From Darkness (Hearts & Arrows Book 3)(39)

“What does it do?”

Dita chewed her lip. There was no way out and no getting around it. So, she told the truth. “It can see into Elysium.”

“No, Aphrodite.” The words were a warning.

Dita panicked, alarms ringing in her mind, telling her it was over.

“Yes, it’s fine!” she said as she sat up fast and reached for the mirror.

But Perry, still sitting on Dita’s legs, twisted away.

Dita rambled, distraught and desperate. “I’ll only watch him on occasion. I’ll limit myself. I know I can. But this way at least I can still see him, remember him.”

There was no comfort in Perry’s words, only accusation. “You have thousands of years of memories with him. You don’t need this to remember anything but your pain.” She held up the mirror, and Adonis appeared in the glass.

Dita pressed her hands to her heart, tears burning her eyes, her voice wavering as she begged, “Please, don’t take it from me. It’s all I have.”

“It is not all you have,” Perry answered heavily, forcefully. “You have me. You have Heff. There are people here who love you, who care for you, but you’re wallowing in your pain, wishing for something you can never, ever have. Can’t you see how fucked up this is?”

“What am I supposed to do?” she cried, hysteria and desperation rushing over her, reaching around Perry for the mirror. “If you lost Hades, wouldn’t you do the same?”

Perry shook her head and held the mirror out of reach. “This isn’t the same as me and Hades, and you know it. Dita, you can’t have the mirror.”

“You don’t get to make that decision,” Dita fired back.

“Stop it. You know this is wrong. Look at you.” Perry motioned to her. “When was the last time you showered? You haven’t even changed your clothes. How long has it been since you’ve gotten out of bed?”

Dita said nothing.

Perry stared, her eyes burning into Dita. “I won’t let you do this to yourself.”

She held up the mirror and let it go, but it didn’t fall; it hovered in front of her. Perry closed her eyes, black smoke crawling up her body in tendrils, and the mirror rose, spinning slowly, shining, glowing brighter with every second as Dita watched in horror.

It spun faster, just a blur too bright to look at until it burst, the fragments so fine, they rained down on them like glitter.

“No!” Dita shrieked, tears rolling down her cheeks as she held out her hands to catch the sparkling pieces of her heart. “No,” she whispered as she crumpled. And she shattered with the glass and metal and magic that had given her Adonis.

But she’d lost him again.

“I’m sorry,” Perry said, her voice laden with a dozen emotions, but Dita didn’t care.

“No, you’re not.” Dita looked up with hot, fat tears speeding down her cheeks.

Perry’s face wrenched. “How can you say that?”

“You’ve ruined it,” Dita whispered. “You’ve ruined everything.”

Perry’s cheeks were red, her words low and harsh. “I can’t believe you would ever say that to me. I can’t believe you would hide this from me. Or maybe I can. You will have your way, no matter the cost.” She turned and slipped off the bed, pausing to look down at Dita. “I’m trying to help you. Are you so blind?” Perry laid a hard look on her. “You have got to find a way to see yourself. You need to deal with what you’ve been through. You have to because you will never get past this if you don’t.”

She turned and took a few steps, stopping in the doorway to address Dita a final time. “I am sorry, and you know that, but he’s gone. Let him go.” And with that, she was gone too.

Dita took a breath that caught in her throat, and she lay down in her bed, not able to feel anything but her pain. And she curled up into a small ball, clutching her bedding to her chest, alone.



Ares buried his face in her golden hair, his hands roaming down her naked body. He closed his eyes and breathed her in, needing her like air as he slammed into her again and again.

“Aphrodite,” he whispered in her ear.

Anaideia shifted underneath him, shoving him off her. “Fuck you, Ares,” she panted as she climbed out of his bed.

“Ana, wait.”

She flipped her hair over her shoulder as she picked up the trail of clothes scattered all over his floor. “Why? I never expect you to be over her, but I’m out the second you call me by her name.” She pulled her jeans on and shirt, walking away with the parting words, “At least I got off first.”

“Come on, don’t leave.”

She spun around, smiling, her blue eyes flashing in her heart-shaped face. “Go fuck yourself. I hope you and your fist are real happy together.” Her smile promised his offense wouldn’t go unpunished. “See ya next time. Practice keeping your mouth shut because you ruin it for everybody when you open it.”

Her hips swayed as she walked away and to the elevator, and he propped his head on his hand to watch.

He and Ana had a long-standing arrangement, one that involved more fucking than talking. She was the goddess of all things shameless, ruthless, and unforgiving. All traits he admired, but in that moment, he wondered how he’d pay for calling her by Dita’s name.