Page 7 of Where Darkness Bloomed
A breath of silence lingered between them.
“The gods have willed it,” Paris replied solemnly. But a flicker of triumph lit his gaze, betraying him.
A bitter retort rose on her tongue—that the violent abduction she’d endured spoke of mortal hands, not divine will. But she swallowed it.
Paris stepped deeper into the chamber, his steps unhurried. The door settled shut behind him with a muted thud, quiet but final.
A cage door closing.
Alarm prickled against the back of her neck, primal and instinctive.
Careful, something whispered inside her.
Helen shifted subtly, easing one foot back, but she met his gaze with practiced calm. “My lord,” she said as gently as she could manage. “Surely you understand I cannot remain here. I must speak to King Priam and arrange passage to Sparta. There are many who will be searching for me.”
The words were soft, carefully designed to persuade, not provoke.
Paris smiled, slow and condescending, as he moved closer. “I think not,” he replied silkily. “You’ll find my chambers comfortable enough.”
A rush of cold dread shot through her, the walls shrinking as his meaning became horribly clear.
“Yourchambers?” she echoed, the words stumbling on the edge of fear.
His smile widened but it was too warm, too certain.
In that instant, clarity struck with brutal force. This wasn’t the will of kings or gods. It was the desire of one man.
Her instincts screamed to run, but there was nowhere to go. The chamber shrank, the air turning thick and hard to breathe. Instinctively, she knew what came next.
He struck swiftly, violently—a falcon grasping prey with talons.
His hands caught her wrists, his hard grip abrading the raw skin. Her feet left the ground, the bed rushing up to meet her, and the impact drove the air from her lungs. Then he was on her, crushing her to the mattress.
Ripping fabric reached her ears, but it was strangely muted, dimmed by numbness stealing over her body. His hands curled around her knees, roughly jerking her legs apart. There was a stab of pain. His body jerked against hers, his hips rutting between her thighs.
Her vision had gone dark, the world sliding out of focus. A dull roar rose in her ears, drowning out everything else. A strangled moan brokeagainst her ear and Paris’s fingers bit against her hips, his frame curling over her like a funeral shroud as he finally became still.
After a lifetime, his body slipped away, its suffocating weight lifting from her. In a mockery of gentleness, he tugged her torn chiton down, smoothing it back into place.
Helen flinched as he tried to draw her close, her body wooden against his. Paris didn’t seem to care, his eyes roving her with unguarded male satisfaction. His lips moved, shaping words that dissolved into nothing.
A damp kiss brushed her mouth, then he released her and stood. From the bedchamber door, he offered parting words wrapped in a smile—hollow courtesies lost to her. The door shut with a thud that echoed through her, the bolt sliding back into place.
Helen lay still.
Around her, the chamber blurred into a smear of shifting shadows. Then, uncontrollable trembling took the place of stillness, wracking her body. Her teeth chattered so hard, it felt as if she were splintering apart. Grasping a blanket from the bed, she pulled it around herself. The linen was thin, but she clung to it anyway, wrapping it around her shoulders like fragile armor.
When the shaking finally subsided, aching stillness returned to her—a hollow, crushing quiet. Weariness seeped into her limbs, dulling the jagged edges of fear and grief. It overpowered her, dragging her into sleep’s oblivion.
For a while, the world—and all of its pain—ceased to exist.
Chapter 4
In the throne room of Olympus, Kore stood silently beside Erato.
Towering marble columns flanked the great hall, stretching into starlit heavens where jewel-bright constellations glittered, their cold brilliance untouched by the golden torchlight bathing the gathering below.
Around her, gods and goddesses crowded the hall, filling it in a gleaming array. Their voices wove together, rising in a hum of anticipation that pricked softly against Kore’s skin.
