31
Roth
Lilah attemptedto regain her poker face to no avail. I knew her secret—the only thing I didn’t know was why she’d kept it from me in the first place. Obviously, the reason she’d sought me had something to do with her banishment, but what?
After trying and failing to compose herself, Lilah hurried past, offering no explanation and leaving no room for questions.
A blush highlighted her cheeks, no doubt caused by Apollo. The incubus awoke with a roar, goading me to fight the god once again, as if it had staked its claim on Lilah. But that was absurd. The incubus knew only one release, one satisfaction, and that was to sate itself on woman after woman, time and again. Want her. The whisper came from deep within, where the incubus lay caged within my breast.
Being in the service of Artemis made perfect sense to me. I should have guessed it before. Her skill with the blade and prowess with the wolf, obvious. Artemis’s maidens were known for their warlike natures—cold killers who did the bidding of a goddess. This fair creature was no more gentled by her time on earth than my demon. She no doubt still possessed some of Artemis’s power and all the goddess’s knowledge of hunting and fighting. She was far tougher than her delicate appearance let on, which is what made her so deadly. The warrior maidens of the moon goddess were frequently victorious on the fields of battle that marred the face of Olympus. Wars that erupted every time the gods got into a row, which could arise from anything from a perceived slight to Zeus’s roving eye. Lilah was a maiden steeped in battle and blood, yet cast out for a transgression that stemmed not from her, but from the one she spoke of. The traitorous male who had hurt her almost beyond healing.
But that was no matter—and with this the incubus crowed in agreement—when I found the male who’d betrayed Lilah, I’d flay him until only agony and bones remained.