Omega Series: Omega Part 28

Lantos sends his apologies for upsetting you.

"Don't!" I spun to face the silent predator landing lightly on my balcony. "Don't make excuses for that piece of s.h.i.+t! He knew exactly what he was doing!"

It was impossible for me to see Mismatch for the first time and not be awed and just a little terrified. He folded his wings and tilted his head, his muscular frame poised.

"Tell your master you aren't welcome here," I breathed at last.

I help you fight monsters, and you turn your back on me. You were such a sweet child.

"You ditched me and left me with Niko!"

I fought with you and left you with someone I knew wouldn't hurt you. I couldn't take you with me without my men.

"Your boss ..." My chin trembled. I clamped my jaw closed and wiped more tears away. "I hate this place. I hate them!"

Deception is not your game.

"It's not. I'm so sick of people and their secret agendas!"

The duality of Mismatch the creature I wors.h.i.+pped as a child and the man I couldn't trust always confused me. He stretched out a wing and nudged me with it. I pushed it back but followed it with my gaze, once more entranced by the softness of its lining. I was about to tell him to stop messing with me when I realized his nature was to provoke me.

Lantos showed you the Oracle.

I hesitated then nodded. Tears of fury and fear were in my eyes again. Mismatch nudged me once more. This time, instead of pus.h.i.+ng his wing away, I buried my hands into the soft lining. He stepped closer.

"Why couldn't you tell me that up front?" I demanded, looking up at his glowing eyes.

It wasn't my place.

"It d.a.m.n well was your place! You're my creation, aren't you? Isn't there some sense of loyalty there?"

My master bid me to let him reveal it to you.

His wing wrapped around me and rolled me into the protection of his body the way it had last night. Surrounded by the heavenly softness and his scent, I didn't resist for once. I was too tired, too angry, and too cognizant of how much I loved and trusted Mismatch as a child. Those emotions were unusually strong, as if part of me was capable of separating what I felt for him during daylight from what I did at night.

At least you know I'm a monster.

His touch and presence soothed me. I didn't want it to. I wanted to stay angry. I rested my head back against his chest, thoroughly exhausted. His arms circled me, and I pulled up one hand by the thumb. "My G.o.ds, Mismatch. You gotta trim those nails."

Can't kill with them short.

"You shouldn't be killing at all!"

I hunt my food at night.

"That's really weird." I relaxed into him and gazed at the gardens. "What does a gargoyle eat?"

Grotesque. Usually something the size of a full grown sheep or deer.

"The whole thing?"

Flying requires a lot of energy.

His wing unwound and fell away, tucked at his side again, leaving me pressed against his body. I felt a tingle when Lantos flirted with me; when Mismatch or Adonis touched me, my insides ignited. At least when he was a monster, I could pretend there was nothing between us.

"I don't know what to do," I said before I could stop myself.

Sleep. Your fate isn't yet set. You must complete two more trials before you are of use to any member of the Triumvirate.

"I can't sleep knowing I might be dragged out of here and chopped into pieces!"

I'll stand watch.

"You have to go kill a cow."

I already ate.

His tail was tapping the gla.s.s of the French doors. I sighed and stood with him at my back. I shouldn't have trusted him more than I did anyone else. But I did. At least, at night I did. During the day, Adonis couldn't be far enough away.

"I want to go back to my forest. The one you chopped down."

He said nothing.

Recalling how he'd destroyed my home, I moved away. "I'm going to bed." I closed the doors behind me, leaving him on the balcony.

A nightgown was laying out for me in the dressing room part of the bathroom. I changed and tidied up for bed, fatigue driving me to skip brus.h.i.+ng my hair in favor of arriving to my bed a minute earlier.

Sinking into the ma.s.sive bed, I stared out the window. Mismatch was perched on the balcony railing, wings tucked and muscular thighs drawing my gaze. His teal eyes were on the world outside of us.

As much as I hated to admit it, I liked the creature side of Adonis. A lot. Enough to want to curl up in his soft wings again and fall asleep. And I knew if he were here, no one could drag me away to torture me. I was safe with my monster watching over me.

I fell asleep facing the balcony.

Chapter Eighteen.

I slept in late and ate a huge breakfast before getting ready for the afternoon event. No one wore masks the next afternoon when I arrived at the garden party at the Silent Queen's court. The crowd was smaller, and the servants and guards in purple. Leandra had picked my lavender gown and done my hair and makeup again. She trailed me closely, and I could feel her excitement at being in a place more suited to her than me.

The bushes of the gardens were shaped into fantastical animals from Greek myths. Smartly dressed men and women holding champagne gla.s.ses spoke quietly in small groups around several of the bushes. Serving staff armed with trays of food and drink wove among the partygoers.

I couldn't look at anyone without thinking they wanted me torn to pieces and strung up. I ended up focusing on the rainbows of ribbons everywhere. The ribbons calmed me, fascinated me.

"Is that all these people do?" I complained to Leandra. "Go to parties and drink?"

"Yeah," she sighed wistfully. "And wear amazing clothes."

I was in another traditional dress and wearing shoes that according to Leandra didn't remotely match. But after my night, I wasn't going near anything with a heel. I also had the knife Cleon procured for me strapped to my thigh.

"Ugh. We don't want anything to do with those two," Leandra said and nudged me the opposite direction in which she looked.

"Who?" I leaned around her to see.

My heart leapt. Adonis was in a fitted charcoal business suit and the Supreme Priest in a suit and mask. "Why does he wear a mask?" I asked.

"One of the priests thought it was out of respect for the position. He appears as neither human nor G.o.d so as to bridge the two."

Or he's hiding the fact he's a t.i.tan. "Those two are shady."

"All the more reason to avoid them." This time, Leandra pushed me.

I went, thoughts on Adonis.

"Alessandra."

I turned at Theodocia's voice. She wore the robes of a priestess this day. If I had to guess, she was probably also packing some sort of weapons. She smiled at me.

"You have time for a chat?" she asked.

"Sure," I replied.

"Come with me. You've got a private audience with the Silent Queen." Leandra's gasp was audible, and Theodocia glanced at her. "You come, too, in case your mistress requires you."

The giddy excitement inside me seemed out of place, and I blamed Leandra for infecting me with curiosity.

Theodocia led us into the villa and into a parlor where the Silent Queen waited. She was smaller than she looked on television and far more stunning in person with large blue eyes, chiseled features rivaled only by Adonis, and white blond hair pulled back from a round face and sharp jaw. She wore a tiara dotted by the same color aquamarine gems as her gown.

Ask her if she would like a gla.s.s of champagne. The voice was strong and feminine.

Theodocia nodded and turned to me.

"No, thanks," I said before she could speak.

The Silent Queen's eyes fell to me. You can hear me?

"Um, yeah." I glanced at Theodocia, who appeared surprised as well. "Is that okay?"

The two exchanged a look. The Silent Queen lifted her chin in silent command.

"Leandra, would you come with me?" Theodocia spoke.

Leandra nearly tripped over her feet as she left, her gaze on the Silent Queen.

I s.h.i.+fted feet when they'd gone, not at all certain how I was supposed to act around someone like this. When the Silent Queen continued to study me, I finally stepped forward with my hand extended.

"I'm Alessandra," I said awkwardly. "Which you probably know because everyone does."

Phoibe. She shook my hand. Please. Sit with me. She perched on a couch with more grace and dignity than I'd ever done anything. I tried to follow her lead, saw my ugly shoes and then quickly tucked my feet back into the layers of my gown.

Phoibe raised an elegant eyebrow.

"My shoes don't match." My cheeks were warm. "So, I'm learning people aren't who they claim or appear to be. You have any sort of ambitions of chopping off my limbs or throwing me into an arena to face monsters? It'd be nice to have a heads up for once."

I learned long ago to trust no one.

I started to smile. She was impossible to read her expression pleasant but without emotion, her rigid composure unflappable. Around my age, her eyes were soulful, as if she'd already suffered through what I was just learning. I sensed more about her, though, a sort of hyper awareness I got when I was around Adonis. They both saw more than anyone should.

Oddly enough, the sense put me at ease.

"I am," I said and began to babble the way I did around Adonis when he was watching me. "I guess I thought the world would be, too. Do they make you wear dresses every day or do you choose to?"

I like them.

"I guess no one tells a queen what to do."

You'd be surprised. When you are defined by your position rather than your personality, you are subjected to the expectations of others.

"I can see that." I started to relax more, liking her. "I hope they don't want to torture you."

We all bear a curse of some kind. She glanced towards the door. But I do not wish you to succ.u.mb to the fate for which you're destined. I would see you freed to live your life.

"You are at odds with the others."

No two of us in the Triumvirate are playing for the same reward.

"Games," I snorted. "The Supreme Magistrate wants me to become the Oracle. I don't know what the Supreme Priest wants." I did, but I wasn't about to reveal aloud he wanted to kill off all the G.o.ds to gain favor with the t.i.tans.

Power.

Adonis had claimed the same about everyone involved in this game. "And you? What do you want from me?" I asked in an even voice. "What trial would you have me perform?"

There are two things I wish of you. The first, to disrupt the G.o.ds and politicians. To put an end to the world as we know it to create it anew.

"Is that it?" I laughed uncomfortably. "Just hit the reset b.u.t.ton?"

You disagree.

"No. I want ... I was raised to believe in the Old Ways and to think I'm the one who's supposed to change all this." I motioned to the empty room.

They trained you well. For the first time since meeting her, a flicker of emotion satisfaction went through the Silent Queen's eyes.

"You know who trained me?"