Page 95 of A Girl and HER Prince
Venice sucked in his breath in a hiss. “Okay! Enough of that!”
“Man up!” Achilles wasn’t backing off. “We’re getting you out of here, and that’s not happening if you’re bleeding all over the place.”
Venice didn’t know what to think through this cloud; he didn’t trust Achilles… and he was trying to remember why exactly… yeah… he was behind all this. “Where’s Bris?” he cried out.
“She’s safe and on the other side of this island. I sent Deedee after her.”
That wasn’t good. That was where their uncle was staying. Venice didn’t have time to argue before the duke was ripping off the bandages. Achilles let out a whoosh of breath as soon as he saw the results of what he’d done for himself. “Looks like you tore out most of your stitches.” He whistled. “That must’ve taken some doing.” Achilles’s gaze ran over his stomach where he’d been punched in the side with knuckles that had carried that ruby ring. “Someone punched you real good.”
“Yeah, thanks for that.”
“No!” A storm darkened Achilles’s expression, but instead of anger, it was full of pain. He met Venice’s eyes. “You all there, buddy? It wasn’t me. I need you to listen to me.”
Venice tried to focus on Achilles’s fingers. None of them contained his ring. “My father didn’t kill yours,” Venice argued.
“Yes, he did.” The force behind Achilles’s gaze didn’t leave him. “And he knew about my mother and didn’t say anything. He never tried to help her. Nothing.”
His father was innocent, but Venice’s heart still dropped at the tragedy. And yet?What could any of them do for his mother?He didn’t have enough brain power left to formulate a good argument; he could only concentrate on one thing—his best friend’s betrayal. “So that’s why you’re okay with all this?”
“Just forget it! I’m tired of explaining myself to a madman,” Achilles said. “You’re out of your mind, and you’re going to die if we don’t do something.” He reached for Livvy’s knapsack of supplies. The blanket they’d stuffed in there was hanging out and he wrenched it free. He started shredding it.
Venice leaned his head back against the altar. All these years the duke hadn’t said a thing about his mother or his suspicions; never asked for help, only kept it all inside like the rest of them were useless. “You could’ve said something, you know.”
Achilles was silent as he tied the scraps together. His habit of keeping everything to himself felt hauntingly familiar.
Hadn’t Livvy accused Venice only last night of bottling up his emotions and guarding them from her? What was this, a Tirrojan trait?
“I would’ve let you rule, if you wanted it,” Venice muttered. “That would’ve been a dream come true.”
Achilles snorted. “Are you crazy? I’ve told you already Idon’twant to rule. I don’t want to have anything to do with Tirreoy or its people or that life!” He ran the swatch of blanket behind Venice’s back. “Your father sent mine to the front lines to die, okay?” His fingers turned rougher with the fury in his voice.
Venice winced. It was Peleus’s job to defend his people, but was this something more? He didn’t have the strength to argue.
“And when my mother tried to warn him, she was taken by that monster.” Achilles tied off the bandage with an unnecessary wrench. “She says she loves him, but…” Achilles trailed off and then shook his head. “I saw her with Atreus Mnon. She’s afraid of him. I can barely fathom what he’s done to her…. I tried to get her away from him, but she told me that he’s a changed man.” He snorted. “Not a chance—I think he’s using me and Gina against her somehow…” His eyes flicked to Venice’s, and instead of the usual jaded bitterness, there was stark misery. “Your father should’ve done something long ago.”
Was this really all about revenge? Venice wished he could’ve helped Achilles before he’d taken things one step too far, and still Venice couldn’t be angry at him anymore. The rage burning inside him was only focused on Atreus Mnon; he wanted to take down the man who’d torn away their childhood and stomped on everyone and everything they’d ever loved, including this friendship.
Venice let out a heavy breath. “I never thought we would come to this.”
Still kneeling across from him, Achilles leaned back on his heels. “Snap out of it! For the last time, I had nothing to do with this. Atreus Mnon has a lot of property that I don’t know about and I only started to realize yesterday that we’d stumbled across him. That lowlife called me up and told me to keep my mouth shut. That made me think you might still be alive and I thought I could double-cross him to keep you that way, okay? The thing is, I told your uncle a long time ago that I don’t want anything to do with his bloodthirsty politics and he shrugged and told me to go back to my old life!”
“Did he send you to spy on us?”
“No.” Achilles let out a snarl. “You know what? It doesn’t matter what you think about me. I’d never hurt you or Bris—and so, believe it or not, someone else tried to kill you in that cave and I had no idea about that until yesterday. Before then, we all thought you were dead.” His jaw clenched. Venice noticed his eyes reddening before he quickly looked away. “This week hasn’t exactly been easy for me either, Venice, but I guess weallhave to grow up sometime.”
Cracking branches in the woods made Achilles’s chin snap up. “It’s the Myrdons,” he grumbled. “You’re going back in the altar.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Where is he?” Turner followed Livvy up the grassy hill thick with pines, beeches, and olive trees.
The leaves of the foliage filtered the bright sun as she led him through the pathway. “This way,” she said. They’d docked the boat below them, as close as they could, so they could make their escape, but she worried about Deedee and Venice’s sister. How could they leave them behind on this island?
“Do Bris and Deedee have radios on them?” she asked.
Turner shook his head, his forehead creased with concern. “Achilles does…” his voice trailed off as he saw her face. “We’ll find a way to reach them. Do not worry,agápi_ mou.”
That was a nice term of endearment, not Luvvy or Luv… Livvy choked back a sob and did her best to banish all her emotions. She had to be strong for Venice. Later she could fall apart about him pushing her away, but for now he was depending on her.
