The Lies Of Dawn

C H A P T E R 26

"Isn't it a bit cliché?" Celia inquired after Bruce had thrown her phone back on her lap. The phone now carried a new message in it, Bruce's attempt to use Celia as bait for Ax. "Abducting the love interest of the main character just to get him to come to you and fall into your trap." They both knew that no matter how cliché it truly was, it would work.

Ax would come for her, no matter what.

And that frightened the Hell out of her.

In a way, It reminded her a bit of Orpheus and his need to find and bring Eurydice back home but she didn't truly dare compare Orpheus to Ax, knowing that if compared, the demigod would be found lacking. It wasn't appropriate. You see, even though most versions of the story suggested that Orpheus was so passionately in love with Eurydice that he couldn't stand to live without her that he visited Hades just so he could have her back in his arms, for others it wasn't the whole truth.

What a load of crap, Nathan would say, if anyone asked him.

Nathan supported the idea that Orpheus was nothing but a stubborn child that couldn't accept that his toy had been taken away. In Plato's Symposium, he is characterised as a coward whose love was not true, seeing as he wouldn't die for it but, instead chose to make a fool of the Fates.

So no, no one should ever compare Ax to that creature, not even her.

"It stops being a cliché when he is coming to also save his unborn child." She didn't ask how he knew about the baby, there was no point in it, she figured out pretty quickly that he had her followed.

But he saw her eyes.

He recognised the fear and fed on it.

"He doesn't know, does he?" Bruce smiled at her, his cold eyes patronising. It reminded of the way her father would look at her after Jay's death, the times when he could stand to be in her presence and look into her eyes, anyway. The same eyes that he had given to her, eyes that graced his own face.

She used to think that her father was the most handsome man in the world, she worshipped the ground he walked upon, admired everything he did. One wouldn't be exaggerating if he claimed that she thought of him as her God. Yet, apparently, it seems that even Gods fall from grace.

And when they fall, you can feel the crash in your bones and as they scream in pure agony all you can hear is an annoying buzzing for they are nothing to you anymore.

"Are you going to keep me here all day?" She ignored his previous question but silence was an answer all on its own. A fake yawn sneaked out of her mouth, her busted lip stretching painfully.

"Why? Don't you enjoy my company?" She cocked a dark eyebrow at him but said nothing, her silence was enough once again.

"Tell them to stop staring and whispering about me, maybe then I won't complain about your company." The prospects were sitting around her, whispering like a pack of schoolboys about her and Ax. They were nothing more than kids but their gazes felt intrusive. They stared at her covered body as if it were a treat and they were lion cubs ready for their turn to sink their teeth into the soft flesh after the Pride leader had his fill. "In fact, tell them to get out." A flash of anger surrounding Bruce's eyes and Celia knew she had made a big mistake.

Never command a man like that again, you know better than that. The voice that whispered in her head wasn't hers, she couldn't identify it and yet, she found comfort in it. You're a smart one, I know you are just like I know you'll listen.

"Please." She added, her voice turning softer and her eyes falling to the floor as if she was ashamed she had dared to raise her voice. "Unless you don't want to be left alone with me. Then by all means, keep the minions here." The streak of fire hadn't left her, it was still inside her biding its time.