Page 50 of The Cursed Chalice

“Fuck Elias Thorne. There is a woman in our kitchen cooking dinner.”

I push myself away from the desk. “I will eat in a bit.”

Aric taps the windowpane slowly. “You can’t kiss her again. To protect her, you can’t claim her.”

I walk to the side table and pick up the chalice. “It’s too late now. Her lips already answered me. She can’t lie to herself.”

My finger grazes against the gold leaves on the chalice.

“Lying to herself? You lost control. You snapped.”

“I couldn’t hold myself back. There, is that what you want to hear me say?”

I bring the chalice to my lips and kiss it. “She is mine now. That’s all there is to it.”

“Then she is already dead.”

“Ares…free me.” Talia’s soul whispers.

“Do you hear that, Aric?” I ask.

“Hear what?”

I don’t panic like I did before.

I put the chalice down, and I don’t bother to tell Aric that I have been hearing Talia’s pleas. Instead, I walk back to the desk. I have work to complete. I begin reading my ledgers and looking at the shipments coming out of Lakeshore.

My brain wanders to Soraya and the way her fingers dug into my jacket. The small moans she released when I deepened the kiss. The scar on my face pulses at the thought of her. I can feel myself.

Her taste has branded my very soul, and I hate how much I crave for more. It’s a weird balance between wanting to make her mine and keeping her at a distance.

I lick my lips, still tasting the hints of her lip gloss.

“We can’t keep her. If you want her to live, you can’t chain her, Ares. She will run.”

Maybe I’m becoming more insane, because I don’t want her to leave. The thought of her leaving makes me sick. “If she runs, I will put her into a gold-gilded cage.”

“No, you can’t, Ares. Think.”

I slam my fist down. “I am thinking. I will break her resistance until one day…she begs for me.”

“We are fucked.”

SORAYA

I couldn’t eat. I wasn’t hungry. Dinner was saved by Nisa talking animatedly. I think we both, Ares and I, focused on her. Apparently, she never had chicken salad before. Croissants and chicken salad were now her new favorite foods. I decided to sit at the other end of the table, far away from Ares. Nisa is sitting in the middle. It’s so quiet without Phobos, Hecate, or Deimos.

Every so often, I would catch Ares staring at me over the rim of his wineglass. My eyes hold his as he sets the glass down on the table. At this point, it was a battle of wills to see who would turn away first. My toes curl, trying my best to keep staring. When he stares, it makes me feel hot, like he is stripping me and screwing me in ten different positions.

“Einstein.” Nisa’s voice breaks our silent match. Ares exhales, and his face transforms into a smile as he listens to Nisa. They are talking about the clouds or the sun.

I stand, beginning to take up the dishes from the table. I pick up Nisa’s, then I pass behind Ares’s chair.

“Are you finished?” I ask.

He takes up the plate and hands it to me. Just as I am about to turn away, he calls my name.

“You don’t have to make dinner. Mrs. Grady will be back soon.”