He wanted to be all-powerful in Scarlet's eyes. He wanted to be well able to provide for her.
Hell, he might just buy her a palace of her own. Actually, no. He'd build the bitch with his bare hands.
"Amazing." She tugged free of his hand, stopped and pressed her palms to the glass. Her own necklace clinked. "People actually read in those chairs?"
He paused beside her and sighed. "Take your time. We don't need to reach Cronus's room, like, ASAP. He won't be returning for me soon, and we don't need to be long gone by then."
"I know that, but why venture into his bedroom?" Her gaze was glued to the heavy velvet drapes and the gold-inlaid tables that filled the empty sitting room. No, not empty, he realized. Someone—a tall, blond male—was striding to the bookcase. "Can he hear us?" Scarlet whispered.
Did she want him to? "Yes."
"Oh. Good. So we can drool in peace."
He didn't recognize the god, but that didn't stop Gideon from hating the male at first sight.
"Anyway. As I was saying," she continued. "Why can't we just head to the prison?"
"We don't need a slave collar to open the gates of Tartarus."
"Hell, no! I'm not wearing a slave collar. Not ever again!"
"We have to wear it, smartie, not just hold it. Now. Do you not know who that is?" So I know the name of the next man I kill.
"Of course I do. That's Hyperion, Titan god of Light. Gorgeous, isn't he?"
Damn her and her attraction to blonds. "I might have known the face, but I don't know the name. I also don't know that Hyperion is a sociopath. He doesn't enjoy setting immortals on fire just to watch them burn and hear them scream."
"Sexy."
"You didn't meet him in prison?" he gritted out.
"Met, yes. We didn't share the same cell, though. Unfortunately."
If Scarlet thought to kiss another man the way she'd kissed Gideon, if she thought to allow another man to touch her the way Gideon had touched her, burning to death would be the least of her worries. Right now, she belonged to Gideon. She was his wife. He didn't share. At least, not anymore.
Scowling, Gideon grabbed her hand and tugged her forward. "Not enough of that." His steps were clipped, his boots thumping into the onyx floor. They snaked a corner and another room came into view. A ballroom. Glittery sprites were darting throughout it, dusting and polishing the entire area.
Around another corner, the hall tilted at a steep incline, and though his still-tired thighs hated the burn, he didn't slow. His growing anger gave him strength. Anger, not jealousy. He didn't do jealousy.
"So who aren't you today?" He hadn't asked yet, he realized. But as always, once he wondered, he could think of nothing else. Say Lord. You had better say Lord.
"Scarlet...Hyperion. Yes, that has a nice ring to it."
Enough! At the top of the incline, Gideon stopped and spun. When Scarlet slammed into him, he grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. She kept her gaze averted and...was that...was she... Sure enough. Her lips were curling into a smile. She was fighting laughter, the witch.
Gideon released her, his anger draining. Anger, not jealousy. "You're not begging for a spanking, you know that?"
"I—" Her words cut off as she gasped. Once more she pressed herself against the glass, her amusement forgotten. "That's Mnemosyne. My aunt."
Knee-mah-zee-knee. Odd name. He followed the direction of Scarlet's gaze. Inside an opulent bedroom of cherrywood and gold-threaded marble, a slender blonde sat upon a ruffled pink bed. Her hair curled innocently to the middle of her back. In contrast, she wore a slinky black dress that was slit up both thighs.
"No hurry, remember?" He wrapped his arm around Scarlet's waist. He hadn't dared before. She would have rebuked him, and he'd known it. But she had teased him a moment ago, and she was distracted now; he wasn't above using either to his advantage. He wanted to touch her. All the damn time.
"I have to talk to her, Gideon. Please." Dark eyes flicked briefly up to him, imploring. "She's the goddess of Memory and she might know who messed with your mind. Or how they did it, at the very least. Gods, I can't believe I didn't think about asking her before."
It was the first time Scarlet had asked him for anything, and he found, even as urgency raced through him, that he could deny her nothing. "Sure you can't trust her?"
Frowning, Scarlet's head canted to the side. Her gaze swept past her aunt, past the room, to someplace he couldn't reach. "She was always kind to me. Wait. At least, I think she was. She used to hug me when I was sad. Again, I think. My memories of her are fuzzy."
Fuzzy. That wasn't like Scarlet. She remembered every-freaking-thing.
Her gaze met Gideon's, lingering this time, and her frown deepened. "Wait. What was I saying?"
She couldn't remember that, either? "We weren't discussing your aunt."
"My who?"
He blinked down at her. She couldn't recall a conversation from two seconds ago? Weird. And wrong.
His attention returned to her aunt. The goddess of Memory, huh? Gideon had never dealt with the woman; she'd been locked up before his creation and he'd never heard any gossip about her. Good or bad.
Scarlet followed his gaze. "Oh, look, Gideon! That's my aunt Mnemosyne." Eagerness practically buzzed from her as she jumped up and down. "She's the goddess of Memory. Maybe she'll be able to tell us how your memories were taken."
O-kay. "Scar. Don't look at me."
Slowly her head turned, and her eyes clashed with his. "What?"
"Who's not in that room?"
She blinked in confusion, just as he had done a moment ago. "What room?"
He cupped her chin and turned her head back to the glass, so that she was once again looking inside the chamber. She gasped. "Gideon! Do you know who that is? She's the goddess of Memory, and she might be able to tell us how someone screwed with your mind."
His stomach clenched. Clearly, someone—Mnemosyne herself?—had screwed with Scarlet's mind. Because if she wasn't looking at her aunt, she couldn't remember the woman.
Could Mnemosyne have taken Gideon's memories, as well?
There was only one way to find out....
Fury. So much fury. "Just...don't give me a minute to reason out the best way to approach her. Okay? And stop watching your aunt, no matter what."
"I— Okay." She tried to turn her head toward him, but he placed a hard hand on top of her head and held her immobile. "Fine. I'll be still. But why do you want me to keep looking at her?"
"Just don't do it." He didn't want her to forget again.
His arms fell to his sides as he considered their options. There was a doorway from the secret passage that led into the bedroom. Actually, there was a doorway to every room in the palace. But he didn't want to exit that way and reveal the passage to Mnemosyne, just in case she didn't know about it. As long as it was secret, he could use it as a way of escape. Which left only one option, really. Waiting.
Obstacle one. He and Scarlet would have to wait until the goddess left the room, sneak in and then wait for her to return. That could cause all kinds of problems since they needed to reach Cronus's room before the king realized they were missing.
Cronus could have stored the slave collars somewhere else, but Gideon highly doubted it. The king would want them close at hand, easily reachable if he decided to enslave someone new.
Obstacle two. Scarlet would need to sleep soon, and that would force them to remain for another twelve hours. At least. That was a little more waiting than he wanted to do.
On the plus side, Cronus wouldn't be able to find them. They could hide anywhere. But that didn't meant they could escape.
"Why are you doing this again?" a female voice suddenly asked from the bedroom. Only, Mnemosyne hadn't moved her lips. Peering closer, Gideon saw that a second woman had just exited the closet. A servant?