Page 53 of Guided by the Stars (Creating Destiny #1)

Adriane

When Darkness Reveals

There is a long black box on Kai’s bed, adorned by a big red bow.

My name is scrawled on the tag hanging off the box.

My eyes shoot over to Kai in surprise. He is pulling out all the stops for me.

Except when I take in his reaction, his nostrils are flaring and his eyes are full of shadows.

I know this wasn’t from him and I quickly cross the room to the box, picking up the tag.

Adriane,

I demand your presence at midnight for dinner. I took the liberty of having a dress made for you.

The Lord of the Underworld & your new owner.

Hade s

I throw the card back on the bed, shaking my head. “It’s from Hades,” I say in astonishment as Kai moves to the bed, throwing open the box.

“Who else would have sent it?” Kai’s body quakes with rage and his eyes go hard as ice.

Inside the box, a gorgeous black tiara made of onyx and encrusted with emeralds and rubies sits on a black dress.

I hear him growl and I pick it up, placing it on the bed carefully.

I hold up the dress next. The black gossamer dress is so light, it’s see through.

The front is short, it comes up to my mid-thigh.

The back has a long tail that will trail behind me.

It twinkles in the light and I feel so connected to it.

I touch the sparkles as if I can sense the energy coming from it.

The sound of faint screaming fills the air around us.

My eyes dart around the room, searching for the sound.

Kai glares at the dress, his eyes full of disapproval.

“He has souls trapped in it. That’s what you’re hearing. ”

I drop the dress at once, as if it has burned my hands, and my stomach flips.

“If he thinks I’m wearing that, he has lost his fucking mind,” I say.

Looking back in the box there is a pair of black heels that have red satin ribbons attached to it so they will lace up my legs. “Kai, can’t I just say no?”

Kai moves over to me, grabbing my hands. “I’m sorry, you don’t have a choice. If you don’t go, he’ll send for you and that isn’t something you want.”

“Will you go with me?” I ask, biting the corner of my bottom lip. Kai bends over and kisses me.

He lets my hand go, and reaches up to trail his finger along the side of my face.

“Jax and I will be the ones escorting you to dinner. Whenever there’s a formal dinner, we must all attend.

” I lick my lips nervously. I don’t want to go and I don’t want to wear a fucking soul dress.

It’s awful enough being here but now I have to see the Ruler of the Underworld, knowing that these gods want us for an unknown reason.

Though I know it’s not for anything good. Why else would Hades want me?

The way he ended the card hasn’t escaped my notice either. “Can’t we just escape back to the Elysian Fields?” I ask and his eyes twinkle, but he shakes his head. My thoughts turn to Nora. I wonder if she has met Zeus or if she is being paraded around.

Kai pulls away from me. “I will return, rest before dinner. Jax will keep you company. There are some matters I must attend to.” Before Kai even finishes his sentence, Jax is standing in the room.

I want to grab Kai and give him a kiss, but I don’t.

Who am I to him anyhow?

This is all so new to me, I don’t want to be clingy. Instead I smile and wave. I feel so stupid when he winks at me and walks out the door.

A wave, really? What is wrong with me?

I walk over to the bed and push the dress over and sit there.

“Nora is fine, I know you’re worried for her,” Jax says. I turn to him because I want to know more and I consider him to be my lifeline to her. Jax has been so great since the beginning, even when he didn’t have to be. I grab onto his arm, pulling him towards me.

“How do you know? Is she being treated ok?” I ask. Because I need to know and since he is telling me, it means he has a way to know. It could be the sight he is always going on about.

Smiling, he grabs my hand and kisses it tenderly.

“Now, Beautiful, I can’t tell you all my secrets, but she is fine for now.

I have to ask you to keep this between us.

No one, and I mean no one, can know, do you understand?

” I nod because I know he is trusting me with a secret, a secret I’d guess even Kai knows nothing about.

“I figured you’d want to know before you go, this dinner is not like others you have been to. ”

“Yeah, I’d say so, with that outfit. And I’m in the Underworld, a place that is not supposed to be real. Technically, this is all a myth, with a Greek god who stole his wife and here I am going to have dinner with him. So yes, all of those facts clued me in, Jay.”

He laughs as he pulls me towards him. I noticed he is the touchy-feely type, but I kind of like it. “You and Kai have the same tattoo,” I say, and his arms go stiff.

Oh shit, I did it, stuck my foot in my mouth.

“Hades branded me on my hand so everyone would know I belong to him. Poseidon traded my brother and me off after he broke us in. I ended up here as a teenager and went through more ‘training’, as Hades calls it. That is when Kai and I bonded.” I lean my head on his arm as he talks, it’s a comfort I can offer.

“Often we go through the same punishments or they force us to watch the other. Persephone is the worst of them, though. At one point, even Hades felt bad for us, but she drove that hatred for Kai, and since Kai cares about me she uses it against us.”

I pull back out of his arms and he runs his fingers along the scars on my back and I bring my eyes up to his soft brown ones and run my hand through his hair and down the side of his neck.

“So the torture Kai went through is a common occurrence?” I questioned.

His answer is a simple nod. I gathered as much from Kai, but I still asked.

I know it must have taken a lot for him to have confessed what he did.

“I can also say that you two are like me. We don’t give our trust away easily, nor do we allow people to see beyond what we want them to see.

” His eyes are shining with questions. He wants to know about the scars.

Looking down at my lap, I decide to trust him.

“You shared something with me, so it’s only right that I share a secret with you.

” I take a deep breath and I let it out.

“When I was younger, I was in and out of shitty foster homes where the people only wanted to collect the checks they got. There was this couple that used me as a babysitter, as a maid, and just whatever they needed in the moment. I mean, I was used to that by then, but one day the lady caught her husband cheating and smashed up all his things. When he came home drunk, she lied and said it was me.” Jax pulls me towards him.

But he stays quiet, which I’m thankful for.

“See, he was abusive, so she said it was me so he wouldn’t hurt her.

At first he yelled and told me to clean up the broken dishes.

I went to fetch the dustpan, but he didn’t like that very much and told me to do it with my hands.

I cut myself on a shard of glass and there was blood everywhere.

” Pulling away from him, I stand and lift my shirt to show him my back.

“I guess bleeding made him mad. He hit me with his belt and the buckle is what caused the scars.” I keep facing the wall and I’m brought back to the present when the bed shifts.

Jax touches my hand to move them from my back and hugs me, bringing my back to his chest. He smells amazing, different from Kai.

Jax’s scent reminds me of fresh-cut grass on a summer day with a hint of those crisp green apples, so it’s tangy and sweet.

That is what Jax is, a summer day. Kai is a cold winter night when you light a fire, the smoke and the sweet scent of cedar bonfires and hot chocolate.

Kai and Jax, so opposite, yet similar in some ways.

Therefore, I feel so close to them because they are my matches .

“Your secret is safe with me, Ade.” He kisses the top of my head.

“Thank you for trusting me the way I trust you. No matter how broken you think you are, you’ll always be the most beautiful soul I have ever seen.

” At this moment I think I finally understand why he calls me Beautiful.

It isn’t because of my looks, but what he thinks my soul is like.

Is it crazy to have a connection to two people at the same time? Yes!

But it’s crazy to imagine that the Greek mythology we learned in school is real. I never felt pulled to people besides Nora, but this is an instinct I can’t ignore. I trust them. I realize this, and now they both have pieces of me that they could throw in my face or use against me.

The door creaks open and we break apart.

Kai enters and his eyes seek us out. Jax walks over to Kai, each nodding their heads at the other.

It’s the way they communicate to each other, in a code.

I know I haven’t earned the right to those secrets, not yet, and perhaps I never will.

I keep thinking of me and Kai as forever, but what forever do we have?

I am a plaything for these gods and he is a prince in his own right.

I know that one way or another, I will leave here and I will have to leave him behind.

“Dinner is soon, we should get ready,” Kai announces and Jax walks to the door.

Before leaving, he turns to look at me and blows me a kiss along with a wink.

He walks out, shutting the door behind him.

“I see you gained his confidence.” Kai stalks over to me and he tilts my head back.

I’m left staring into his eyes. “I knew you were trouble the moment I laid my eyes on you, but you did something most have wanted their entire lives,” he whispers.