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“I… do have sarcasm.” I set my spoon in my empty dish, pretending not to notice that he’s still on his first bowl. Feeling bad for worrying him, I change the subject. “The other day you mentioned Hecate. Like the Greek Goddess? Is this world hers?”
“Hecate is one of many deities, perhaps the most bothersome at the moment.” He mutters the last part.
I cock my head. “The bond?”
His eyes flash to mine. “Yes.”
“You don’t want it.”
“My father tried time and time again to force me into coupling so he could—” He cuts himself off with a growl. “Never mind. It’s not important.”
Maybe being the forgotten child isn’t so bad after all. My chest still aches whenever I think about my parents, but at least they weren’t in my business trying to arrange marriages.
“If I understand you correctly, Hecate is responsible for the mate bonds.”
He nods and sets his forearms on the table, leaning toward me. “That, and she’s the mother of magic, the vampires and were-creatures, a moon goddess, and responsible for ordering the death of Echidna.”
I really should have paid more attention to Greek mythology, but I’m guessing this Echidna is within the pantheon and may or may not have been banged by Zeus. Leave it to me to remember the fact that Zeus gets around but not more important things like who Hecate is.
Orcus notices my confusion. “Echidna is the Mother of Monsters.”
“Vampires are monsters.”
He scoffs. “No. They’re not.”
“I think we’re going to have to agree to disagree. So, Echidna is your mom and Hecate killed her?” I frown and search his face. “That was rude.”
This gets a full belly laugh that has heat sweeping to my toes. “Echidna created the monsters, but she isn’t my birth mother,” he says once he stops laughing. “She’s similar to Hecate but less powerful and not a goddess.”
“So…” I begin slowly, hoping I don’t seem dumb. “You hate Hecate because she killed your not mom?”
“No.” He sighs and looks away. “It’s not so simple. I would not be here if not for Echidna, but at the same time, this world and the Nether Realm would not exist if not for Hecate and the others. Besides, Echidna’s spirit is in the Nether Realm.”
“Now you’re speaking my language. People on Earth love Hades and Persephone. There’s even this author who wrote this book and it was so hot.” I wave my hand in front of my face. “God, I love smut.”
He gives me a funny look. “Smut?”
“Books with sex,” I say quickly. “But back to Hecate. Can’t we ask her to break the bond?”
“If it were that simple, we’d already be on the way to see her.”
It’s maybe a little unreasonable to be annoyed by that comment considering I brought it up, but still, those words hit an old abandonment wound. I push those thoughts to the back of my mind. This is nothing like what happened with my parents.“You were an accident.”
No, dammit.
This is different.
The ogre growls and I glance at him, noting the hard line cutting across his forehead. “What’s wrong with your face?” he demands.
The question is enough to shock a laugh out of me. “Sometimes I wonder the same thing. It’s just the way it looks.”
“No, not that,” he says with a frown. “You looked… felt… sad.”
“Are you spying on me with the bond?”
Any hint of concern is gone now. “It’s hardly spying if your emotions are screaming at me through the bond.”
“Well, I don’t know how to stop you from feeling them.”
