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Next was Saxton and Kincaid. “Mr. Voss, please take your rightful place, sir,” he said, and Saxton went to stand next to Kincaid. “Basilisk.”
“Basilisk was half-bird and half-snake. He was supposedly born from a serpent’s egg. He is said to be the King of Serpents. His gaze could kill a person with a single glare and that made him one of the most feared creatures of that world.”
Then,finally, me and Stone. “Mr. Lexington, please take your rightful place, sir,” he repeated with a touch of disdain, then Stone came to stand next to my chair. “Typhon.”
“Typhon was the deadliest creature in Greek Mythology. He was not only a monster, but a God as well. Because of that, he was considered the Father of all Monsters. He was a serpentine, and his body was made up of many slithering snakes. He had a massive wingspan and could shoot fire from his eyes. He was also said to be the father of Chimera, Hydra, and Cerberus.” Kincaid smirked a bit before adding, “His name is the origin for the word typhoon.”
When Kincaid was done with her knowledge of Greek Mythology, and it was clear the members had been given their Cronus identities, Alexander stepped back onto the stage.
Alexander smiled down at her. “Very good, Ms. Black,” he said. “You do, indeed, know your mythology.” Then he cleared his throat and addressed the men. “Once your partners have left the building, you will be getting your identifiers along with the Cronus symbols.” No one spoke up, so I suspected they had already been aware of this. I wondered if the identifiers were tattoos.
He extended his hand in a general gesture. “Now, please present your tokens, gentlemen,” he further instructed.
Each man went to stand in front of each girl, and in perfect synchronicity, as if this had been practiced, they reached down, grabbed our hands, and helped us stand. It was weird. Almost like how you saw at debutante balls and stuff where everything was a dance. Granted, I’ve never been to a debutante ball, but I’ve seen them portrayed in movies and stuff.
However, just like the contracts and the rendition of their member names, the token presentations were executed in turns. Each gift was to be captured alone, not to be shared with everyone else getting their tokens at the same time.
I watched asFox Harrington secured a sparkling diamond bracelet on Alexis Wyatt’s delicate wrist. They were four couples over, and I could still see the damn thing sparkle in the light. My stomach dipped with the thought of how much something like that must have cost Fox.
Next, Ross Carmichael secured a necklace with a diamond pendant dangling from its chain around Jennifer Polk’s neck. Jennifer lifted her hair to help him secure the necklace in place. And, again, even from this distance, I could see the diamond was big enough to make me uncomfortable at the thought of wearing it.
August Remington stepped to Laney, and I watched as his hands rested on her right breast as he secured a beautiful diamond and emerald broach onto her dress. It looked to be the size of a half-dollar, and it sparkled just as much as Alexis’ bracelet.
Standing next to us, Saxton Voss pulled out another necklace, and as he fastened it around Kincaid’s neck, I noticed it was a weird kind of symbol, but it was fashioned from diamonds and sapphires. It was stunning and the weight of it was sure to leave a bruise on her chest if she wasn’t careful. As I thought about the jewelry being presented to each girl, I wondered how they’d ever wear it in public. It wasn’t your average, everyday jewelry.
“Rylee,”Stone said, his voice low, grabbing my attention. I turned to look up at him. He was so much taller than I was that I wondered if I was going to develop a kink in my neck over these next few months.
I couldn’t lie, either. Butterflies were making a mess in the pit of my stomach, wondering what Stone was going to present me with. I enjoyed pretty trinkets just as much as the next girl, but I hadn’t forgotten that I was dressed in jeans and a hoodie while the other girls were dressed a bit more elegantly. A diamond broach would not go well with a hoodie.
Nor adiamond necklace.
Nora diamond bracelet.
Therewas also the fact that I shouldn’t be feeling giddy at all. Stone and I still had to talk about his texts and why he had picked me for this. I wasn’t sure if there was anything that he could say that could undo what he’d done with his threats to my family, but I was self-aware enough-and stupid enough-to hope that he had a good reason for doing what he did. Even if we couldn’t be more-thanks to the contract-I still wouldn’t mind being friends with him. If we were going to be tied to one another for the next few years, I wanted us to be friends at the very least.
Plus,as much as I hated to admit it, Alexander did have a point. If Stone and I could build a mutual respect between us, odds were that he wouldn’t be asking me to rob a bank for him later down the line. Of course, that all depended on the reasons he gives me for how he approached this. Granted, I couldn’t imagine any reason he gives will be good enough, but I had to try.
I’d already signed that damn contract.
Itook a deep breath and focused on the task at hand. I stood before him, and when my eyes slid to the side, I noticed everyone was staring at us, and not in the casual observing kind of way.
They werelookingat us.
“Rylee,” Stone said again, bringing my attention back to him.
“Yeah?”
Without another work,Stone reached down, grabbed my hand, and my eyes followed his movements. My lungs froze in my chest as I watched Stone Lexington slip a three-carat diamond ring on the finger of my left hand.
Myringfinger.
My eyesflew upward, and his dark brown eyes were simmering with something I’d never seen in a guy’s eyes before. I was vaguely aware of the heavy weight of the piece of jewelry on my finger, telling me that it was a very expensive piece, but I was too enraptured by the look in his eyes to examine the ring any further.
“St…Stone?”
He leaned in, and his breath tickled the shell of my ear. “My Hera,” he whispered, and my entire body shivered at the deep, low tone vibrating in my ear.
Hera?
