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VEIL

A t this time of night, the atrium is veiled in darkness, and only the lights from the pool help to illuminate our surroundings. However, I can still make out the shadows of countless plants and vines hanging from pots or tucked into corners, their large leaves reaching up to the glass ceiling.

I can only imagine how beautiful the atrium must be during the day, when the sun radiates over the pool from every angle.

This might just officially be my favorite room in the entire house.

“Why did you never mention the atrium before?” I ask Gemini as I follow him to a row of lounge chairs, fresh towels already neatly folded and waiting for us.

He made us change into bathing suits before showing me to the pool.

He shrugs, running a hand through his hair, and flashes me a smile. “What’s the fun in telling you everything?”

I roll my eyes and look away. His laugh is so carefree. And it caresses my skin much too smoothly.

Strolling up to the diving board, he climbs up and stretches himself into position, arms above his head. His pink swim shorts ride up his thighs with the movement, and my eyes drop to his stretched stomach without even a second thought … then a few inches lower.

I swiftly catch myself, but it’s too late. By the time my gaze lifts back to his face, he’s staring at me with a crooked grin. He winks and then pushes himself off the diving board. Tucking his knees into his chest, he executes a flawless front flip before disappearing into the water with barely a splash.

I watch him swim a lap before I take off my silk robe, revealing the white one-piece Gemini chose for me. With its plunging neckline and thong bottom, it’s just as revealing as a skimpy bikini.

After the first week, Gemini stopped watching me undress. And something tells me even that is a calculated move. I just don’t know what for … yet.

Instead of diving in like Gemini, I take the steps leading into the shallow end. The water is deliciously warm, and I drop down when I get deep enough, fully immersing my body and head. I pop up, dragging my hand over my wet hair, and let out a small yelp when I realize Gemini is standing right in front of me.

His wet hair is slicked back, and water drips down his face, some droplets catching on his lips. “Boo,” he says with a dark sneer.

I physically recoil, blood turning ice cold.

Gemini’s expression turns innocent, and even that gives me whiplash. He tilts his head to the side like a curious dog. “What just happened?”

The water trickles around me as I slide my body backward, distancing myself from Gemini until my back hits the side of the pool. He hasn’t moved, still eyeing me like I’ve gone mad.

I certainly feel that way.

“It’s what you said in the maze before telling us to run.” My voice trails off as I linger on the thought that I’m the only one alive from that small group of sacrifices.

Gemini stays expressionless for a beat, then flashes me a toothy smile. “Such fond memories,” he says with a nostalgic sigh.

Rage spikes through me as if I were being skewered from the inside out. “Yet, for me,” I spit, my heart slamming into my chest, “the day I met you was the worst day of my life.”

“Oh, love,” he says with a mocking pout, fixing me with his stare as his body slowly glides to mine. His hands land on either side of me, boxing me in. “Maybe we should rectify that then.”

I swallow hard, some needy part of me cracking at the desire for him to pin his body against mine. The odd mixture of lingering fear and adrenaline at being this close to Gemini Foley is as intoxicating as the promise of ever-lasting life.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I rasp.

He tilts his head, his cheek hovering so close to mine, but it somehow feels like an insurmountable distance away.

“Maybe the next time I chase you through a maze, my beloved,” he whispers near my ear, “you won’t be begging me to let you go.” The sound of his voice has my body breaking into goose bumps. His nose trails infinitesimally up my neck. “Next time I catch you, you’ll be begging for the hard pumps of my cock inside your greedy little cunt, begging for me to fill you with heirs .”

He says the last word with a small thrust of his hips, and I’m consumed with the image he just painted. I’m grateful that it’s dark enough that Gemini can’t see the flush crawling up my chest. Thankfully, I’m still holding on to the last fraying threads of my sanity, and I shove him off of me.

“That’s never going to happen.” My words are sharp, but the uncertainty in my voice is evident. I consider sinking under the water to drown instead of having to watch Gemini silently gloat a few feet away.

I deliberate getting out of the pool and storming away, but I know how quick Gemini can be. He won’t let me go that easily.

He will never let me go.

It’s not the first time I’ve had that thought, but it’s the first time that statement holds a different kind of indecipherable weight to its meaning.

“What am I to you?” I blurt out.

“A pretty gift from the gods,” Gemini states plainly before turning on his back to float, his arms lazily swaying through the water.

“So that’s it?” I’m ashamed of the disappointment threading in between my words, but I continue nonetheless. “All I am to you is a thing to possess?”

“You are far from being just a thing , Veil Vulturine,” he replies impatiently.

“What then?”

“You are the future of this city.” He says it so casually, and the fight suddenly tumbles out of me like loose marbles. Turning his body in the water to face me, he pins me with his stare, hard eyes piercing right through me. “Did you ever stop to consider that the reason I’m keeping you a secret is for your own good?”

His words surprise me, the snarl in his tone even more. I open my mouth, hoping to push out an answer, but nothing comes out. In seconds, he has me boxed in again.

“They would eat you alive.”

I don’t need him to tell me who they are. The ruling heirs of Pravitia, Gemini’s equals—and mine, if I dare to allow myself to think it. But I balk at the very idea of being in the same room with them again. Untamable fear claws up my throat at the thought.

I stay perfectly still as Gemini’s face hovers inches from mine, his chest pressing into me.

“And as long as you hold on to your precious little morals, pet, you will never experience the kind of freedom you’re destined for.” His parted lips trail over my jaw, and I shudder at the sensation. Gnashing his teeth close to my ear, he adds, “Until then, you are mine to do with as I wish.”

I try to shove him away again, but he catches my wrists in his hands, a leering grin slicing across his face.

“I don’t believe you,” I hiss.

“You don’t believe what?” he says, the levity back in his voice.

“That there will ever be a day you’ll stop treating me like your prisoner and let me go.”

He hums with delight, his eyes shining much too bright for the gravity of the conversation.

“How can I make you understand this, doll? The day you decide to transform yourself into the person you’ve always been destined to become, you won’t want to leave. You’ll realize then that you’ve been exactly where you wanted to be all along.”

“And where’s that?”

This back-and-forth pulses with the echo of our previous conversation weeks ago. I know his answer but still burn to ask the question.

He gives me a knowing smile, as if he, too, is recalling that same conversation. “By my side,” he finally says.

I parrot back what I said that day, “Like your trophy?”

Gemini is quick to answer, his gaze darkening. “Like my wife .”

I study him, water clinging to his eyelashes. “You sound so sure about that.”

His response is filled with reverence. “There is no such thing as free will in a city like Pravitia, Veil Vulturine. It would benefit you to remember that.”

He’s still gripping my wrists while my hands are pressed against his chest, and I can feel the faint rhythm of his heartbeat.

“So it’s your gods’ will? Not yours?”

“ Our gods,” he says adamantly.

“How can I claim them if I know nothing about them?” I snap.

He watches me carefully, a serious dip to his brow. “Is that what you need?” he asks softly. “To commune with your god?”

His question stumps me. But there’s a small, distant voice inside that is screaming, Yes! Yes! Yes! and I suddenly feel an unbearable sense of loss. It’s as if I’ve been suppressing this feeling my entire life—born with it in the very molecules of my soul.

I have an overwhelming urge to cry, the tears pricking the back of my eyes as I swallow hard. I nod, knowing my voice will crack if I speak.

Gemini solemnly mirrors my nod. “Give me time, and I will find the answers you seek.”

My eyes fly open as I jolt out of slumber. Taking a deep, ragged inhale, I push the duvet off my body, feeling like I’m about to suffocate.

I was being chased again.

Except …

This time, Gemini did catch me, and he?—

My clit throbs, and I squeeze my legs in protest. To my dismay, it only seems to intensify the lustful ache. But it doesn’t deter me from replaying the dream in a slow, deliberate sequence.

Gemini’s harsh push to open my legs wide.

His flat tongue burning a path up my slit.

My throaty moans.

I squeeze my eyes shut, feeling crazed.

Gods.

Letting my head fall to the side, I find Gemini peacefully sleeping beside me. Although, in reality, there’s nothing peaceful about an agent of chaos like him. And still, in the cloaked secrecy of his dark room, I yearn to touch a lot more than just the warm skin of his rising chest.

My hand falls between my thighs, a feathered touch over my soaked panties, and I’m now desperate to fall victim to my inappropriate desires.

I chew on my bottom lip, staring at Gemini Foley, my biggest temptation. I’m torn by the familiar feelings warring inside of me. Right and wrong.

Gemini’s voice drifts past my ears as I recall what he said earlier in the pool. “As long as you hold on to your precious little morals …”

What if he’s right? What if I’m destined for something much greater than this?

Then a thought pops into my head. What if I can’t feel my god because I’ve been resisting it all this time?

What if they will continue to stay silent until I finally give in, accept my fate and let go?

My mind empties as I make my fateful decision, my heartbeat drumming in my chest as I crack to the maddening urge. Pushing myself up onto my hands and knees, I quietly crawl to Gemini’s side of the bed.