The Stone Queen (The Dark Queens Book 9)

by Jovee Winters

  I could hear the roar of the ocean tides crashing against the rocks below, swirling and raging with Mother’s rising anger.

  I didn’t think. I simply ran. I ran as fast as I could, using my wings to push me to even greater speeds. I still knew next to nothing, but of one thing I was absolutely certain—my life would never be the same again.

  Chapter 7

  Ares

  I sat in the commons, studying the magnificently golden feather that I’d been gifted. It’d been a fortnight since I’d seen the female last, and I’d not been able to cease thinking on her since.

  Not just her looks, which had been pretty enough, I supposed. I’d seen better if I was being honest, though her wings were a marvel of creation. They drew me. For the past several nights, I’d been seeing them in dreams. Feeling their softness upon my bare flesh, hearing the tinkling of female laughter shivering around me hotly, coyly. I’d woken up, in a sweat and panting, more nights than one.

  I was disturbed by what was happening to me. She was a mortal, and I was a satisfied male. A niggling thread of doubt ate at me at that thought. I’d not failed to note Dite’s long absences from me, and they bothered me tremendously. That was part of the problem. I was all in so far as I was concerned with my female. I did not care if she carried on liaisons with others. Aphrodite was a free woman and free to do with her body as she willed. So long as I’d always held her heart, the rest hadn’t mattered. But lately, I wasn’t even sure I held that.

  I was confused and growing more and more annoyed by what was occurring between Dite and me, and I felt guilty because I, too, was harboring a secret. I did not lust after flesh in the same manner as my Dite or my father did. I enjoyed sex. What hot-blooded god didn’t? But I wasn’t consumed by it.

  Yet last night, I’d woken up in stained sheets. Me. Me! The shame and horror I’d felt at doing something I’d outgrown lifetimes ago was consuming me and had been all day. Instinct told me to seek her out, to try to uncover more of the truths concerning her role in my life, but another part of me was cautious. I was aware that sister Ceto hadn’t reacted as she had for no reason.

  I was certain of one thing, though. Serpent or no, the oracle had spoken of Medusa. I’d known it almost the moment my gaze had landed upon her. I’d felt the shift in the time threads and knew that she was a woman who would impact my life in a way I’d never known before or since. Her thread and mine were now twined, but why? And most importantly, how?

  The mug of ambrosia sat before me untouched. A river nymph of no great significance kept trying to gain my attention by baring her nubile breasts at me. It was obvious that she wished to bed me.

  Nymphs preferred near exclusively the beds of the gods. If it wasn’t me, she would be doing the same to someone else. Aphrodite was off again, visiting my brother’s lair. They’d grown close in recent years, so close that deep down, I suspected my relationship with her would suffer for it. And yet I loved her enough not to destroy her out of spite or jealousy.

  I felt lost. The world of men was at peace at the moment. I could go and stir their hearts and incite a rage that would culminate in war. It would be a balm to my weary mind, yet I found myself unsure for the first time in my eternal life. I didn’t know what to do.

  I was frozen by indecision, and that simply wasn’t me. I sighed, still staring at the shimmering feather.

  “Beautiful feather,” said the deeply masculine voice of my uncle, Poseidon.

  Frowning, I glanced up. Poseidon, when not in god form, wasn’t overly tall or even all that imposing. He was long and lean with golden hair and brilliant storm gray eyes as dark as the sky goddesses’ realm. He held a mug of ambrosia.

  “Uncle,” I said and quickly tucked my feather away and out of sight. Cocking my head, I studied my uncle, who was known to prefer the waters of his home over the land of the Olympians. “To what do I owe this honor?”

  He grinned, and that flash of convivial humor reminded me forcefully of Father. They weren’t twins, but they might as well have been considering how similar they looked to one another.

  He shrugged. “I grew bored today. Figured I’d come up here and speak with Zeus, but he was absent.”

  “No doubt impregnating a swan somewhere,” I muttered beneath my breath. I loved my father, but it was no secret that I didn’t hold with his cheating ways.

  I hadn’t meant for my uncle to hear me, but he had and snickered. “I’ll just pretend you didn’t say that, boy.”

  I curled my lip. He knew I hated when he called me “boy.” I was stronger than most of the gods up here, apart from Father and one other. But I could best my uncle, and he damned well knew it. His use of “boy” was simply his way of making sure I knew my place.

  No longer wanting to remain, I quickly shrugged and cleared my throat. “I’ve someplace to be soon. But… why have you come?”

  “Oh, you know.” He smirked, and there was something in his look that I did not care for. It was a gleam in his brilliant eyes that I’d seen before when he was up to one of his schemes. “Came at the behest of the Fates. Stopped by for a pitcher of ambrosia on my way home. Saw you.” He shrugged as though it were the end of the story.

  I narrowed my eyes, my gut sensing there was far more to this than what he’d told me. “Really. How interesting,” I said, not trying to hide my disbelief.

  He grinned. “Would I lie to you?”

  I thinned my lips.

  Taking a large drag of his ambrosia, he sighed before saying, “How’s your female, by the way?”

  “What?” I snapped, my spine going instantly taut as my fingers began to tingle with war flame. My heart pounded in my chest so furiously it was a wonder he hadn’t heard it.

  “Aphrodite, of course,” he said casually as he leaned back, eyeing me cunningly.

  My brows gathered in tight. What the hell was my uncle playing at here? Since when did he casually shoot the breeze like this with me? I could count on one hand the times he had, and always, there’d been a reason for his sudden curiosity about my life.

  “She’s fine,” I said succinctly.

  He snorted. “Good. Give her my regards.”

  Swatting off his words, I stood and glowered down at his golden head. “Why were you with the Fates again?”

  His chuckle made my skin crawl. “Good try, welp. But you know damned well I never said. And besides, readings are private things. Surely, you know this already.”

  He lifted a dark brow, and I didn’t like this. I didn’t like this at all. It was no secret that Uncle and Mother were close. Extremely close, if some accounts were to be believed. I would never claim that my family tree wasn’t without its issues, but I would also not judge my family for it. No one was perfect, though I would be damned if I lived like any of them. Still, if he’d learned something, he would eventually confess it to her. And if she learned it, then I would too. Eventually.

  Mother was a terrible gossip, especially with me, her favorite child.

  I nodded. “No, indeed. Now I am late to my meeting. Good catching up with you, Uncle.”

  He grinned, and the tension of seconds ago instantly vanished. That was the thing about the gods—nothing we did was ever truly personal. It was more of a spur-of-the-moment type thing. We would stab someone in the back one day and genuinely hug them the next. Mother could bear a grudge like no other, but she was rare. Most of us understood that the actions of today bore no significance to the actions of tomorrow. Still, I had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my gut. Something was definitely not right.

  “And where are you going in such a rush, boy?” he asked after taking another pull of his drink.

  I clenched my fists. “Earth,” I snapped, and turning on my heels, I angrily swiped open a travel tunnel. I didn’t even bother saying goodbye. Uncle was smart enough to know that I knew he hid something from me.

  My reaction was completely justified. I’d had no damned notion of heading to Earth today, but the moment I said it, I knew exactly where
I was going, though I knew I shouldn’t. I never should have kept the damned feather.

  Medusa

  * * *

  I hadn’t seen Perseus even once in the days since our explosive fight, and I knew it wasn’t by accident. Mother personally dragged me to temple each morning, forcing me to remain until Apollo’s chariot began its eternal race across the skies. Perseus had purposely not come, and though I’d expected to be saddened by this fact, I was, shamefully, relieved by it.

  I’d not realized just how much of a drain on my soul he’d been for years until suddenly I no longer had to deal with his wild mood swings and sometimes hurtful words.

  Still, I did not particularly enjoy my time in temple either. While my sisters got to enjoy their lives, I’d had to dedicate my life and virginity to the goddess Athena. Not that I’d ever yet imagined I would give my virginity to someone. But it had been nice knowing that someday, if I should fall in love with someone, I could.

  If I broke my vow of chastity, the consequences could be dire.

  I sighed as I finished picking up the fallen arrows from the training female warriors practicing in the field. As goddess of the hunt, Athena made sure that any of her devotees learned the art of archery.

  But as a pacifist, I didn’t particularly relish the notion of learning how to kill another person. I even hated killing my food. It was a pain in my soul every time I plucked a fish from its waters. If it weren’t a necessity, I would never bloody do it.

  After replacing the arrows within the quivers, I stood to the side and watched dispassionately as the women released their next round. One woman in particular, her squid-ink black hair caught up in an elaborate braid behind her head, wasn’t simply a bad shot but a heinously bad one. Every time I had to fetch for her, I was forced to go scouting off into the woods where none but beasts and me roamed. She was powerfully strong, able to send the damned thing flying for what felt like miles, and I was growing more and more vexed that the duty had fallen to me to recover her arrows. I’d tried to get Alaria to swap duties with me, but the bloody minx had merely laughed and skipped off. For four hours, I’d been forced to fetch for the Braided Crazy, and I was sick unto death of it.

  But as Mother reminded me day in and day out, this was my penance for lying to her for so long. My life was never to be my own again. I would wake up, come to temple, remain until the sun set, go home, rest, then tomorrow do it all over again, endlessly, until the day I died. This was my godsforsaken existence, and it almost brought me to bitter tears to think of it.

  I watched as Braided Crazy released her arrow and wept inwardly as that damned thing flew for what seemed like an eternity deep into the darkest reaches of the woods. Squeezing my eyes shut, I groaned like a wounded animal.

  “Well, go fetch it, you bloody useless slave!” One of the other girls growled at me and gave me a hard shove.

  I curved my hands at her. But since I had no claws, the threat was entirely for show. She and the rest of the girls surrounding her all laughed at me.

  “What are you going to do, Medusa? Huh? Tickle me to death?” Then she started laughing, which set off a ripple effect of more braying laughter from her posse of sycophants. “But you know”—she shrugged—“I really shouldn’t be surprised you’re so terrible at your duties to the great goddess. You’re not even a virgin.”

  I scoffed. “Of course, I’m a virgin!”

  The girl with plaited blond hair snorted. “Oh yeah, well, that’s not what I heard.”

  “I don’t care what you’ve heard,” I growled and got in close to her face. “It’s not true. You know what the goddess does if you’re not a virgin, and considering I’m still here, I’m clearly still pure.”

  But commonsense reasoning failed to work with her. She pressed on as though I’d never even spoken. “Heard you like to take it up the bum hole.”

  I gasped as all the other girls tittered with nervous and excited laughter.

  “I mean,” Blond Plait said as she tapped her chin with a long finger, “it’s really smart if you think about it. When the priestess examines you, you’ll still be intact, but you’ll know the pleasure of touch. Still, the bum…” She mock shuddered. “You’re so vile.”

  “Take that back!” I snarled and began to rush at her, but one of the priestesses whose name I didn’t remember was suddenly there and grabbing hold of my tunic, tugging me back by the neck.

  Another priestess was grabbing Blond Plait and dragging her off.

  I looked up into the kind eyes of a gray-haired priestess. “She… she said I… I—”

  Tears threatened to squeeze out the corners of my eyes but not from pain—more from rage than anything else.

  The kindly priestess tsked and tucked a curl behind my ear. “Pay her no mind, Medusa. That’s simply Zephinia’s way. She will be handled.”

  “But I didn’t do what she said, I promise.”

  “Of course you didn’t, child.” She hugged me close for a moment before pushing me back and clasping hold of my shoulders. “You are right. If you were tainted, the goddess herself would exact vengeance upon you for it. You’re as pure as I am, I’d imagine. And as I’ve said, Zephinia will be dealt with.”

  I still shook, but I was mollified by the kindness in her tone and sniffed once. The other girls were back a fair bit, and they were all still looking at me as though I really had done as Zephinia had alleged.

  “Go now and fetch the arrows. We will break for lunch at noon. Take as long as you need to find them, dear.”

  She was telling me to walk it off, and I nodded. Use of my wings was forbidden me on holy ground. So I turned and walked in the opposite direction of the arrows. I needed to get away from all of them.

  Even the kindness of the elderly priestess felt suffocating. There were so many things I wished I could change, like ever befriending Perseus. That decision was what had led me directly here to this hell that would forever be my life.

  My lungs heaved, and I worked hard not to wail as I so desperately wished to do. I’d made my bed. Now I had to lie in it. I’d chosen to break Mother’s rules, and I was forced into a life of servitude for it. I entered the tree line and didn’t look back. I wanted to fly away and leave this wretched place, this terrible island. Just go far away to some place where no one knew me. But I could never leave.

  Mother was tied to the waters, as was Father. Anywhere I went, they would always find me, and my lot would be even worse then. At least I could still walk freely.

  After getting to the center of the woods, I plopped down onto my butt and curled my legs up, then wrapped my arms around them before laying my head upon my knees. I squeezed my eyes shut. Technically I was not allowed to fly, but no one had ever said that I could not release my wings.

  So I did. I stretched them wide before quickly collapsing them tightly around my body. It would not do to have any of the other girls catch me doing aught. They weren’t above lying to get me in trouble.

  My heart was unbelievably heavy with sadness, and I sighed wearily and hugged myself, breathing choppily in the thick darkness encasing me. What if I simply never returned? I could do that, right? Just sit here until I died. That would be a better fate than this, surely.

  As I sat in the dark, my mind wandered, thinking about whatever naturally popped into it. Like how much I missed the taste of fish. The temple served us mostly lamb, and not that I was opposed to lamb per se, but fish made me think of freedom somehow. Of all the times I’d risen high into the sky before diving like a shooting comet into the depths below. I’d been free and able to do as I’d willed then.

  Now I was just handed a plate of something, and half the time, I didn’t even like it. They were big on hand-picked salads here. Dandelion leaves and wild spinach and lettuce and such.

  But this was my punishment, my penance for lying for so many years to Mother, and all for a boy who’d first ruined me then utterly abandoned me. Not that I was unhappy that Perseus hadn’t made an effort to come visit or see
me again. I’d seen other girls receive visits from boys, so I knew there were ways. But the truth was it was best that Percy and I never saw one another again.

  I didn’t scare easily, but he’d scared me that day just by the level of malevolence that I’d felt flowing off him to me. How bitter and nasty he’d been with those terribly cruel words he’d spewed with such venom and force. How wild his eyes had looked when he’d gazed upon me, like he hadn’t simply hated me but wished to stamp me out of existence entirely. I’d come face-to-face with evil that day, and I regretted every second that I’d lied to Mother, and all for a boy who’d never been worth it in the end.

  The worst part was, Mother rarely talked to me anymore. And she’d yet to tell me the truth of the Olympians and why she’d reacted as she had when she’d seen Ares. My only option was to piece together a probable theory, but I was sure it was riddled with holes.

  The only concrete thing I knew was that all of this, our separation from Father and the land of Olympus, had something to do with me and a terrible prophecy Mother had received after my birth. It was the only explanation for why we’d been cast out as we had. I wondered if my sisters had also received such terrible readings or whether they were being punished because of me too.

  I rubbed one foot atop the other, sighing heavily. I wasn’t a particularly religious woman, but I found myself muttering nonsense to Athena more often than not nowadays, trying in vain to learn whatever I could from whomever I could.

  “Great Goddess Athena, if you’re listening to me right now, I need you. I’m most desperate to understand all of this. And no one will speak with me. All I want is the truth. No matter what it might be.”

  But as always, I never got a response. Snarling, I ripped up a chunk of grass and angrily fluffed it through my fingers.

  “My sister isn’t exactly known for being all that altruistic with her parishioners.”