The air shivers around me, electric and thick with tension.
I tighten my fingers around the hilt of the dagger, even as another wave of agony ripples through me.
“You’re out of your depth, reaper,” Aphrodite says in a singsong voice.
I meet her gaze, unflinching. “You’ve taken what doesn’t belong to you. All of those souls you destroyed? All of that power you took? Yeah…I’m going to need that back.”
I lower myself into a defensible stance—the way I remember doing in my past training.
A flicker of amusement crosses her face at my defiance before her lips curl. “Magic flows through all things, Thea. It’s my right—just as love is. I simply…take what’s mine.”
She raises her hand, a deceptively casual gesture, and the world around us warps. The air hums and crackles, and my breath hitches in my chest as a pulse of pure energy rips through me—too much, too fast. My heart skips then hammers in my chest, but I hold my ground.
I’ve dealt with pain all my life. This is nothing.
I can feel it now—the way her power infiltrates my mind, wrapping around every thought, every instinct. It’s not just the magic. It’sher. The essence of love, the tenderness, the hunger, the need to drop my weapon and give in to her.
I grit my teeth, trying to shove it aside.
Aphrodite tilts her head, watching me struggle. Her eyes glow with wicked delight. “Do you feel it, my dear? The rush of creation, of devotion, of obsession? It courses through your veins now. This is what it is to hold true power. You’re mine to do with as I wish.”
I don’t want to feel it, but I do. God help me, I do. The magic surges in me, flooding my senses—sweet and intoxicating. I can’t escape it. Aphrodite must’ve been holding back the last time we visited her. This… This is like nothing I’ve ever felt before. I can feel her power everywhere, crackling through the air like waves of electricity. It’s pure and intense and not hers.
I think of my guys.
That’s true love. Not…this. Not this twisted, demented emotion she’s attempting to make me feel. Fuck her.
I tighten my grip on the dagger, and despite the hallucinations and voices and agonizing pain…my mind is clearer than before.
I won’t let her control me.
Aphrodite laughs softly, a sound that chills me to the bone. “You think you can resist? You think you can stop me? You are nothing but a shadow, a whisper against the storm of desire.”
Does she hear herself? My god. Who talks like that in real life?
She’s probably the type who thinks she’s far more educated and posh than she truly is. She attends book clubs after reading the summaries on Wikipedia.
Bitch.
With a roar, I dive at her with my dagger, the blade slicing through the air with an audible hiss.
But she’s fast—too fast. She swirls away with a jovial laugh, her magic surging again. It wraps around my limbs, squeezing,suffocating. I gasp for air, but it’s like my body’s pinned by invisible hands.
My thoughts start to blur as her magic pokes and prods at my brain, whispering seductive promises, but I fight against it.
You love the guys.
You love the guys.
I love the guys.
I gather my strength and pull myself free, ripping through the magic by sheer force of will. Aphrodite’s eyes flash with surprise and then begrudging admiration.
“I can see why Ares loved you so much,” she muses, her power swirling around us like a tempest.
“Do you know what that fucker did to me?” I scream. “He hurt me. Beat me. Assaulted me. Left me for dead. He’s a monster.”
If I expected the Goddess of Love and Beauty to be sympathetic to me, I was sorely mistaken. She simply waves an errant hand in the air, her nostrils flaring.
