Page 10 of Banshee
That was exactly what it was.
“Banshee,” Steele warned.
“No, Prez. I wanna hear this shit from him. Am I misunderstanding you, Kronos?”
My father stood up, and I glanced at Banshee. His eyes were locked on me until my father stepped between us.
“I came here to give you the chance to secure a bond between the Silver Shadows and the Gods of Mayhem.”
“By what? Fucking your daughter?”
I gasped at his crass words. My hand covered my mouth as my father punched Banshee in the face. Blood dripped from his nose, and I wondered if it was broken.
“Banshee, Kronos has generously agreed to let you marry his daughter,” Steele pressed. I couldn’t help but wonder why he was so persistent. What was he getting out of this deal?
I didn’t like Steele. He made me uncomfortable with the way he looked at me. The way he was focused on me now.
“His daughter is barely out of high school. Baby girl, how old are you?”
“Twenty-three,” I whispered, looking at Banshee.
“Twenty-three.” He shook his head and glared at my father. “I’m almost fucking forty.”
“Banshee—”
“I am old enough to be her fucking father,” he shouted.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Kronos scoffed.
“How old was Rhea when she had Zeus?”
He had a point. My mother was only sixteen when she had my brother and sister. She’d met my father and, the way they told it, it was love at first sight.
“You keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth!” my father snarled as he bumped Banshee with his chest.
“The answer is no,” he said. I knew he wouldn’t want me. No one had. The only reason I was even alive was that my mother didn’t believe in abortion. She had a rough time with my siblings. As twins, they were born five weeks early, and my father wasn’t even there. My uncle Issac was.
My father was out on a run, not expecting my mother to go into labor so early. The doctor told her she shouldn’t have any more. And my father agreed. He didn’t want to risk losing her. I’d heard Zeus and Diana talking one day about how my father had begged her to have an abortion.
She’d refused.
Everything was fine. I came when I was supposed to, and my birth was uneventful. That was how my father described it. Uneventful. At least he’d been there when I was born.
“Banshee—”
“He said no, Steele.” Steele looked across the table at Chasm. I liked Chasm; he and King were close to Zeus’ age. ButChasm noticed me. He watched out for me when I came to the clubhouse with my father. “The deal was that it was his choice. We agreed not to force a brother to take a woman. Not even to secure an ally.”
“You won’t even consider it?” Steele asked.
“Fuck no.”
I tried not to react. But his curse hurt. He was so adamant about not wanting me, I couldn’t help but feel rejected.
“It’s nothing against you, baby girl; you’re fucking gorgeous. But you deserve someone who loves you. You don’t deserve to be used as a pawn in fucking politics.”
Except I was a pawn. A child my father never really wanted. One he was eager to be free of.
I sat down against a tree, making sure I could see Haizley. Diesel crawled over and rested his head in my lap. My hand swept over his head absently, as I thought about my life.
