Page 76 of Descent

“If Artemis lived, maybe Ananke lied about your brothers?—”

“And if they were alive, I would only do right by them by staying away. Letting them stay hidden. You said it yourself. Artemis is at risk just because you know she’s alive.”

Circe’s face crumples somewhere between despair and anger.

“We cannot go on living this way, Cirs.” My head turns back to the river, the first hints of the sun gleaming across the water.

“No. We can’t,” she utters, her whisper a curse.

“Which leaves us what? We go back, get reset, beg her to scour our minds until there’s nothing left. Or we run. She hunts us down and does the same thing against our will. Or we try to kill her.”

“We’d never be able to get to her.”

“I know.”

“There’s only one way out,” I assert, spinning and facing back toward the building. The heels of my boots brush open air. “It would be so easy. One step.”

“Then why haven’t you done it already?”

“I’m scared.” My lip quivers, I bite down on the swell burning my eyes.

“What do you want me to do? Command you to do it? Save you from this fate by taking your life for you?”

“You didn’t hold back last night.” I’m almost shocked by the vitriol in my voice.

“Last night was a mistake. Ero, I…”

Everything inside me screams to run to her, to hold her. I don’t want to care. I know for a fact I never would have in my past life.

Who have I become?!

Somewhere along the way, she closed the distance between us. She’s suddenly there, right below me. “I won’t let you off this easily. I won’t let you leave me to face this by myself!”

Fury rises up, lashes out.

The conflagration envelops me, tearing at my own barely contained rage.

“You did this to me! Why shouldn’t I get to escape?”

“If you’re going to take your anger out on someone, let it be me!” Circe screams, getting right in my face.

My body reacts on impulse. Fingers close around her neck, lifting her, locking out as she grips my wrist. Adrenaline-fueled strength holds her over the drop, her toes scraping for purchase against the lip of the building.

“Do it! Fucking do it! Show me that you really give a shit, that you’ve got the guts. Take the choice away from me, get your revenge on me…whatever you need to do!”

“I always wanted you, Circe. You made meneedyou.”

“Only because I fell for you from the start.” She gasps, her eyes widening as she studies my face.

Hot, scalding furrows run across my cheeks. Tears.

A primal, intuitive part of me knows somehow that I’ve never shed a single one. Never as a child. Not until last night. And never like this, truly crying.

“I can’t do this, Circe. Any of it. I have no clue how to…” I shrug, leaving the sentence unfinished.

“Trust me”

“How?”

---