of defusing the situation. This test—” she held up her arm “—is validating their suspicions, making it safe for them to turn against one another—”

  “But it makes sense,” I objected. “Making sure no one else on the island is a god makes sense.” If anything, it would set everyone at ease.

  “It’s the tone he set,” she insisted. “The way he treated me before and after. What do you think will happen if someone in that lobby fails the scratch test?”

  “They’ll tear each other apart,” Otrera said.

  Elise nodded. “I think that if Narcissus thought they were going to find a god, he would have stuck around so he could control the crowd. He’s using the gods for something; why would he risk losing a valuable resource?”

  He wouldn’t.

  Elise nodded at my unspoken realization. “I think he knows he’s not going to find anything. The scratch test is all for show. What he really did back there was make it clear how supporters of the Pantheon, anyone who doesn’t agree with him one hundred percent, should be treated.”

  T
hat seemed kind of paranoid, which coming from me, said a lot. But to my surprise, Otrera didn’t disagree with her. She just shrugged and said, “Well, at least now they know you’re one of us. Even we were starting to suspect . . .” She trailed off. “Look, guys, it’s kind of freezing. I’m going to go back to my cabin and pack up a few things. Let’s save this chat for when we get back to Medea’s, okay?”

  “Wait, you’re staying too?” I glanced at her in surprise. The cabins were one bedroom. Things were going to be cramped enough with me and Elise.

  “Like you said, safety in numbers.” Otrera gave us both a tight smile as she backed away. “I don’t think any of us should be staying alone.”

  Chapter XI

  Aphrodite

  SURREAL. IT WAS a word I’d heard, understood, and probably even used on occasion, but this was the first time my feelings so perfectly fit the definition. I felt as if the world had faded into an impressionistic painting, all backgrounds and blurs, as Medea helped me pack my few belongings to move out of the cabin I’d shared with Ares.

  I’d never felt attached to this place because I knew my time here was transient, fleeting. Yet, everything I touched invoked a memory. Most of the memories were filled with fear and despair, but there had been one moment, a shining, wonderful moment, when this cabin felt like home. I’d been happy here. Because of him.

  And they’d destroyed it.

  I glanced around the wrecked bedroom, filled with the splinters of the standard furniture found in hotels across the globe. A bed with cotton spilling out of the sliced mattress, a dresser with a shattered mirror, a small desk in the corner leaning on its two remaining legs. Windows filled the walls, but the sky outside looked ominous. The dark clouds penetrated the room, filling the once light, airy space with gloom.

  Ares had been the only stable thing on this island, and now the loss of him hurt more than I could describe.

  “You’re still bleeding.” Dark hair fell past Medea’s shoulders in a damp tangle, her skin looked pale with cold, and her violet eyes had a redness to them that spoke of extreme exhaustion. Her slight frame slumped, but, incredibly, all her focus was on me. “Hang on.” She disappeared into the bathroom and came out with one of the standard first-aid kits. There was one in every master bathroom on the entire island.