From Darkness (Hearts & Arrows Book 3)(34)

And Aphrodite. They were as separate as the sea and the sky, the two goddesses. Neither valued what the other held dear. Aphrodite put her stock in love, nebulous and vague and unpredictable. Artemis believed in logic, what she could see, smell, touch. But logic rarely applied to love.

At least she still had the competition. Aphrodite had been absent, and Artemis could only hope that the goddess of love was spending her time obsessing over the mirror and not on the game. She had somehow managed to nudge Jon into the station, but that had ultimately worked to Artemis’s advantage, sparking a fight, pushing Josie over the edge. Jon had no chance, and neither did Aphrodite.

But, if the tide did change, Artemis would be ready, armed, and waiting. There was comfort in that, if nowhere else.



Dita shifted on the couch, re-situating her stiff, creaking body. For the last twenty-four hours, she had barely moved, the mirror in her lap and her heart split and cracked and aching. She had run the gamut of emotions from joy to tears to tear-inducing joy as she watched Adonis live his ghost life, moving from one task to the next, all the things he loved.

All the things he loved, except for her.

She touched the glass of the mirror.

Adonis lay in the sun, his skin wet from the dip he’d taken in the river. His eyes were closed, a content smile playing on his lips, his hands tucked behind his head. The broad muscles of his arms and chest were perfect, and she could see every ripple and line.

It was the perfect distraction really. It scratched two itches—her loneliness and her denial.

Her neck ached, and her legs burned when she flattened them out. She wondered absently when she had eaten last. She hadn’t slept either, only nodded off a few times to be awoken by her nightmares.

But she couldn’t bear to put the mirror down, couldn’t even tear her eyes away, not for a moment, not unless the need was too dire to ignore.

Her stomach rumbled at the thought of food, lurching when she considered going upstairs to get something to eat. A feeling of disconnected unease hung over her, the kind that accompanied a binge, especially a forbidden binge. It was the feeling brought by the knowledge that what she was doing was wrong but doing it anyway and in private, in secret. Because, if anyone knew, she would be judged, and that judgment would sting even worse because it would be justified.

But she couldn’t stop, mostly because she didn’t want to miss a single moment. She didn’t want to face anyone out of fear that they would somehow know what she’d done, what she was doing.

Of course, there was also the threat of Ares that had kept her confined to her apartment. She hadn’t seen him since the first day; the stress of even being near him for a moment had been so much, she’d been nearly paralyzed by fear, and that was with Perry and Heff at her side. If she went up now, she’d be alone. And, if he got her alone, he would take advantage of the fact. She couldn’t even consider what he’d do.

She wasn’t ready to find out.

But she had to eat, and by the noises her stomach made, it would need to be soon.

Just go upstairs. It’ll just be a few minutes. Eat, and then you can come right back. Maybe the break will do you good.

Dita took a long last look at Adonis before she laid the mirror on her coffee table, tossed her blanket off, stood, and made for the elevator. She stepped inside, and her finger hovered over the lobby button as she contemplated heading to the underworld to ask Perry to go with her.

It’ll be fine. I’m sure he won’t be there. And, if he is, I’ll just leave and come back later. So stop being a pussy, and hit the fucking button.

She rolled her eyes and hit the L.

Dita didn’t remember a time when she’d been more needy, though that knowledge didn’t really do much to help her combat it. She was doing her best to handle her shit.

Her best was not even close to good enough.

The elevator opened up to the lobby, and she made it to the refrigerator just as her stomach folded in on itself. She walked to the island with a plate of ambrosia, turning it into a huge hamburger and spicy fries. She was salivating. Until the elevator dinged.

Her eyes flew to the door as it opened to Ares and Hera chatting, too lost in their conversation to see her.

Dita froze for a nanosecond before grabbing her plate and hauling ass around the corner, just outside a small sitting room.

The sound of her heart in her ears was almost deafening, and she took a deep breath, trapped in the hallway, anxious and feeling strung out. She supposed in a way she was.

I have got to get sleep and food before I have a nervous breakdown.

She caught another whiff of her burger, and her eyelids fluttered in ecstasy. Figuring that the sitting room was unoccupied, she could duck in and hide for a few minutes while she snarfed her food, and hopefully in that time, Ares and Hera would have moved on so she could slink back to her room in peace.

As she neared the archway, she heard her name and stopped dead.

“You don’t say.” Pistis, the goddess of trust and good faith, sounded appalled.

“That’s what I heard. Ares was mad because she was boning Apollo,” Zelos, god of jealousy and zeal, said.

Dita could hear he was smiling, that dick.

“Get out,” she heard Pistis gasp. “Poor Daphne.”

“One of the maenads told me Dita’s been going to the big orgies they have in their quarters,” Zelos added.

“Oh, I heard that, too. Those parties get so weird,” Pistis added.