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“Are you sure you don’t remember anything?” He gives me a skeptical look. The same question everyone has always asked me.

My heart is beating hard but for all the wrong reasons. My missing memory. That night I set everything on fire. Kate and her crazy shit. All her stories and secrets. Killian constantly keeping an eye on me. Stafford moving us quietly and quickly. He employed me to keep me close. Sent me on wild goose chases after clues. He knew there was more every time he asked, and he still let me lie to his face. He knew about the scars because he’s a collector. He loves priceless things. Maybe he even knew everything Kate told me. There is no way Stafford will let me just stay here forever.

I’m a fucking idiot. Blinded by willful ignorance.

“I’m tired.” I yawn. “I should go.”

Aedon stares me down. “You have got to be fucking kidding me?!”

“To take a shower,” I finish with a devious grin.

“Hilarious.” He sweeps me off my feet and carries me to the bathroom.

He takes care of me, carefully scrubbing away the blood staining my skin. Then he washes my hair. It’s a sort of intimacy I’m not used to, but it feels good to be spoiled. He wraps me in a towel and dries my hair. Aedon inspects my knuckles and applies ointment onto them along with my fresh scar with his name, then he tucks me into the bed and pulls me into him.

He’s warm. I feel safe with him. I don’t question his loyalty or his intentions. I don’t hide the darkness. This place feels like heaven. Fuck my people. Fuck the dead that still haunt me. Fuck Stafford. All I’ve known is misery. Sam was right, take happiness when you can get it, and I think I might be really fucking happy. It will crumble eventually, and I’ll be impaled on my own sword. Until then, I’m going to indulge in my own gluttony.

Chapter nineteen

Aedonaeus

We sleep on and off between sex the next day. Neither of us mention our marriage. It’s just a piece of paper that still lies shredded on the floor of the kitchen. It’s the symbolism of it. Josie came back of her own accord, drove her name into my skin, and let me claim her. That’s the biggest sacrifice she could ever make. I gave her my soul in return.

We haven’t left the bedroom, but I can only imagine what the massacre in the kitchen looks like. Someone is going to have to clean up the mess. It’s obviously going to be me.

I slip out of the bed and head for the kitchen. It looks kind of like a crime scene. There’s glass everywhere, not to mention the blood. When I gave her the ultimatum, I thought it may have been too aggressive. I could only think of the worst-case scenario. She was just busy torturing a traitor. Now my name is carved into her chest. The world feels like it’s finally spinning in the right direction.

I’m not soft by any means, but I cherish Josie. There is so much more for us to talk about, but I don’t want to ruin this space we’ve created. I keep pushing off the box. Hades will be irritated, but frankly I don’t give a fuck. He won’t be happy that I hastily married an insane person, but I think he saw it coming. Fate is a dreadful mistress. I haven’t thought about that conversation, but it will be better to have it sooner rather than later.

I pick up the gala invitation lying on the floor and toss it on the counter. Cordially invited, as always. It almost feels like a trick, or some sort of trap. Hades says the box will be at the Gala, and that we must do everything in our power to acquire it. It’s what I was discussing with Minos and Hermes when Josie tore into the place.

I’m not sure if she wants to tell people we’re married yet. She doesn’t have long to break the news. We’re going to this gala. Prince Aedonaeus and Princess Josephine, the future king and queen of the Underworld.

As I’m sweeping up the last of the shards, Josie pads down the hallway.

This girl who is a personified tornado of erratic darkness is my wife. My name is bright red, standing out on the clear skin over her heart. My dick starts to get hard, and my body protests. I’m so fucking sore and my muscles are tired.

She breaks the silence. “I’m going to see my sister today. And maybe Stafford.”

I’m starting to get jealous. She’s already mentioned him too many times to make me anything but. Not only that, but he knows the things she hasn’t said to me, and that’s going to fucking change.

“I’m sure they’ll take it well when you tell them you have a husband you married in secret.” I dump the glass into the trash.

“Vivian will be happy for me. I’m sure she would expect nothing less.”

“Is she going back to the Republic, too?”

Josie stays silent. She’s unsure. Take and take and fucking take, she had said.

“And Stafford?” I add, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Frankly, I don’t give a fuck.” That tells me nothing. “He’s going home,” she adds. “Without me.”

“If you’re going to leave to see your sister I’m going with you.”

“No,” she says sharply, vehemently shaking her head.

“If it’s not me, then the brutes. I’ll let Hermes and Minos know.”