Deer in Headlights (Hearts and Arrows 1) (Good god series) by Staci Hart Read Free Book Online Page B

reached up to touch her face.
    “Please,” she cried. “Please, don’t leave me.”
    “Forever … was not long, after all.”
    “No, please. I love you.”
    But he looked away as he breathed his last, and his brilliant eyes stared at the sky, at nothing.
    She pulled him into her lap and wept as she rocked him, not knowing how long had passed. The brush rustled, though she barely heard the sound.
    “Oh dear, Aphrodite. What a mess,” Apollo said.
    She looked up at him, and shock tore through her, hot and angry. “You,” she whispered.
    “Yes, me. You blinded my son. I could not let that go unpunished, could I?”
    Her throat twisted closed as she realized that she had caused his death. It was all her fault.  
    The wind stirred around her, and her hair rose, mottled with drying blood. She breathed deeper as emotion washed over her, her chest rising higher and higher until she took a deep breath, kicked her head back, and screamed, her anguish exploding out of her with such pain that she thought she would shatter.
    “I believe we are even now.” Apollo took a last look at her before he turned to walk away.
    Aphrodite bent over Adonis and buried her face in his neck as she cried, whispering words of solemn promise. The debt would be repaid.

    Dita’s face was tight, and she bit her lip hard to keep herself from crying at the memory. His face in the moment that he died, smeared with his blood, white as snow, the tang of blood in the air, they were all the things of her nightmares, and Apollo was the focus of all of her blame.
    “Want to talk about it?” Perry stuffed the last bite of her criminally large donut into her mouth.
    She smiled, knowing it was weak, and that Perry wouldn’t buy it. “I’m okay.”
    Perry licked residual chocolate from her fingers in earnest, and her black Buddy Holly glasses slipped down her tiny nose. Once her fingers were licked clean, she leaned back to watch Dita over her glasses with sweet, hazel eyes. A streak of chocolate was smeared at the corner of her mouth, and there were crumbs in the ‘v’ of her t-shirt.
    “What?” she asked around a mouthful of donut.
    “Uh, you’ve got a little schmutz right there.” Dita motioned to her face.
    She rolled her eyes, pawing at her face. “Jeeze. Did I get it?”  
    “No, Perry, right there.” Dita pointed to Perry’s face from across the couch.
    Perry wiped the wrong cheek. “Now?”
    Dita sighed. “Yup, totally.”  
    Bisoux hopped into Perry’s lap and licked his chops, then curled up into a tiny ball of fur with eyes. Perry scratched his head and sat quietly, patiently, giving her a few more minutes to work through her thoughts. Dita was a talker, rarely able to contemplate things internally. Perry was her opposite. She processed almost everything in silence and knew exactly when to keep her thoughts to herself.  
    The two goddesses had been friends since Persephone was a girl and had experienced eons together, through good and through bad, as close as sisters and as sworn enemies. But, when all was said and done, Perry was Dita’s closest friend and always would be.
    Perry settled back into the couch as she scratched Bisoux’s ear. “You never really answered me. If Apollo wins, and you have to give him a token, how are you going to feel about that?”
    “Well, he’s going to ask me for Daphne, and I’ll have to help him whether I want to or not.”
    “No, what I mean is, do you think that you and Apollo will ever forgive each other?”
    “I don’t know. It’s been thousands of years. I’m not as mad as I once was about it, and anyway, if Apollo wins, I won’t have a choice.”
    And she wondered, could she blame Apollo for doing whatever it took to win a token? Because she would do the same, if the tables were turned.

APOLLO LAY HIS HEAD back on the cushions of his lounge chair, closing his eyes against the sun as he stretched out on his patio. It had been ages since he pulled the sun across the sky in a