Disgust roiled through me.
Thankfully, the haze seemed to hear me, and all went dark once more.
* * *
“What do you mean, the fae have rejected the gemstones?” Andromeda paced the stone floor, her fingers jammed into her hair.
She was somewhere else now, somewhere I didn’t recognize. The scent of salt water filled the air, reminding me of home. She whirled toward the gathered creatures. Perseus stood in front. There were angry lines across his handsome face.
He stepped closer to her. “The fae took the gemstones to the four corners of their continent and buried them. You should see what it’s done to their lands. The power has seeped into it. Shadows and mist rage across one region. Light and fire across another. And one is plagued by vicious storms. They’ve tried to unbury the stones to undo what they did, but they cannot find them.”
“And the fourth stone?” Andromeda asked.
“There is a place with tranquility, small though it is. The Ivory Cliff Falls.” Perseus shook his head. “But that doesn’t matter. What matters is they rejected the gift we gave them. They will not ally with us against the human kingdoms like they said they would.”
Andromeda shifted on her feet. She wasn’t so certain she wanted to wage war any longer. Death was no longer in control. Her love for Ovalis had brought Life back to the surface, and Life did not much like the idea of blood on her hands. In fact, it was why she’d wanted Death there in the first place. Life knew she’d never be able to make the hard decisions herself.
She was too soft for war.
Perseus eyed her. “You’ve changed your mind. After everything we’ve done for you, you would turn on us like this?”
Callisto folded her arms. On either side of her squatted two magnificent beasts. They’d been bathed and brushed until their coats shined, though their eyes were still as red as blood, reminding me they were the furthest things from pets a creature could be. “This is about Ovalis, isn’t it? And your twisted offspring?”
Offspring? A ringing filled my ears.
Andromeda turned away.
Offspring?
“You brought us here for one reason and one reason only.” Orion stalked toward her, fury shaking his arms. “We are tostopthe humans. Not fuck them. That is why you gave our darker natures greater control. It is why the Famine in me is stronger than Abundance, why Perseus’s Fear controls Courage. And why Sirius cares little for Healing. And now you’re turning your back on what you made us to be.”
I could barely listen to them, too locked on that single word.Offspring.Andromeda had a child. Inmybody. Pain ripped through me. That child should have been mine.
“Perhaps I was wrong to make you this way,” Andromeda said, her voice cracking. She turned back to the others, and I could feel the tears in her eyes, though they’d yet to fall. Gods did not cry.
“Wrong?” Callisto looked at her, aghast. “We’ve all seen what will happen if we do nothing to stop them. And our gentler natures cannot do what needs to be done.”
“What that man has done to you is only evidence we’re right,” Perseus said. “The Andromeda I know and love would never fall prey to this. That Andromeda wanted to protect the world, not some human king who caresnothingfor her. Do you not know he has another in his bed as we speak?”
Andromeda narrowed her gaze. “That is a lie. And if you don’t stop speaking to me this way, I’ll force you to stop. In fact, I’ll do it now. Perseus, I order you to say nothing you know will offend me.”
Perseus blinked. He ground his teeth and looked away.
“Stop this. Ovalis is the one who is lying to you,” Callisto spat. “And if you refuse to believe us after everything we’ve done for you, make him vow it. See what he says when our power ties his tongue.”
* * *
When the haze cleared once more, it was only hours later. A day at most. Andromeda’s reckless emotions had loosened her grip on me, making it easier for me to watch. What I saw worried me. King Ovalis Hinde was in his bed. He was mounted by three naked women moaning his name.
Andromeda’s rage shook through me. She stormed into the room, ripping tapestries off the wall and knocking flower vases to the stone floor, where the glass shattered. Much like her heart.
The king calmly climbed from his bed, naked. His cock was slick from another woman’s wetness. He held up his hands, then whispered for the women to leave quickly. They rushed by, fearfully glancing at Andromeda.
“This is not what it looks like,” he said once they were gone.
“No?” She snapped the word. “One was on your face, the other was on your cock. I don’t know what the third was doing, but it hardly matters. You’re sleeping with other women after promising me the world.”
“It is just sex, my love.”
