Read Equal Parts for Free Online

oddly amused – staggered, even.
    Gradually, my eyes focused, and the figure crouched before me came into clarity. And when I recognized him, something like a shriek lodged in my throat.
    Black eyes bored into my own, neither of us so much as breathing heavily.
    I stared right back at him, knowing just as well as he did that he couldn’t hurt me, not really. I’d done more than save his life – I’d given him the means to escape, the confidence of revenge, the promise of better days. His moral code was skewed, but he wasn’t an idiot. I’m sure he knew it was better to be on my good side than have me as an enemy.
    “Should have recognized the legs,” Achilles said simply, taking a seat on the cot near me. I hadn’t felt that in my blind search. His eyes lingered on the blood oozing from my exposed knees, my stockings ripped to shreds. I felt the insane urge to cover myself.
    “I am not involved with Finn Cole.” It was the best my brain could do under the circumstances.
    I expected him to launch into attack mode, but instead he threw his head back and laughed. The face paint had been redone since I’d seen him at the hospital – the details of his eyes were different, the sown-up lips more intricate, the cheeks not as hollow. I wondered briefly if he paid someone to do his make-up for him.
    “I got that, from the way you let him get shot with a nail-gun,” Achilles said dryly. “So why oh why would one of my men lie to me? Any ideas?”
    “I was with Finn at a party, but he was recounting the gazebo story to me. For some reason, he deemed me worthy of his attention, at least for a while. So your men didn’t lie, not really.”
    In a flash, he was crouched beside me once more. He no longer smelled of death – it was a little mintier this time. An improvement, I guessed.
    He tutted slowly. “Protecting the ones who abducted you, darling? That’s not normal at all. I think you should be more worried about protecting yourself . I told you your carelessness would get you killed, didn’t I?”
    “I’m not dead, in case you hadn’t noticed,” I retorted, using what little courage I could muster.
    “No, you’re not,” he said, a feral grin illuminating the skeletal features of his face. “But you could be, I suppose.”
    “Look, if you’re going to kill me, just kill me. I don’t have any information on Finn. I have no money, no family, and the city won’t exactly mourn the loss of me. So don’t bother beating around the bush.” The words spewed out of me, a suicide note in their own right.
    For the second time in two days, his hand wrapped around the column of my neck, and his other hand tangled a fist in my hair, tilting my face back. I didn’t struggle.
    “I must say, I expected better from someone who specializes in dishing out happy feelings. Aren’t you supposed to be made of rainbows and daisies? Sugar and spice and everything nice?”
    I made a face at that. “The sooner you realize my power has nothing to do with my personality, the better.”
    For a split second, those empty black eyes widened. Then the mask reset. “Well darling, the sooner you realize I get what I want, no matter the cost, the better.”
    “And what is it you want, exactly?”
    His fingers loosened from my neck and hair as he got to his feet. “When I figure it out, I’ll let you know. Until then, sit tight.”
    Without another word, he left the room, a smear of black paint on the bed cover the only evidence he’d ever been there.
     
    I didn’t know how long I sat, curled up on the paper-thin mattress of the cot, alternating between praying for him to stay away and wondering if he was ever coming back.
    My legs ached from being bound for so long, and I could no longer feel my hands. The blood on my knees had dried in rivers on my legs. I kept expecting the quelled panic from before to come rushing back to me, but I remained in a state of mental limbo for what seemed like hours. I’d known Achilles was coming