Apollyon

What seemed like hours later, a door opened upstairs. There were voices. One of them was Aiden’s, but the other…

“Luke?” I called out.

“Leave,” was Aiden’s harsh reply.

The door shut, and one heavy set of footsteps came down the stairs. I swear to the gods the sound that came out of my throat was an animalistic growl.

Aiden came into view, holding a plastic plate of eggs and bacon. One eyebrow was arched. “Do you really think I’m going to allow a half-blood near you?”

“A girl can hope.” Halfs were more susceptible to compulsions, and I now packed one on steroids.

He held the plate through the space in the bars. The last time I’d done the whole not-eating thing, it hadn’t worked. I’d pretty much starved and ended up on the Elixir because of it. Food was my friend this time around.

I reached for the plate.

Aiden’s empty hand snaked out and wrapped around my arm. His hand was so large it swallowed my wrist. He said nothing, but his thundercloud eyes willed me to do something. What? Remember us together? Remember how much he’d consumed my thoughts? How I’d ached to be with him? Did he want me to remember what it was like when he’d told me about the night the daimons had attacked and massacred his family? And what it felt like being in his arms, being loved by him?

I remembered all those things in detail.

But the emotions that belonged to those events and memories weren’t there. They were cut off completely. Gone with the whims of the past… Aiden was my past.

No. No. No. That small voice was back again. Aiden was the future. For some reason I thought of that damn oracle—Grandma Piperi. Know the difference between need and love, she had said. There was no difference. Couldn’t she have tried to educate me on how to break out of these bars?

Aiden let go, his eyes as hard as these cement walls. He backed away while I took my food to the mattress. Surprisingly, he let me eat in silence.

Afterward, not so much.

Today Aiden wanted to talk about our first training session and how much I’d apparently a

Aiden’s eyes flared the same moment my lips twitched. “You said I sounded like a father.”

I had.

“You also said you were going to have to drop your crack habit when I went over the rules.” Aiden smiled.

My lips almost answered in kind. And I didn’t like that. Time to change the topic. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

Aiden leaned back in the metal folding chair. The thing had to be uncomfortable. “What do you want to talk about, Alex?”

“Where has Apollo been? Since he’s my great-whatever, I’m feeling unloved.”

He folded his arms. “Apollo won’t be around.”

Oh, interesting development. My little, old ears perked right up. “And why not?”

His stare was level. “And do you really think I’m going to tell you when you’ll run right back to tell Seth?”

I put my bare feet on the cold floor and stood. “I won’t say a word.”

Aiden shot me a bland look. “Call me crazy, but I don’t believe you.”

Making my way to the bars, I kept an eye on his expression. As I neared, it lost the insipid look. His jaw hardened as if he worked his molars. His eyes turned sharper, lips thi

“What are you doing?” Aiden asked.

“If you let me go now, I swear that you and all those you care for will be untouched.”

He didn’t say anything for a heartbeat. “But I care about you, Alex.”

I tilted my head to the side. “But I will be unharmed.”

“No. You won’t be safe.” Sadness crept into his eyes right before his thick lashes swept down.

My stomach shifted in warning. Recalling the bits of information I’d picked up while under the Elixir, I knew there was more to what he said. “What do you know, Aiden?”

“If you leave here still co

I laughed. “You’re lying. Nothing can harm—” Myths and legends, Alex. Duh. What had I thought earlier? There were alwayschecks and balances of sorts. That was why the Apollyon had been created in the first place. “What do you know?”

His lashes swept up, revealing startling silver eyes. “It doesn’t matter. All you need to know is that it’s the truth.”

My mouth opened, but I snapped it shut. Aiden was trying to get under my skin. That was it. If Thanatos and his Order hadn’t found the Achilles’ heel of the Apollyons in all their centuries of trying, one pure-blood wouldn’t have succeeded. The Order hadn’t…

Or had they?

But they didn’t count. My Seth and his Sentinels had systematically wiped them off Earth.

I lifted my gaze and found Aiden staring at me. The inexplicable urge to stick my tongue out was hard to deny.

“Can I ask you something?”

I shrugged. “If I said no, you would still ask.”

“True.” There was a tight smile. “When you were with Lucian, before the Council meeting? He took you to his house against your will, didn’t he?”

“Yeah,” I said slowly, growing uncomfortable already.

“How did that make you feel?”

My hands tightened on the bars. “What are you? A psychologist now?”

“Just answer the question.”

Closing my eyes, I leaned against the bars. I could lie, but there really wasn’t a point. “I hated it. I tried to kill Lucian with a steak knife.” Obviously that hadn’t gone as pla

Silence, and then Aiden was right in front of me, his forehead touching mine through the bars. His larger hands were above mine and when he spoke, his breath was warm. I didn’t pull back, and I didn’t understand why. Being this close to him wasn’t right on so many levels.

“Nothing has changed,” he said quietly.

“I have.”

Aiden sighed. “You haven’t.”

I opened my eyes. “Will you ever get bored with this? You have to, eventually.”

“Never,” he said.

“Because you won’t give up on me, no matter what I tell you?”

“Exactly.”

“You’re incredibly stubborn.”

Aiden’s lips tipped up in a half-smile. “I used to say the same thing about you.”

My brows knitted. “And you can’t now?”

“Sometimes I don’t even know what to say.” He reached through the bars and the very tips of his fingers grazed my cheekbone. Amoment later, he placed his entire palm against my cheek. I flinched, but he didn’t remove his hand. “And there are moments where I doubt everything I do.”

He tilted my head back so my eyes met his. “But I don’t doubt for one second that what I’m doing right now is the right thing.”

Many retorts rose to the surface, but they faded away as the little voice inside me piped up. I’d give it all up for you…

A knot formed in the back of my throat. Suddenly, this cell was too small. The basement was constricting and the little distance between Aiden and me suffocating. Heart turning over heavily, I searched for the cord—

“Don’t,” Aiden whispered. “I know what you’re about to do. Don’t.”

I jerked back, breaking the contact between us. “How do you know what I’m doing?”

His hand was outstretched, as if he could still feel my cheek. “I just do.”

Anger rose, fueled by frustration and a good mix of what-the-hell. “Well, aren’t you special?”

Shaking his head, Aiden lowered his hand. He watched me stomp over to the mattress and plop down. I glared back at him, willing almost every ill thing on him I could think of. And there were things I knew I could say that would hurt him, that would strip away his control and break him down into little pieces. Things that my Seth had whispered and things I’d told him I wanted to do. I could lash out—oh yeah, I could destroyAiden. But when I opened my mouth, all those hurtful, destructive things got stuck around the lump in my throat.