Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 123065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
“Unfair.” She sighs. “Not everyone had money and if they did it was to feed their family.”
“Then they should have lived perfect lives, I suppose.”
Her eyes narrow as she takes another bite, ketchup catching on her lower lip. “That’s impossible.”
I lean in and brush my thumb over her lip. It’s instinctual. I’m her boss. What the hell am I doing? But touching a human, touching the last one. Why is it so damn tempting? My thumb skips then pulses like a heartbeat from that single touch.
After an initial start, she freezes, eyes wide. A vein visibly pulsing in her neck.
“Sorry, you had some food there.” I wanted to touch her even though I’m not supposed to yet, I felt—a primal need to touch. I lean back. “Well, I guess there’s always another option isn’t there?”
She wipes her napkin across her mouth. “What?”
I lean and whisper. “Pray to the gods yourself, pray to Olympus and ask for them to take you if you have no coin, they might just give in and allow you to pass into the afterlife, they aren’t without grace. Especially if you have someone waiting for you.” I’m not sure why I say it, but I continue. “If Jake were hypothetically gone, wouldn’t you give anything to see him again? Desperation makes us do crazy things, Cleo.”
Her fork drops out of her hand, clattering against the floor. “What?”
I reach over the bar and hand her a new one, then I fold my arms over my chest. My clothes feel too small sitting next to her, my white cable knit sweater feels toxically normal and choking along with my jeans. “Why kill when you can imprison? Why take away power from this earth when you can feed from it? The gods are no longer heroes, Cleo.” I’m talking about myself of course. I know who I am, what they’ve turned me into during these trials in order to ascend to the mountain .
When she says nothing, I continue. “After all, a balance must always exist between good and evil. But I will say this,” I look out the window, across the street at the competing pub. “It’s much easier to appear perfect and good when you shower power and gifts on your people than when you punish them for wrongdoing, when you give them consequences for their actions rather than looking the other way. But sometimes, a curse can become a blessing because one thing they don’t teach you at all those fancy universities…” I lean in and crook my finger.
She frowns and gets just close enough to hear my whisper. I can hear her heart pound in her chest, I can count her inhales, exhales, my tongue slides out across my lower lip, the air itself is permeated with her scent.
“The fates are tied together in an impenetrable cycle of pain and torment.” I smile in pure satisfaction. “After all, blood begets blood. There will never be a true winner in this universe, and so—” I jerk back before I do something I won’t be able to undo. “The bloody cycle of sacrifice to the gods continues—some say to this day.” I wink. “Then again, it’s just a story, right?”
Cleo stares down at her plate, then back up at me, her curious multicolored eyes don’t lock onto mine anymore, but at my chest. She folds her hands. “So, if this was real, what do the gods sacrifice now? In order to keep their power? If you were to make this into a Hollywood blockbuster—”
“Damn Hollywood can’t even get their stories straight.” I have so much more to say on that subject, but last time I went off on a tangent I made a little kid cry about his favorite superhero, so I bite my tongue.
“Come on.” She smiles jolting me out of the memory of the kid dressed like Shazam using the power of the sun and lightning and me screaming liar. “What would you sacrifice?”
“The only thing you can.” I shrug. “What you cherish the most.”
“And what do you cherish the most?” She has no clue. None.
I stand and grab another sip of coffee to give myself some time for the damning answer. “I cherish protecting people that I love, so in turn I would sacrifice just about anything that will bring me to that point even if it means I have to commit heinous crimes again and again.”
“You’d sacrifice your animals? Your brothers? What do you love more than that?”
I study her, holding my silence while I consider her question.
The sky. But I settle on something else that means the same thing to me. “Peace,” I finally say. “But that’s pretty unobtainable these days, don’t you think? After all, it’s just a fairytale, a wonderfully interesting story of people with magical powers who save their people?”