Guardian Angel

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

"Aw, looks like my sleepyhead is wide awake already!"

For the first time in my life, Aric's voice made my ears hurt.

I narrowed my eyes as I watched Aric come down the stairs. He was dressed in an entirely different outfit now, like he'd taken his time to get gussied up. His pretty blonde hair was plaited down his back, a pair of white cat eye sunglasses on his head that matched his polo shirt and tennis shorts. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was about to go on an island vacation, and the thought made my stomach curdle as I vaguely remembered something Hadrian said to me when he first brought Niko to us.

"It's a vanishing isle," Hadrian told me, those eerie blue-green eyes staring right into my soul, "That's why we can't find it, why we can't track her. Even if you've been there once, you'll never be able to find it again. We need to find a way to track the island. That's the only way we'll be able to find her and keep track of her." I remembered reporting that back to Hades, but according to Hades, we had already missed our chance. Ambrosius and Thorn had been devastated to learn they had missed a golden opportunity to get a leg up on Hera, but it was understandable considering they were more worried for their children than finding Hera.

Damn.

"Oh, come on," Aric said as he approached me and got a good view of the sneer on my face, "Don't make that ugly face, you look just like Hades when you do that." I managed to rein in my temper, even though I just wanted to grab that pretty face and break it over my knee.

But lashing out at Aric wasn't going to work. He clearly knew what he was doing and, unfortunately, I was trained to save lives, not take them.

I guess now was as good a time as any to learn.

"Why am I here?" I demanded, instead of launching into a colorful description of where he could take that comment and shove it. Aric smiled and approached the cage, then squatted down beside it, like he was talking to a dog in a cage, and the fact that I was forced to look up at him was a little annoying.

"Baby, I told you before, things are going to get better. Hades may have thrown us off track a little there when he threw one of his infamous temper tantrums," he said, pausing to glare down at the floor as he touched his cheek and trailed a finger up to where he had a scar under his hairline, "Mm! Gods piss me off so much. You little bastards think you can do whatever the hell you want just because you're gods. Please. You're nothing more than humans with powers."

"So gods," I deadpanned, making him glare at me, "Aric, things are just going to get worse from here if you keep taking these steps to hurt people." Aric frowned.

"I'm hurting bad people," he informed curtly, rising sharply to his feet and he reached up to take his sunglasses off his head. At the same time, I heard footsteps and voices on the stairs and I blinked, staring around him at the stairs, then looking up at him in confusion and he just smiled.

"Not those people, they're just here to make sure we get home safely, love," he said, making me scowl, then go still as the first male stepped into view and revealed the same black stitch conforming armor that the other soldiers of the Mother wore, and I felt like the iceberg that sank the Titanic had landed in my gut.

"B--"

"Ssh," Aric said, reaching through the bars to fearlessly place a finger against my lips and I tensed as I looked up at him anxiously, "They'll be gentle so long as you are, okay? I wouldn't want to hurt you in transport. You're precious cargo."

"For who--"

"Sssh," Aric said again, more firmly this time and he actually brought his fist down on top of the cage, making me grimace when the metal clanged, "Just because we're in a rough patch right now doesn't mean I'm going to stand for insubordination, Ryky. Remember what I said, stop talking, got it?" I stared at him, then back at the soldiers, at least five of them, who were making their way across the room, making jokes about the sex dungeon around them like a bunch of middle schoolers.