Medusa: The Wronged

by JJ King

  Just as the thought filled her mind, Athena moved to strike, shoving Poseidon back with a scream that shook the walls. She leapt into the air, throwing her body toward Em with her spear raised above her head, her lips drawn back in rage.

  She would die now, Em thought, as time seemed to slow down to a crawl. She who had made her would now destroy her. It was poetic, really, if not the irony she’d longed for.

  Em shifted her gaze to Poseidon, whose face was contorted now in fear and fury as he shifted his course and ran forward, shield outstretched, trying to save her.

  He loves me. She smiled at him, letting the depth of her love for him shine out through her entire being, and wished things could be different.

  The spear descended, moving toward her heart, reading to end her long life. Em turned her head to face her fate and locked eyes with Athena.

  She didn’t see it coming this time. There was no tell-tale shifting of her gaze to set off the alarms that would have warned her. At the last moment possible, just as the tip of the spear was about to pierce Em’s chest, Athena wrenched her body to the side and threw her spear out with a piercing war cry, sending it straight at Poseidon’s unguarded chest.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “No!” The scream ripped from Em’s throat as she watched in horror as the spear sliced through Poseidon’s chest, burying itself dead center, and sent him stumbling to the stone floor.

  Fury spilled through her, crashing through her in violent waves, washing away the calm and light she’d found. Athena’s cheer of triumph broke through the rage and she turned to watch the goddess regain her feet with a grin.

  Pure, undiluted hatred filled her veins for the bitch, and it surged through her like ice. Em pushed to her feet, fueled now by the darkness, which pushed so hard against her now that it seemed impossible to resist.

  She can’t kill him, the words struggled to the surface of her consciousness. Em trembled, torn between the seductive power of the dark and the pureness of what she’d found in her love for Poseidon. Become the monster and she could fight back, protect him while he was hurt. The reasoning tempted her endlessly, calling to her, but she shook her head and pressed back against the pressure building behind her eyes.

  “No!” She screamed again, this time directing her words at Athena who just watched her with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. “I’m not a monster!” She gripped her temples, digging her fingertips into her scalp, and rocked, praying for release.

  “Of course, you are,” Athena’s voice was like shards of ice, cutting into her. Em cringed, caught off guard again by the horror her goddess had become. She shook herself, furious that she could still be affected by Athena’s betrayal. The goddess she’d known didn’t exist anymore. “Look at you, standing there, trying to battle your instincts to maim and kill.” Athena laughed, and the sounds skittered across Em’s skin, “You’re nothing. My sad creation. A monster.” She sneered.

  Em sucked in a lungful of air and blinked against the sea of red that flashed before her eyes. She curled her involuntarily lengthening nails into her palms and clenched until blood ran freely from her wounded hands. It dripped on the floor at her feet, splattering her in crimson red.

  It took a moment to find her voice through the rage, but when she did, the sound of it was terrible, hard and cold, just like Athena’s. The comparison just served to fuel Em’s anger. “You think I’m the monster?” She arched an eyebrow at the wicked goddess, not expecting an answer. “You, who claim to be pure and good, a virgin goddess, above the conceit and pettiness of your Olympian family.” She took a step forward, never breaking eye contact with Athena, whose eyes were shifting now, turning darker as she watched Em approach. Em knew the warning signs of Athena’s wrath, knew she was walking on very thin ice, but didn’t really care. At the back of her mind whispered the thought that if she could just distract Athena long enough, Poseidon could regroup, free himself of the spear, and strike back.

  “But you’re not above them, are you?” Em pushed on when she saw Athena poise to speak. “You’re exactly like them.” The truth of it fractured her cool tone and the words she’d spoken to herself a million times over the years broke free, spilling from her lips in despair and fury. “You were supposed to love me!” She choked on the words. “I loved you. I loved you with everything I was and you punished me for something I couldn’t control. I fell in love. Gods,” Em raked her nails over her forehead, too overcome with emotions to care than her long nails scored her skin, sending rivulets of fresh blood rushing down her face. “How fucking petty and cruel do you need to be to deny a friend the chance at love?”

  A groan of agony swept the rant from Em’s mind and had her twisting to look at Poseidon, whose eyes were finally open. His hands raised to his chest and gripped the spear where it pierced his flesh. With a great cry, he shoved the spear further into his chest, pushing it out all the way, until he was free of the unbreakable lance. He stood, unsteady for a moment, then waivered and fell to his knees.

  Em shifted to run to him then stopped, reconsidering. He needed time to regain his feet, to heal, she needed to keep Athena’s mind on her. She was about to turn back, to attack with words, and fists, with anything she could get her hands on, when she saw Poseidon’s eyes go wide with wonder and panic. His terrified gaze flew to hers a split second before his entire body began to shudder and convulse. As she watched in horror, his spine buckled, thrusting his chest into the air until only the tip of his head and his legs touched the floor. His muscles bunched tight until he began to bruise and thin purple lines began to spread like wildfire beneath his skin.

  When the lines reached his neck, his eyes rolled back and a fresh seizure took over his body. He tensed, bending, breaking, gasping, then a thick, black substance dripped from the corner of his swollen and bruised mouth. Em raised her hand to her mouth and choked back screams.

  He’s immortal, her mind screamed, but her heart scrambled to comprehend how such torture couldn’t end in death. She’d poisoned him, that had to be it. But poison wouldn’t kill him, it couldn’t. He wouldn’t die.

  But that was it, wasn’t it? He wouldn’t die, couldn’t die. This was Athena’s newest punishment. If she couldn’t kill him, she’d keep him trapped in agony for as long as her power held. It would be worse than death.

  Em struggled to breathe. She had to do something, she had to help Poseidon. It was impossible, she knew, but giving up wasn’t an option, not when they’d just managed to find each other again after all these years apart. Dark tendrils of power reached out of the despair and beckoned.

  Her limbs trembled and tears began to slide down her cheeks as she approached Athena whose gaze never waivered from hers. She towered above Em, looking down at her haughtily from a place of power.

  There was no power left in her. Everything that had surged through her moments ago had drained, leaving her with nothing but a desperate sense of despair.

  “Please…” the plea slipped from her lips in an uneven voice that sounded foreign even to her own ears. Em raised her head, looking up into the face of terrible beauty, and didn’t care that she wept. Nothing mattered, not pride, not revenge, nothing but him.

  Athena tilted her head ever so slightly and smiled. The chill of it ran over Em’s skin like ice and made her heart seize with terror. She waited to be struck down. Unlike Poseidon, she was the kind of immortal that could be killed by the right blow.

  Her voice was cold and flat when she spoke and her words rained like shards down on the last vestige of hope still clinging to Em’s heart. “You would beg me?” Athena laughed, “For what? Him?” She pointed imperiously to Poseidon.

  Em followed the direction she’d pointed and tried not to be sick. He was lost to her, again, but this time he was lost to himself as well. His eyes were black and unseeing, his body wracked with convulsions that bent him in unnatural angles. Every moment that he was lost in this darkness conjured by Athena was an eternity of pain, of that Em had no doubt. Her heart br
oke for the millionth time. “Yes, for him. Please.”

  This time when Athena spoke, there was no triumphant laughter in her tone. Her lips curled back, showing teeth that gnashed together. “For him you’d beg? For him you’d diminish yourself? For him you’d betray me!” Her voice rang out louder with each word she spat.

  The anger in Athena’s words struck Em. The rage and desperate frustration in Athena’s voice felt so familiar. They sounded exactly like what she’d practiced saying to the goddess if they’d ever came face to face again. Now, here they were, face to face, and the words she’d repeated in the dark had disappeared in her need to save her lover and herself. Em frowned, remembering the answers she’d imagined Athena giving her.

  “You betrayed me!” Em managed to force the words from her raw and swollen throat. Clutching the base of her neck, she rounded on Athena and let loose all the pain she’d ever allowed herself to feel. “I loved you! I did everything for you! Why couldn’t you understand? I didn’t have a choice.” Her voice shook as she gasped in another lungful of air, “I didn’t have a choice.”

  “You chose to love him!” Athena’s fury was terrible. It rumbled through the walls, sending rocks skittering down the walls to break apart on the floor.

  “I…” Em prayed for the words to explain how it had been but they all seemed insufficient. Athena would never understand anyway, she’d never loved, never felt the all-encompassing sweep of need for another. “I needed him,” she whispered it and turned to look at his writhing body. Tears streamed down her face as her soul tore apart for him, for her, for them. “I still do.”

  Athena’s scream filled the air and bounced back a thousand-fold, hitting Em like a barrage of sound. “I needed you! And you chose him!” She glared down at Poseidon’s body for a long moment then lifted her spear high to strike at him again. Em reacted, throwing herself forward as the spear arched down.

  It stopped just inches from her heart. Em shuddered out a shaky breath as she stared at the spear that would have surely ended her life. She would have died for him. Her body began to tremble with the realization. It was one thing to believe and another to do.

  Em lifted her hand to her chest and slid her finger over the edge of the spear. It sliced deep and true, drawing her blood to drip freely onto her clothes. Em stared at her own blood for a moment then shifted her gaze up to Athena. In the goddess’s eyes, she saw barely controlled rage, betrayal, hatred, and something else. Em’s heart clenched in grief that she would be lost to her love again. She locked her eyes on Athena, shielded Poseidon with her body, and waited for the killing blow.

  It didn’t come.

  Athena hovered over Em, her chest heaving as she took in ragged breaths and just stared with that indecipherable look in her eyes. Em stared back, unable to blink or move. Athena opened her mouth to speak then shut it again and when she spoke her words were nothing more than a whisper, “Why didn’t you love me?

  Em choked, swallowing the fear that blocked her throat. “I did love you,” she let the pain of betrayal color her response and felt a twist of satisfaction when Athena’s gaze shifted away from hers.

  “No,” Athena shook her head slowly, pulling away to run a hand through her thick blond hair, a move that set off endless memories in Em’s mind. “You loved him, you still love him.” She pointed her spear to Poseidon and grimaced as he stared at them both with unseeing eyes.

  Em frowned, trying to adjust to the shift in Athena’s mood. If this was a ploy, a plan to throw her off balance before ending her once and for all, she had to be ready. It didn’t pay to let your guard down around the Goddess of War. But, as she replayed the scene in her mind, Em struggled to understand the purpose of the deception. She’d spent years in Athena’s court, standing by her side as she dealt with those who’d wronged her somehow, and never once had she seen this side of the goddess. If it was a ploy, it wasn’t one she’d ever seen before. So, maybe it was real.

  If it was, if Athena was speaking with her truthfully, letting her real feelings show, then this was it, this was Em’s chance to talk to her and make her understand. She’d say all the things she’d ever wanted to say, to vent her anger and betrayal. She opened her mouth to let it all spill free and saw the shimmer of tears in Athena’s eyes.

  Her heart twisted in her chest. Despite the pain she’d endured, the pain she’d caused, and the harm Athena had inflicted upon her family, Em couldn’t stop the empathy she felt. It confused her, made her stomach churn with disgust at her own weakness, but it also touched the part of her that had refused to kill those soldiers. She’d despaired many times that whatever humanity she’d had inside had died off, but this was proof that it was still there. Em grasped onto the thought, however foolishly, and let her heart steer her path.

  “I’m sorry,” the words came out on a whisper but seemed to echo in the cavern.

  Athena blinked, hiding the proof of her tears behind thick lashes. She stared down without saying a word, her gaze unerring, her expression unreadable.

  Em watched her, really looked at the goddess whose service she’d once pledged to honor. There’d been a time when she’d spent hours memorizing that face. She’d known it better than her own. Except, she’d missed something. Em’s mouth fell open as she saw and recognized the pain of unrequited love in Athena’s eyes.

  “Oh,” she exhaled the word on a sigh as her own heart, so twisted and compromised, broke for the goddess. Em lowered her eyelids and let out a deep breath, “I didn’t know.”

  Her brain swam with intersecting thoughts that kept circling back to one thing. Athena was the virgin goddess, the one Olympian who’d forsaken love to remain pure. She’d never loved a man or a woman, as far as Em knew.

  “Why me?” The question slipped from her lips before she had time to realize it was on the tip of her tongue. She shifted, her body and mind uneasy at the sudden change in atmosphere. Her muscles remained tense, ready to defend, to attack. It made concentrating on emotional turmoil extremely difficult.

  Athena’s face remained stoic. Em ignored her icy demeanor and focused solely on her eyes. They couldn’t hide the truth. When they flashed hot with passion, Em braced and waited for the attack.

  “Why you?” She gritted her teeth so the words came out forced and sharp. Athena’s gaze riveted on Em, pinning her to the spot with their intensity. “You were my best friend.” Her voice hitched, betraying the pain she felt.

  Em remembered how it had been. How they’d spent every moment together and shared everything. She blinked away the filters time uses to obstruct the truth and saw the past through Athena’s eyes.

  They’d been surrounded by women, the other priestesses, her sisters, but the two of them had existed inside a bubble. Their bond had been unshakable, or so she’d thought. Then, she’d followed fate and her best friend had destroyed everything she was.

  Fury rebounded, pushing up Em’s throat like acid until she couldn’t hold it back anymore. “You turned me into a monster!” She balled her fists together and felt the sharp edge of her elongating nails bite into her palms. “You banished me from my home! You tore my family apart!” Em felt the spit fly from her lips and didn’t care. She embraced the wildness. “You were supposed to be my friend, my goddess, and you destroyed me!”

  Before she could stop herself, Em’s hand snaked out and four bright red gashes appeared on Athena’s cheek. Athena didn’t move, not to raise a hand to her bleeding cheek or to defend herself against the blows Em rained down on her.

  Every strike, every cut, loosened something deeply broken inside Em. She screamed as her nails bit into Athena’s flesh, slicing her clothes to shreds. The screams ebbed as the minutes passed, replaced by sobs that wrenched themselves free from the depths of her soul. Em shivered on unsteady legs and let her arms droop like dead weights at her side as she collapsed on the floor at Athena’s feet.

  “Just do it,” she said, feeling the weight of her sins so acutely it felt as if nothing would ever lift them.
“Kill me and get it over with.” Em lifted her head and let go of the last shred of her pride. “Just don’t hurt them. My family.” She shifted her gaze to Poseidon, who still lay unseeing and convulsing on the cold floor. “Don’t hurt him anymore.”

  Em hoped she was doing the right thing for once in her life. She kept her gaze locked on Poseidon and waited for death.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The killing blow never came. What did was somehow worse.

  “I never wanted you dead.”

  Athena’s whispered confession hit Em like a punch to the gut. She whipped her head around to gape at the goddess she’d once adored. Words spun in her head, screaming to be let out, but her mouth couldn’t form them.

  “Not really,” Athena continued as if she were casually chatting to a friend and not a foe. “No, that’s a lie, I did want you dead.” Her hand reached out tentatively, coming close to Em’s head. “When you,” Athena swallowed visibly, “chose him, I couldn’t think straight. You were mine, forever, and you betrayed me. You…” she closed her eyes and turned away, “tore me apart.”