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“Skip the dance, beautiful. You know I know. I saved you both today by stopping him from running to you in front of Sirena.” He pinned me with a look. “She’d have realized you were the girl he was in love with if he ran to you, begging you to take him back while you sobbed on the floor. Amazing you two kept it hidden this long.” The last part he said to himself.
“How?” My voice was barely higher than a whisper. “How did you know?”
“You know that too.” Jason leaned back, getting comfy in his cot. He looked like he dipped up here for a nap like I did, instead of the real reason. “No one is fooled by our attempt to downplay our abilities, and I’ve hidden the most of all. I don’t just conjure flowers or make godly plant piss.”
He flipped over, fixing on me. “I see desires, Vanda. Pleasures, happy memories, hopes, and dreams. One look and I see it all. Even better, I can grant it all.” He tipped his head. “Well, Elysium can. I bring forth what lives in the fields of paradise.”
“Lovely for you, but that’s got nothing to do with me and Alexander.”
“It’s everything to do with you and Alexander Damien. You two are the unhappiest people I’ve ever met.” Jason dropped that like it was a fact of life. “The type of people who get into Elysium are the ones who sacrifice, and sacrifice, and sacrificeall of themselves for everyone else, and don’t take a sliver of happiness for themselves until they wake up dead.
“The you kind of people,” he stated. “Every time I’m near you, Vanda, I burst with the need to give you your true desires. But that’s easier in the paradise plains. Here in the land of the living, you’ve got to get that yourself, and you finally did. Damien.
“You two were brimming with true love’s desire, and now it’s over and you’re just going to accept that? You’re not going to fight. You won’t open your mouth.” Anger crept into his voice. “You’re lying down and taking it. Literally.
“Do you know how fucking irritating it is knowing what people want and how they can get it, but watching them not even try? It’s nothing compared to watching them finally get it and then give up without a fight!”
I jumped, blowing back. Who was this guy? Where was the smirking, flirty sex maniac I loved and loathed?
“So, I repeat, Vanda, what’s wrong with you?”
My nails scraped the bed fisting the sheets. “If you know so much, you know the answer to that. I can’t be with Alex. His father—”
“That bastard,” he hissed, lips curling.
“You hate Maximos Damien too?”
“You won’t meet a child of Hades who doesn’t.” He snatched a vial off his nightstand and downed it. His bruises were already starting to heal and fade. “Most of all...”
I didn’t catch the tail end of his sentence, but I got the gist. “You can add me to the list. The way he threatened and manipulated Alex into marrying Sirena, even after he himself promised Alex could choose his own wife.” My lips trembled. “He’s a beast. But he’s Alex’s dad. I don’t want to be the reason he loses his dad.”
“Maximos will be the reason he loses his dad. The man destroys everything he touches, and it’s not because he can’t help himself. It’s because he likes it.”
I had no idea what to say to that.
“People like you.” He flapped a hand at me. “Heroes. Elysium is supposed to be paradise for you. Everything you ever loved or wanted right at your fingertips, and all of it for the taking guilt-free. You’re supposed to love it there, but almost none of you do. Want to know why?”
“Why?”
“Because at some point you all realize you didn’t start enjoying your life... until it was over.” Enigmatic eyes were as deep as they were serious, drawing me in and trapping me. “Is that what you want, Aella? To love him when you’re dead? To be happy when you’re dead? To stand up to that manipulative beast when it doesn’t matter anymore because he’s roasting on a spit in Tartarus? Is it?”
“No,” I rasped.
“Is it?”
“No!”
“Then what are you going to do about it?”
I shot out of bed. “I—I—I don’t know.” Slumping over, I fell back on my ass. “I can’t go bursting into a party full of Titans, and Sirena, and say he’s mine. I’d wake up in Elysium two minutes later.”
He blew out a breath. “You’re the most frustrating, beautiful woman I’ve ever met. This ceremony is so important, Sirena’s and Alexander’s parents requested—demanded—that Headmaster Drakos have the barrier lowered to allow in the other council members, their families, and other high-ranking officials.
“Every important person in Olympia is in this castle right now, which means, they’re all on their best behavior. Sirenamost of all. The reigning Hera councilwoman chose her as heir, but she can always choose someone else. Exploding into a jealous rage and killing a rival is something the original Hera was fond of. The demigoddess, not so much.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding slowly. “What you’re saying is tonight is theonlynight I’ll be able to burst into a room full of Titans, announce that Alexander is mine and I’m not giving him up, and not wake up dead two minutes later.”
His smile returned. “See? I knew you were smart as well as sexy.”
