I was lost. I needed to be lost in every sense of the word.
Harsh wind whipped through the rose garden and splashed my long, dark hair into my face. I’d been forced to color over the green hue I loved, but my snakes were still there, simply concealed under brown hair dye. Medusa simmered in my blood. She’d lain dormant until the initiation, and now she raged in the marrow of my bones.
Quiet relief swept through me once I was nestled in the narrow passage between the manicured walls of evergreen. With the impending storm, it was dark out, and the landscape lighting that dotted the path couldn’t seem to penetrate the evening shadows. I stumbled blindly deeper into the maze with no destination, my feet sending pebbles skittering over each other.
I didn’t see a flash of lightning. It was only the growling moan of thunder that made me aware of its existence. Maybe Macalister really was Zeus, and this thunderstorm was what had pulled him abruptly away. He was on Mount Olympus, hurling lightning bolts down at the mortals below.
Cold raindrops pricked at my skin, but I pressed on.
I’d never actually solved the maze before, but right now I had no desire to do so. As soon as I’d locked myself in amongst the tall hedges and the marble statues, everything outside of this labyrinth ceased to exist. It kept the fissures in my heart from widening and splitting me in two. The hurt of Royce’s betrayal couldn’t find me in here.
The clouds darkened. Rain pelted down, stinging and unforgiving. Lightning burst from the sky in a jagged slash, and more thunder followed right on its heels. Only this time it wasn’t a low rumble, but a sharp, hateful crack. Like the sound of a slap across a face, magnified a million percent.
I shouldn’t be out here, but where the hell was I supposed to go? Back to the house where I couldn’t trust anyone? Calling my family wasn’t an option. Macalister would take back his deal and his money, and then he’d come after us in retribution. I’d be left with even less than I’d started with.
I’d come much too far to turn back.
The wind swirled around me with unease. It propelled me along the path, ushering me toward the exit. Like it knew I shouldn’t stay.
Or . . . perhaps not.
I wiped the rain from my eyes and stared at the decorative urn before me, surrounded by hedges on three sides. A dead end. There were statues at some of the ends, and urns at the others. This one looked like the rest. Even if I wasn’t disoriented, I’d have no idea where I was.
Lightning lit everything in unsettling white light for a sliver of a moment. The booming thunder seemed to anger the wind. It made the hedges come alive and undulate around me. They shook their disapproving branches at me, wagging their fingers at the stupid Northcott girl who’d nearly fallen in love with the prince of lies.
I shuffled along the path as fast as I could. The heavy, frigid rain soaked my clothes and weighed me down. I thought I was headed in the right direction until I turned a corner and lurched into the opening at the center of the maze. It was pouring down so hard now I couldn’t tell if the tiered fountain at the center was even running.
I pressed my lips together to stop my bottom lip from quivering. I’d achieved my goal of losing myself, but I hadn’t expected to feel so scared and alone. I lifted my gaze to the sky, blinking rapidly against the torrents of rain, and winced as another bolt of lightning ripped from the dark clouds. I pushed back a drenched lock of my hair, slinging away water as I stared at the fountain.
A week ago, Royce had knelt there and asked me to marry him. He’d told me the initiation was just the beginning and hinted things were going to get worse, but I hadn’t expected the first hit to come so soon.
Or to come from him.
I turned in place and faced the spot where the hedges parted, choosing to go back the way I’d come. At least the front section of the maze I was more familiar with.
The storm was like Royce’s gaze on me. It didn’t let up, no matter how uncomfortable it made me. Perhaps he clouded my thoughts, but when I found myself facing the same damn urn in the dead end, an angry sigh punched from my lungs. I could tell it was the same one from before. Part of a hedge root curled over the edge of the base.
I was smart, and this maze wasn’t that challenging. What was wrong with me?
A shiver glanced through my shoulders, but a tingle crept up my spine. I was freezing, but this shiver was something . . . else. I turned, and breath caught in my throat.