Page 23 of God of War (Legacy of Gods)

“Uh-huh.” Jesus. At least something hasn’t changed.

“Don’t give me that.” Annoyance bubbles to the surface through her voice. “You’re the one who’s delusional enough to think you’re still single or something.”

“Ari!” Cecily scolds.

“What? She got married against everyone’s recommendations and made Papa angry. I’ve never seen him so mad.”

“About that.” I lean back against my pillow. “Something is wrong. You both know I’d never marry He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named willingly. Ihatethe bastard.”

Ari lifts her chin. “Apparently not enough, because you said no one was allowed to interfere with your decision.”

“Isaid that?”

“To Papa.”

“No way.”

“And Mama and Nan and Grandpapa and me.”

“And me,” Cecily says in a murmur.

“And Papa let me?”

“Not in the beginning,” Ari says. “He was so pissed, I’m telling you. Like I’d never seen him before. He drove to the King household in the middle of the night and nearly drowned Eli in their pool. If Uncle Aiden hadn’t been there, you’d be crying at Eli’s grave as we speak. But even with that incident, and many others, including, but not limited to, chasing him with a golf club and sending thugs to beat him up, you still didn’t budge. Like, you weren’t even feeling sorry or anything. You were…cold.”

Cecily shakes her head at Ari again. “She wasn’t cold. She was going through something.”

“Stop defending her, Cecy. She nearly broke our family, okay?”

“Ari!” Cecily says.

“What?” I say at the same time.

Ari looks guilty. “It’s nothing.”

“Tell me. Now.”

“Well, Mama and Papa were fighting because of the stupid marriage. Papa said you’ll only marry Eli over his dead body andthat his decision was final. Mama tried to calm him at first, but when he got violent with Eli and refused to change his mind, she put her foot down and told him he doesn’t get to dictate your life. Mama took you and left for the countryside for, like, two weeks until he calmed down. I hated that time.”

She doesn’t say it, but I can hear it in her unsaid words.

She hated me, too. For driving a wedge between our parents, who we always saw as the epitome of a perfect couple.

I single-handedly nearly drove them apart.

My worst fear materializes before my eyes in the form of a dark beast with hollow eyes and scaly, blurred features.

What have I done?

“And then what happened?”

“Ava, maybe you need to rest.” Cecily pats my shoulder, forever the pacifist, but right now, I need Ari’s brutal honesty.

And my sister gives it to me as she sighs. “He still didn’t agree to the wedding. I don’t think he does even now, to be honest. Especially after you asked that Eli be your legal guardian instead of him. Papa almost didn’t walk you down the aisle and Grandpapa offered to do it instead, but Papa changed his mind last minute. He was still mad and you were crying while hugging him and apologizing. You said you didn’t want to anger him, but you wanted to do this.”

“It just doesn’t make sense. I’d never go against Papa, especially not for that psycho Eli.”

“And yet you already did.” Ari pouts.

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