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“And if you do not do that brave thing, you have no backbone. No spine.” I felt his chin tap my head with his nod. “Your mortal slang is hard to follow sometimes, but not this one. It means to be an aerios.Coward.
“That’s what I’ve been.”
“No, I’ve been the coward, not you,” I cried. “I backed down without a fight. I practically threw you at Sirena, because I got in my head about how complicated us being together was going to be. It will be complicated, but it’s worth it.
“I understand now why nearly everyone in Elysium is unhappy. Because all that bravery and sacrifice was used up for everyone else, but when it was time to fight for what they truly wanted and believed in, they were silent. After that, Elysium is aslap in the face.Here you go, hero. Here are all the things you couldn’t bother to go after yourself, even though you wanted them all along.
“It doesn’t feel like a gift by that point. It’s a reminder of how weak and scared and pointlessly afraid you were to live your life during the only one you had.” I turned to him, cupping his cheeks. “I don’t want that to be me. To be us. Even if we can’t be together. Even if this is our last night and our last dance, I never want to say that I gave up the love of my life without a fight.
“Without telling him he’s the best thing that ever happened to me, and even if years later I meet and marry someone else, I’ll remember the boy who believed me when no one else did, helped me when no one else would, and loved me like no one else ever has.
“I love you, Alexander Damien.” I gazed deep in his endless eyes, falling deep into crashing waves and lightning-pierced storms. “I’ll love you for as long as I live, and after.”
“Aella—”
“Wonderful. Truly wonderful.” Applause broke through our little bubble, turning our heads to Sirena’s table, and the tall, imposing man standing behind her—clapping.
Alex’s and my grip tightened on each other at the same time.
This was the first I’d gotten a proper look at Alexander’s father. The resemblance was undeniable. Same lily pad eyes, raven locks that curled around the ears, and impeccably honed physique. Where they differed was his trim salt-and-pepper beard, hooked nose, and an air that he was always displeased even when he was smiling.
“I had no idea my son was such a talented dancer. No doubt why he planned his surprise for us and his future bride. Everyone,” he called, clapping louder. “Well done.”
Our silent, staring audience burst into applause, Sirena included. I don’t know what our intimate dance looked like tothose watching, but I know what it felt like to me. The end of something precious, sexy, and amazing, and Maximos turned it into a goofy dance routine the groom performs for awkward laughs at the wedding.
“Come, son. It is time you wowed your bride with all you’ve practiced.” He moved around the table to us. His arm was around me and pulling me back before I could get away. “Take your first dance as a bonded couple.”
Alex didn’t move. He looked from his father, to the grip on my shoulder, and then to me. Inside, I screamed for him.
Stand up to him, Alex. Tell him you don’t want this. Tell him he doesn’t get to run your life for you anymore. Fight, baby.My eyes pleaded.Fight and I’ll fight with you. I’ll never give up on us again.
“Yes, kiri.” Bobbing a bow, Alex turned his back on him—on me—and claimed Sirena’s hand.
My lips parted. “Al—”
“We’re in the way. Can’t have that.” Maximos whisked me off the dance floor and over to the strange, black half-wall that concealed the children of Hades’s eating area. I’d never been inside or wanted to. Panic seized me thinking that Maximos was going to drag me in there, away from witnesses.
We stopped just short. Maximos released me, and still I didn’t feel I could get away. I stood stock-still as piercing green eyes probed mine. Of all the voices to enter my head, Sebastian’s rang loud.
“He’ll always hide you. He’ll be sorry about it. He’ll spin sweet, pretty words in your ear and wish that things could be different, but at the end of the day, he’ll always choose his duty to Olympia over his love for you.”
“You’re the girl, I presume. The one who seduced my son.” He said it like a question, but it wasn’t. “What did you intend by coming here?”
I swallowed through needles. “I don’t know what I intended. I guess I wanted Alex to know I still love him. No matter what he does or who he’s with. You know, real love. Not that twisted, conditional, controlling love you’ve forced on him.”
I knew I made a mistake the minute the words were out of my mouth. His eyes flashed, lips peeling back. Maximos raised his hand and I jumped back—expecting to be grabbed, struck,killed.
He took off his mask. If it wasn’t entirely impossible, I’d have said the full force of his glare made him grow twice in size. “I don’t believe you want to have said that, girl. What you wish you said was, ‘I beg your pardon and your forgiveness, Kiri Damien. In future, I will know my place, and above all, I will stay away from your son,’” he said, tone low and dangerous. “‘Thank you for sparing me. I will now take my leave.’
“That is what you meant to say,” he hissed. “And I will give you one chance to say it.”
I shook in my icy-blue heels. I’d been attacked by an echidna and a cerberus. I was thrown in an institution where they forced drugs I didn’t need down my throat, and restrained me when I fought back. I’d been pushed down the stairs, then blackmailed and threatened by a goddess trapped in a bracelet. I thought I knew what it was to be afraid... until then.
“I... I...” My voice shook. “I—”
“Excuse me, everyone, if I could have a moment of your time.”
Maximos broke eye contact, facing toward the front of the room and his son.
