More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Since there’s no point in beating around the harpy’s nest, I ask, “Why does he want me?” She looks genuinely puzzled. “Why wouldn’t he?” Something tightens in my chest. Such blind loyalty, and she doesn’t even know me. “Why don’t you want him?” She looks genuinely puzzled about that, too.
but really Cat....WHY DON'T YOU WANT THIS MAN?!
I pluck at the blanket, accidentally pulling a thread loose. I try to stuff it back down before a whole section of embroidery unravels, but it doesn’t work. That’s me—destruction.
There is no Griffin and me. There can’t be. “My mother has a tendency to destroy anything I might get attached to.” Comprehension dawns in her blue eyes. “You won’t let Griffin claim you because you’re afraid your mother will harm him?”
She told me, ‘Love nothing and no one can hurt you.’ I couldn’t have been more than eight. I cried, and she beat me unconscious.
An Olympian-powered jolt arcs through me, rousing the wings in my chest.
what is with the "wings"? A metaphor or is she actually like something else?
Passion ignites, and I forget about wings and gods and the thunder hidden in my veins.
Everyone’s eyes drop to my legs, and Griffin pushes me behind him as if no one’s seen knees before.
“Thank you, oikogeneia.” The ancient word for family rises unbidden, tumbling past my lips. I just claimed these people. Maybe someday they’ll know.
What does that dark little Fisan have that I don’t?” Griffin looks at me. He sees me watching them and doesn’t look away. “My heart.” At his words, my chest contracts with a sharp spasm, squeezing the air from my lungs.
Ugh he's too good for Cat....she better turn her frown around or I will stay mad
I’ve never given a woman any indication of permanence. The day I saw you, I understood why.” Emotion roughens my voice, turning it husky and low. “Why?” A smile pulls at the edges of his mouth. “Because you were made for me.”
“You have no reason to be jealous. I haven’t touched her since the day I saw you—which was well before you saw me.”
His lips curve in an utterly male, utterly smug, utterly possessive smile. “I’ll teach you.”
“You’re the one who’s always picking fights. Once I claim you, you’ll see that fighting isn’t the fun part.”
“This is madness. How can madness feel so good?”
He’s so steady and sure, the exact opposite of me. For that alone, I never want to give him up. With every touch, every word, he shows me that life can be different from what I’ve always known, different enough to dull my past and forget my future.
“You’re not weak.” He sounds confident. Calm. “You and me, we’re strong. Together, we’ll be unstoppable.
“You fit in perfectly. We all love you, and Griffin has never been so focused, not even when he was taking over the realm. You’re everything to him. More than any of this.”
The ice inside me melts. Suddenly, I’m burning up and terrified, scared I’ll be too weak to resist. Scratch that—I’m petrified I’ve already given in.
“What’s wrong with those two? They could at least try.” “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” Kato says. “Why?” He gives my hair an affectionate ruffle. “Because I’m wondering the same thing about you.”
“Don’t,” he urges. “We’re fated. You must know that.” My throat tightens, starting to ache. “I can’t do this.” “Why?” His question is a growl. I have so many reasons, so many fears. “She’ll come after our children.”
wings inside my chest unfold and beat to a familiar rhythm that’s become a part of me. A part of us.
I almost gasp out loud. “Now? Really?” “You reject our gift!” Poseidon’s voice is an angry tempest in my head. “Griffin? A gift from the gods? I’d better not tell him that, or I’ll be hearing about it for the rest of my days.” “We gave him to you!” my godfather explodes. He’s mighty and terrifying. He doesn’t appreciate my humor. “Why?”
Even as I burn for release, my heart nearly bursts. I understand this southern rite now. He’s not so much declaring possession of me as asserting my right to him. Forever.
He stops moving instantly. “Was I too rough?” I shake my head. “No. You were”—amazing, mind-blowing, better than anything I ever imagined—“fine.”
Okay, I get being snarky is part of what makes her appealing but her timing is terrible and makes her seem juvenile
“I’ll bind you to me in any way I can. Sex. Children. Love.” My heart jerks. My lungs suddenly feel too tight. “We’re together. Isn’t that enough?”
“You’re bright like a star. You shine for me now, but the sky turns. Where will you shine tomorrow? Or the day after? I won’t let you go, not without a fight that would make gods tremble.” I shiver, rattled by his words. “You’ll regret pledging yourself to me. It will cut your life short.” “You’re my life now. We’ll live together, or die trying.”
Thank the gods one of us is smart enough not to let me ruin the only good thing that’s ever happened to me.
He is blinded—blinded by love and trust I don’t deserve. I’ve done awful things, caused awful things. My future is full of awful things, and Griffin is so good. “I’ll never be free,” I whisper.
“You have no idea what you’re getting into,” I warn. “Then tell me,” he says simply, lifting his head. He makes it sound so easy. I’m not who you think I am, and by the way, there’s this prophecy… Just thinking about that conversation makes me nauseous. “Later.”
“Gods. Powerful magic. There are things at play here. Things we should land on the right side of if we value our lives.” Truth. “But gods backing Hoi Polloi?” Oreste asks, seeming more surprised and interested than inherently bothered by the notion. “It’s not impossible. Don’t forget, they have the mysterious Magoi woman already,” his father reminds him. “Fisan, I heard, which is something in itself. She must see something in them, or at least in Beta Sinta. And never underestimate Hoi Polloi when they decide to fight for something they want. They may be mongrels, but mongrels can be vicious.”
...more
“Zeus hates infanticide because he was almost swallowed whole by his own father. In my opinion, Andromeda has brought about the death of too many of her own children to hold Zeus’s favor,” I explain.
I kill one person, take my rightful place, declare the Origin’s kingdom restored, crush Tarvan resistance, and… My stomach lurches, and I beat down nausea.
“You can trust me, Cat. I will never betray you.” Something heavy settles in my chest. “I do trust you.” His hands go still in my hair and then fall away. “Just not enough.”
It takes longer than usual for his arms to close around me, and my heart feels that hesitation like the sharp end of a knife.
I should have done this hours ago instead of waiting—and hoping—for Griffin to return.
You are pushing him away at every turn..he's not going to keep running to you like a puppy
“Cerberus didn’t guard the circus until you came. He hasn’t been around since you left.”
Griffin needed that smile to be his like he needed his next breath.
