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Sirena
“You did very well,Tawny.” I kissed my sweet girl, then handed her to Rue to have her talons cleaned. The poor thing was covered in that wretch’s blood. “Do that on the balcony. I just swept the room for feathers.”
Well, to be accurate, Tessa swept my room for feathers, but I was kind enough to not see her have to do it again.
Toeing off my boots, I spread out on my lounge. Hyacinth was there in an instant to rub my aching feet. The best room in the Titan wing. The only one with a balcony and the biggest shower, and it was still a manure pile.
I was forced to replace the tacky, scratching sheets. A cloud of soot assaulted me the first time Rue lit a fire. The carpet didn’t match. The cooling unit wasn’t the latest model, and it was so small, it was like living in a servant’s water closet.
“It’s not enough making me live in this hovel. They put on the final flourish with this beastly schedule. Every day the same thing and I’m learning nothing new. As if these instructors could match the superior education I received at the palace.”
“They’re lucky to have you,” Tessa spoke up from my desk.
“Keep working,” I ordered. “No one else will have those forty scrolls done except me. Everyone will receive another ridiculous assignment, except me.”
“Of course, Sirena, it’s just...” She flicked to Hyacinth. “Maybe the three of us could trade off on your scrolls, so at least I have a chance to work on my own?”
“Stupid. What will Hondros think if it’s written in three separate hands?”
“If we’re careful, we can match—”
“No.”
Tessa wisely shut her mouth and went back to work. Gods knew what she was so worried about. She was a Titan and daughter of the goddess of famine, but despite her ability to make a monster waste away into flesh and bones in minutes, she’d never rise higher than imperial clerk like her father. I, on the other hand, would sit on the throne of Hera—serving as high councilwoman alongside Alexander. It was vital that one of us sail through the next tedious four years. Hint: that one was me.
Anyway, the three of them had the far better deal. I wasn’t allowed to bring my maids with me, so I had no choice but to remind the clerk’s daughter, maid’s daughter, and advisor’s daughter who were entering at the same time, that it was far better to be my friend than my enemy.
“Alexander did well today,” Hyacinth ventured. “He took down Proficient Catherine in milliseconds. He truly is the most powerful son of Hades today—barring his father.”
“He was magnificent. It’s rare for a god to choose members from the same family. Even rarer for them to choose a father and son, but the Damiens prove they have a bloodline so strong, the king of the gods continues to honor them. I cannot conceive of the heights our children will reach. They’ll be the most powerful in all of Olympian history.”
“Never has there been a match that makes more sense.”
Grinning, I pictured Xander on our wedding day—standing tall and proud before the richest, strongest, and most envious of Olympia. Of course we made a perfect match. I didn’t need her to say it, but it was nice to know others saw the facts as plainly as I.
My grin vanished as quickly as it came. “If only Xander didn’t insist on these games. Men today all think that if they make no verbal promises, there is no commitment. He thinks I’ll stand for it while he bed-hops with every whore from the Myrtle Mountains to the Isles. Once it’s out of his system, he’ll come crawling back to me like nothing happened.” I kicked her away, dropping my feet to the floor. “I’m not putting up with it anymore. We will be married by summer’s end.”
“What if you nudged him along?” Hyacinth said, picking herself off the floor. “It worked with my sister and her now husband.”
I snorted. “Your peasant sister and her soot-stained blacksmith are nothing like me and Xander.”
“Okay.” Hyacinth wandered off and busied herself making my bed.
Jaw grinding, I bore a hole in her back. “But out of interest,” I said slowly. “How did she nudge him along?”
“She got to his best friend. Once Kostas started courting her, all those women down at the tavern lost their bedmate. Panos made promises and commitments to her quick.”
“Hmm. I guess it is true what Mother says. Men don’t know what they have until they lose it. That’s why they need us to do their thinking for them.” I crossed to the mirror, thoughts churning on the way, and mind made up by the time my reflection winked back at me.
“Xander knows the only woman worthy of being his wife is me. He may even believe he’s doing me a favor by granting me freedom before marriage binds us forever. Sweet, but like mother says, this is what happens when men don’t have a woman doing their thinking for them. I will nudge him along.”
I picked a dress off my bed, picturing how it’d hug my curves, and how Xander would follow those curves as they sashayed to another man.
“What do you think of coral and gray for our wedding colors?”
“Beautiful, Sirena.”
“It’ll be the event of the century.”
“Yes.” I smirked. “It will.”
