Page 28 of The Harbinger
Her golden laced wings stretched up, covering Perseus’ nakedness.
“She was beautiful enough for Poseidon,” I countered. “It was Athena’s hatred that took away her beauty.” I rubbed my temples as I worked to draw up elusive memories. It was as if thirteen years of schooling sat on the tip of my tongue as I tried to speak. “A curse.”
Sacha cocked his head. “What do you know of Greek mythology?”
I shook my head. “Very little, I think.” I gave him a somber smile. “But I knew what happened here.” Lowering my gaze, I hid my flooding eyes with my lashes and stared at the thick blades of grass.
“She was innocent—”
“She was a whore who seduced Poseidon—”
“He raped her at his wife, Athena’s temple, and then he left her to Athena’s hateful wrath.” I closed my mouth and covered it with my fingertips.
Sacha ran a finger over Medusa’s slashed throat, then flicked the stained water away. “Are you sure you have amnesia?”
My chest rose and fell as I searched the darkness for the information that had come so easily to me, but it was gone like a bubble drifting in the wind.
“I—”
“It’s no matter. Her death was all part of a bigger plan.”
“If you find her to be so loathsome, why put her image in your garden?”
“Because Medusa represents the power of fear and the importance of eliminating your enemies. The statue serves as a reminder to conquer fears and overcome obstacles. It also warns any who seek to harm my followers or me. Fear can be a useful tool to keep people in line.”
His gaze tangled with mine, pinning me with an undercurrent of affliction, and then brushed past me, his arm swiping my shoulder.
I shuddered, my legs turning to wobbling gelatin as he walked toward the back of the gardens, then pointed toward a row of fruit trees. “This is as far as you go.”
“What’s beyond there?”
A vicious snarl, followed by a cacophony of barking dogs, echoed around the building behind us, coming our way.
“What is that?” My heart pattered as I darted behind him with a squeal and grabbed the back of his suit with both fists, burying my face in his back. Warm spicy cinnamon and citrus with a mix of leather flooded my nostrils, drowning out the sweet floral scent from the gardens.
The dogs salivated, their long, fluffy, black and brown fur covering their broad bodies, strings of drool hung from their flabby jowls as they rushed into the forbidden space beyond the trees.
Sacha spun around and engulfed my wrists in one hand. “Enough.” My chest caved, and my shoulders dropped. “They won’t hurt you.” He released my wrists and wiped his hands on his pants suit as if I harbored some disease, just as he’d done on the airplane.
Was it just my touch that disgusted him?
“Where…” I gulped and looked around him toward where they’d disappeared, their barks dissipating with the wind. “Where did they go?”
“To their kennels.”
“They won’t hurt me?”
Sacha shook his head. “They’re here to protect what’s mine.” He glanced down at me and sighed. “Follow me.”
Like one of his dogs on a leash, I walked back inside with him to the second floor and looked out the cathedral windows.
Treetops and skies were the only things to witness for miles, causing my stomach to twist. I hadn’t grasped the total isolation on the drive-in, but now it rang loud, like a church bell on Sunday.
Sacha had me secluded… in the middle of nowhere.
“This is my room.” He paused at a door at the far end of the hall. “If you need anything, you can find me here or in my office.”
Had he placed me at the opposite end of the house, the furthest away from him on purpose?