“I’m not sure how this love thing is supposed to go, Calliope, but I pretty sure we are not a good model for it,” I whispered, despite the fact that she could not hear me. “In fact, I think we are a bit toxic.” I was silent for second as I tried to piece my thoughts together. “Or maybe it is just me. After all, a man should never put his hands on a woman, right?”
“I am not a woman…I am Calliope.” Her voice was hoarse, and I glanced over to her. “You are not a man…you are Ethan.”
“You weren’t unconscious?”
“I was. But I recover fast,” she whispered. “Lots of practice.”
I frowned at that but said nothing.
“So, you changed your verdict. I’m not guilty?” she asked.
“You are guilty, you are innocent, and you will not speak. So, I punished you according to each,” I muttered.
“Ethan, the wise,” she said then coughed. Lifting her head, she placed it on my chest.
“Calliope, the shrewd,” I muttered, wrapping my arm around her.
“I don’t like shrewd. That sounds so negative.”
“I know.”
She grumbled, now having the energy to look at me. Except, now I closed my eyes, not wanting to get lost in the sight of her again. However, the woman just found another method to get into my head.
“Close your eyes if you want to. Choke me all night if you must,” she whispered directly into my ear. “Nothing will change…toxic or not…bad or good day…betrayal or no betrayal…I’m still going to love you, and you are going to love me, even if it might be against our better judgment.”
When my eyes opened, she was above me. Reaching up, I brushed my hand through her hair, tucking it behind her ears.
Wasn’t I angry at her?
Didn’t I tell myself I would get the truth from her tonight?
“I’ll make today up to you,” she whispered.
Calliope, the shrewd…Calliope, the angel of death, the Grim Reaper…Calliope, my one and only love…Why must it always be the hard way with you?
She’s lying about what happened today.
She’d lied to me many times before but today…today something was different. And I could not help but think of my father’s words.
I’d spoken to my father.
He’d sat right beside me.
After so many years, there he was…in the flesh. No longer a ghost.
They risked that…just to warn me about Calliope.
Do you really think that you started to lose face the moment she came into your life by accident? His voice now echoed through my thoughts.
Even after the seeds of doubt my father had planted in my mind, I was sure, no, I was positive that I was not going to kill Calliope…because s
he wasn’t going to betray me.
I was not wrong.
They were.
16