Page 5 of A Deal For a Kiss

With a tight throat I respond, “Hecate collects me for the army of the dead every night before the full moon under the last thread of light. I am doing what I can to make amends and repent.”

I mean every word of it. I feel it all in the depths of my soul.

She speaks under her breath as the people walk by and we stand still. “You were meant to only feel betrayal and nothing more. Barely any time has passed and you still feel love for her…that is what convinced me. Do not disappoint.”

I can only nod, swallowing thickly.

She looks away and begins walking again. I walk by her side, desperate to continue the conversation and at a loss for words. How I feel is mostly a howl of rage, and this woman will pretend not to understand.

“It would be wise of you to remember who I am and what I’m capable of,” she warns.

“Yes, my lady,” I answer diligently.

We pass several buildings. The mist is getting heavier. It’ll rain again soon.

I think of her. And what tonight will be. Ivy stays inside when the sky opens up and the rain pours down. She’ll shut herself in her room, wrap a blanket around her shoulders, and stay in until she has to leave again for a class or for her studies, and I’ll spend every second fighting with myself.

Aphrodite goes into a hotel and passes the front desk without looking at the man behind it. He doesn’t look up at us, either. We turn down a wide, dimly lit hallway with large sets of doors on either side. The lights flicker as she walks by.

As she’s about to turn into an even darker hallway, she turns to face me, looking up into my eyes, and the shame I felt earlier comes back to me. I don’t think it will ever let me go, but that’s not what I need to know most of all.

“Is this more of a punishment, then?” It’s difficult to force the words out, the question leaving my mouth in a rough demand. The goddess’s lips press into a thin line. She has to know what this is doing to me. Maybe she even came here to taunt me with what she knows, and now she’s glad to see that it’s working. “To add on to my pain? To have her and for her not to know?”

I expect her to say yes. That would make the most sense, for this to be a cruel punishment I can’t escape from.

She reaches out and touches my sleeve. I’m surprised at how soft the touch is.

“She will,” she replies simply, and I let out a long breath. If this is out of pity or even a lie, I can’t bring myself to accept that now. “She’s going to love what you do to her,” the woman continues, her tone almost wistful. But then her eyes harden again, and she looks at me with disapproval. “Perhaps you may act on such things before it’s too late.”

With the knowledge of what was suggested I do reiterated by yet another god, I stand numb, hating what must happen and yet hopeful.

She doesn’t even look back at me. She just walks around the next corner and vanishes into a mirror.

IVY

Ican feel him watching.

The fluorescent lights of the grocery store seem to flicker, but I know it’s not the wiring. It’s been happening every time I’ve felt him. The texts I’ve read say when the lights flicker, there is someone with a message from the other side. Someone wanting to speak to you.

The goosebumps travel down my arms and back, causing my entire body to shudder. Somewhere deep inside, where intuition lies, tells me I’m not okay. It screams inside of me that my life is going to change forevermore. It’s terrifying.

I swallow thickly, my heart pounds as if it’s trying to escape. I glance around, but there’s no one here. Just a narrow aisle next to another narrow aisle, and somewhere to the right I know there to be a cashier and a register. He’s nowhere to be found at the moment though.

At that thought, I look up and at first, I think it’s the man who’s supposed to be at the register. My body freezes.

His face is etched as if carved from stone. Perfectly chiseled jaw, sharp piercing eyes. He’s tall, his shoulders broad, he’s beautiful in so many ways.

But instinctively I know. The air bows around him. Powerful. Deadly.

With careful steps, I pretend. I pretend I don’t know deep in the marrow of my bones. I pray he can’t see my hands tremble. I move to another aisle with my little wire basket hanging from my hand and he follows, too. Even my breathing is careful.

Every time I look over my shoulder to see if he’s gone, he stares at the items on the shelves. As if he’s not watching me. He hasn’t done anything wrong. If I screamed, people would think I was paranoid.

But I know that the moment I look away, he goes back to watching me.

“I’ve had enough,” I mumble under my breath, feeling a lot less brave than I sound. I take a packet of tea bags off the shelf without looking to see what kind it is and stride up to the register to pay. I ring the bell as quickly as I can, and a woman comes out. Not the man who was here before.

My hands shake as I give my card to the woman behind the counter. If the woman behind the counter notices, she doesn’t say anything. The small hairs at the back of my neck stand on edge as she scans the item and tosses it into a small brown paper bag.

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