Neith appeared next, looking tired and bedraggled, dragging her sister Qetesh along behind her. If Neith looked bad after nine days under Darcy’s care in interrogation, then Qetesh looked only hours away from fading from this Plane. Her dark hair greasy and limp, her complexion ghostly pale with only the faintest of golden glimmers, and her eyes, they looked like dark wide pits that had witnessed indescribable horrors. Her pale bare arms lined with large reddened circular scars all in various stages of healing.
Three steps into the Children’s Wing Neith relinquished her hold on her sister, Qetesh just barely managing to remain on herfeet. Swaying gently from side to side, her breath coming out in soft pants that were just shy of whimpering sobs.
Behind them, one last figure stepped out of the Portal. A gorgeous woman, beyond stunning, with dark hair piled high on her head that glinted with a hint of fire. Deep brown eyes, sparkling with little golden lights, an amused smile tilting up the corners of her lush lips. The simple white toga she wore was neither tight, short or transparent, yet it drew the onlookers eye to her full curves, flawless dark olive complexion and velvet soft looking skin. Somehow she managed to look both motherly, yet carnal.
Gigi and Nico shared a quick look. Hathor. It had to be. The Goddess, against the odds, had succeeded where many others had failed, breaking her daughters out of the Siberian Prison the Sanctuary used to incarcerate all their supernatural criminals.
Protect.Gigi sent Canary a mental image of Sunny as she lowered him to the ground.
“What have I always told you girls?” Hathor moved forward a few steps, pausing beside her five guards, reaching out to stroke Riordan’s long hair. “It’s important to have a contingency plan in place. If you have one sugar daddy on the hook, make sure you have an even older, richer sugar daddy waiting in the wings, just in case.”
“Yes, Mother.” Her daughters delivered the words dutifully, sounding rote, though in Qetesh’s case they were more of a breathy shuddering sob.
“Mo-Mother.” Qetesh’s voice pleading. “Please, it… hurts.”
Hathor rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she studied Gigi and Nico. “Never have children. The complaining, the demands, the never ending moaning.”
“I-I think…I’m dying.”
“See what I mean. You give and you give but it’s always about them. Watch me kill this rich loser, Mummy. Check outmy new sex cult, Mummy. Have you watched my latest porn movie, Mummy?” With a sigh, Hathor clicked her fingers at one of the guards. “Bient.” Silently the dark haired warrior bowed abruptly to Hathor before striding over to Qetesh and with no forewarning, grabbed and kissed her, deeply and long.
A minute later Qetesh dropped Bient’s dried out husk of a body to the ground, caressing her healed arms with a pleased smile. Though she looked whole and healthy once more, the horror in her eyes hadn’t faded. Yeah, time in Darcy’s presence tended to have that effect on her guests in the interrogation rooms.
Qetesh scooped up the discarded sword by the dead guard before stalking forward to flank her mother. The expression on her face now gleeful, she was looking for payback.
Behind the two Neith shook her head, making a gagging motion. The only one of the three wearing modern clothes, though her blue jumpsuit was decidedly ragged around the edges.
“You!” Qetesh hissed the word, glaring Nico’s way. “All of this is your fault. Do you have any idea what that psycho bitch and her mother did to me in that cell? I should mind wipe you and leave you nothing but a drooling pissing—”
“Enough with the idle threats and tantrums.” Hathor sighed again. “Honestly, child, open your third eye and take a look at the man. His bloodline alone would have been difficult enough to deal with.” Hathor shook her head in distaste. “But now if you tried to take him you’d burn your lips off.”
“I…” Qetesh scowled Nico’s way for a moment, wincing, slamming her eyes shut and rubbing her temples. “Ow, I knew that woman was trouble, but I had no idea she was one of the sanctimonious pure.”
“They’re rare, but you should have double checked. If you’d done so back at Zeus’s party then we need not have wasted any more time on your doomed plan…” Hathor continuing toabsently stroke Riordan’s hair, who was just standing there, blank faced, seemingly awaiting instructions. “Then I could have found my adorable little trojan horse here that much sooner, and I wouldn’t have had to save your asses or be here now, cleaning up your messes, again.”
“But Mummy, it wasn’t my fault. How was I to know he was being protected by a pure?”
“When he didn’t immediately succumb to the ring and your call, you should have realised something wasn’t right, instead of banging your head against a brick wall. That’s all on your ego, dear. And if you hadn’t been so committed to the idea of turning one of Kuat’s descendants, then you would have looked around for other options. And seen our little firecracker’s jealousy burning like a beacon in the daylight.” Still stroking Riordan’s glossy long, golden locks.
Gigi didn’t know why Hathor and her daughter kept talking about her like she was some kind of virginal nun, but she had more important things to worry about, like defenceless babies and a young cousin locked under Hathor’s spell. “Riordan, are you okay?” Gigi felt compelled to ask, Riordan’s face essentially blank, except for those eyes, fixed on Nico, that burned with heat and possessiveness.
“Typical pure.” Hathor almost spat the last word out as if she’d bitten down on a lemon. “If only you knew what your naughty little firecracker here has been getting up to. Been feeling a little chilly lately, have you?”
No. No. Riordan wouldn’t have? Would she? They both attended thrice weekly self-defence lessons, so Gigi knew what Riordan’s ice powers were capable of but surely she would never use those powers on a family member. Unless she was forced to by an over the hill love Goddess with a world domination fetish.
“At least Qetesh’s bid for the Latino himbo did one thing right. Imagine having a crush on your boss, seeing him day inand day out, your heart breaking in slow increments, knowing he saw you as nothing but a competent employee. Yearning for his smile, a kind word, his touch. Worse, suddenly he’s amped up on every level. Gorgeous. Golden. A rockstar, so near yet so far. And more annoying, every other single woman has noticed, wants him too. But you saw him first. Have been waiting for years for him to notice you in return. And he picks her.” Hathor pointed at Gigi. “A woman too busy with her own goals and life to really give him the love and attention he’s deserving of. The decimation of all your dreams, your fantasies, your plans for him and you, a future together, gone in a heartbeat. Did you know when love is brutally ripped away it leaves a hole in the love ether? It’s a dark stain, burning just as brightly as when love is declared and reciprocated. Riordan’s pain called to me. And as a Goddess of Love, what was I supposed to do but offer her hope?” Hathor brushed aside Riordan’s long locks, touching the antique gold necklace. “Simple really, a pretty little box and a short note,from your grateful boss. I doubt she could have put it on fast enough.”
Now what her sisters, who were friends with Riordan, had said, made sense. They’d known about their cousin’s crush but their first loyalty was to Gigi. Sisters before ho’s.
Gigi grit her teeth, her empathy for her cousin threatening to swamp her. Riordan had been there at the bar the day Nico had turned golden and every single woman in a ten mile radius had come running. She’d witnessed Nico and Gigi kiss. Gigi’s mere presence breaking the ring’s curse hold over Nico and disrupting its hold over all those flocking women. Except Gigi recalled the look on Riordan’s face as she stared at them still locked in an embrace, able to interpret it now – betrayal.
And just like that Hathor had swooped in, sent the necklace, co-opted Riordan, and those icy bouts had started to affect Gigi as Riordan began acting as Hathor’s spy. Passing along the dateof the baby shower, the location, the set up. Compliantly feeding Hathor every bit of information she could gather.
A dull thud echoed from the closed steel doors, those in the atrium determined to get in. It seemed to shake Hathor from her share mode into action mode. Remembering why they were here.
Snapping her fingers Hathor pointed at Sunny. “Boys. Pet…” The four remaining guards raised their swords higher in readiness. Riordan stepping up behind them, moving a little woodenly.
Trojan horse indeed, Nico eyed his young employee. Damn, he’d known Riordan had a small crush on him. But he’d hoped by ignoring it, she’d grow out of it, or meet someone more age appropriate. And now by not dealing with it he’d left a huge chink in the Sanctuary’s protection which Hathor had ruthlessly exploited.
