Chapter 29

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

— Aphrodite —

He didn’t say his name at first.

He never did.

Godric liked to keep the illusion that I still had choices.

So he only gave me the folder.

A sleek black envelope, slid across the glass table like a silent command.

I didn’t open it right away.

I let it sit between us, untouched. Like a bomb I wasn’t ready to defuse.

---

“You’ve been quiet,” he said, voice calm.

Measured.

The way he always spoke before something cruel.

I looked up from the folder. “I’ve been tired.”

“Of what?”

I didn’t answer.

Because we both knew the truth.

---

Of being someone else.

Of dressing up like a goddess and stepping into rooms just to watch men burn.

Of smiling with blood on my hands and perfume on my skin.

Of pretending this was a life.

Of pretending I chose any of it.

---

Godric leaned back in his chair, sipping his scotch.

“I gave you space. Time. You wanted a break, I let you vanish. But I think you forgot what we are, Aphrodite.”

I opened the folder.

Not out of obedience.