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Aella
“This is unwise.”
Jason made an effort to lower his voice, but everything carried through these thin walls. Including Alexander’s late-night rendezvous with the tavern maid who served us our tough meat and overcooked cabbage. You’d think my own room at the inn would be an upgrade to the cell. You’d think it until you were forced to listen to the high-pitched moaning of an overenthusiastic woman, and her creative use of dirty talk.
“Do you dispute my right to change her sentence?” I heard Alexander say. “Captured deserters have been sent to the academy for decades before her, and they will decades after.”
“Those deserters didn’t cut a soldier into pieces. I have questioned her for days. She refuses to name her power or the god she got it from. She refuses to say why she ran, or why she’d rather die than attend the academy.” Rare emotion leeched into his stern tone. “Considering we’ve gotten an intimate look at what she can do, is it wise to force her into a place she clearly does not want to be? How many people will she kill when she makes her escape?”
“There hasn’t been a successful escape from the academy in decades. The gates are more than strong enough to contain her...” His voice faded down the hall. “...going nowhere...”
“I would like that one,” the goddess purred. “If only he wasn’t host to the parasite of Zeus.”
Huddled between the bed and wall, I covered my eyes, ducking my head in the corner, and it did nothing to lessen the effect of her presence. Many times she’d proven she could communicate with me anytime and anywhere with a whisper in my ear. The goddess chose to expose her divinity to a mortal for a simple reason: she liked that it hurt.
“I don’t... understand,” I forced out. “Why am I here? Why didn’t you break me out of the prison when you had control?”
“You know very well why!” The shout boomed in my chest, making me cry out. “The ceremony wasn’t completed. Youroutburstat the end saw to it that I was granted control over your body, but not your mind. You’re just another mindless beast when you change into my perfect, beautiful pet. Once we complete the ceremony, you’ll be a mindless beast who follows orders.”
That was news to me. Not that I ruined the ceremony on the night I wouldn’t let myself remember. It was a surprise that she didn’t control me as completely as she hoped.
“And you never will,” I rasped. “I won’t complete the ceremony. Every day that passes is an opportunity to get my body back. You’ll never win. I promise you that.”
“Oh, my sweet child, how little you understand. I knew the weavers of fate themselves. I watched them spin this tale in the unbreakable thread of the universe. I have already won,” she sang. “This world was mine from the moment that dagger pierced your flesh. You’d notice if you were polite enough to meet my eyes... that I haven’t stopped smiling.”
The goddess’s laughter lingered after she faded. She took the conviction of my speech with her.
Did it really matter that she didn’t have control over me when the monster took over? The chilling fact remained that whenever fear gave her an opening, she could turn me into a beast that killed indiscriminately. Seeing as she wanted to decimate all the demigods, it didn’t really matter that she couldn’t aim me at one in particular. Turn me enough times, I’d get to them all eventually.
I dropped my head on the wall, stomach heaving. This would be so much easier if I wasn’t stumbling around alone in a world I was largely ignorant of. Normal life ended for me at ten years old. I didn’t know if there was someone or something that could save me from her. I didn’t even know whoherwas.
The goddess refused to name herself, and what use were the fuzzy recollections of Mama’s illusions? None of them depicted the writhing, shifting form that burned my eyes for staring too long. I couldn’t even learn of who I needed saving from, nor could I ask someone to tell me. For all of Jason’s relentless questioning, the goddess made it plain what would happen to anyone who discovered our secret. I tested her on that, and she proved she was a woman of her word.
Pushing myself up, I paced as far back and forth as the leg manacle would allow me.You can’t give up, Aella. The goddess wouldn’t be so determined to complete the ceremony if complete control over me didn’t matter.
Maybe that’s because there’s a way to undo what she’s done to me.I seized on the wild thought.She said this story was already written in the fabric of the universe, but that was anger in her voice over the abrupt end of the ceremony. That was not supposed to happen, so while I still have my mind, I need to use it. Find a way to stop her.
I nodded to myself—determination creeping in. This was the only plan I had left. I tried to escape Olympia. I tried offering my life to a typhon. I tried execution.
I even tried killing myself. I had the blade in my hand and everything. But the natural fear of death crept in, and that was all she needed to turn me, and then the monster throw the dagger into the sea. Now it was time to do something I never thought of.
Save myself.
“Those irons make a gods-awful racket clanging up and down with your pacing.” Alexander leaned in my doorway, tearing bites off another apple. “Is this the first time you’ve slept indoors? We civilized folk like to be considerate to our neighbors beside and below.”
“Like you and your bedmate were last night?” I barked. Gods, what was with this guy? He just riled me up the wrong way. “If they’re so loud, take them off.”
He grinned. “Just the mere fact that you want something, makes me disinclined to give it to you.”
“Oh, yes? Then I really like your mouth. Please don’t cut it off and shove it up your ass.”
Alexander’s laugh was deep and rich like the amber honey that sweetened my favorite treat.
It made him even more loathsome.
“Wow. You did an excellent job hiding that fighting spirit.” Amusement looked good on his smooth lips and thick brows. Although I had yet to see an emotion that looked bad on him. “I do like that she’s come out to play now. You’ll need this side of you to survive the academy.”
I dismissed him. “If you’re not here with food or keys to these manacles, go away.”
