Part of her was dreading it, though. She didn’t want to know how similar they were.
She didn’t want to entertain the idea that she was just as traitorous as Midas.
“When I heard that Gaia had arrived in my kingdom, I saw my opportunity,” Midas said. “I made a plan, and I clung to it like a lifeline. It was all I had left. For nearly a decade, I had sought my own life. But the one thing my curse did not allow was for me to use it on myself. And even the blades of my opponents could not pierce my flesh. I bleed gold. Did you know that?”
Slowly, Trivia shook her head.
“Anyway, Gaia arrived. And I knew my nephew possessed sun magic. All I needed was to get you both to Elysium to channel the earth and sun magic into the fulcrum. Then, I would finally be free.”
“And you felt no guilt over this?” Trivia asked in a hollow voice. She didn’t have the energy to accuse him of duplicity.
After all, what right did she have? Midas deceived her for a few days. She had been deceiving everyone for years.
Perhaps they weren’t that different after all.
“I felt immensely guilty,” Midas said. “Guiltis something else I carry every day. It is another burden associated with my curse. But hundreds of years of training my mind allows me to compartmentalize feelings like that. To prioritize more important things instead. To betray you and your sisters was a terrible thing. But it would have been evenmoreterrible for me to continue enduring my curse. Even for one more year. One more month. One more day. It would have been too much for me.Thatwas more important than anything.”
He broke off, shaking his head sadly. “You are young, so you likely don’t have as much experience. Your mind is fresh and you feel everything acutely. Your emotions rule you. But for me, I have had centuries of practice. That’s why I’m able to exist like this.” He gestured to his body, still floating in the dark void. “You and I have been in the box for the same amount of time, but I was able to weave my own wards almost instantly, granting myself freedom. The whole time I’ve been trapped here, I’ve been practicing control over my body and my magic.”
Trivia could not argue with his reasoning. The rage of Pandora’s soul as she’d lived inside Trivia’s body had been unbearable. Because of that alone, Trivia had done her bidding—because she would have doneanythingto be rid of those violent emotions.
“You understand, don’t you?” Midas asked softly.
“I am not your friend,” Trivia snapped. “I am not your ally. You are not forgiven.”
“That’s not what I’m asking for. I’m asking you to trust me. Just in this one small thing so I can prove myself to you.”
Trivia lifted her chin, her eyes narrowing as she assessed him. “If this works, and we get out, what will you do?”
Midas huffed a laugh as if this were a ridiculous question. “Whatwouldn’tI do? Thanks to your mother and my nephew, my curse has been lifted. I wouldlive. I would feast on all the foods I haven’t been able to taste properly. I would lie with a dozen women and two dozen men. I would slit the throats of my enemies and relish the feel of their blood running down my fingers. I would experienceeverythingI was robbed of when Apollo cursed me.”
Trivia continued to watch him, still wary. It didn’t feel right, to put her trust in a despicable man like Midas.
But her choices were limited. And it made sense that Midas despised Pandora as much as she did.
“I hold no vendetta against you, your sisters, or your mother,” Midas insisted. “I only needed Gaia to break my curse. She can live a long and healthy life, for all I care. I might have a bone to pick with Apollo, so if you take issue with that, perhaps we will be at an impasse.”
“Do what you want with Apollo,” Trivia spat. “He is nothing to me.”
Midas’s lips curled into a slow smile. “There’s that rage again.”
Trivia closed her eyes as she was inexplicably reminded of the way Sol had described her fire and how he had yearned for it to consume him entirely.
Gods, she missed him. More than anything else, she longed for him.
If Midas was telling the truth, not only could Trivia spare Sol from Pandora’s darkness… but she could be reunited with him again. She would get a second chance at happiness.
They could be together. They could create a life with one another.
The idea felt too good to be true. A paradise Trivia did not deserve.
This was another reason she didn’t trust Midas. In her experience, if somethingseemedtoo good to be true, it was a trap.
“What is the worst thing that could happen if you choose to believe me?” Midas asked.
Trivia stared hard at him. “Pandora would find out, and she would punish me.”
“How would she punish you?”
