Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
I don’t know how to process her words. I feel warmth and love, but I also feel as if I’m betraying her. She’s up there giving her truth while I sit here and hide in my lie.
Daphne, who hasn’t said anything to me since we entered the church, reaches for my hand and holds it. Apollo was never a touchy-feely man, and I wonder if he’d allow the comfort given. I then remember how he had reached out for my hand in our last hours. Correction—his last hours. So I allow Daphne’s hand to remain in mine.
“If there is anyone who’d like to come up here and say something, now is your chance,” Athena continues. “But remember one thing. Ares was not a man to accept weakness. He was made of stone, just as the rest of the Godwins are. So don’t come up here with the waterworks and the hearts and flowers. Respect Ares, and don’t shed a single tear. That’s how he would have wanted today to go.”
Sitting and watching cousins speak of childhood memories, business acquaintances speaking of good and even hard memories, and random people just speaking to get their moment in the light was like an out-of-body experience. They were all talking about me. Me. And yet, I was watching them. Hearing them. I was a goddamn ghost in the room, and they had no idea.
Fortunately, Phoenix didn’t approach the front of the room and speak, so it wasn’t out of the ordinary for me not to as well. I sure as fuck wasn’t going to stand up there and talk about myself.
My father was the last to speak. As he took the podium, he paused as he looked around the room, taking in each and every person who attended. He was taking notes of who came, and most certainly, who didn’t. Though everyone in the family had his brown eyes, and brown hair—though his is graying—not one of us yet possess the level of authority he has. We all can wear the expensive suits, the priceless watches and jewelry, but we can’t be him. We don’t have what he does and doubtful we ever will. He has the ability to strike down his enemies with a single look. If he told you to jump off of a cliff, the only question someone would ask is…when?
His eyes lock with mine as he begins. “Ares represented loyalty. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for this family.” He breaks the stare and continues on. “And if we had a chance to get Ares back, there isn’t anything this family wouldn’t do for him.”
My father has never told me he loves me. He has never told me he’s proud of me. This right here is his version. And for the first time since my brother died, tears burn the back of my eyes as a single tear falls. I swipe at it as quickly as it came, but the squeeze of my hand tells me that Daphne saw.
“Ares showed us what family is. And we all should take a page from his book and learn. We are Godwins.” His eyes now lock on his brother, Leander, and then his other brother, Hector. “It’s time we act like Godwins. I only hope the last tragedy in this family for a long time is losing Ares.”
As we all make our way to the front of the church, I feel as if I’ve been beaten to shit. We still have to go bury the body in the family plot, but only immediate family are invited for that. I wish I could opt out of going because the last thing I want to see is Apollo lowered into the ground while I get to live the life that was stolen from him.
Daphne is still holding my hand, a support I hadn’t expected would be so needed and welcomed. “I’m going to go get our coats,” she says, leaning into me.
I lean down and kiss her forehead. I don’t know why. It’s not something I had ever done before with anyone, but it just felt right.
Just as I pull my lips away, I notice Phoenix staring… Actually, glaring at Daphne and the way her hand is locked in mine. There’s disgust in his eyes. There’s no reason he shouldn’t like Daphne. Even though we all knew Daphne and Apollo were having marital issues, I don’t think anyone held it against the woman. And why wouldn’t he be happy to see a marriage maybe reconnecting, or a wife giving her husband support on the day his twin brother is being buried? The daggers shooting out of his eyes make little sense. As Daphne leaves to get our coats, I walk toward him to see what’s going on. But before I have a chance, he’s marched over to our father and starts whispering something in his ear. Whatever he’s telling my father has his eyes narrowing, his jaw tightening, and then his eyes searching the room before they land on mine.