Once a Myth

We stood dappled by sunlight, and I despised that he was handsome, just like Sully Sinclair.

Why was it that beauty always graced the wicked?

I didn’t like his promise.

I refused to reply to his radical concepts that a kidnapped and stolen woman would be happy here. Just because the sun sparkled on pristine sand and jewelled birds flew unhindered through lush greenery didn’t mean this wasn’t the Garden of Eden with a dark secret to tell. And just like the Garden of Eden, it all dissolved into death and decay the moment that apple was tasted.

I would never fall into the trap of eating a poisoned apple. I wasn’t Eve, and I wasn’t Snow White. I was Eleanor Grace—not Jinx—and I didn’t need someone to rip back the curtain on the truth of this place.

I knew the truth of it.

This is Hell.

And Sully Sinclair and his minions were hobgoblins of the underworld.

I crossed my arms, accepting the challenge of his servant. It was rash and stupid to stand up to him, but I had a good guess that captive women here might be fed a drug and used against their will, but I doubted abuse—that wasn’t paid for and within the strict terms that Sinclair agreed to—was allowed.

What was the point in beating up the merchandise? Who would pay top dollar for a slave when she had a broken arm and a black eye?

Bracing my spine, I clipped, “Finish your task and take me to whoever requested my company. I can guess who that is, by the way, and somehow, I don’t think your master likes to be kept waiting.” I spread my lips into a thin, brittle smile, looking past him to Sully Sinclair who’d abandoned his nonchalant sprawl in his chair and now stood with hands throttling the banister, coiled like a black panther above us, ready to slay. “He’s not happy that you’re detaining me, and I’m not happy with this conversation.”

The man’s face drained of colour, his eyes turned hard, all while his mouth quirked into a condescending smile. “Wow…you really are destined for pain.”

In one heartbeat, I feared I’d made a colossal mistake and braced for a punch. In another, I shivered with the simplicity of what he’d said. The utmost assuredness that I would be in pain and lots of it.

I wanted to jump back in the ocean and never step foot on dry land again.

I’d somehow grow a tail, covered in pretty scales and powerful fins, and vanish into the depths where nothing and no one could hurt me.

Turning and unblocking the path, he spread his arm for me to step in front of him. “After you, Goddess Jinx.” He bowed mockingly. “I must say, I’m going to enjoy watching your employment.”

He chuckled, sending a wash of goosebumps down my back as I marched past him and locked eyes with Sully Sinclair again, glowering from the clear blue sky above.

Behind me, the man whispered, “You know…you’ve already fucked up worse than any girl who arrived before you.” He laughed again, low and a little too full of anticipation of what my future held.

I once again ignored him, focusing on stepping on the shadowy sand rather than the golden grains in full sunlight, unwilling to burn the soles of my bare feet.

The hair on my nape stood up as the man added, “It’s not the men who pay for the privilege of fucking you that you have to be afraid of, Jinx.” His arm appeared by my head, his finger pointing at Sully. “It’s that man. And you’ve gone and made him pay attention.” He clucked his tongue like an old busybody. “Probably shouldn’t have done that, but it’s too late now.”

As my feet reached the deck and I climbed the three steps from the sand to smooth wood, his words licked down my spine. “Four years was a small price to pay for your freedom, but now that Sinclair’s interested in you? Well, you might as well make yourself at home because I doubt you’ll be going anywhere.”

I slammed to a halt as he skirted past me and smirked. “Come along. Like you said…don’t want to keep your god and ruler waiting.”

Chapter Fourteen

SHE ARRIVED AS IF gracing me with her presence, not the other way around.

I’d been right to be wary of my intense reaction to her yesterday when she’d been dirty and exhausted from her arrival. Watching her stalk toward me with her spine regal and head wearing its invisible crown of dignity and diamonds, I hexed her all over again for the way my cock swelled and sat up in full attention.

Her hair had been washed, and the bitter chocolate glowed like molten cocoa. Fine strands of red burned like fire, glittering in the sun. The length was longer than I’d assumed, now the tangles and knots had been smoothed, allowing the thick curtain to frame her face and hang intoxicatingly down her back.

Her bare feet revealed tiny breakable bones that undulated with every angry step. Her ankles were the perfect size for a man’s hand to snap around and wrench open perfect porcelain thighs.

Her eyes narrowed like a lynx, partly from the sun’s brightness and partly from pure hate, retaining their rare shade of silver and fog, and her skin held a dusting of colour from spending most of her afternoon in the ocean yesterday.

I’d had reports on what she’d indulged in.

I could guess how many times she had to get herself off.

I was pissed that I hadn’t been there to watch…or participate.

I hated that I had any reaction toward her whatsoever.

It didn’t take a guy with a hard-on to admit that this girl was beyond fucking gorgeous. Her ethereal quality alone made her glow with refinement, and the temper that she couldn’t quite hide gave her the aura of untouchable.

Which made her all the more fucking delicious because she was touchable.

Very, very touchable.

She was buyable.

A scrape of a chair leg on the deck below wrenched my attention to the three guests who’d gone silent. One stood, gawking at Eleanor as she marched toward me. Another held his cocktail to his lips but sat transfixed, drinking her in instead of the alcohol. And the third gulped then threw me a very obvious eyebrow, a silent demand that he wanted her.

Form a queue, asshole.

I already knew there’d be a bidding war for this girl. All it’d taken was one appearance and already the guests had decided they’d be the one sticking his cock in her tonight.

I peered at her closely.

The shadows under her eyes had receded—still there but not nearly as dark. The bruises on her legs and arms were less prominent. The bandage on her neck was gone, revealing the small incision where the tracker had been removed. The rope burn around her throat was less angry and the idiotic barcode tattoo on her wrist—that matched a few of my previous goddesses—not as fresh. Overall, with her sun-kissed island look, glossy hair begging for a man’s fist, and impertinence dripping from her pores, she could be ready to work tonight…if the price was right.

My cock pounded harder.

Possession licked through my veins at the thought of anyone spreading her legs and taking what I’d had dripping on my fingers yesterday.

She might sell for the highest profit margin I’d ever commanded.

But it didn’t mean I could control the rage that simmered inside.

“Finally dragged yourself out of bed then?” I smirked, keeping my voice hard and condescending. “Spent quite a few hours ‘entertaining’ yourself?”