The Darkest Lie (Lords of the Underworld #6)(36)
Author: Gena Showalter

That mop of blue hair was plastered to his forehead and temples, his skin was welted and his eyes squeezed closed. What was wrong with him? She wanted to tend to him, but didn’t permit herself to move another inch. Not yet. Not with an audience.

Rhea appeared at her side. “He’s not very attractive like that, is he?” she asked conversationally, and Gideon’s lids popped open. His eyes were bright red, glowing, and he couldn’t quite focus on either woman. “That blue hair, those piercings. All that pain. A real warrior wouldn’t acknowledge it, much less succumb to it.”

“Spoken like a woman who’s never known true pain.” Her nails bit into her palms. No one speaks poorly of him but me.

“With you as a daughter, I’ve known my fair share. Believe me.”

Ouch. Scarlet might not like this woman, but those kinds of comments still cut.

Maybe because, for a long time, even after her mother had begun to belittle her, purposely distressing her, she’d tried to be a good daughter. She had been Rhea’s own personal little slave girl, catering to her every whim.

Her mother wanted extra food, so she’d stolen it. Her mother thought a goddess was too pretty, so Scarlet had broken the female’s nose. Her mother wanted time outside her cell, so Scarlet had bought it for her. Doing whatever a guard wanted her to do.

That had been the worst, giving herself to men she hadn’t liked and who hadn’t liked her. But she’d cared so little about herself. She’d felt worthless without her mother’s love and had been determined to earn it back. Until the first murder attempt. Rhea had distracted her before going for her throat.

“They all watch you. They all crave you. You, a little nothing,” Rhea had screamed as the blood dripped.

Cronus, who had also been in their cell, had come at her next. “You might be my wife’s child, but you are not my heir and you will never have my crown.”

Alastor had been walking by, had seen Scarlet fall. He’d entered the cell, shoving Rhea aside and scooping Scarlet up. “You have no crown,” he’d told the former king. “Nor will you ever again.”

After doctoring her, he’d escorted Scarlet back to her prison. Where Cronus and Rhea waited. By then, Alastor had already cursed the pair. But that hadn’t stopped them from trying. Again and again. Actually, months had passed before they’d noticed how much they were aging. Only then had they stopped.

Sometimes, though, their words still haunted her.

She laughed bitterly. Those echoes of the past were her own personal little nightmare.

“I’ll let you know when my end of our bargain is met,” she said, keeping all emotion from her tone. Which would be, oh, never. “You can go now.”

Of course, her mother remained where she was. “I never knew what you saw in him, why you watched him so covetously. Paris, Lucien and Galen were the pretty ones, though one could hardly call Lucien pretty anymore.” Rhea’s face scrunched with disgust. “Sabin was the strong, determined one. Strider the fun one. Any of them would have been better than him, the wild one who enjoyed fighting.”

Like that was a crime. Still, Scarlet clenched her jaw to keep her rebuke inside. One, she didn’t want her mother to know how much Gideon still meant to her. Not that he meant a whole hell of a lot, she assured herself. Defending him would be like shouting her feelings (small as they were) from a rooftop. Two, she hated that anyone, especially Rhea, was seeing him like this, weakened and hurting, and prolonging the discussion would only encourage the goddess to stay.

“Now they’re all evil and in need of extermination,” her mother continued.

“Funny that you say that, since you’re just like them. Strife.” Oh, yes. Rhea was possessed by the demon of Strife. She might deny it, but Scarlet knew the truth.

Rhea stiffened, a predator who’d spotted prey after a too-long fast. “Utter that word again, and I’ll entice your lover into my bed. I could do it, you know, and there would be nothing you could do to stop me. I grow prettier every day.”

Do not react. Not to the jealousy suddenly beating through her, or the consuming fury. Again, that would only encourage the goddess. “Do whatever you want. Later. For now, just leave us,” she said, knowing the order would grate on Rhea’s nerves. “I have a few things to discuss with him and then you can have him.” There. That should throw her mother for a loop.

At first, Rhea didn’t obey. She sauntered to the other side of the bed and ran the sharp tip of a nail up Gideon’s leg, stomach and then throat. Gideon latched onto her wrist and growled. She laughed that tinkling, dead laugh.

“Bitch,” he croaked, and then hunched over on another moan.

“You know, I think I’ll have him anyway.” With a smile that returned every bit of her satisfaction, the queen disappeared, leaving Scarlet alone with her husband.

Finally Scarlet was able to climb up the bed as she’d wanted. Very carefully, she settled beside him, her pulse hammering at the base of her neck. “Are you a prisoner?” she asked, smoothing the hair from his damp brow.

He leaned into her touch. “Yes.”

A lie, she knew, because his answer wasn’t followed by another moan. “Why are you here?”

“Not to…find…Zeus.”

Some of the ice around her heart melted; she couldn’t stop it. So. He had meant to seek revenge. “Killing him won’t make you feel any better,” she said softly.

Their gazes met, a heated tangle. “Not willing to…find out.”

“Cronus won’t allow you to do that. So why did he bring you here?”

Gideon’s smile was brief yet still pained. “He doesn’t need my help with the Hunters. I didn’t ask him to bring me here so I can recover from the truth I spoke. I don’t plan to make my way to Tartarus.”

“You spoke the truth? In the forest?” Scarlet flattened her palm over his cheek, thumb tracing the bruise under his eye. “Stupid man. Believe me, if I thought it would ease my pain, I would have found a way to kill Zeus long ago.”

“Scar.” He reached up with a shaky hand and cupped her nape. His grip was weak, but she knew what he was doing. Offering comfort. Comfort she had been denied for so long.

Tears suddenly burned her eyes.

Dangerous. Too dangerous. She couldn’t allow this. Couldn’t rely on him like this. Not for anything, even something as simple and wonderful as comfort. What would happen the next time she needed consoling and he wasn’t nearby or didn’t want to offer it? She would need it, wouldn’t know how to cope without it.