Tethys shut her eyes.
Chapter 27
Tethys’s entire body shook as she climbed the stairs. Blood stained her lower lip, from where Procyon had sunk his teeth in and on her skirts, from where he—It had never been like this before. He had been so violent.
So rough.
She winced at every step as she finally reached the top of the bannister and found the shelter she so sought in her bedchambers. She threw open the balcony doors, letting in the crisp nighttime air. A midnight dove sang its heart wrenching melody somewhere in the distance.
“I’ll show you just how satisfying I can be.”
His voice, like a hammer, shattered the walls of her mind, leaving an empty, thoughtless carcass. He’d always known just how to cause complete and total destruction. The sheer weight of him forced her to her knees, her pale silk skirts pooled around her trembling body. She wished the fabric would swallow her up entirely, maybe then she’d find some escape from this vile world.
She’d lost her freedom. Her privacy. Her chance at thelife she so desperately dreamed of.
Now, she’d lost her body. Her mind.
Her entire fucking being.
Gone.
Stolen.
Ripped from the deepest, most precious parts of herself, and even her golden haired boy couldn’t pull her from this sort of darkness.
Reminders of Procyon’s touch and the pain he invoked streamed down her face as she lifted her chin and let the stars wash them away. The infinite navy stretching above her, whispered soft comforts in her ear. Moonlight poured down on the balcony, bleaching the already forming bruises around her arms.
It wasn’t Polaris she begged for in that unlit sky, no, it was Eos. The lover lost, the keeper of the realm before her. Tethys’s sobs were a beacon in the night signaling for aid.
Starlight and darkness wound around her until the balcony, the manor, all of Venia, ceased to exist.
Then, Tethys broke.
Every instance of heartbreak, humiliation, and isolation poured out of her in a scream that sent tremors through the heavens and cracked the earth beneath her. Her voice now roared with the power of a thousand volcanic eruptions and still her scream was unwavering. It rushed up her throat, like a river over rapids and echoed into the cavernous darkness that cocooned her.
She screamed until her throat burned and her lungs begged for air. She screamed until her tears dried up and her eyelids felt like sandpaper. She screamed until not a single hidden wince, hushed sob, or stifled cry remained within her.
The night took it all.
When the final remnants escaped into the limitless space, the darkness dissipated and the normal midnight sounds of the gardens bubbled up from below. Tethyspulled herself to her feet and leaned against the railing. She watched as a brown rabbit fled the claws of an invisible predator.
She’d no longer be the rabbit. Not anymore.
Never again.
A knock at her bedchamber door pulled her from the balcony. With the bitter taste of iron on her tongue, she latched the doors shut, leaving what little remnants of her pain to the stars.
“Goddess, please open the door,” a familiar voice called. The urgency of his knocking suggested that Araes wasn’t merely in a state of panic, his tone was rough with desperation. Tethys unlatched the lock and greeted Araes at the open threshold.
“I’d told the staff no one is to disturb me,” she said, her voice hoarse.
“I know, I’m sorry for the interruption, but I wanted to make sure you’re okay. That damned chair took me all the way to the property’s edge and by the time I returned the king was gone and Arissa said you’d retired for the night.” His words were cut short as his eyes locked on the now bluish bruises littering her biceps.
“I’m fine,” she said, starting to slam the door. A strong hand stopped the swing before it could close entirely.
“Did he do that?” Araes asked, his voice darkening. His amber eyes flashed in the candlelight emitted from sconces that lined the hall. Tethys sucked in a breath. It’s not like she could deny what was made so apparent on her skin.
“I’ll show you just how satisfying I can be.”
