Chapter 14 Soraya
It’s like I can’t stop the tears from running down my face.
The gaping mouth of my small suitcase sits open on my bed.
I throw in everything I can get my hands on.
My ring snags on the saffron veil from the wedding.
Holding it, I sit at the edge of the bed.
I clutch it to my chest. I thought that this time, someone loved me.
Instead, he wants me dead for a past lover.
He paused when I asked him who he loves more. That pause felt like a blade twisting in my heart.
I blink away the tears, wiping my face with the back of my hand. Well, Elias is dead now, and he was my biggest threat, so…I can leave. I have money saved, and I have my job.
The scent of ash and myrrh fills my room. In the shadows near my curtain, Hecate walks out.
That was frightening as hell, her walking out of the shadows. I blink and throw my shoulders back.
She says nothing, as if she’s waiting for me to strike first.
“Out of everyone, you were the one I trusted the most.” I can hear the hurt in my voice.
Hecate licks her lips. “Soraya, there is so much you don’t know.”
“I considered you to be my big sister. All the while you were planning my death.”
Hecate laughs. “I wasn’t planning your death. You know it. Deep down, you know I would never hurt you.”
I stand with my fists clenched. “But you have. You lied, you didn’t tell me the truth, you manipulated me…because I was the fool who drank from a chalice.”
Hecate bows her head. “Fate. That’s what directs our lives.”
“What about the loopholes?” I ask.
Hecate shrugs. “They don’t exist if you know about them.”
I laugh bitterly. “So in English, I am fucked.”
“No, you’re not, because, Raya, Ares loves you.”
I shake my head, refusing to believe her. “No, he loves Talia. I am just a tool to him, Hecate.”
“No. But trust? That’s what you will have to give him.” Her voice sounds all cryptic.
I continue packing. “Is there something wrong with me? No one ever loves me. People say they love me, but there is always a price that I have to pay. This time, it’s my life.”
My ring sparkles under the bedroom light.
Slowly, I drag it off my finger and set it on the side table.
The small bracelet Hecate gave me catches my eye.
I unclip it and hand it to her. “Thank you for everything. It’s either Talia or me that dies.
And I don’t want it to be me. I want to live.
” I throw my sneakers into the suitcase.
I pause, trying to catch my breath and remembering the way he saved me from Elias and his men, how he took me in…
“I love him so much, and he says that he loves me, but fuck. I am drowning in doubts and fucking insecurities.” I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand.
“So instead of fighting, you’re running?” Hecate takes the bracelet in her palm.
I don’t answer. I continue packing my suitcase.
“Soraya,” Hecate calls my name, and I turn to her. She walks up to me, and the air around her hums. “Sometimes freedom is not found in running but in standing still.”
I blink up at her. “You don’t understand.”
She lifts my chin. “I understand more than you think.” Her gaze moves to my suitcase. “You can live in an unfamiliar land and still wake up in the same prison. Or you can stand your ground when the walls fall. The choice is yours.” She squeezes my palm gently.
Her words burn into my brain. I look down, and in my hand, she places the ring and bracelet in my palm. I blink, and she is gone. The room feels like an empty cavern.
What did she mean “stand still”? Then I hear a scream. No, it was a painful roar.
ARES
I hurt her. I didn’t mean to. If only she would understand that I am trying to figure this shit out for her. I almost dug my hand into my chest just to give her my heart.
I am still standing in the storm of her words, when I smell hints of rose, amber, and oud.
Aphrodite.
She glides into the kitchen, radiant and beautiful, with gold bangles on her wrists and a soft smile on her face.
“I came to say sorry,” she purrs.
The way she says “sorry” sounds like a lie, a mockery.
“For what exactly?” I ask.
“For upsetting your girl, for upsetting you.” She lifts her delicate shoulders. She places her hands on my chest and glides them up to my neck. “I only told her what she deserves to know. Is that better than lies?”
I move her arms from around my neck. “You didn’t come here to apologize.”
Aphrodite smirks. “You’re right. As much as I hate to admit defeat. I admit it. This one loves you.”
“And I love her.”
Aphrodite smiles. “I bet you do.”
She swirls her fingers over the table, and gold dust pours from her tips, forming into a bottle and two glasses.
“Then let’s drink to the future.” The liquid inside looks rich and dark. She pulls the cork, and a smoky, bitter smell dances in the air. I squint. “What’s in this?”
Aphrodite shrugs. “Black sap and nightshade honey.” She pours into the two cups. “It’s a drink fit for a god.”
“It sounds like poison to me.” I lift the glass to my nose.
“You think I would poison you? Ares, I loved you. Don’t you trust me?”
Trust coils hot in my gut.
“No, I don’t, Aphrodite.”
She sighs. “I would never poison the father of my children.”
Aphrodite raises her cup. “To times gone and to times to come. I wish you nothing but…love.”
I toast her cup, and I watch as she drinks her wine.
I bring the cup to my mouth, and I swallow.
It tastes bitter, like charcoal with a hint of honey.
I pause for a moment, waiting for something to happen.
Nothing. Heat slams into my chest, racing through my veins.
My vision blurs like it’s being covered by darkness.
My skull feels like it’s splitting. I hold on to the counter to balance myself. I throw my head back and roar.
I stagger around the kitchen. What the fuck did she give me? I grip the chair, and it crumbles under my touch. My pulse hammers like war drums. The world tilts and is red.
Aphrodite stands in front of me. “Stop fighting it, baby. Embrace your rage. There he is. Let him out; bring out the God of War.”
My vision is fractured. I blink once, twice, trying to regain clarity. My control is slipping, and my body trembles with each step. I move out of the kitchen and into the dining room and the main hall.
I can hear footsteps racing toward me. Through the cracks, I can see my wife’s hand on the banister. Her mouth parts when she sees me. “Ares, baby?”
Her voice carves through my madness; it digs into me, it’s unbearable.
Soraya moves to me slowly; her scent of jasmine and home anchors me, but it causes me great pain. I throw my head back and howl like a beast.
“Kill her. We must kill her for Talia,” Aric commands. I can’t stop myself from retrieving my sword from my hand.
I close my eyes and breathe. In the depths of my mind, I see myself, eyes dark, skin bare, bent over like a beast.
“This is not you, Aric. Help me get a grip.”
Aric shakes his head. “No, we have to save Talia. You were right. Soraya dies today.”
“Aric, Aphrodite drugged us. This is my fault. We can’t kill Soraya.” I approach him slowly. His shoulders move as he breathes. “No, she dies.”
This is not right. Aric is my humanity. As I am about to say more, he plunges a dagger into my chest.
“Rest, I will take care of everything,” Aric says. In my weakened state, I can’t fight Aric. Soraya is about to die.
As my power fades, I scream, “Run.” My voice sounds pained, almost inhumane.
Aric is fighting me for dominance. “Run, Soraya.” I force it out raw and desperate.
Soraya’s eyes are stuck on me. I need her to move. I take my sword and fling it into the chandelier. Pieces of crystal rain down to the floor. She wouldn’t walk across that.
Soraya doesn’t move; her eyes are locked on mine.
“Run, baby…please.”
I hear the soft laugh of Aphrodite. “This was fun. See you back in Olympus.”
I don’t see Aphrodite. I see my wife running away from a god that I can’t hold back.
SORAYA
I always wonder why the first girl in a horror movie falls, especially when she is running through a forest. Today, I understand. Is it flight or fright? Or fight or flight? Either way, fright wins.
My knees feel weak, and my legs are acting like spaghetti that has just been boiled.
I run through the house, wondering where I should hide. I can hear Ares’s feet pounding behind me.
Dashing into the library, I sprint to the vault wall, drag it open and slam it shut behind me.
Maybe I can hide in here. My feet pound down the spiral staircase.
I hear the door behind me being smashed in, and a scream pushes out from my throat.
I freeze, my heart is hammering, before darting behind a pillar.
Trying to control my breathing, I press my hand to my chest. How do I get out of here?
Sweat runs down the side of my face. I hear nothing. Maybe he’s given up. Just as I peek out, I feel the breeze of something swinging above my head. I duck and scream. The pillar crumbles under the swipe of the sword.
I crawl behind a statue of the weeping Virgin Mary. My heart stutters, and I close my eyes. I need a plan.
“Come out, Soraya. Let’s end this now.”
I don’t want to die. There has to be another way. Where is the fucking loophole?
A tear slips down my face. This can’t be it. I can’t be killed by the man I love.
I peep to the side of the statue. Aric stands in his gold and red armor; his broadsword rests over his shoulder. His eyes are black. The man I love is not there. How do I save him? Talia? How do I save us?
“Stop fucking running, Soraya. Come out,” Aric commands.
Running…
Hecate’s words. “Sometimes freedom isn’t found in running but in standing still.”
My tears drop heavily because I know what I have to do. I press my hands to the floor and push myself up to stand.
I steady myself, holding on to the skirt of the Virgin Mary. This feels heavy. I step from behind the statue.
“There she is,” Aric says as he races toward me.
I hope this is the right decision. Please let this be the right thing to do.
I walk to him, and he stops and watches me. As I step closer, I think of all the happy times we had. The fact that he took me in. Our wedding. It may have all be for Talia, but he fell for me. He loves me.
His black eyes stare down at me, veins like dark cracks spidering from the corners of his eyes. He looks as though a demon possesses him.
With each ragged breath he takes, his golden armor rises and falls. His mouth is open like he’s starving for air.
I stand directly in front of Aric.
“I can’t win; we can’t win. So free me, Ares, free us both.” I tiptoe one hand on his neck the other on the scarred side of his face.
There’s a small thud as the sword falls to the floor.
Aric pulls me to his body, and our mouths crash together. I pour everything that I don’t get to say into this. My hands move to his head, and my fingers drive into his soft hair. His tongue teases my mouth, and I moan.
He pulls away, his forehead pressed to my head.
“I love you, Ares,” I whisper. The darkness leaves his eye; a tear runs down his face.
“Die.”
Then I feel it: pain in my stomach, the crack of something inside me. I look down and see a dagger. I feel dizzy, like I’m losing my balance. My body feels weak; I can’t…
Aric bends with me as I fall to the floor. He holds me in his arms. My eyelids grow heavy. My breath is short. I look up at Aric. His face twist confusion, his eye are dark and unfocused.
“I love you. Now until forever.” Then I’m swallowed by darkness.