He glared at her in the mirror and answered her with the truth. "She bought me with the one thing you've never been able to manage, Artemis. Kindness. Warmth."
She wrenched his hair so hard he was sure she pulled a full handful of it out. "You bastard whore! I would have given you the world had you asked it of me, but instead you'd rather be in the bed of a common human."
He licked the blood from the corner of his mouth. "You've never given me anything, Artemis, without making me pay dearly for it. Not even your heart."
"That's not true. I bore your daughter for you!"
"No. You bore your daughter. You didn't keep Katra because of me. You kept her out of total selfishness and you know it. You never really intended for me to know I had her because you didn't want to share her with me or anyone else. You could have told me the truth at any time, yet you hid her from me for more than eleven thousand years." He shook his head at a truth that scalded his soul. "You're selfish and you're cold, and I'm tired of getting frostbite when I touch you."
She brought the whip down across his back. Ash hissed as pain tore through him.
"I own you!" she shrieked.
Ash tightened his grip on the chains that held him in place. "I won't be owned by you, Artemis. Not anymore. I shouldn't have to barter myself to you for kindness and I'm through with it."
She hit him again. "You would rather sell yourself to a human who can't understand you? She knows nothing of our powers. Nothing of what it means to be a god. The responsibility. The sacrifice."
His breathing ragged, he stared at her in the mirror. "And neither do you. Soteria doesn't ask me for anything. She gives, Artemis. No strings. No hidden agenda. She takes my hand in public and she holds it. She's not embarrassed to be seen with me."
She jerked his head back and snarled in his ear. "Because it costs her nothing to be seen with you! You ask too much of me. You always have."
"Did it never occur to you that you ask the same of me? I've given to you for eleven thousand years and I'm tired of it. I'm tired of being ridiculed by you and your brother. I'm tired of taking your shit and dealing with your moods while you refuse to allow me the same courtesy. I want my freedom."
After releasing his hair, she hit him three more times before she raked her nails painfully down his back. "There is no freedom for you, whore. Ever."
Tory smiled as she saw Simi walking up to the bar. She still remembered the first time she'd seen the demon, though at the time she'd thought Simi an average college age girl who'd made a great babysitter for her. It was hard to believe after all the phone and e-mail conversations they'd shared that Simi had failed to mention the one basic fact that she was a demon.
Then again . . .
But as Simi approached, she could tell something was wrong with her. "What's wrong, Simi?"
"That old heifer bitch goddess is hurting akri again and akri won't let the Simi do anything to help him, but the Simi isn't supposed to say anything about what the bitch-goddess does so forget the Simi said anything." She huffed as she sat down on a bar stool and propped her chin in her hand. "Hook the Simi up with some ice cream, Akra-Tory. I need double scoops."
Aimee went to accommodate Simi while Tory walked around to sit beside the demon.
"What do you mean the heifer goddess is hurting Ash? You mean Hera?" She was the goddess most often referred to as cow-eyed in mythology.
"Not that one. The redheaded mean one that the Simi wants to eat, but akri say 'No Simi. You can't eat Artemis.' The Simi hates that heifer."
Tory went cold as she remembered what Ash had told her about Artemis and their relationship. "Where's Ash?"
"On Olympus. He told the Simi to come stay with you and make sure no one hurts you."
This couldn't be good and Tory felt ill that she couldn't help him. "What does Artemis do to Ash?"
"The Simi isn't supposed to say." She looked around the bar like an impish child before she lowered her voice. "But akri didn't say the Simi couldn't show you . . ." She reached out and touched Tory's arm. The moment she did, Tory saw Ash being beaten.
Unable to stand it, she shot to her feet and tried to focus. But she couldn't. Her heart pounding, she was hyperventilating at the thought of causing him that kind of pain. "We have to do something!"
"We can't. Artemis hurt akri worse if we try. Believe me, I know. He promised her she could hurt him if she didn't hurt you and she say okay, so now . . . the Simi hates the heifer goddess."
So did Tory. If she could turn back time, she'd beat the snot out of her in Nashville.
Aimee brought Simi the ice cream while Tory tried to think of something, anything, she could do. She looked at Aimee, then Katherine and Justina, but decided not to ask their opinions. Ash would die of shame if he knew they knew what was being done to him.
You now have the secrets that I would kill to protect.
No doubt this was one of the secrets he held dearest. No wonder he'd been so harsh to Artemis in Nashville.
"If I ever get my hands on her . . ."
She'd do what? Bleed on her expensive shoes? Artemis was a goddess and Tory was human.
Wait . . . there had been something in the journal about Artemis and her weaknesses. Her heart hammering with hope, Tory headed toward the kitchen behind the bar where it was light enough for her to read.
But before she could make it to the room, she saw a tall, black-haired woman at a table off to the side.
You want to hurt Artemis? Come talk to me.
Tory looked around at the voice in her head until her gaze returned to the unknown woman.
Yes, it's me talking to you, Soteria. The woman motioned for her to join her at the table.
Reversing course from the kitchen, she patted Aimee on the arm. "I'll be right back." Before Aimee could respond, she went straight to the woman who was unbelievably attractive and probably as tall as she was.
"Hi," the woman said, her voice thick with its Greek accent. "I'm Satara. You should consider me a friend."
Yeah, right. Tory would wait and make up her own mind about that. "How did you do that thing where you talked to me in my mind?"
She smiled before her voice was in Tory's head again. I'm the daughter of Apollo and if you want to help me, I'll be more than willing to help you kill Artemis.