Page 74 of Salt & Blood

“Did—Did she hurt you?”

Confused, Pandora looked up at Sol. His eyes were full of fear. “What?”

“Did Gaia hurt you?”

Pandora frowned. “No, of course not. Why would you think that?”

Sol shot her an incredulous look. “She was manipulating you. She was using me to hurt you. It’s why I stayed away.”

Realization dawned on her. Sol figured out that Gaia was provoking her emotions, trying to draw them out. “I—Well—No, she didn’t hurt me. Not physically. In fact, it actually worked. It helped me sift my emotions from…”

“From hers,” Sol finished.

The last thing Pandora wanted to do was remind Sol of the former goddess. She took a shaky breath and said, “Areyouall right?”

He cocked his head at her. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“The things Gaia said…” Pandora trailed off and shook her head. “She shouldn’t have done that to you. You don’t deserve to suffer any more for this.”

“Well, Iwasupset at first,” Sol admitted. “But I wasn’t as upset with Pandora and her lies as I was with myself. I was angry I let myself cling to the idea of her. I let her torment me for years, even long after she’d died, only to find out that what we had wasn’t… well, it wasn’t real.” He shook his head. “I needed some time to think, but once I processed everything, I realized Gaia had been manipulatingyou. So, I thought it would be best if I stayed away.”

Pandora could only stare at him, her pulse racing from his admission. “So you—you’re all right?”

To her surprise, Sol offered her a crooked smile, his eyes glinting with amusement. “Were you worried about me, Trivia?”

“Of course I was! Gaia revealed that Pandora was using you to get to Apollo. You stormed off, enraged. I—I thought—” She broke off, unsure of how to finish that sentence.

I thought you were still in love with her.

I thought this changed everything for you.

I thought you hated me again.

Sol crossed his arms, which drew Pandora’s gaze to the hint of that muscular chest under his tunic. Her throat turned dry, and she found herself forgetting her thoughts entirely.

“You thought… what?” Sol prompted, eyebrows raised. The gleam in his eyes told Pandora he was thoroughly enjoying this.

Pandora was torn between fleeing the house and punching the smirk off his face. She wanted to yell at him for tormenting her like this, but… didn’t she deserve it? Hadn’t she done the same to him?

She was tired of hiding. She was tired of pretending. And above all, she was tired of fighting what she felt for him.

This would all be over soon. And she had a horrible feeling that the darkness inside her wouldn’t let her live through this. She only had right now, and she was determined to make it count.

With a deep breath, she said in a steady voice, “I was afraid for the longest time that you wanted me to beher.That you were disappointed that I wasn’t. I need you, Sol. You are my rock during all this, even though I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserveanyof this. I—I never meant to fall in love with you. But I did. And now, I couldn’t stop it even if I wanted to. I am hopelessly lost in my love for you, and I would do absolutely anything for you. Even if it means giving you the space to grieve a woman I could never be.”

The air was still after her confession, and Sol watched her with an unreadable expression. The humor in his face was gone, but the intense look in his eyes made her want to squirm. She forced herself to hold his gaze as he took slow and measured steps toward her. Her heartbeat thundered loudly in her chest until it was roaring in her ears by the time he stood before her.

“You would do anything for me?” he asked, his voice low and soft.

“Yes,” Pandora breathed, every ounce of her body coiled tightly by the warmth of his body so close to hers. Close enough to touch. Close enough to taste. She stared up at him, lips parted, knowing that if she stood on her tiptoes, her mouth would brush his.

He raised a hand, catching her hair and twining it around his finger. His knuckle grazed her cheek, and her breath caught in her throat. Then his mouth was at her ear, his whisper brushing her flesh and making her shiver with longing.

“I want to remove every layer of clothing on your body so I can worship you properly,” he murmured. “I want you on that bed, your legs spread for me so I can taste you like I did on that balcony. I want your mouth on my cock so we can finish what we started in the library. I wantallof you, Trivia.”

Her skin pebbled, and her stomach turned molten from his words. Slowly, she drew back to gaze up at him, to see if he was teasing her. He couldn’t possibly be serious…

But that dark and sensuous look in his eyes… She’d only seen him like that once before: in the library, when she’d been sucking on him, unraveling him, making him come undone for her.

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