Ares And Mia

Chapter 36

My eyes open slowly, my lashes stuck together. The world around me is humid and cold, the sting of salt against the back of my throat. I'm in a cave. There are iron bars at the opening of the cave, about ten feet away from me. My hands are bound above my head and pull against my body with every movement that I make. I can't feel my fingers. 

My knees have half-formed scabs on them and there are cuts everywhere. Dried blood smudges against my skin. Some part of me wants to laugh at how disgusting I must've looked, the other part wants to stay dead quiet. I'm sore, painfully so, my shoulders feeling like they were pulled out of their sockets. I cough, my throat beyond parched. "Where am I?" I whispered to myself, before lifting my head up with much effort. Lightning, albeit weak, appears at my fingers, dying away immediately upon contact with the rope binding my hands. 

"It's enchanted rope, girl. Your tricks won't work on it." I turn quickly, something in my neck cracking. Poseidon stands at the bars, watching me. He wasn't there before... Just how many times a day did he check on me? I glare at him silently, swallowing hard. "You've been unconscious for three days, we thought you'd do us a favor and die." I laugh at his words, feeling tears well up in my eyes. 

"Where the fuck am I?" My wrists hold me up completely, the skin rubbed raw as I moved. Poseidon opens the bars, steps through, before closing them. He holds a tray before him, walking over to me. I try to back away, but the rope makes the chains that it's attached to clink loudly. 

"The sea. You're at the Bermuda Palace." I glance around, before scoffing. 

"So like, a knock off version of Sea World?" Poseidon sets the tray on the ground in front of me, before pointing toward the point where the chains connected with the top of the cave. They detach and my arms fall down to my sides, the only thing holding me up falling loose. My knees hit the ground and I hiss out in pain. Blood rushes through my arms, my skin feeling hot and cold at the same time. I suck in a quick, pained breath. There was a bandage on my arm, where the cut was before. 

 Did he try to treat my wounds?

The chain reattaches itself to the wall beside me, at a waist level. I press my shoulder against the wall, heaving harsh breaths. "Eat." He slides the tray, adorned with some sort of seasoned bread and veggies on it. 

My stomach was empty. Utterly empty, hungry to the point where it stopped growling and only felt like acid. I haven't been this hungry in a long time. I glanced down at the floor, then back at the man before me. 

I turn the other way. 

He crouches down to look at me, grabbing the bread. He rips a piece of it off, before grabbing my chin. "How stupid must you be--" Poseidon shoves the break into my mouth and all I can taste is blood. "--to even think about declining food?" 

The bread tastes metallic, like copper and rust, like everything wrong. I'm sure it would've tasted just fine if it were given to me by anyone else, but everything inside of me rejected it. 

I spit it out at his face, running my tongue over my teeth. "Stupid enough to know that you only brought the food to me for your own gain. You're going to use me, aren't you?" He stills, before lowering his brows. 

So much for some powerful and righteous God, right? 

The air grows colder, the cave wall seeming to vibrate in his anger. Fuck. I pissed off the God of the Sea, while I was literally in a unimportant cell in some ocean. 

"You should watch your tongue, girl." He stands, brushing off his shirt. "Tell me, how did you learn to harness electricity?" I swallow hard. "You either tell me or I'll pry it from your brain." My head snaps up, fear rising inside of me.