Kyra

Chapter Four

Kyra didn't feel any different to normal when she woke up. Excluding the lingering burn of desire between her legs, she felt exactly like herself. She didn't know why she expected to feel any different, either. Alone in her small, single room, she stared at the ceiling. Except the ceiling didn't look blank. In her mind's eye, she saw that painting from Ares' gallery over and over again. The blood and the gore were hard to get past—but her mind wouldn't stray from the woman she'd seen in the background of that painting.

The woman who looks like me.

She had to have been imagining that, right? Surely—

Kyra sprung from her bed and raced to stand in front of the mirror.

The woman had the same hair as Kyra, long, red and wild. But their builds were slightly different. Sure, they shared the same tanned skin—but her thighs had been far more muscular than Kyra's, her body so much more defined where Kyra's was still soft and smooth. And God, the look of the woman. The clothing she'd worn—a short, metal skirt and cropped top—along with those golden gladiator sandals and scary eye makeup. Kyra didn't look like that. That woman was an oncoming storm.

Kyra and that woman looked so similar and yet so completely unalike.

Don't think about it.

She pushed the thoughts from her mind, dressed in her boring Amazon uniform, and fled to the kitchen. She slowed her steps just around the corner, getting a feel for the whispers.

Understandably, the other Amazons her age were worried for her wellbeing. Word had gotten around that she'd been escorted to Ares' castle for punishment yesterday. Worse, none of the girls had seen her come back.

Knowing she was in for a gruelling morning, Kyra put on her best poker face and made her way inside. The second she reached the dining room, the chatter stopped completely.

Kyra could already sense the questions coming.

As soon as she sat down at the table, the girls started piling her plate high with food and squeezing her shoulders as if to comfort her.

Then—silence once more.

Kyra held her breath, waiting for one of them to break it.

If I must.

"Ask your questions."

And then—chaos.

—"Erika said you were taken to see Ares last night."

—"Are you okay?"

—"Did something happen to you?"

—"What was he like?"

"One at a time."

Silence once more. Then one of the girls closer to Kyra's side cleared her throat.

"What happened to you last night... when you were with Ares?"

Kyra looked at each individual face and frowned. "Well, uh, when Erika and Leda left, he took me into the basement and... and it's a little bit hard to speak about... but he chained me up and flared me with burning hot polka." Some looked shocked, others looked queasy. "I had to crawl out of there. I'm surprised I lived to tell the tale."

Why wasn't I punished?

Silence. Kyra could hear a pin drop.

And then she smirked. "I was fine. He sat me down, spoke to me about my behaviour and that was the end of it. Nothing too dire. But if Erika asks, I was mercilessly whipped and beaten."