My Life From Hell (The Blooming Goddess #3)

Gods And Other Misunderstood Beings (Part 1)

I woke up Monday morning half sprawled on top of Kai and realized two things. One, he gave off heat like a furnace and two, he was pressing slow kisses into my shoulder.

"Morning." His voice was growly and scratchy.

I tucked my head against his bare torso, feeling the rise of his chest and the steady thump of his heart. Just like we'd been back at his house. Except that had been Sophie and Kai. This was Persephone and Kyrillos. Kind of.

I wanted the other way back.

I propped myself up on one elbow to look at him.

In response, Kai lowered his head, all the better to gain access to my neck, His dark hair was totally mussed up.

"Kai—," I caught myself. "Kyrillos, look at me."

He rolled me onto my back and looked into my eyes. "I see you just fine, kardia mou."

You're not seeing me at all. But I wasn't sure if that thought came because he didn't see Sophie, or because he didn't see Persephone.

He leaned in slowly. I knew he wanted to kiss me, and that he was checking to see if Persephone was still upset. Which was sweet. I guess.

I needed to know if the tone of our previous kiss had been a weird one-off, so I allowed this one. My eyes fell closed and Kai moved in.

His kissing has gotten better in the past seventeen years. Or is it just that he had the right person to kiss? Well, he did have a lot of practice after she died. And, ew! How much did he practice? Because he went from little league to the World Series. But yay for me, Sophie, being on the right end of it!

It's not good when you can hold entire conversations with yourself in the face of your boyfriend's kisses. And that's all we were doing. Kissing.

Kai and I would have been tearing at each other's clothes by now. And we hadn't even had sex. These two had. There was just none of the madness between them that there was between us. Maybe that was a good thing? Maybe that's how normal couples did things? Were we just so zero-to-a-billion about everything that all my perceptions were skewed?

Kai paused to smile down at me, just as the sunlight surrounded him, his hair perfectly tousled. I slid my eyes sideways, noticing our just-so rumpled sheets, the way a strand of my hair fell across his arm.

It was a freaking movie moment. That's what their entire relationship was like for me. Cinema pretty. Not real world messy.

I wanted the messy back. So I bucked to push him off me and sat up. I had to find Prometheus and see about getting that truth spirit to pay a visit.

"Busy day," I said. I'm not stupid. I could tell Kai was getting suspicious of me holding him at bay, so I pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "The equinox is in three days. I'm just edgy."

He seemed to accept that. Or at least not press the subject.

I threw him a bright smile. "Hungry?"

He swung his legs off the bed, got up, and threw on jeans and a worn green T-shirt. It molded to him, but left many good things to the imagination. "I'll get you your coffee," he said.

Before I could add, "Great, that'll hold me until I get some real food," a spurt of rage flooded my system. A memory hit me.

Kyrillos entered the room, a large mug in his hands. Sleepily, I propped myself up against the headboard, hoping against hope that today would be different.

I fisted the edge of my blankets, but kept a smile on my face.

He reached me and held out the mug. And just like every morning, I felt disappointment unfurl deep within me. Coffee again. Not hot chocolate.

I accepted the cup, the bitter aroma making my stomach turn.

I hated coffee. But he delivered it to me every day with a smile.

He was no better than the others. Only wanting whatever image of me suited him best. Not really seeing at all.

Persephone's simmering anger rose in me, a snarl twisting my lips. It grew, dancing inside me until my back arched and the emotion of the memory thrust me back into my vision. My body tensed as I saw that this time, there was a twist.

Sophie stood across the garden, immobile on the rock. The lava bubbled and flowed freely around her. But where I was, all was light and fire, falling away to nothing.

I burned, stretching out my awareness to fuel the flames and the lava and the destruction. I would die but everything would go down with me.

"Persephone?"

I don't know how long Kai had been calling me before I came to, but as his face came into focus, I saw him flinch.

Persephone's memory, her deep seated resentment for Kai had snapped me into a version of the vision that was truly terrifying. My brain couldn't process the lingering after-emotions of it. Never mind being here, in front of the person who fueled that fury.

I needed Kai gone. To think through what it meant. To be able to shake this off without his very presence leaving me at the mercy of her feelings.