Fuck, now I’m hot too. My palms are sweating, my chest is tense, and I don’t even want to get into what’s happening between my thighs.
“I was just looking for you,” I murmur, somehow trying to explain why I was coming out of his bedroom.
“For me, or just looking around?” he asks, his tone cold as ice, and I don’t blame him. What we shared wasn’t some enemies-the-lovers kind of fling, more like lovers-to-enemies.
“What I’m searching for isn’t here.” I hesitate, just for a second. “I believe you when you say you didn’t kill Elias. But I have to find out who did.”
He doesn’t make a single move, as if he didn’t even hear me. Maybe it’s all for the best. Because I’m going to take my chances. “I should go. I need you to let me go.”
The same silence lingers for a few moments, but then a sinister laugh escapes his lips.“Let… you… go,” he continues laughing like it’s the funniest joke he’s heard in a long while. “Let… you… go.”
eight
-Ares-
I must be fucking losing it. It sure felt like it for weeks. Like, the only reason I exist anymore is to figure this shit out. Figure out what happened.
No matter how badly I should want to kill her myself, I don’t want to see her killed. Yet despite that, she seems on an express ride to make that happen. “Do you have any fucking idea what you’ve done? What you could’ve done? The damage you could’ve caused?” I pause, holding back my instinct to kill, because I was trained that way. I was born that way. The concept of forgiveness doesn’t belong in my world. She deserves none. “This isn’t just a fucking game. Kharon isn’t just a game. Kharon is fucking manipulation. Control of the world as you know it. You think it’s a whim? Some fucking idea I woke up with one morning and thought, let’s give it a fucking try?”
She looks at me like nothing makes sense to her anymore.
Welcome to my fucking world for the last two weeks.
“You don’t get it, Brynn, do you?” I hear anger in my voice and the urge to send her back to the room she came from. Though there’s no more hiding. No more sending her away. Thisis something thats got to be dealt with. “The power given helps me keep the balance.” I take a step further, my jaw tightening. “What do you think the Valiants and the Observers are for? Politicians and important underworld figures.” I let that settle before continuing. “I control the game, so I control them. I’m giving them an experience they can’t get anywhere else. And the fucking bastards can’t get enough.”
A bitter breath leaves me.
“Money isn’t enough to get in. They owe me favors. Respect. And not only me. Some of my brothers rely on me, on the men I control to keep their businesses running. And you fucking jeopardized all of that.” My words come out hard, just like she deserves them. “Never in three thousand years have I let a player live, except for the one who won the game, not to mention hiding the player myself and risking everyone else calling it rigged.I did it all because of you.” My voice drops, even rougher. “I risked breaking the fucking balance. Because you made me choose between the rest of the world, my fucking family, andyou.” I stop. The weight of my own words said out loud a greater burden than I’d willingly want to bear. I am admitting things I don’t even want to think about, but she has to understand the damage she could’ve caused.
This wasn’t just some innocent lie. This was something that could have broken everything that we’ve built, who the fuck knows, maybe even risk an apocalypse.
She looks at me as the words sink in, and I see the regret I know is there; she’s just too proud to admit it. Too stubborn to realize this isn’t just about her. But I’m gonna make everything crystal clear. “Do you fucking understand the importance, Brynn? I control the evil in this town, so all hell doesn’t break loose.”
Silence follows for a few moments as I let her process things.
“Yes, I allow criminals to do whatever the fuck they’re doing, but within limits.” My voice goes steady, controlled. “I use criminals and politicians to keep the balance. We can’t let evil take over everything and drag the world into a new apocalypse.” My jaw tightens, not because I’m thinking of a greater good, more like someone knocking over my board mid-game. “That happened in the past, and it didn’t serve anyone well. But we can’t have bigots who believe inthe greater goodtake control either. Think of the Inquisition. Cults that strip individuals of self-will and a normal life. That’s what the balance is for. So that humanity prevails.”
“You don’t give a fuck about humanity,” she snaps, eyes filled with doubt, like I’m lying to her, and I pretended to be a good guy in all of this for a second.
“You’re right, I shouldn’t. But I do, even if it’s for selfish reasons. You see, without it, we’d be just entities, the way you see a tree witnessing the passing of time. We use you to keep us entertained. To have a purpose. That's why we can’t afford to lose you. Life would beboringwithout humans.”
“Oh, so we’re your entertainment?” I feel her slipping into some kind of defense mode, eyes glaring at me like she just found out I’m the devil’s son.
“Most of you, yes… while some of you are…priceless.” The word strikes her like lightning. I think she considers herself to be more damaged goods or even a trading coin, rather than someone I’d find indispensable. Someone I’d find special.
She tries to cover the look in her eyes that betrays much more than indifference, even if there’s a blush on her face that she has no chance of hiding. I’ve never seen her blush. Hell, I never thought she was capable of blushing, but I guess admitting she’s still so valuable to me changes the dynamic of our discussion.
Her attitude shifts completely, her anger fading into something softer, I’d even call it a form of regret.
“Ares,” she murmurs, her weight shifting toward me, her head slightly bowed, shoulders slumped, like she’s declaring defeat. “I can’t ask you to forgive me. I know you won’t. I’m only asking you to let me do what I set out to. Then you can do whatever you want with me. Claim your revenge.”
Her head remains bowed, kind of saying sorry, without actually saying it. But as enticing as thatdo whatever I want with herjustsounded, I can’t really claim my revenge if she’s dead. “It took everything in me to keep myself from killing you. And now you’re asking me to let you go get yourself killed?” I shake my head, jaw tightening. “I won’t have that, Brynn. I won't let you carry on with this madness.”
“You can’t stop me. No matter what you do. I’ll find a way. I can’t live with myself if I don’t do this. If I don’t avenge him,” she says, still without looking at me because there’s a tremble in her voice that tells me tears are coming next. She’s not the type to cry. More like the type who's trying to hide them.
Still, her tears won’t convince me to let her get herself killed. “Oh, I will stop you. Because you were right about one thing. I can do whatever I want with you. You belong to me now. You do as I say from now on, and you’ll start by telling me who the fuck helped you get inside.”
“I don’t snitch on the people who help me,” she snaps, raising her eyes with much more confidence than earlier. Yeah, she’s right, she won’t snitch, but let’s see what she does if I give her no other choice.
