35. Chapter 35
Chapter thirty-five
Corre
C orre didn’t stop running until she made it to the village. Her throat was dry and her legs were wobbly, but she had to get away from Phineas. She’d circle back and train later, but she couldn’t face him anymore today.
She was confused, but mostly, she was furious. After what he had done to Markus, how dare he? And after all the condescending remarks and the way he’d thought of her—that she was some fragile, brain-washable girl—did he think she would just fall at his feet? She didn’t know if she wanted to scream or cry, because despite how mad she was at him—for everything—he was still her friend. At least, he had been. Her best friend. Nearly her entire life.
She walked through the marketplace in a daze, despondent as she picked up the colorful fruits and tried not to remember all the times she and Phineas had gathered every fruit imaginable, like colorful jewels shoved deep in their pockets. They’d worked hard for the small amounts of money they’d earned as kids, and then they’d splurge here. They’d head for the hills. For the places in the forest known only to them. At least, that’s what their young minds had assumed.
And they’d laugh. For hours, they’d laugh and eat those gem-like fruits until their stomachs ached from the combination of the two. The world had been so bright. Maybe it was simply because they were children, and the world is so much brighter to kids. Everything is possible when you’re a child. There’s a glow about you when you’re young, and somewhere along the way, it gets dimmer until you lose it completely. And once you realize it’s gone, you may spend your whole life trying to find it, and that’s what it means to grow up.
Corre wasn’t sure where that glow had gone for her, but she imagined it lived within Markus now. Her little glimmer of the possible and the free had materialized when they’d been together. When he’d looked at her with his dark eyes, so earnest and gentle, when he’d laughed with her, and when he’d covered her with those purple pomegranate kisses on her birthday, it had been like that joyful spark had returned. A more mature version of that impossible glow of happiness only children seemed to possess.
“Are you going to pay for that?”
Corre looked up, momentarily disoriented. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was just looking.” She placed the ruby-colored fruit back in the crate on the vendor’s stand. The plump woman behind the counter narrowed her eyes and let out a hmph under her breath.
It must be frustrating for her to stay under the blazing sun, waiting for customers.
Maybe she should leave.
She sighed and walked past the rest of the vendors on her way back home. She could have lunch and wait things out. Eventually, Phineas would leave or be too deep into his training to scout her out, and then she could go back and train the rest of the day.
But then she heard her name. And Markus’s alias. She didn’t turn to face whoever was speaking, but she listened. They were attempting to whisper, from the way their voices were warped into a hushed manner of speaking, but the volume was loud, undoing any attempt at subtlety.
“Poor thing,” one voice cooed.
“Go ask her,” another whispered.
Corre walked up to one of the booths and pretended to inspect the vegetables the booth had to offer. She gave the gruff-looking god a tight smile. “How much is this one?” she asked, but she didn’t hear him when he replied. She was too busy listening to the goddesses behind her.
“No way,” the first goddess said to the other. “She looks so sad.”
“Of course she’s sad. He likely tortured her.”
“Oh, you’re probably right.”
A bolt of fury tore through her, and her fist tightened around the fruit. Its juice spilled through her fingers, and the vendor gasped.
“What are you doing? You have to pay for that now!” he said, but Corre kept listening.
“Hades is a vile creature, isn’t he?” the other goddess said. “Poor girl.”
“We should leave her be.”
“Especially if you don’t want Hades coming after you, too,” a male voice chimed in.
The two women gasped. “You’re right,” one of them said. “Can you imagine? He’s terrifying.”
“Mm-hm. We shouldn’t get involved. She’s probably okay, anyway. She has her mother.”
Corre’s heart raced. She turned around and threw the mangled fruit at their feet. They both let out a shriek and looked at Corre with wide, gaping eyes. One of them even placed a hand on her chest.
“What are you doing?!” the vendor cried.
It was hard for her to hear or think, but when she compelled herself to breathe, Corre processed what she was doing. She looked away, then swiveled around and handed the vendor two coins. Those people weren’t worth it. She needed to focus on going home, and then on training.
“He probably forced himself on her, too,” the male voice said, clicking his tongue. “Poor thing.” Corre’s stomach tightened, along with her fists. “We should stay away, though. To give her space, I mean. She’ll be all right.”
“Yes, I’m sure she will be. She’ll reach out if she needs help, right?”
“Oh, yes,” the other woman said. “But I’m sure she won’t need any. She’s fine.”
“Right. I’m sure she’s fine.”
“And you don’t want to get too close,” the man said. “He could go after you next.”
“Shut up,” Corre growled, her knuckles white. The words came out scratchy, like gravel rolling from her throat.
“Excuse me?” the male god said.
“I said, shut up!” she shouted, whipping around and shooting daggers at him with reddening eyes. When tears began swelling and falling down her face, she tried blinking them away. The three stared at her in disbelief. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, her voice shaky. “You don’t know Markus at all. He’s not a monster.”
Realizing she’d used his real name, she bit her tongue and turned around. “Just . . . Shut up. You’re making fools of yourselves. And you should be ashamed. People in pain don’t reach out.” She glowered at them one last time. “But I wouldn’t want help from the likes of you three anyway. You’re far viler than he could ever be.”
She made sure to cast them all a nasty look. They looked like a peculiar bunch together, too. One so stout and crinkled she looked like a cream puff, and the other hunched and gangly, leaning over her friend like she was her umbrella. And the man was wearing such a gaudy robe it almost hurt Corre to look directly at him.
As she made her way out, she figured the three would be wise enough not to speak again, but just before they were out of earshot, she heard the man say, “He sure got to her, didn’t he?”
“I should say so,” one of the goddesses replied. “Poor thing was tormented and manipulated more than she realizes.”
They kept talking but Corre ran away as fast as she could. She needed to go home. Then she wouldn’t have to hear those wretched people talk anymore, spouting their nonsense and their faux well-wishes that only allowed them to gossip and judge without feeling so guilty. All they had to do was claim to each other they’d help someone in need, but Corre doubted they’d helped a soul in their infinite lifetimes.
Mt. Olympus wasn’t the place she’d once thought it was. Every day here since Tartarus only reminded her of that fact and made her want to crawl back down to the Underworld even more.
She trudged home after she couldn’t run anymore, but the words of the villagers echoed in her head.
“He likely tortured her.”
“Hades is a vile creature, isn’t he?”
“He probably forced himself on her, too.”
She couldn’t help the tears dampening her cheeks. Markus treated Corre so gently. He would never hurt her. That was something that had become clearer and clearer with each passing day. He’d always been honest with her. In every way.
He’d risked everything for her.
He wasn’t a monster. He wasn’t a torturous demon like they were accusing him of being. His heart was kind. And what mattered more—appearances or truth?
The more Corre thought about her interactions with Markus and the way he’d looked when Thanatos scolded him and lied to them the day she’d been brought back to Olympus, the more she realized how stupid she’d been for believing the evil master. All he’d ever done was lie and twist things, manipulating Markus into thinking he was worthless and that everything wrong with the world was his fault.
As soon as she got home, she flung herself on her bed and squeezed her eyes shut. She buried her face in her hands, unable to scrape those images from her mind.
I shouldn’t have left him like that. I should have believed him. Now, he’s down there all alone. And Thanatos is probably torturing him in every way possible.
Then Markus’s softened face passed through her mind, and she remembered how it felt to see him smile, once he’d finally trusted that she could love him. When the unbridled, unyielding passion between them had become palpable and real, and their souls had been bared in front of the other. They’d both taken that jump. The risk of crashing and burning in a way that could take every shielded, vulnerable place in their hearts and shatter it to pieces.
After what she’d said to him when she left, where were those pieces now?
She sucked in a sharp breath and rolled over. Another tear skated down her cheek.
When she saw him again, would she be able to put those pieces together again? Or had the damage been done forever?
As Corre sunk deeper into the darkness of her mind, she wondered if she’d screwed up everything and if Markus could ever really trust her again.
Or if he even loved her anymore.
She couldn’t let herself think like that or she’d go mad.
As more tears trickled onto her bedspread, Corre closed her eyes and thought of him, but that only made her cry harder. Her body shook, coiling as she sobbed.
“I don’t know what to do,” she whimpered. Nothing . The answer is nothing .
I can’t do anything.