Chapter 14

Somewhere at the back of her mind she felt a sense of betrayal and anger in that moment.

"Let's change it to two daiquiris per round! I can't keep playing with natural poker players sober!"

"You do realize I can barely hold my liquor and fuck Freda's Daiquiris already strong, they hit you different after a minute."

Athena turned to Arsenio, the lust dancing in her eyes. Watching him without his shirt was doing things to her insides. She was no longer in control of her arousal. Biting down on her lower lip she whispered, " It's like the promise of hot sex and a screaming orgasm between sheets. You know it's not probably not good for you but the promise is so… tempting" Athena said it with emphasis.

"That one can barely fathom no to be… musk?"

Christian walked in that very moment. His feet landing directly on the floor of the open balcony. He heard her. He heard the lust in her voice when she said it. It aroused and angered him at the same time.

There was something about her voice. He wanted to be the one to receive and yet his self-deprecating ways forbade him. Drawing pleasure and letting it consume him with rage. Such cross roads of desire and acknowledgement. It was almost ironic.

And Athena felt it. His rage, his confusion, his arousal but most of all his self-hate. She knew he was here. She knew it before the first lick of anger. She knew the moment she smelt musk. She wondered if he had read her note yet and from the sudden change in his mood, it seemed he had.

For jealousy turned to amusement and amusement to adoration. She almost him as he scribbled, he had her attention and somehow she knew that he knew it. She simply smiled before downing the second daiquiri. Watching Daniel shuffle and distribute.

Athena had lost count of the drinks they had had. Her mind swaying with the taste of each drink. Her bets becoming and her game less logical. She could scarcely hold the cards much less make a logical bet.

"I think we should stop now. Most of us are down to our underwear and can scarcely sit straight. Not that some of us would mind were someone to lose more clothing" Freda announced meaningfully looking over at Athena and Arsenio.

"I agree the game is no longer fun. Want to hit the pool?"

"Yes." Everyone agreed in unison.

"I will just use the washroom before I join you guys." Athena announced.

"Sure… the guest bathroom is to the left."

"Thank you."

Athena stumbled her way to the guest room, finding a note perched on the sing. The paper folded in two and her name scrolled on it.

"Let me hide just a little bit longer,

Keep my wits around me.

For fair maidens like you make dangerous lovers.

With a knife behind my back and sweet lips on me.

~ C"

Athena smiled, as she picked up the pencil and paper he had left beside it and wrote.

"And this", cried Darcy, as he walked with quick steps across the room, "is your opinion of me! This is the estimation in which you hold me! I thank you for explaining it so fully. My faults, according to this calculation, are heavy indeed!

~A

Were Athena not so drunk, she would have found the placing of the note odd. She would have questioned how Christian knew she was going to use the guest bathroom.

She slipped out soon after, and that's when she heard it.

It was like the siren singing to her. Calling her name.

It was a chorus of voices, both that of men and women, lacing and weaving through the words that they sang. Their tongues were myriad and yet somehow Athena knew they were calling her. That what they sang was for her and her benefit only. That the song was an invitation to her.

Her feet moved without a conscious thought, following the voices. They came from the room opposite the guest room. Athena opened the heavy wooden standing ajar, listening to its loud creek.

The creek alerting Christian. He stood up from his bed and peaked from the top of the staircase. He heard it too. But, that wasn't possible. He could have only heard it if she or he was here. And the person being here was not possible. For the person is dead.

Athena walked closer, feeling the heavy smell of musk settle behind her, knowing well that her Eros was following but she did not care. She wanted to find the source of the voices. She wanted free their muffled tones and hear what they had to say. She knew somehow that whatever they were saying was important.

Behind door had been a library, filled with more books than one could have read in a lifetime. Each book neatly stacked in row set by a system. Athena reached the isle where the source of the song was. She found that her heart was beating louder, almost scared to discover what lay ahead.

She suddenly became aware of the coldness of the tiled floor and its feel under her feet. Her fingers reached out, brushing against the spine of every novel as she moved forward, closing in on the voices.

They grew louder with each step, and yet the timber of their voices deepened.

"Taljack.. Ouri…Taljack Ouri… Taljack…."

There Athena stood. There stood the book. It was almost as if they were having a staring match, watching whose resolve would wear down first. Who would reach first. Which was silly since only of them was human. And yet both of them were alive.

Both their hearts pounded.

After what felt like an eternity Athena reached out, her middle finger and ring finger brushing against the spine. She bent forward, running her nose against the spine.

"Sijag, Sijag" She said.

Athena was not sure why she said or what it meant, but Christian knew what it meant. It meant yours. Sijag meant yours.

He knew now that she could see it, hidden deep between the stacks of the rest. She hear it. The voices.

She was it. And it was her. It was them.