“You also promised your former employer that you would follow her instructions, yet here we are.”
He is not wrong. I chew the inside of my cheek and consider the words I must use to defend my character. In the end, I swallow them down. “Where am I supposed to s-sleep?” Certainly not in that bed withhim.
“There is another bedroom behind you.” He points. “That can be your workspace as well.”
Seems reasonable. I think. “You’re sure this w-won’t be uncomfortable for you?” I glance at him, but only long enough to feel the brush of his gaze. “Sharing living quarters, I mean?”
His hesitation is so brief I wonder if I imagined it. “No.” He stares at me. It has a strange effect on my body. “Why would it be uncomfortable?”
I don’t want to say it. He will make me say it. “I’m a mortal w-woman of marriageable age, and you are—” A giant amongst men. “A god. Won’t the other contestants talk?”
He peers down at me with an air of disdain. And yet—that hesitation. “Do not convince yourself this means anything at all, bird. You are my assistant. Nothing more.”
I’ve had sexual relations with men before. Well,man—singular. Curtis used to deliver milk to the estate. I was seventeen, and I wanted to know what it felt like to be wanted, just once. Unfortunately, our relationship did not last. Lady Clarisse did not like to share me, so my experiences were rushed, secreted, and only occurred when she was out of town. “Fair enough.” As long as I know my place, and he knows his.
The East Wind pushes open the door to my bedroom. The mattress is smaller, but I am not a large person. And I do not have wings.
“Will this space suffice?” he asks.
It is larger than my bedroom back home, that’s for sure. It even has a proper bureau to store my clothes. No dust. Someone must have cleaned recently. A single window filters the light. “I can use the dresser as my w-worktable…” I trail off, thinking of what Eurus intends to do. “And you’re serious about poisoning twelve gods?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
He’s right. When has the East Wind ever spoken in jest? I’ve never met someone more averse to joy. “Think of the r-repercussions. What happens when they are gone?”
“I am not concerned with how this will impact the mortal realms. The City of Gods will endure.”
I fall quiet. How is it that twelve deities wronged him? But in the end, it is not my problem. If Eurus intends to kill these gods, that is his prerogative. I am here to complete a task, to birth poison. Only then will I walk free.
“Let us lay some ground rules for the duration of our stay.” He lifts a finger. “First, you will remain in this suite at all times.”
Here is what I know: I was lonely at the estate. Yes, I had her ladyship, and once a week, my journey into town, but my dearest friends were my herbs, crushed and rolled, pruned and boiled and dried. No matter how I wished plants could speak, mine was the only voice I heard.
“Y-you expect me to s-stay here until the tournament is complete?” My molars clamp down.Use your words, stupid girl.How is it her ladyship’s cruel barbs manage to haunt me across realms? “Why can’t I m-m-move around the palace? You s-said I would be safe here, as long as I don’t g-go into the city.”
He stares at me. I stare back—until I don’t. I look out the window, but the heat of his gaze lingers on my cheek, eventually dipping to my neck where the pale skin flushes pink. It is not a captive’s place to determine the boundaries of their cage.
“Very well.”
My head whips toward the East Wind in surprise. He changed his mind?
“You may explore the palace at will,” he says, “but keep to the grounds. If anyone approaches you, inform me immediately. The stakes of this tournament are high. We all want a favor from the council. As a general rule, no harm may be done to contestants outside of the trials, but that doesn’t apply to assistants, and the divine possess little honor. Some competitors may take your wandering as an invitation to meddle.”
I nod. It’s strange to think that less than two weeks have passed since I released the shackles on the East Wind’s power. Now I am to mingle with these highest celestial beings. “How m-many competitors are th-there?”
“We will see at tonight’s banquet.” He rolls his shoulders; the motion stirs the air, its rain-sweetened scent out of place so far from his island. “Keep your wits about you. Assistant or not, you are still mortal: easy pickings, easy prey.” He stares at me for a long, unbroken moment, long enough for my face to heat. “Trust no one. Not even me.”
12
“SO. WHAT INTEREST DOES THEEast Wind have with a mere mortal?”
I angle toward the brown-skinned goddess who questioned me, face tightened by a smile that fails to reach my eyes. She sits across the long dining table that seats over a hundred competitors, in addition to the Council of Gods. Tonight’s welcome banquet has been set in one of the palace gardens, beneath a pergola intertwined with small rosebuds. It is, to be fair, lovely, if a bit brisk.
I’ve managed to make it through three courses unscathed, but the goddess now pins me with a set of violet eyes. Their coloring is remarkable, like shadowed caverns with hidden depths.
“I’m not sure what you mean?” I whisper in confusion.
“Oh.” She frowns dramatically. “Don’t tell me you mortals are as stupid as you look.”
