“So you were going to sell me to your enemy not knowing if your sister was even alive?”
“I told you, we planned to get you back.”
“Like you got the rest of your slaves back?” I sit up, and turn my head to see him better. He’s as calm and relaxed as ever. “Did you tell them the same thing?”
“They were destined for other masters.”
“What does that even mean?”
“They were not trained for Vladik,” he snaps and takes a deep breath. “Not all were trained for Vladik. Some were merely a means to an end.”
“God, do you have any idea how cavalier you sound?” I shake my head and pull free of his embrace. “You’re talking about human lives here.”
“And human lives paid for this luxurious bath you’re lying in.” My mouth drops open. Ares chuckles. “What do you think paid for this house, and the clothes upon your back, little one?”
My blood turns to ice. I should have known this. Of course, on some level I suspect I did already know, but hearing him be so blasé about a human life, aboutmylife, hurts my heart. We mean nothing to him. All of us. We’re nothing but a million-dollar paycheck. Isn’t that what Hermes told me before his brother set me free?
Freedom wasn’t right for me. Without Ares I was an empty shell, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t right for everybody else. He may have made me this way, but Atticus and Violet showed me there was more. To submit means to sacrifice, your will, your humility, your pride, but not your power. Not all of it. I lean forward and shirk away from his touch. “I want you to auction me off.”
“What?”
“Sell me to Vladik, and I’ll get your sister back.”
“No. Absolutely fucking not.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re mine,” he roars. The sound reverberates through the bathroom, and I resist the urge to cover my ears. I will not show weakness in front of him. Not now.
“You were planning to sell me all along. What’s changed?” I don’t need to ask to know the answer. He changed. I changed. We both changed together, and now it’s different.
“You’re mine, Pet. I’m not handing you over to Vladik. We’ll find another way to get Athena back.”
“In ten years, have you found a way?”
“Enough—”
“You know it’s the truth. It’s the reason your brother held a broken bottle to my jugular. There isn’t another way.”
“We’ll find one. I’ll have no more of this.”
I shake my head infinitesimally and lean back into his embrace when he pulls me, because what other choice do I have?
I know what I need to do, and Ares isn’t going to like it one little bit.