Seduction (Curse of the Gods #3)

“Me? They threatened me?” I smiled broadly. “I knew you all liked me. No point in denying it any longer.”

Yael’s brow furrowed and he looked like he was in a great amount of pain. “How can the fact that gods are threatening you almost every sun-cycle not be bothering you?”

I shrugged. “It’s really not a big deal. My teachers and fellow dwellers in the villages used to threaten me all the time too. I’m more than used to it.”

I returned my attention to the arena as Aros took to the sands, walking out into the middle of the empty space and spinning in a small, graceful circle. There was no sign of his opponent. I shifted from foot to foot, growing more anxious by the moment, but Aros seemed to be completely relaxed. He walked a short distance. Stopped. Returned, and did another small spin. He settled his eyes on the god-box, quirked a brow, and his lip tilted up just slightly at the corner. The people in the stands started to fidget, a hushed murmur carrying through them.

Eventually, Aros threw out his arms. “Am I not an appealing opponent?” he called out, his voice carrying across the space clearly.

The stands shook with nervous laughter, and Aros eventually grinned, his perfect features almost mischievous as he faced the god-box again. The laughter faded away as the nervous clearing of a throat filled the arena. It was the announcer.

“The second Seduction sol has … withdrawn from the fight. A new contestant has been chosen.”

A louder wave of murmuring swept through the arena, and several of the rows of waiting sols jumped to their feet, craning over and around each other to spot who the new contestant was. I didn’t bother looking—my attention was all on Aros. The mischief in his face had been chased away by annoyance, and he was staring our way, as though sharing his annoyance with us. It was nice of him to share and everything, but I had no damn idea what was happening. I apparently wasn’t a part of their team-effort secret plan.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” Yael muttered.

He didn’t sound alarmed, but the other Abcurses had gone quiet, their attention on the sands.

“What wasn’t supposed to happen?” I asked. “And actually … what was supposed to happen? You can tell me what’s going on. I’m great with secrets. I once didn’t tell Emmy that her dress was tucked into the back of her underwear for a whole sun-cycle. Okay—to be honest, I never told her. Mostly because I didn’t realise she wasn’t doing it on purpose. I thought it was a new fashion statement, the first one from Emmy that seemed fun in any way. Long story short, she got sent home from school with a warning for exposing herself.”

I could feel the heat of four sets of eyes focussing on me, all giving me that look that I was growing used to by now. That here we go again look. I ignored them all to finish my story, because I wasn’t going to let them intimidate me out of it just yet.

“My mother was the one in charge of punishing Emmy, and she—” I squinted at the form walking into the middle of the arena, toward Aros.

“She what?” Coen prodded, almost begrudgingly.

I squinted harder, even though I could see perfectly fine. I just … couldn’t actually believe what I was seeing. My eyes darted over the wild mess of blonde hair, and the familiar, stumbling walk. I couldn’t see the woman’s face … but I didn’t need to.

“Your mother what?” Siret demanded.

“My mother is about to battle a god of Seduction,” I found myself saying, my own tone sounding completely dull and emotionless. “She’s about to battle my god of Seduction. In a fight. With powers. Here. Now. She’s here. Now. In the arena. About to battle—”

“Fuck,” Yael cursed. “Someone grab her before she—”

I had no idea who he was talking about, because I was already slipping away from them. I intend to beat them to the arena. I intend to beat them to the arena. I intend to beat them to the—

“Gods-dammit, Willa!” Siret shouted from behind me. “That’s not how it works!”

I pumped my legs harder and gritted my teeth, focussing with everything I had, until the sunlight broke out across my forehead and the surface beneath my boots gave way to sand.

I spun immediately, holding both of my hands up to the four gods appearing directly before me, murder in their eyes.

“One more step and I’ll take my clothes off!” I warned them. “I’ll get naked and use it to cause Chaos everywhere and then I’ll steal my mother and … and kick Three in the ball—”

“We’ll stay,” Coen cut across me. “Go and fetch your mother. It’s clearly what they want, otherwise they would have never brought her out here.”

I nodded at him, and cast a quick glance to the others, just to make sure they weren’t going to fight me on the decision, before I spun and ran toward the vision from my not-so-distant past. Aros was staring from me, to my mother, and back again. Maybe he could see the resemblance, or maybe he was just reading the look of panic on my face. She had stopped moving toward him, but she wasn’t turning—she was focussed. I skidded to a stop right behind her, and reached out hesitantly. I was a little put-off at how still she had become, and the feeling only increased as she turned and I met her eyes. I could feel my stomach sinking, a heavy dread settling there, mixed with disbelief and hysteria. It edged up, working its way through my body.

“Mum?” I squeaked out, the word catching on a sob.

“That is not my name,” she replied, her voice formal and metallic-sounding. “I am called Donald.”

“Mum?” I screeched, much louder this time.

“My observation is that this Sacred One is broken,” she announced, turning to Aros and pointing at me. “Should I call for a healer?”

Aros was at my side in a blink, his arms winding around me from behind, tucking me in against his chest. I wasn’t sure whether he was restraining me or comforting me. I was too busy trying to process what was standing in front of me, and what it meant. The announcer was speaking again, but the buzzing of panic was too loud in my ears to make out what the voice was saying. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a door opening at the base of the arena, beneath the god-box, and several bodies moving through onto the sands.

“Willa …” Aros was whispering my name, his arms tightening around me.

I still couldn’t focus properly. The woman before me wavered, and I could feel a tingling at the base of my skull, a darkness creeping into the edges of my vision.