The room they'd given me was cold, despite the soft velvet lining the walls and the heat that clung to Hecate's palace like perfume. A fire crackled quietly in the hearth, the only sound breaking through the silence. I lay on the bed, armor stripped down to the waist, my hands behind my head, staring at the ceiling.
There was too much noise in my mind. Plans, names, battles, faces. Too many what-ifs.
I wasn't used to sleeping in a palace like this. It was all marble and luxury. And I could feel the power that pulsed just beneath the stone, like the whole structure breathed with Hecate's own lungs.
However that didn't stopped me from getting sleepy. And when my eyes were just beginning to close when the door opened without a knock.
And then, that was when the soft creak of ancient wood and the unmistakable scent of roses and smoke invaded the room.
I sat up before I saw her. "Aphrodite."
