Page 20 of The Shadow Gods

This man. This man was going to undo me.

His lips moved over me, back and forth, back and forth. And, still, I just held on.

“You don't know me.” It tickled my skin when he spoke, but nothing about what he said made me want to laugh.

“I want to know you,” I told him, hoping he could hear how desperately I wanted that. “I want to know all about you.”

With a sigh, he drew back. I swayed toward him but locked the moan of dismay behind my lips. He might not be telling me everything about him, but he was sharing and revealing himself action by each small action.

“You might not like me at the end.” Lifting his head, our gazes locked. His pupils had shrunk to pinpricks, revealing that beautiful golden brown that was bright against his tan skin. I reached for him, moving slowly so he could jerk back if he wanted to. Tracing his cheekbones, I grazed his face before moving to the shell of his ear and into his hair. The curls were soft, like silk, and wrapped around my fingers like they were alive.

Alive.

My vision flashed, and it wasn't Orestes's hair that was dark against my skin but a serpent. The vision changed, curl to scales, and back again.

Stepping back, I dropped my hands and curled my fingers into fists. I willed the sensation to disappear, finally interlacing my fingers and pressing my hands together.

“I'm sorry,” he said, attributing my change to himself.

Shaking my head, I forced myself to drop my hands. “It's not you. Nothing you've said frightens me, it's something else.” Holding his confused gaze, I searched for the right words. “I'm seeing things.”

He didn't even blink. “Visions? Memories?”

“Both,” I replied. “I think.” I cut my gaze back to the mirror, and he turned to glance over his shoulder.

“Tell me.”

There was a heavy knock on the door, one that made me jump at Orestes. He held me, squeezed, and called, “We'll be right out.”

The doorknob jiggled in warning, but it opened almost immediately. Paris pushed it open, holding it in place while he studied us. Trailing his gaze along my face and down my neck, he cleared his throat. “Achilles and Hector are getting impatient. They haven't slept yet, and I'm afraid if we don't start driving, we won't be able to get them down for a nap.” He was only able to hold a serious face for a second before his lips split into a grin.

Holy shit. I choked and Orestes laughed. Paris grinning—it was impossible not to smile back. When he was serious and melancholy, the man was beautiful, but lit up from the inside like this? There were no words.

“I need five minutes,” I got out.

“We'll wait.” Paris took a spot on the bed, and Orestes went back to his wingback chair.

I hurried into the bathroom and finished.

Orestes

As the door closed behind Leo, Paris rounded on me. “You son of a bitch.”

“What?” I asked, feigning innocence. My lips still tingled from the feel of her soft skin. I rubbed the side of my index finger along my top lip absently until our gazes met.

“Did you...?” Paris trailed off.

“You were gone about ten minutes.” When he shrugged, I added, “Ten minutes is nowhere near long enough.”

But his question reminded me of why I went into the bathroom in the first place. The tiny cry Leo made was barely loud enough to be heard over the traffic outside, but I'd caught it.

I hadn’t been sure what I would find when I got in there, but nothing was keeping me out.

“She saw something,” I told him.

Immediately, his mood went from teasing to grim. “What?”

“Something between a vision and a memory,” I replied. “It frightened her.”Whatever it had been.I wanted to ask her more questions about it, but suddenly everything—from running away from Athena to my feelings for Leo—seemed to be moving at the speed of light. For so long, everything was the same. I ran away from the Furies, they showed me my crime, I tried to live with my guilt. Over and over, ad nauseam.

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