Oh no he didn’t. I tried to yank my arm free, but his grip tightened. “Don’t,” Phanes said low. “Our agreement stands, but they don’t have to know about it.”
I’d rather throw up and eat it than act like a trophy being brought home, but if this got me to Ian the fastest . . . fine. I’d never see these people again, anyway.
I smiled and raised my other arm. Our audience cheered.
“Tonight, we feast!” Phanes announced.
Tonight? I kept my smile, but yanked Phanes’s head down.
“I never agreed to stay the night,” I hissed in his ear.
He beamed as he folded his wings around us. When I could see nothing except those gold feathers, his grin vanished.
“You owe me.” A low growl only I could hear. “I accepted your rejection, healed your lover, and soon, I will show you how to release your father from his prison. All I ask in return is that you pretend to be my happy intended bride for one night. Then, leave tomorrow with the information you seek and me as your ally instead of your enemy.”
The last thing I needed was a new enemy, but there were limits on what I’d do to avoid that. Still, I could understand Phanes’s need to save face with his people.
“I’ll give you all the smiles and admiring looks you want, but that’s it,” I said in an equally low voice.
“And two kisses, plus you share my room tonight. Platonically, if you insist,” he added when I drew in a breath to refuse.
Oh, Ian was not going to like this!
But would I rather leave my father to rot in the netherworld, plus stay technically engaged to Phanes, and have yet another powerful creature out to kill us?
You have no choice, my other half said pitilessly.
Fucking hell. She—I—was right.
“One kiss, not two, and we don’t sleep in the same bed.”
Phanes smiled. Nothing in this strange, hidden place compared to its beauty, but after I got what I came for, I never wanted to see it or him again.
“Agreed. Now”—his wings dropped, revealing us to the still-cheering onlookers—“show them that you are happy.”
I gave them a bright smile that was the exact opposite of how I felt. Then, I accepted the arm Phanes held out to me, and we ascended the rest of the stairs together.
Chapter 5
Once we were inside, everywhere we walked, reds, purples, blues, and gold swirled beneath our feet, as if our footsteps revealed opals trapped within the marble. A glance up revealed massive ceilings supported by Doric columns topped with ornate capitals. Back at eye level, statues of naked men, women, and nymphs lined the walls while fire braziers cast a golden-orange glow, and the scent of flowers mixed with whatever oil fed the flames.
Phanes must be really into the ancient Greek theme, down to using fire instead of electric lighting.
Phanes clapped his hands. At once, a group of women wearing matching blue-green dresses appeared and began to hustle me out of the room.
“My servants will ready you for tonight’s feast,” Phanes said. Then, he returned his attention to his adulators.
Leaving suited me. It rankled to act as if it were flattering to be treated like a living piece of decoration.
The women led me to a gorgeous, flower-strewn room with an in-floor marble bath and its own private garden. Once there, I was stripped, bathed, dried, massaged, perfumed, coiffed, and generally treated like a show dog being prepared for the championship round of a competition.
Things almost took a bad turn when one of the hair-styling women leaned in close enough to brush her throat against my mouth. My fangs popped out, and my stomach growled so loudly that all the servants heard it.
They jumped back in alarm, and the apparent head housekeeper, Helena, stared at me with shock.
“Blood Eater,” Helena whispered.
“Half Blood Eater,” I corrected, since my “daughter of the Eternal River” status was important here. “And I’m not going to bite any of you,” I added when the other servants now gave me a wide berth.
Helena snapped out something in a language that sounded like the one Phanes had used earlier. Whatever she said had the servants scurrying back to my couch. Then, one by one, they knelt, pulled their hair aside, and presented their necks.
My stomach growled again, but I shook my head. “No.”
They didn’t want to do this, and hungry or no, I wouldn’t force them. Besides, I could wait one more day to eat.
“Helena, I’d like to be alone, so you and the others may go. Before you do, though, can someone bring me a mobile?”
Helena gave me a blank look.
“Cell phone,” I amended. Now everyone had puzzled expressions. “Phone,” I stressed, miming holding one up to my ear. “So I can call someone?”
Helena appeared aghast. “We don’t have such things.”
“What about a tablet? Desktop computer? Any telecommunications technology?”
At each question, Helena shook her head. Great. Phanes had brought me to the Greek gods’ version of an Amish village.
“Then please just leave,” I said with a sigh. “I’m tired, and I want to nap before the feast tonight.”
Partly true. I was tired, but I would never fall asleep in a strange place surrounded by people I didn’t trust. I did, however, want to be alone.
Helena pursed her lips, but a few sharp words later, and the room was empty of all except me and her.
“I will stay to tidy up,” she said.
What part of “alone” did she not understand? “Thank you, but I desire solitude, so please leave.”
Color made her dusky cheeks even rosier. “Mistress—”
“Go,” I said. Did I have to clap like Phanes next?
Helena pursed her lips. “Very well. I will return after dusk. Be ready to be dressed by then.”
With another disapproving look, she left.
I leaned back against the couch with a sigh. I only had to give Phanes his “show off the trophy fiancée” night to rescue my father, end this unwanted engagement, and get back to Ian. One night wasn’t so bad. Compared to watching Ian hover near death for the past ten days, it should be easy.
I’ll be home soon, I silently promised Ian. Very soon.
Chapter 6
Hours later, Phanes smiled when he saw me. My gown draped from one shoulder, leaving the other bare before hugging my torso and flaring into soft, individual swaths around my legs. The pale pink material was diaphanous, and shimmered under the glow of the thousand tiny starlike lights that now hung from the ceiling as if suspended from invisible strands. My blue-and-gold-streaked hair was upswept, leaving only a few tendrils free. Jeweled hair combs winked when they caught the light, and more jewels decorated my heeled sandals.
Phanes wore a traditional Greco-Roman-styled tunic, with slits in the back to allow his wings to frame him. Their gold color accented the golden threads that glittered in the garment. He rose as I approached, and I smiled as wide as I’d promised when we made our arrangement earlier.
I sat to his right at the L-shaped table. Cathedral ceilings soared above us, and hundreds of wall sconces lit the shadowed passages as far as I could see. This temple was much bigger than its exterior appearance indicated. No fewer than fifty guests sat at Phanes’s table, and there were several more tables as big as this one around the perimeter of the room, leaving the center of it curiously empty.