A muscle spasmed in his jaw. She deserves this!
She would hate Halo for it, but he didn’t care. Little harpies who played with the affections of an Astra did not garner his mercy.
He would get her settled in and leave her there. She would be safe, but never his. The task would carry on.
He completed the doorway between realms just in time.
“Okay, I’ve decided.” Ophelia leaped to her feet, raced to her closet and yanked garments from the rack, blurting out, “I’ll hit you up with all the deets tomorrow. Right now, I gotta armor up.”
Her willingness to stay and confront him roused all kinds of—nothing! Certainly not admiration. Or guilt for what was to come. The tightness in his chest was also nothing. She merited no coddling for this.
“I can sense him,” she said. “He’s close.”
“Wrong. He’s already here. Armor won’t help you, anyway.”
As she gasped and straightened, Halo flashed directly behind her. He forced her to spin, and she met his glare with one of her own.
She dares? He crossed his arms over his chest. What would she do next? Run into his trap, as suspected? Or strike at him? Which did he hope for most?
She jutted her chin. “Well. Since the team’s all here, I’m ready to listen to your thanks.”
“My thanks?” he stated with a low, flat tone.
“Accepted.” She scrubbed a hand over her face. “Look. I understand your side of the story. I do. Your task, your rules. Do you think I liked keeping my involvement from you and feeling almost sometimes guilty?”
Almost. Sometimes. Guilty.
“I’m an asset you refuse to utilize,” she continued. “Every time I transform, I grow in strength and knowledge. Soon, I’ll be able to control the beast and take out Erebus.”
“If you believe that, you are a fool.” Another flat statement. “You know nothing of the god and his ways. He has already seen the end from the beginning. He will never allow your strength to overcome his.”
“He can’t miscalculate? I can’t be a sucker punch he never sees coming?” She massaged her nape. “During yesterday’s battle, I came close to beating the compulsion to kill you. Next time I’ll succeed. I know it.”
Next—time. His fury bubbled over. “I killed you, Ophelia. On three separate occasions.”
“And you successfully completed the labors.”
“Leaving me with memories of killing you.”
“Do you think the memories of dying are any easier?”
He flinched, fisted his hands. Opened his fingers. Inhaled. Exhaled. Calm didn’t come. “Your actions have made you my enemy. If I cannot trust you, I cannot work with you.” I cannot keep you. “I hope the added strength was worth it.”
She paled but held fast. “Yes. Well. New strength is worth everything. It never lets you down. Something you understand, considering you, too, are fighting to ascend and better protect your people. Or maybe you don’t understand. You are the eliminator, never the obstacle.”
Realization dawned, sparking anger. This. The reason Erebus had offered the beautiful hind as a willing sacrifice.
The god hadn’t sought Halo’s upset. He’d sought Ophelia’s. She had received a firsthand view of the endless depths Halo would sink to handle an obstacle. Why would the harpymph trust him with anything, much less her secrets?
“Let me see if I’m understanding correctly. You killed my girl?” Vivian flicked a fang with the tip of her tongue. “Well. Someone’s becoming a eunuch today. Guess who it is.”
Halo ignored the harpire, his focus on Ophelia. He grated, “When you’re ready to discuss this reasonably, come to the palace.”
“Not so keen to guard me from the enemy today, huh?” she asked, sugary sweet and far more bitter.
“Why would I? You are not my gravita,” he snapped.
She flinched as if he’d struck her, and his chest hurt as never before.
“I killed you, Ophelia, but you killed what could have been between us.”
A smile that didn’t reach her eyes. A nonchalant shrug. “Whatever you’ve got to tell yourself, sport.” Syrupy tone.
He hardened his heart against her. “You have an hour to get yourself ready. Then I’ll come get you. Trust me when I say you don’t want me to come get you today, harpy.”
Batting her lashes, she tossed her hair over a shoulder. “Right now, Astra, I don’t want you coming to get me ever.”
“Fifty-nine minutes, eighteen seconds,” he told her. Knowing she was soon-to-be trapped exactly where he wanted her, Halo flashed to the throne room and called a meeting with the Astra. They had much to discuss before he handled the harpymph once and for all.
22
Okay, so, Ophelia might have taken a wrong turn with Halo. Before he’d ditched her, he’d treated her to an entire ballet of twitching muscles. Huge mad. Gargantuan. She couldn’t blame him. She’d gone on the defensive right from the start, disregarding her own wrongdoing and making light of his understandable reaction.
“You want to talk about it?” Vivi asked.