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“What?” Lia froze, stunned.
“It’s not my real name.”
“What is your real name?” she asked.
“Can’t tell you. Wish I could.”
“Why can’t you?” Lia let his wrists go and sat next to him on the bed. “Because you’re a pro?”
She knew loads of sex professionals who kept their real names secret, and she certainly understood why. But that didn’t seem to be August’s style.
“Long story,” he said. “Boring story.”
“There is no way that the story of howanyonebecomes a sacred prostitute of Eros is a boring story. ‘How’d you save all those vampire wolves from that active volcano eruption?’ ‘Oh, boring story.’ ‘Where did all those jars of human eyeballs in your kitchen come from?’ ‘Total yawn of a tale. You wouldn’t want to know.’”
“I’m being mocked.”
“You think?” Lia said.
“Fine. If you must know...”
“I must.”
“My parents were going to force me to get married. I refused.”
“Force you to get married?” Lia asked, stunned. “You mean, an arranged marriage or just anyone as long as you got married and settled down?”
“Mother was going to pick someone for me. I refused and ran away. My mother caught up with me and told me I either came to heel or...said goodbye. I said goodbye. And there went my home, my inheritance and my name. If I want them back, I have to let my mother marry me off and settle down.”
“Are you going to?” Lia asked.
“Never,” he said. “I’ll die first before I bend to them.”
He sounded surprisingly serious.
“Die? Really?”
“I can’t do it. I can’t give up my freedom. It’s who I am. When I say I’d rather die than let my mother marry me off and settle me down, what I mean is...giving up this life I made for myself? It would kill me.”
Lia couldn’t imagine August married. She couldn’t fathom what he would be like “settled down.” He’d be like one of those exquisite blue-winged butterflies captured by a collector and pinned with a needle into the velvet of a shadow box—a beautiful tragedy.
“So you became a prostitute once you were kicked out of your house?”
“I was already in the Cult of Eros,” he said. “You could call it my ‘church’ if you want. But I went pro when I needed money for the first time in my life. It’s my dream job, really. I was doing it for free. Might as well get paid for it.”
“But...don’t you miss your family?” Lia asked. “A little? Miss home?”
Even in the darkness of her bedroom, she could see the outline of his handsome face—strong jaw, Greek nose—and the clouds forming and swarming in his gray eyes.
“It’s not so bad. And my mother still talks to me. Or...I wouldn’t call it talking so much. More like berating. Her two favorite words areungratefulandchild.”
“She should meet Daddy. They’d have plenty to talk about,” Lia said. “Your mother won’t even let you use your family name anymore?”
“Part of the punishment,” August said. “My family name is a bit, ah...recognizable. Comes with perks I’m no longer allowed access to.”
She narrowed her eyes at him.
“Is your family famous?”
