Chapter One
In the previous several thousand years I hadn't given much thought to my existence. Neither had the gods. Except the occasional heckler. They popped in from time to time to remind me of how exponentially I'd screwed up. How utterly worthless my life was.
Until today.
My eyes narrowed, attempting to block out the fresh, blinding light cutting through my vision. It was the first slice I'd seen in decades. Not at all like the darkness of my imprisonment.
I could feel more too. My nerves tingled with unease throughout my body. Weakness clung to my heavy limbs. I felt like shit to be honest.
"We appreciate you taking the time to meet with us, Pandora." His voice rasped over the ending of my name like he’d been waiting a lifetime to say it. The taunting, sensual tone made my stomach knot around itself.
Yet, I stared up at him with feeble posture, my chin held defiantly high. "I didn't realize I had a choice."
Zeus' golden eyes swirled with a fiery power which made my pounding heart all too aware of itself. Slowly, a cruel smile tipped his lips. I was nothing more than a play thing to them. They must have been truly bored today to have pulled my box from their little shelf for entertainment.
“We all have choices, Pandora.” He gave the goddess next to him a confident smirk as quiet laughter skimmed through the room.
“Is there something you wanted?” Pain struck through my jaw from how tightly I clenched it together.
Could we just get on with it? I had guilt and petty sulking to attend to.
A cool breeze whipped through the open court, pulling at my blonde hair. The dry locks of my hair were longer than I remembered. My bare feet shifted against the gritty cobblestone. Endless archways crafted into perfection and thousands of flowers surrounded me, but I didn’t dare deter my gaze from the dangerous god before me.
I existed solely because the gods wanted to test me. They gave me a box filled with miseries and called it a gift. The world was filled with terrible things, not because I chose to open that box, but because they chose to gift it to a simple mortal.
Not that they’d take responsibility.
Who could blame a god after all?
“We’ve been thinking.” His deep voice rumbled with hidden humor. “We think we’ve been a little unfair with you.”
My lips parted as I glared up at him.
A little?
“Locking you away for all of eternity may have been a bit rash.”
As he spoke, I tried my best not to let my total outrage scream from my lips. A look of sweet respect was all I gave. Or tried to give anyway.
“We’d like to offer you a chance at redemption.”
A knowing feeling tangled through my stomach. Fearful doubt flooded my chest as I waited for the game that was about to unfold.
“If you could take back a small fraction of the world’s miseries that you unleashed, would you?”
A heavy pause settled around us as my attention drifted from one god to the next. A dozen of them sat lazily around the courtyard, their gazes holding shining amusement in them. Except for one. The guard in gold-plated armor at Zeus’ side never once looked at me. His attention remained straight forward, seemingly unaware of the topic at hand.
“Of course,” I finally said in a quiet tone.
I wish I could strip the world of the darkness I unleashed all those years ago.
Would the gods really allow that?
“Good.” A smile crept across his sun-kissed features. “We’re going to send you back. If you can retrieve three great miseries that are impacting the world today, then we’ll pardon you for your tremendous sins.”
“Retrieve?” Vomit threatened my words, my stomach growing more and more precarious as he spoke.
“There are influential people in the world. People who simply snap a picture and share it with the world, causing a flood of misery and sin to follow in their wake. Capture three of those people—willingly—to make the world a better place.”
