Gods Save the Princess (Grace of Gods Book 2) (9 page)

BOOK: Gods Save the Princess (Grace of Gods Book 2)
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“Are you avoiding me?” I stopped walking and slowly turned around to look at Griffin, frowning to myself and shaking my head.

“No, of course not. Why would you think that?”

“I was rude, more than once, to you.” I smiled, my instinctive reaction.

“Not rude enough that it would make me avoid you, I’m kind of stubborn like that.”

“I just haven’t seen you in weeks and it was making me...” He stopped talking slowly, like he was indulging too much information. I raised my eyebrows slightly, hoping to be able to probe for him to finish but he simply tucked his hands in his pockets and shrugged.

“I’ve just been busy.”

“With the books?” He guessed and I nodded.

“How did you know?”

“You might not have been actively avoiding me but I’ve been around, I saw you a few times carrying those massive things back to your room.”

“I’m trying to figure out my Goddess.” I explained, looking down at a calla lily, watching it bounce as I touched it lightly.

“She’s still eluding you?” I looked up again and nodded, a frown still creasing my brow.

“I wish mine was.” He said frowning himself as his shoulders hunched.

“I just feel that without her I have no purpose here - it makes me wonder if I’m even supposed to be here.” Griffin looked back up at me and raised his eyebrows.

“I think you’ll find if you weren’t here a lot of people would be upset.” I smiled at the comment but I couldn’t believe it was true. I hadn’t been at a party in over a week and the only person - so far - who had noticed my absence was Griffin apparently.

“True or not...” I began slowly, “it’s frustrating having her allude me so much. And, I'm getting no help from Atlas who merely explains that she’s actively trying to not come into existence.”

Griffin didn’t say anything but his features twisted for a moment like he was in pain before his brow furrowed and his jaw tensed slightly. Then before he could say or do something in anger his face relaxed again and he let out the breath he was holding.

“I need to go. I’ll see you tonight?” He asked.

I frowned, “what’s tonight?”

“You really have been avoiding everyone.” He said with a teasing smile, though it turned more into a grimace after a second or two. “It’s the grand unveiling of the Olympians. We’re supposed to ascend our thrones tonight and rightfully resume our place.”

“Oh.” I said, the disappointment not lacking in my tone. “Then the Olympians have all united with their hosts?”

He nodded his head, “yes. And now we are supposed to introduce ourselves to everyone else. There’s going to be a big turn out tonight.”

“Right. Well of course I’ll be there. I’m sure Jed wouldn’t let me miss a big party like that.”

He nodded his head, his expression unreadable again before he looked back to the door, “well, see you tonight then.” He started turning away from me and hurrying back for the door.

“Griffin, wait!” I said, stepping closer to him again. As he turned once again, I could sensed the reluctance of the gesture as he inclined his head toward me as if to say “yeah what?” so I licked my lips and proceeded.

“Who is your God then?”

His face grew sad like he didn’t want to tell me, “Hades.”

“Oh.” I said, taking a moment to consider this. I supposed my disappointment was related to my hoping he was someone who might give him hope that this second chance was worth having. But this sad, confusing boy also made sense as the God of the Underworld. 

“Yeah.” He said, as he finally turned and walked away completely. I felt bad almost instantly, the interaction leaving me feeling guilty for some kind of judgment he had thought I had made. But I didn’t care if he was Hades, other people might - which I could understand given his tense history with all the other Gods - but Hades wasn’t exactly a bad guy.

Not at least from what I’d read - which was mostly his interactions with female Gods throughout my studies. Whatever was Griffin’s internal conflict with his God, I hoped he wasn’t too hard on himself. But I also hoped that tonight people would use their humanity to be a little more forgiving about who he was as well.

I wrapped my cardigan tightly around my slight frame and walked out of the garden, I wanted to go and see Jed and ask about this party tonight. Griffin seemed less interested in it than I knew Jed would be. He’d have all the answers I needed.

“Eh! Kiddo! Where you been?” I walked right into a room full of people but all eyes turned on me as Jed welcomed me.

I smiled softly and shrugged, “keeping busy.”

He smirked like my secret was far more nefarious than it was - studying and resisting the urge to become a narcoleptic - “ah, busy is always good.” He winked, which only made me blush and shake my head furiously.

“Not like that Jed.” I said quietly, my voice going small. He laughed boisterously, wrapping an arm around my shoulders in camaraderie before guiding me away from the group.

“Then like what? Everything okay Kiddo?”

“Yeah, I’ve just been wrapped up with figuring out who my Goddess was. Night after night of people introducing their two selves to me and then asking me who I was can be a little depressing. I thought maybe if I dedicated myself to the task it would work.”

“I’m guessing it didn’t?”

I shook my head sadly and shrugged, “Whatever, she’ll come to me in time. Even if she’s trying to do everything she can to not.”

“Hm, wonder why?”

“I ask myself that all the time but I just get back radio silence in return.”

Jed laughed and gave my shoulders a squeeze, “well, even if she doesn’t want to come around I’m glad you did because we missed you. And you’re back in time for the biggest party of the year.”

“So I hear.”

“The Olympians are going to ascend their throne.”

“You must be heartbroken you don’t get one.” I smiled knowingly, Jed was probably the easiest going guy here and he had certainly taken nicely to the idea of being a God. He would’ve liked it even more if it had turned out he was a powerful one. Still, even if his domain was nothing more than parties and drink that seemed to be important enough to the ancient Greeks that they had named cities after him and  a massive festival. Jed was totally on board with that idea.

“Well yes, I wouldn’t mind the idea of having a nice cushy throne to sit my ass down in while I command the life of the party.”

“Aren’t you the life of the party?” I smiled, but he only shook his head.

“No, you are now my little protégé.” We both laughed, I just wasn’t sure that he was laughing for the same reasons I was.

“So then who are the other Olympians? I know Nicola, Charlotte, Zane...” Three out of twelve, a lot must’ve happened in the last week. I still found it hard to believe that much time had passed without causing a blip on my internal clock’s radar.

“Well, the only important thing you need to know is who is going to end up being the Queen of the Gods.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, Charlotte is vying for the position since she started hooking up with Aidan - that’s Zeus, whose party you bailed on last week - but then Savannah showed up and everyone knew she was Hera and the two girls have gotten into some pretty heated arguments in front of everyone. Tonight they’re saying Aidan is going to choose Charlotte so we’re all expecting Savannah to lose it.” His eyes were bright with the prospect of drama. I couldn’t help but laugh that our lives had gotten so carefree that drama, that could put soap operas to shame, was the most exciting thing to us.

“Well, whoever gets that throne should be the deserving one. Not the one who is doing it for superficial reasons.” I didn’t know exactly whom my advice would rule out but I was sure one of them was after it for nothing more than the title. That was almost always the case for other things, no less the title of Queen.

“Well, I think Savannah should get it. She’s hotter.” I laughed and shook my head at Jed.

“You’re secretly such a conceited jerk, it’s amazing.” I teased with a grin as I patted him on the chest and started to walk away.

“It’s why the girls love me!” He called after me, but I could hear the laughter in his voice. I was mostly convinced he put on that act to seem like the rest of the guys here when in fact he was probably one of the decent ones... If only he had the ability to settle down a bit.

I said hello to a few other people and got several more run-downs of the Savannah-Charlotte feud. Apparently I had missed some of the juiciest drama Olympus had seen this side of the century. Once my head was swimming with facts I finally excused myself to go and get ready for tonight. If I was going to show up after a week of absence I should probably not go in a sundress, not that the occasion sounded like anything less than semi-formal.

But as soon as I emerged into the hallway I realised I hadn’t been taken to my apartment, instead emerging in the middle of a door less hallway. Steps away from me and curled in a ball on the ground, crying was a blonde girl only a few years older than me.

“Are you okay?” She looked up at me but didn’t immediately answer, she just sat there staring at me like she expected me to laugh or say something else. So I obliged, asking my question again as I held out my hand to help her up. This seemed to jolt her from her state of reverie as she nodded, taking my hand and climbing to her feet.

“Yeah... Well, no.” Which was it? “I’ve been better, but I’ve been worse I suppose.” That I could relate to.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I let go of her hand and smiled again, hoping to ease her discomfort.

“Just boy problems you know.”

I didn’t know. I’d never even had a boyfriend, not that I was sure I was ready to have one yet with everything in my past. But this wasn’t about me, “sure… I’m Valentina.” I held out my hand to her, still smiling as I waited for her name.

“Savannah.” Oh, the one everyone was talking about. Jed was right. She was a tad prettier than Charlotte, perhaps because she had an air of not realising she was pretty whereas Charlotte sort of rubbed it in your face. Of course, Charlotte was naturally beautiful which she used to justify her personality disorder.

“Yeah, I know. You’re the Queen.” Well, I hadn’t actually known but now, looking at her, I seemed to realised it.

“I guess… But it’s unlikely that I’ll maintain that title.” So she knew what might happen tonight, she’d almost accepted it. It didn’t seem fair for her to be so deflated, especially when by right the throne was supposed to be hers. She was Hera after all.

“Boy trouble… I guess you mean Aidan then?” 

She nodded, “yeah. But it’s always Aidan around here, right?” From the gossip I’d just received at Jed's I was inclined to agree.

“I wouldn’t let him get you down, Hera wasn’t Queen of the Heavens just because she was married to the King of the Skies. She was Queen in her own right and you shouldn’t forget that.”

“I guess so…”

“No, really. It’s the truth. Hera was always meant to be Queen and no one else; Zeus recognised that and played into fate. Even Zeus can’t runaway from fate. Like the rest of us he isn’t impervious to its influence.”

“So then, who are you? You seem to know an awful lot about me.”

I blushed and shrugged, “I don’t know. My Goddess is still sleeping… Atlas promises me she’ll wake up when she’s ready but I don’t know, I think he made a mistake.”

“I know what that’s like. But he’s right. You’re here for a reason and that reason will show itself soon enough.”

“Yeah… You’re probably right. Until then, I’ll keep reading the myths and see if I can find someone who is like me. Atlas said we share similar histories to our Gods, so I figure the more I read the greater chance I have of getting a hint.”

The more we talked the more I began to like her. She was insecure like me, but for different reasons. She was kind and honest, the latter trait being one that seemed to lack amongst most of these people. Being Gods seemed to make everyone believe that they had to plot and scheme as they did in the olden days. They acted as if there wasn’t some kind of inherent right to the new life Atlas had given us. But if it weren’t inherent, we wouldn’t be here at all because we wouldn't have been chosen.

Despite first impressions, I was still hesitant when she invited me back to her apartment. I’d never had a girlfriend to get ready with - then again before coming here I hadn’t had any reason to get ready in the first place. However, she seemed a lot more fashionable than I was and I guessed that by going with her it might do me some good, I freely admitted I didn't have the slightest idea of what to wear for an event like tonight.

I also, kind of, wanted to look good for Griffin when I saw him. I’d been mean to him, just as he had been mean to me.  I wanted to make up for it, still embarrassed I had acted so rudely. But most importantly I wanted to give us a clean slate, leave the negativity behind us and focus on how I'd felt about that sick boy in bed. I wanted him to know how I felt.

Savannah and I spent the rest of the afternoon trying on dresses and getting to know each other better. I found it funny that in all my time here - almost a month now - I hadn’t actually just hung out with any of the people here like I was doing with Savannah. None of them had ever asked. The friendships they forged were far more superficial than genuine, even Jed's.

BOOK: Gods Save the Princess (Grace of Gods Book 2)
10.13Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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