Chapter eleven
Aedonaeus
At first, I thought if I had sex with Josie there would be a sliver of hope that I could recover from her. Maybe she wouldn’t be the focus of my attention if I just had her. I knew it was a lie when I had walked into the clinic that David and Vivian work in, but somehow, I still told myself it was a game with an end goal.
When I laid eyes on her in the museum and stalked her through the halls, I could feel my heart racing in my chest. I had prowled around the exhibit until she had joined the group she didn’t belong to. The little devil does what she wants. When she saw the portrait of The Leviathan, the wonder in her eyes made me feel something, the thing I had been chasing after since I first met her. She is special. My own Persephone is Josie.
I was like an excited little kid showing her the Box of Tartarus. When I let the comment about Hades’ vault slip, I wasn’t sure how to cover up my mistake. A lot of people have strict opinions about the king, and they take sides. I get the distinct feeling that Josie dislikes him as much as she acts like she’s indifferent to everything, and she is a terrifying force to be reckoned with. There is no doubt about it since seeing her smash that idiot’s face into the bar. When I took her to The Alibi that night, I saw the blood permanently stained in her fingernails, and the scars on her knuckles. She’s the devil dragging me into Tartarus and drowning me in a river of blood, and I want more.
We haven’t discussed our positions, not really. I had sought out every pub in the city asking after her to see if what David said was true, but no one had heard of her. A Remnant establishment had been pretty irritated that I was asking about their staff. They definitely thought that I was trying to question their legality.
The stupid guide almost gave me up when he approached, but Josie hadn’t continued to pursue the line of questioning I knew she so badly wanted to. It would come, though. I just hoped she was too deep to care. Even if she wasn’t, I wouldn’t be able to let her go.
By the time we hit the coffee shop, I knew she was the one. I knew before that, but by then I could admit it to myself. Her exterior is rough, and I intend to peel back every layer until I can see her heart and stuff myself inside of it.
There is one question I want to ask her. When she saw the box there was some sort of recognition. I didn’t understand it until I removed her shirt and saw the scars. I was stunned, even though I did my best not to show it. This entire time I never gave a thought as to why she was constantly covered. I want to know where she got them. I won’t ask her about it now, but later when she has settled down. Once I know that she’s addicted to me, too.
At first, I just wanted to show her something interesting. Maybe impress her. She was something, but not impressed. It seemed that my impression came much later when she spilled the coffee. I don’t know what she expected me to do, but after being terrified, something I didn’t think she could be, she geared up for a fight immediately.
I couldn’t help but laugh at how fierce the woman is. I know she’s wild; everyone has confirmed that, but in that moment I saw the devil surface, ready to bite. It was beautiful and intimidating, the escort of violence. Once she laughed it was like the earth opening and swallowing me whole. I wanted to make her laugh again and again.
The agreement to go back to my apartment felt like a misstep on my part. I didn’t want to just fuck her; I wanted her to stay. I was afraid that if I did, she might disappear again and consider me a conquest of her own. I succumbed to my own impulses in her dizzying aroma.
I did some of my best work, if I do say so myself. Every time she said my name sent a rush of ferocious hunger through me. I wanted more of her. I played my cards exactly how I needed to. Josie isn’t used to submitting, but that’s exactly what she needed to skin away that first layer of defense.
In the process, I doomed myself. I will marry her, in this life or the next if there is another. She’s mine. Whether she wants it or not she will be mine to everyone she meets. Hades kidnapped Persephone in his obsession, and I’m starting to understand exactly why he did it.
“I should go.” She sits up, yet again trying to flee.
“No.” I’m not in the mood. I’m liable to fuck her again if she refuses me.
“You can’t trap me here, psycho.” With her magnificent naked form, she stands and challenges me. I love a good challenge.
“Don’t tempt me.” I sit up, resting on my elbows. Her hair has dried in thick strands, and her skin glistens with sweat. The room smells like sex. Her gray eyes glitter with darkness.
Josie is a goddess. She’s flighty, like something that’s been caged before. As much as I want to crush her body to mine and handcuff her to me, I know I can’t without the risk of losing her again. Her sister said as much to me the other day.
Jo is like the sun….It dips below the horizon at night to recharge, away from everyone and everything it touches.
Here is the sun standing in front of me telling me that it’s time to go, and I must let it. She starts to pull on her wet clothes, and I stop her. “At least change.”
I present her with the dry articles I was going to give her before I was seduced. She takes them with an eye roll, sliding my sweatpants over her hips and yanking my shirt over her head. Her nipples poke out with the chill and my cock twitches.
“Thanks for the dick.” She flashes a smile and strides out of the room.
“You sure know how to make a man feel cheap.” I can hardly breathe at the sight of her in my shirt. I throw some pants on in a hurry and chase after her. She’s almost to the elevator when I catch up. I grab her upper arm, whirl her back around, and kiss her.
“When can I see you again?”
“Soon.”
“You’re welcome here any time,” I tell her, hoping she decides to show up here again someday.
And with those last words the doors to the elevator close.
Since Josie disappeared the other night, I’ve felt empty in a way I’ve never felt before. Like the loss of her presence made my lungs collapse, and I haven’t quite recovered. It makes me angry and intrigued. I’m not sure how much longer I can go before I scour the city and drag her back kicking and screaming. I scrub my hands over my face and focus back on the conversation.
I’m leaning against a bookshelf next to Hades, watching him pace back and forth across his office. Minos and Hermes stand near the door, and I know they wish they could just escape. So do I. He’s not usually in a mood. Hades is actually quite pleasant contrary to popular belief, but when it comes to Eris, our ex-associate, nothing could upset him more.
“All of you got this ridiculous engagement invitation?” he barks.
“Hand delivered,” I confirm.
Hades holds it up, inspecting it like it’s laced with poison. The red ribbon hangs from the wax seal, and the top is torn. He didn’t even use a letter opener in his fit of rage.
“This couldn’t possibly be a coincidence,” he reasons. “All these years with this stupid boy cowering at her feet, and now she wants to marry him?”
“Maybe he finally got on her nerves, and she’s doing it to shut him up,” Hermes says bitterly. It elicits a quick chuckle from Hades, and he takes a step back from the proverbial edge.
“How someone could stand that frigid bitch is beyond me.” He tosses the invitation into the fire. “Persephone says we have to go.”
“What?” The three of us chorus.
“I tried to reason with her. She says that it’s ‘in bad taste’ if we don’t.”
“Eris is the bad taste,” Minos points out.
“While that may be, she’s right. I’ve played out all the scenarios in my head. Eris deals in strife, and we have no idea what she has been up to since departing from our ranks. Refusing her little engagement invitation will be asking for trouble, which is exactly what she wants. So we’ll go and play the part. I, the gracious king, and you all, her former consorts.”
Hermes and Minos voice their displeasure under their breath. I stay silent. Something is wrong. Years ago, Eris used to work with us as a bookkeeper. She somehow wormed her way onto the counsel and eventually quit to become a representative of Elysium, where the wealthy and pretentious live. When she left, she took her little man pet with her.
Eris always wanted to live in high society. Marry well and live in a mansion. She always treated him like shit and commanded him around like a puppy. Now she’s marrying him? It just doesn’t make sense.
“What say you, Aedonaeus?” Hades asks.
“Well,” I gather my thoughts. “This doesn’t sit well with me, and I’m not sure why. I suppose they could be in love. That’s certainly a possibility. She has always craved attention, and maybe she thinks this is how to get it.”
I stare into the fire. “I think Persephone is right. The only way to pacify Eris is to attend the engagement party and play the stupid game to get through the night. We may dislike her, but we really don’t have any reason to hate her other than the fact that she is a thorn in our side. Who knows, maybe we’ll have a good time.”
Minos scoffs. “She leaves and I’m being punished.”
“We’re all being punished, Minos,” Hades interjects. “So it’s settled then. We’ll entertain the vapid woman for a night and hopefully never see her again.”
“There will be a wedding,” Hermes reminds us. We collectively groan.
Hades drops into his chair, knocking his head against the desktop repeatedly. “Any more delightful revelations?”
“I went to the museum and saw the box,” I tell him. His ears perk up, listening intently.
“And?”
“It appears that the mysterious donor does, in fact, have it. Just not on display for the public.”
I don’t know the significance of the box, but now that I know it seems to include Josie I want to tread carefully. Ever since he heard it had surfaced, he has been possessed with the need to find it. One time he was close, but it was snatched out from under him. He claimed Eris had it for a long time since we suspect she has ties to the black market. I don’t know why she would want it. For now, it’s under the watchful eye of the museum, and I can deal with it later.
“Eris doesn’t have it?” he asks.
“It doesn’t appear that she does.”
“Now I just feel like a self-righteous prick,” Hades groans.
I chuckle. “That’s because you are.”
“I suppose that is at least one bit of good news. You’re dismissed. Except for you, Aedonaeus.”
Minos and Hermes give me looks like I’m in trouble. Fucking children. I’m not in the mood. Since Josie left the other night, it’s been difficult to watch my temper. When the door closes behind them, he sits back behind his desk and eyes me with concern.
“What?”
He places his chin into his hand. “Nothing to say about the symbols on the box?”
“No,” I say evenly. I know what he’s asking, and I’m not giving in.
“Alright. What else is new?”
“What is it you’re really asking?”
“I just wondered about the girl.”
I pretend I don’t know what he’s talking about. “What girl?”
I don’t want to talk about Josie. It’s like she is this beautiful secret, and I’m coveting it. I did go to Hades in the middle of the night asking for advice, and this is the price I’ll pay for getting it.
“Oh, please, Aedonaeus. Don’t be coy.”
I sigh. “I saw her again.”
“Did you?” He seems displeased, which wasn’t what I expected. I don’t tell him that I ran into her at the museum. It might anger him since I was there on official business and promptly abandoned it. “What’s her name?”
“Josephine.”
“Josephine,” he tests. “You seem frustrated.”
“She’s hard to read.”
“Have you given more thought to what I’ve said?”
“About what?”
“About partnering yourself with someone who can support your status in the future, Aedonaeus.”
“What do you mean?”
“A queen.”
I give what he says a little bit of thought. What does that even mean? Partnering with a queen. I don’t want to be with anyone at all. Except for Josie. But Josie demands respect. She isn’t a dutiful brat, but a force to be reckoned with. She is exactly what I imagine a queen would be.
“I know what drove you to kidnap her,” I admit.
Hades’ face falls with understanding. “It’s not something I recommend.”
We stare at each other in somber silence. As much as I want to kidnap Josie and never let her leave, that is the exact opposite of what I must do if there is any chance of her coming back to me. I don’t know what I really want from her. Maybe her presence? That’s something that’s hard to get. When I see the strange girl there is something inside of me that feels…okay. Like everything is right. I despise it and cherish it all in one.
“What are you going to do about her?” he asks.
“Nothing.”
“Impossible.” He chuckles like some old wise man. “Are you going to ask her to the engagement party?”
“It’s not…like that.” Even if it was, I don't think I could take her. I don’t want anyone approaching her and ruining what I’m working on. It’s the thought of a crazed man.
He asks the inevitable question. “Where is she from?”
“I don’t know.”
“How can you not know?”
“Because getting an answer from her is like speaking with Zeus. She doesn’t say shit. The moment you ask her something she’s already avoided it.”
“I could ask around?” he offers.
“No,” I say sharply. Hades raises his brows in silent question. “Unlike you, I’m not going to force her.”
“You’re just going to pine after her then?”
“I’m going to let her come to me.”
“You’re a man of many talents, Aedonaeus. That’s why I’ve appointed you as my successor. I, too, once thought myself a master of self-control, but being connected with another soul steals your rationale and makes you do unthinkable things.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something.” I effectively end the conversation about Josie.
“What is it?”
“Do you remember the clinic that we sponsored? It opened a few years ago. Hermes drops off the donation every moon,” I jog his memory.
“Yes, I do. What about it?”
“Did you know we only contribute ten percent of their funding?”
His brows furrow. “I thought we were contributing eighty-five percent.”
“An anonymous donor is basically funding it. Why?”
“It was your initiative, Aedonaeus. You tell me. You haven’t exactly been to the table meetings. Funds get reallocated if there is no one to campaign for them.”
“Right.” I inwardly beat myself up. Of course, it’s my fault that Josie has been contributing so heavily to the place. Add it to the list of my constant fuck ups. Then I remember I had passed the task off to Eris.
“Eris was in charge of the money,” I growl.
“Of course she was,” he seethes. “That’s how she was able to afford her lavish lifestyle, and that stain of an establishment that she opened. She must have been skimming off the top like the devious scum she is. She was stealing, after all.”
“I’m sorry,” I attempt to apologize, but he disregards me.
“I’ll get the funds put back, and we’ll let sleeping dogs lie. No point in going after her. There’s enough going on. Start showing up because I won’t help you with it again. You’re going to be king someday. You can’t just skip out when you feel like it.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course. Now, I’ll be leaving tomorrow. You will be in charge per usual.” He leads me out of the office. “I’ll be back by the time of this insipid party. Don’t burn the place down.”
“I won’t, sir.”
Stress riddles my body. I’m used to Hades leaving me in charge while he’s gone, but it never really means anything. It only means that I can take a break from royal duties, which I have apparently been taking anyways. Even if the place actually burned down, I’m not sure he would care. He would probably be grateful. Still, it requires a modicum of focus, and I am focused on something else entirely.
Hades never wanted a throne. He just wanted a place away from the other Olympians, his brothers. The Underworld was where he could do just that. My father has never let on how he came to be the protector of the realm itself, but there are many things I don’t know. I don’t envy him. I dread the day it all becomes my responsibility.
Samuel, the doorman, is waiting for me when I walk up, smiling ear to ear. He swings the door open wide, buzzing like he can hardly contain himself. “Afternoon, sir.”
“Afternoon.”
“She’s upstairs,” he blurts out.
“Who is?”
“The girl. The one from the rain that you asked me to let in. She’s upstairs, sir.”
Samuel has been employed here for years. I’m not sure how he ended up stationed in this place in an eternity of service, but he seems to make the best of it.
I move quickly to the elevator, wishing it to move faster. When the doors open, I slam the key card against the box and jam the button for the penthouse. It feels like the ride takes years when it’s only mere seconds. I collect myself before the doors glide open, and I stride into the living room with as much careless confidence as I can muster.
I don’t see Josie anywhere, only her boots lying in the center of the floor. She knows how to make herself comfortable, and I smile at the thought that she might feel that with me.
“Josie?” I call out. There isn’t a response, but I notice the door to my office is open. The light is off, but the sun shines a panel onto the hardwood floor.
I tread lightly down the hallway, wanting to see her before she sees me. I look into the room, and there she is in all her chaotic glory. She’s cross legged and barefoot looking like an angel. She’s wearing buttery soft leggings and a tank top, brazenly showing her scars. Her head is leaning down, a curtain of ice blonde hair covering my view of her beautiful face. I can’t see the book in her hands, but she is engrossed in it.
“I see you made yourself at home,” I announce.
“Where did you get this?” Her tone is accusatory.
My confidence falters. “Get what?”
“This.” She thrusts a book in the air. It’s an old worn papyrus book that is almost falling apart. Some of the pages stick out at odd angles from ages of misuse. The book is written entirely in Tartarian Tongue, which no one speaks.
“A very old book?” I still don’t understand.
“I’m not a fucking idiot, Aedon.” I don’t like the way she says my name, but I’m grateful she said it at all.
“It was a gift.”
“From whom?” she demands.
I peer down at her over my nose. “You sure ask a lot of questions for someone who barged into my home.”
“Sam said you didn’t mind. You told me I was welcome.”
“Sam? So you’re on a nickname basis with the doorman?”
“Stop deflecting.”
“From…” I don’t want to say it. It’s my greatest shame. “A conquest.”
“I thought you acted bored, and that they had no personality,” she growls. There’s a hint of jealousy.
“No one to be jealous of, love. People give gifts when they want your affection even when you don’t give it. I’m positive you’re familiar with the concept.”
Her face flushes, but her misplaced anger seems to take over. “Where did she get it?”
“I don’t know, honestly.” I hold my hands up in surrender and approach her carefully, sitting against the bookcase next to her. With gentle hands, she closes the book and runs her finger along the handwritten script on the front.
“Are you familiar with it?” I venture to ask.
“Of course, I am. It was read to me.” She rolls her eyes, acting as if everyone in the world speaks a language that’s been lost.
I can’t act too eager, or she’ll spook. “Your mother read it to you?”
“I don’t know my mother.” She doesn’t look away from the book. She’s always speaking in weird riddles. “We used to have one just like it. I thought it was the only copy.”
Flags raise in my mind, and goosebumps erupt on my skin. It would be just like Eris to give me something like this. Something stolen and rare. A treasure.
“Can you read it?”
“Can’t you?” she snaps, as if I’ve said something so impossibly mundane that she can’t fathom it.
“I never learned,” I say carefully.
“Of all the things, you can’t even learn Mondurian. All of you are so quick to forget the past,” she mutters under her breath.
Mondurian? This book is Tartarian Tongue, but Josie knows it by something else. I’m not even sure what to make of that.
She opens it back up flipping to a page near the middle. “This one was my favorite.”
“Favorite what?”
“Story. You really don’t know what this is?” she asks incredulously.
“No clue. Tell me.”
“It’s Dav?s Hōyas. She used to say it was all made up.” There’s nostalgia in her voice, quiet and sad.
“Pretend I’m an idiot,” I begin.
“Pretend?” She furrows her brow, and I laugh.
“I have no idea what you just said.”
“Li Labo o Dav?s Hōyas. The Book of the Dark…there really isn’t a word for it in our language. It would be akin to saviors or destroyers. The king and queen of the Mondurians.”
“Saviors or destroyers? That’s a big leap.”
She shrugs with indifference. “Not really, depending on how you look at it.”
“You owned a copy?”
“Until…” She sounds haunted.
I want to push her further. To explain what she means, but I don’t think she’ll tell me.
“This was the story of the Hōyas. I always thought it was romantic, but Vivian said it was morbid.”
“Vivian can read Mondurian?” I don’t even know how to process what she’s saying. No one, I mean no one, speaks this Mondurian, and here Josie is just rattling off complete phrases like it’s nothing.
“No, she wasn’t interested in learning. Her mother, like you people, called it the Tartarian Tongue. She liked to listen though, even if she tried to pretend she hated it. Her favorite was Pandora.”
Tartarian Tongue, indeed. Before Magic fizzled out, they say witches wrote their spells in Tartarian Tongue that way no one could read them, and use them against their will. This mystery woman who taught Josie must have been a witch, and quite an old one. By all accounts they’ve all been burned. Maybe Josie is a witch, too.
“So this Pandora. Was she the queen?”
Her eyes scan the pages, flipping through them with grace. The way she bites her lip and squints her eyes in concentration is mystifying. How can someone so violent look so innocent?
“No, she was just a dumb bitch who…” She looks as if I’ve slapped her.
“What is it?” I pry.
“Nothing. I can’t remember. It was a long time ago.” Josie snaps the book shut. “I went through most of your shit in here, by the way.”
“I’d expect nothing less.”
She gets up, slides the ancient book back into the slot where she found it, and wanders out into the hallway, signifying that she is done with the conversation. Intelligence, beauty, and now she speaks an ancient lost language.
I take her cue and follow her out of the door. Instead of going toward the living room, she heads in the opposite direction, opening the next door and disappearing into the darkness. I’ve never had someone invade my space like this.
She pops her head out. “What is this?”
“When I asked to see you again, I wasn’t asking for you to search my house.” I flip the light on.
“Well, you didn’t give me a tour.”
The room is empty except for a plain bed with a chest at the end. She throws it open to find blankets folded neatly. Then she moves to the next room, which is the same. Then there’s the linen closet and a laundry room.
“You do your own laundry?” she asks.
I lean against the wall next to the dryer. “What answer impresses you?”
“Stop worrying about impressing me. The sex was enough.” She flips the light off with me still inside and heads back toward the living room.
“Oh, really? It was that good?” I give her a triumphant grin.
“Yes, Aedon.” The corner of her mouth quirks up into a smirk, her dark eyes taunting me. She’s a temptress playing with fire.
There are so many questions spinning around in my head, but I can’t focus on any of them because she is looking at me with those seductive silver eyes. “You learn quickly.”
“I know how to adapt,” she corrects me.
“You are, by far, the most interesting person I have ever met.” I head into the kitchen, sizing up the bar cart. She hops up onto the counter and crosses her legs, looking like a statue that belongs in the palace.
“Where were you?” she asks.
I pour each of us a glass of bourbon. “Did you think I would sit here waiting for you to return?”
“Hard day?”
“You work all the time. You understand.”
“I’m on vacation.” She grabs the glass and takes a sip.
“You’re bored. That’s why you keep running into me.”
I uncross her legs and pull them apart, settling myself between her knees. She doesn’t resist, but she doesn’t lean into me either. Fuck the bourbon. I want to drink her instead.
“I’ve got to go.” She pushes me away and hops to the floor.
A confused laugh escapes my throat. “What? You just got here?”
“I got here a while ago. Now I’ve got something to do.” She sashays out of the room. I chase her. I’ll always be chasing her.
I round the corner into the foyer as Josie presses the button summoning the elevator. She’s staring off into the distance with her boots in her hands, and I can see wheels turning in her head, but I have no idea what it’s about. She’s a complex creature. I see what Vivian was saying.
The elevator doors open, snapping her from her daydream. She steps toward them, and I pull her back, kissing her. She smirks.
“When will I see you again?” I’m so desperate for her. Hermes and Minos would never let me live it down if they saw me right now.
“Later, pretty boy.”
She steps into the elevator, and then she’s gone. Again.