Page 72 of Descent

No longer Circe, but a vile mutation of my greatest fear. Ananke.

“YOU ARE MINE!” Ananke’s voice shrieks, and I see the monster for what she is. Rotting strands of hair billow around her head, her eyes hollow, the embers of vile flames glinting in their depths. Fires that consumed my life, my past.

Frigid water swallows me, dragging me into the dark.

18

CIRCE

“Adri …”

Ero’s somber cry wakes me.

For a single instant, I linger in peace from the languid haze still gripping my body from our lovemaking. I rest my hand on his until he stills.

My words and actions leading up to our union clap back, front and center.

Slinking off the bed, I dress, easing the door open and glancing back at the sliver of Ero I can see from the front door of the villa. No movement. A soft snore assures me he’s still out.

Cool, fresh breeze assuages some of my guilt as I walk down the hill from our apartment, no destination in mind. Moonlight guides me down a main street, across a plaza.

Despite the rustic, classic feel of the town, I barely notice my surroundings. This should be another dream come true. A fantasy getaway.

Like all the others?

We’ve seen the whole world. And I hardly noticed a single sight.

All because I was so goddamn fixated on the end game. On my revenge. On keeping Ero at arm’s length and out of trouble. Ignoring the signs that I was slowly falling for him.

The rest of our journey replays, highlighting only my heinous choices. My kills, justified in the name of the greater good.

I’m such a fucking idiot.

I wait for Artemis’s voice to chime in, to chastise me. She’s conspicuously silent.

Because she’s dead. She’s long gone and it was my fault.

No. It was Dom Vipera’s fault. He ratted us out. He hired us and then…

Then what?

How much of my story is a lie? Or a twisting of the facts? I can no more trust my memories than Ero can his.

I’ve allowed Ananke to erase me, bit by bit. All of it my choice.

I’m near the entrance to a garden, a small park, when I sense the presence of someone following me. Normally, I would double back, get the drop on them. Tonight, I don’t care.

Striding right out into a blue-bathed clearing in the trees, I face the entry, waiting. Maybe I imagined it. Maybe I’m losing my edge.

“You used to be more careful,” Artemis says softly, and I sigh to have her heckling back in my head.

Only it isn’t.

Wheeling on one heel, my gun appears in my hand. My eyes scan the darkness.

“Who are you?” I demand, drawing back the hammer meaningfully.

“Someone who misses you, Melia.” The name pierces straight through my heart.

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