The Stone Queen (The Dark Queens Book 9) Read online

  I gasped. “You are the child of a god too?”

  I couldn’t begin to explain the joy that suddenly burst through me at the thought that my sisters and I were not alone in this place. The idea that there could possibly be others who understood the inherent privilege and curse of being bred of the gods was both exciting and overwhelming.

  I shook my head. “You never told me you were a demigod! Are you even mortal, then?”

  His lip curled up in a snarl. “Very.”

  Not at all liking the way that had sounded, I gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze, trying as best I could to comfort him. “Hey, it’s okay. Not all of us are immortals. I’m mortal too.”

  He reached up quickly, snatched my fingers in his, and held onto me tight—a little too tight, actually, cutting off some of my circulation. I wiggled my fingers to let him know his grip pinched. Clearly realizing what he’d done, he quickly released me and gave his head a swift shake. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s come over me. I think it’s the hunger causes me to grow irrational. Accept my apology.”

  The squeeze already long forgotten, I shrugged. “For what? You’ve done nothing wrong. You are my friend, and it wounds me to see you hurting so. I… I cannot offer you much, but I can at least take away your hunger. Wait a moment.”

  Holding up a finger in a silent gesture that he should wait right there, I then began rucking up my skirts.

  Confusion had stamped itself upon his features. “What are you do—”

  Snapping my wings out with such force that I’d created a small wind funnel, I grinned at him. “Wait, just wait, my friend.” After tucking in my skirts so that now I wore less of a dress and had more of a trousered look, I toed off my sandals then slipped my curls free of their pins. My brown locks tumbled like a nest of writhing snakes down my back.

  He grinned. “What are you going on about, mad woman?”

  Again, I only smiled wider. “Will you just wait, you impatient oaf? Let me show off a little first, eh?”

  Then giving him an exaggerated wink, I kept to the sandy bits of the shore and took a running leap. The instant I felt the cross breeze, my wings lifted me off the ground. I sailed above him like a mighty winged seraph ready to do battle, except in this case, my prey were the dozens of zipping silvery fish down below. With two massive beats of my wings, I spotted a school of fish a few dozen yards away.

  Speeding toward them, I gained momentum, making sure to not in any way disturb the waters or the fish. If they sensed my coming, they would scatter like pins.

  Only once I was in the kill zone did I tuck my wings in, and like a star shooting to the ground, I carved through the glassy surface of the sea like one of Zeus’s mighty bolts.

  The fish scattered instantly but not before I’d managed to catch three fat ones. They writhed and wriggled in my hold, but I used my modified talons to secure them to me.

  When I exited the water, I was a drenched, sodden mess. Trying to explain this to Mother would not be easy, but the look on Percy’s face when I landed was well worth the scolding I was sure to receive.

  Percy ran toward me and suddenly scooped me up, just as I had the fish, and twirled me around, shouting with glee. Thankfully, we were quite alone, so no one could notice us acting like children.

  We were young adults now, and flapping our arms and squawking and squealing as we were would be frowned upon, but it felt so good to be free. I laughed, feeling lighter than one of my feathers. I’d never felt a full-body roll of laughter before, and I marveled at the sensations it brought —pain in my middle from clenching my stomach so hard, breathlessness from being unable to take a breath, and pure, unadulterated joy. I swore that even the sun grew brighter as it beat down upon us.

  “You were amazing, Medusa!” Perseus heaped praise after praise upon me. “My gods, the way you sliced through that water, I’d have thought for certain that you were a siren come up from the depths. I never knew birds could swim as gracefully as you.”

  I beamed, so stupidly proud of myself for doing something I’d done a thousand times before knowing him. But no one had ever made me feel as though I’d accomplished some wild feat of athleticism.

  The fish had long since flopped to the ground, thanks to Percy’s exuberant show of gratitude. After scooping them up, I handed them to him, and then clapped my hands together as though dusting them off. “There, my friend. Now your tummy shall never go hungry again.”

  He took them from me with a grateful smile. “Stay. Eat some with me. After all, it was you who saved me from a fate worse than death.”

  I rolled my eyes theatrically. “Gods above, you’re a dramatic one, aren’t you? And yes, I’d be delighted to share with you. Start the fire. I’ll gather a few things as you do.”

  Unfurling my wings once more, I took to the skies. The swiftly moving breezes helped dry me off a little. I smelled of sea salt and muck, but it had been so worth it to see my friend so joyful.

  Winging toward my home, I made sure to remain above the clouds so that neither Mother nor my sisters would catch me. Only once I was certain that none of them were home did I quickly ease into the house and grab the jar of salt, dried herbs, and a small jar of freshly squeezed olive oil and leave. None would be the wiser that I’d been there and not at the temple.

  I also plucked a handful of ripened olives from the tree outside our door. Then I quickly made haste back toward Percy’s makeshift camp.

  He was there and had already gutted and descaled the fish. They were skewered through with a stick that he was slowly turning over the open flame.

  “I brought provisions,” I chirped, holding up my finds.

  He grinned back and quickly added seasonings to our late lunch.

  Once the fish was done, we sat side by side, eating and tossing the fish bones into the sea. My mouth was slick with oils and the tang of lemon and salt. I licked my lips once more and sighed.

  “Does your mother honestly believe you’re at temple this long?” Percy asked softly sometime later.

  I enjoyed the sensation of the wind riffling through my long nest of now- matted curls. “In her day, she was quite devoted to the goddess, and she always hoped that one of us girls would be too. Though I’ve never really understood why. It isn’t necessarily customary for gods to worship other gods, but Mother has been insistent that one of us should become a devotee. But my sisters are immortal and don’t really feel the need to worship any of the gods. Way they see it, they’re practically gods themselves. So the onus fell squarely upon my shoulders to be the savior of this family.”

  I chuckled, remembering the late chats with Mother, the promises and the vows she would force us girls to make to her. All of her ridiculous rules still seemed absurd. Never be alone with a boy. Never look too long at strangers. Never sing. On and on and on the rules went. I’d broken every one of them in recent days and hadn’t been struck down yet.

  I snorted and adjusted one of my pleats. The fabric of my tunic was stiff from all the salt it had absorbed. Hopefully, Mother and my sisters wouldn’t be home when I finally got back.

  I felt Percy looking at me. Raising a brow in question, I turned to look at him.

  “Doesn’t that bother you?”

  It took me a moment to understand what he meant. “What? That my sisters will linger on forever whilst I eventually die?”

  He dipped his head, and I shrugged. “Not especially. Almost everything dies. Why should I be any different?”

  Clenching his jaw, he shook his head. “No. No, I do not agree. I will not die. Mark my words, Medusa. One day, I, too, will become immortal as my father.”

  Turning toward him full on, I cocked my head. Studying his handsome face, I wondered who the god in his family was.

  My family were the ancients also known as the Primordials, the very first gods. Though not as well known as the golden Olympians or even the Titans of yore, we were far more powerful in some ways. We were the very elements of nature and life itself. Mother, also kn
own as Ceto, and father, Phorcys, were sea gods. Their forms were now human, but just as the more well-known goddess Thalassa, they, too, were made of the very sea itself. In fact, Gaia, the earth mother, was my grandmother. My line might not have been as celebrated as some, but even the golden ones knew to respect my people.

  “You never did tell me who your parents were, Percy. Why?”

  For a moment, his body went taut, but eventually his shoulders slumped, and he looked at me with something a lot like pain. “I come from the great god himself, Zeus.”

  My brows rose high. I did not at all believe Zeus to be the greatest god. In fact, I didn’t even believe him to be slightly above average. I’d met Zeus a handful of times in my youth and found him rude, vulgar, and repulsive, especially in his treatment of Mother. I could still never account for why Mother seemed intent on gaining the approval of the golden ones, but I loved her enough not to say anything about it.

  “That’s… good.” I frowned and glanced at the horizon, noting Apollo and Nyx as they began their nightly meet up. After shooting to my feet, I dusted off my skirts. This tunic was quite ruined, and I doubted even washing it would help. “But I must be off now before Mother worries and calls to the waters to bring me home.”

  His lips twitched. “I think I would like your mother. I think I would like knowing how it feels to have one who cares.”

  Percy had no mother. After receiving a prophecy in which something terrible had been spoken about him, she’d promptly tossed him into the sea, hoping a monster would eat him. Percy hadn’t told me what the prophecy was, but it must have been terrible to make a mother decide it was better to kill him than to let him live.

  Leaning forward, I went to give him a quick hug, but Percy surprised me and wrapped his gangly arms around my middle and hugged me tight. Air quickly escaped my lips, but I enjoyed the press of his body against mine and sighed before patting his chest. “I’ll see you tomorrow, my friend.”

  “Thank you for the fish, Medusa,” he whispered huskily, tucking an errant curl behind my ear, his attentions suddenly seeming more intimate than they had before.

  My entire body flushed warm at the contact but not so much with pleasure. I couldn’t quite make sense of what it was, other than that I knew it was time that he released me.

  Hiding my strange feelings behind a false cough, I pretended to fidget with my tunic and nodded. “Of course. What are friends for?” I patted his shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Without giving him a moment more, I turned and quickly sped off, wondering about the strange feelings that coursed through me. I wasn’t normally a seer, but for a peculiar and very unusual moment, I could have sworn that Perseus had meant me great harm.

  Which was ridiculous. He had seemed quite besotted by me, actually. Maybe I would have to touch him less—and set the rules that he should not touch me quite so much. Let him know in no uncertain terms that he and I were just friends.

  My stomach unsettled by nerves, I turned my thoughts toward my ruined dress and what Mother’s reaction would be when she saw it. I had a good mother, but I also had a grumpy one, especially when it came to me breaking the rules.

  Thinning my lips, I muttered a prayer. “Poseidon, celebrated god of the waters deep, if you can hear me, please keep Mother occupied. You are a god of the water, as is she. Please hide my secret from her.”

  Winging quicker toward home, I suddenly felt I’d stayed out too long. Nyx had practically overtaken Apollo already in the great race for domination of the sky. If Poseidon chose not to hear my prayer, I was going to be in big trouble. Not to mention that I still couldn’t shake the unease of whatever had plagued me back there in Perseus’s arms.

  But when I landed and spied Mother and my sisters standing upon a rocky bluff behind our home and staring at a spirited group of dolphins and whales frolicking almost magically through the waters, I knew that the golden god of the deep had answered my prayer. I might not care for all of the golden ones, but Poseidon was kind.

  After slipping in unnoticed, I quickly bathed and changed, hiding my ruined tunic behind my bed. I would try to clean it tomorrow when Mother wasn’t looking. I wouldn’t meet with Percy tomorrow. I needed a little time and some distance. Hopefully, whatever I’d felt today had simply been the result of eating too much.

  Plastering on a false smile and smelling clean once again, I went to join my mother and sisters upon the rocky bluff. I hugged them tight, and they hugged me right back. By the time I settled down for the night, I’d quite forgotten about my strange premonitions.

  Chapter 3

  Ares

  Three years later

  * * *

  “You’ve a serious problem, my friend,” Dionysus said, never slurring his words, though I knew he’d drunk nearly an entire barrel of wine by himself tonight—alone. No one could hold his or her drink quite like the god of debauchery.

  Thinning my lips, I shook my head. “I did not come here to be preached to. I came here for advice.”

  He snickered. “You want advice? I could give it, but you won’t like it.”

  It was hard not to roll my eyes, and I wondered yet again what had made me think coming to the commons was a good idea. Generally, the only gods loitering about were the ones without something to actually do on a weekend, and tonight looked to be more of the same.

  Hebe was here. Tall and slender and blond, she was perpetually covered in face pustules and snarling at us all. Not an uncommon attribute for Zeus and Hera’s daughter, goddess of youth. She was an eternal teenager with the temperament to match. My sister Eris was scowling in the corner and could give Hebe a run for “most unpleasant” tonight. She held a cup of Dionysus’s private stock, but not even that could wipe the unpleasant mask off the face of the goddess of discord. Eris was very useful in battle but not for much else. Also, Helios and Thanatos sat beside one another, pounding their fists upon the table as their cups sloshed over, both of them speaking in sharp, animated bursts, no doubt about how they’d been the first gods and had been overtaken by Apollo and Hades respectively in the minds and hearts of the mortals. Bitter minor gods who could not handle their lots in life, they would be no help to me at all.

  Then there was a small semicircle of revelers surrounding a pipe-playing god with horns and hooves, Hermes’s son Pan. The life of the party, for one so unattractive and incredibly goatlike in mannerisms and even looks, he never wanted for female attention but, of course, never had a female to mate with. It was his perpetual curse, always wanted for parties but never to warm one’s bed. That was not a problem I suffered from.

  Muses, nymphs, and even the graces clapped and sang along, dancing in time to the lush sounds of his woodland flute.

  The Three Furies were also here tonight, and though they certainly weren’t lesser gods, it was also known that they would never interfere unless they were of a mind to. They were stubborn, willful, infuriating, and often cursed those they’d deemed unworthy to take their own lives. As goddesses charged with punishing crime, they were quite adept at what they did but also a little more bloodthirsty than what I looked for this evening.

  I sighed heavily and stared at my half brother. My own mother, Hera, loathed the drunken god of the wine, but then she pretty much hated everyone. Of course, it would help if Father kept his dick in his pants more and stopped sticking it into pretty young virgins. Not that it was Dionysus’s fault, but Mother never saw things so rationally.

  My brother downed the last of his mug and went to pour himself another dram but instead pouted when only a single drop spilled out of the barrel. So he had drunk an entire barrel of wine.

  “Bah, bloody cask! I swear but my servants keep making them smaller and smaller!” He slammed his cup down with a bang, apparently startling Nemesis, who I’d not noticed until just now, reclined upon a chaise tucked within shadows. She jolted awake from where she’d clearly been sleeping off some of Dionysus’s stock.

  I sighed again. Dionysus merely sho
ok his head. “Honestly, Ares. You want my advice, then I’ll give it. Go to the Fates. That oracle was wrong. She was mortal. What would she know, really? Everyone knows your destiny is to be the mate of Aphrodite. No?”

  He dipped his head, staring at me through narrowed eyes as though trying to read my mind. And incidentally, he was one of the few gods who actually could read the thoughts of others but only if one were really drunk. I was not. It took more than two or three cups of wine to knock me on my ass. My metabolism would burn up the alcohol almost the instant it hit my bloodstream. Liquor had very little effect on me, sadly. Ambrosia, though, now that was another matter entirely. The only one immune to its darkly seductive powers was Dionysus.

  “You’ve dark lines under your eyes, brother. You’re not sleeping well,” he said wisely.

  I grunted and shifted on my seat, frowning at him. Ironically, for a god known to always be deep in his cups and three sheets to the wind, he was impressively perceptive.

  “I’m fine,” I grunted. Though it was a lie, and Dionysus clearly knew it, he didn’t push. He merely thinned his lips and snapped his fingers.

  In an instant, the empty barrel was replaced with a new one, and my brother wasted no time in refilling his cup. With a satisfied sigh, he took a long pull from it.

  He was right. I was fated to be with Aphrodite. In fact, it had been foretold ages ago that she and I would be entwined throughout time and history.

  But it was also fated that ours would be a messy and convoluted affair. And it was. Part of the issue, no doubt, was mother’s disdain for her. Hera made Dite’s life absolute hell, inserting herself constantly between the two of us, and I was so fucking pleased that Dite never rose to the bait.

  Not only was she the most divinely beautiful creature in existence, but she was also kindhearted to her core. All who knew her loved her, including my own brother Hephaestus.

  Dite and I had been together nearing fifty years now, and I could see the way the two of them looked at one another when they thought I wasn’t aware. Dite would never cheat on me. That wasn’t her way. Goddess of lust she might be, but she was honorable and true. Still, I felt her slipping away from me. And I didn’t like it.