Page 34 of Guided by the Stars (Creating Destiny #1)

Adriane

When Skoteino Emerges

I sneak out, this is my moment to run and I’m not going to sit around and wait for another opportunity. I don’t know which door to take or how long they will be gone, or if there are people around. I’m hiding in the alcove in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs.

I don’t even know how long I have waited at this point, all I know is I have counted to six hundred Mississippis.

My heart races. I can feel it thumping around in there like someone knocked it loose.

There are so many doors. One of these doors leads to freedom, but I’m sure more than one leads to a worse fate.

I creep silently down the stairs. I inhale deeply and exhale to steady my heart.

Quickly, I choose a random door across from the stairway.

Grabbing the door handle, I pull, and it leads to a hall.

Everything is lit by torches or candles in chandeliers.

There are bones displayed as decorations everywhere, mixed with jewels, and red rubies only where the eyes should be .

This hallway is long, dark, and full of doors, but I keep going.

The thick red carpet helps to muffle my footsteps as I creep along the corridor.

My breath comes out in small, quiet puffs as I do not want to be too loud for fear of drawing attention.

The entire palace is black and red with all the jewels one could ever covet.

It’s literally built into the black onyx.

The paintings hanging on the walls are from the same fields I passed on the way to the palace.

They are full of crying women. In one, a man’s ears are bleeding and you can see him trying to cover them like he can try and block out the noise.

There are also quite a few of Tartarus, so many people in flames or hellhounds ripping souls apart.

I pray to the gods, every single one I can remember except for Hades, that I do not end up in Tartarus.

Finally reaching the end, I push open the heavy, black marble door.

The handle is made of pure gold, with rubies and emeralds adorning the door.

This room is full of flowers, weeds, and even more gold strewn about.

I look around and there are so many flowers I have never seen before.

A lot of black roses, red roses, and lavender are growing and it reminds me of Nora so much. I touch my necklace with my right hand.

I swear I will get back to you, Nora. We will be ok somehow. I hope you are in a much nicer place than I am.

There are no other doors in this room, so I back out and shut the door. I head back exactly the way I came, not sure if the outside door was here since I feel like I am just going deeper into the palace.

I’m not even sure how much time has passed since I was taken. My watch is useless, the hands have stopped at three o’clock and haven’t moved since they took me, which was days ago, from what I could gather. I know my watch works. I can hear the ticking noise, but the hands don’t move .

Frustration creeps over me. I am exhausted.

I need a shower after wandering around. Seeing the Field of Mourning was the worst. It left me feeling dirty somehow, full of misery and hopelessness, and I feel an ache deep inside me for a lot of those souls.

The woman who had grabbed my shoulder comes to my mind.

I wonder again, could my mother be amongst those women?

I hurry forward, ready to get out of this corridor, making it back to the door and exiting into what looks to be the common room. There is a huge fire roaring in the fireplace, but no one is around.

I hurry across to another door at random and as soon as I put my hand on the knob, a pained groan rips through the room.

I know it’s Kai. It tears my heart apart and I rush forward without even thinking about it, hurrying towards the noise.

Another groan resonates through the large room and I grab the doorknob.

Sure, he is an asshole, but the savior in me kicked in because someone is in pain.

Who am I kidding? I’m not much of a savior, but I owe him for saving me and I’m not the type that likes to owe people.

A rough hand closes around my mouth and I fling my elbow back and clock whoever it is behind me in the nose.

The owner of the rough hand doesn’t let me go.

He shoves me up against the wall and holds me there.

“Don’t move, don’t say a word.’’ His voice is husky and low through the pounding in my ears.

I think I remember this voice. I just can’t place it and it doesn’t matter, I just know that I need to get in that room.

“Adriane, stop!” he says roughly in my ear.

I stop struggling then, and he lets go of my mouth. “What is going on in there?” I say pushing Jax back so I can spin around and look him in the face. “No bullshit. That’s Kai, what is causing him to groan in pain like that? ”

“It’s not my place…” he says and looks away from me. I shove him hard in the chest. His eyes are hard and his jaw is clenched, body is shaking, but he doesn’t step closer to me. “Get back to the bedroom.” His voice is full of venom but I know it isn’t towards me.

“No, I want to see Kai,” I say and glare at Jax. “You should help him.”

“I expect obedience!” The loud voice is commanding and cold, making the walls shudder. That voice makes the blood run from my body and ice coat my veins. I stand there staring at Jax. He is grinding his teeth and after a bit, he nods at me.

“You can go to him now but trust me, he won’t like it.” I shove past him.

Rushing towards the door, I fling it open and see Kai held down on the table with vines wrapped around his arms and legs and neck.

There is blood pooled on the floor and I’m left breathless.

His back is bleeding and I rush towards him.

Tears threaten to fall, but I push them back because crying won’t help right now.

Jax comes in and he cuts through the vines to get to him.

I touch Kai’s face. “What happened?” I ask softly. “Why did they do this to you?”

Kai looks up at me and for the first time I see his eyes as they truly are, no hatred, just deep pools of steel-blue staring at me.

“You never listen, do you?” His eyes are so alive and open, and in this moment I see something behind them.

A different man than the one I have come to know.

This is the man who offered me his jacket to keep warm.

No, he is not a man. He is a god. Kai is a god.

I grab his arm and wrap it around my shoulder, trying to lift him off the table.

Jax grabs the other and my plan for escape is in the past because I can’t just leave him like this no matter what he has done to me.

Something about Kai draws me in like a moth to a flame, and I am hopelessly caught in this dark, sticky web with him.

Getting him back to his room was hard. I struggled to get him up the stairs. He tried to walk on his own, but he was in too much pain. He could barely manage to stand, but thankfully he let me help. We finally get him into the room and walk him to the bathroom. I turn on the shower.

Jax stands next to Kai. His eyes dart from me to Kai. “I’ll take Adriane to the kitchens and have Kelsey or Rose come attend to you,” Jax says. I glare at him and cross my arms.

Who the hell is Kelsey? And who the fuck is Rose? And why the hell do I even care?

Of course I can’t say that out loud but still, like, what the hell am I? A painting on a wall or some shit?

“No, I can manage. Get her some food and leave it by the door. I’ll rest for a bit. I don’t want her out of my sight, especially with Hades and her around.” I furrow my brow and bite my lip. I understand why he doesn’t call them mom and dad now.

“Alright, but I’ll be outside your door if you need anything.

” He claps Kai on the shoulder. I see the way Kai winces.

I watch Jax walk out the bathroom door and listen as his footsteps fade away and hear the click of the bedroom door.

Kai still hasn’t looked at me, his head is bowed and he is shirtless, exposing his bloody, beaten back.

But through the grotesque wounds, I can see that his tattoos cover an array of scars.

I recall seeing his back earlier in the room.

I only got a quick glance then, but when he turned around I could see something broken in his eyes and I didn’t comment.

We all have scars, but now I know where his came from.

Hades hurts him, and if Kai is his son, what am I in store for here? What do I even do ?

I walk across the room and touch his shoulder. He tenses under my hand. “Kai,” I whisper. He doesn’t move away from me. This is a victory since before he wouldn’t allow me to touch him. “The water is ready for you, I can help you clean up.”

“Why?” he says gruffly, still not looking at me. “Why would you help me? You owe me nothing, especially after the way I’ve treated you.”

That’s true, I owe him nothing. He kidnapped me and brought me to this hellhole of a place.

The question makes me stop and think. But the thing is, I have been where he is, maybe not as bad, but I remember the first time I had someone hit me and beat me over something that wasn’t my fault.

Foster homes suck, not that there was much I could do about it, and it’s easier to suck it up and move on than to talk about it.