Sold: Survival (complete)

5

A soft knock on the door followed by a paw scratch told me Zeus had arrived.

"Come in," I called.

Crystal came in the room and let Zeus off his leash. He trotted over to the bed and jumped up to snuggle next to me.

"Um, Anna," Crystal started. "I really wasn't working against the king. I had nothing to do with the council."

"I know."

She nodded. "I thought you would convince him otherwise for what I did to you."

"That's not who I am."

It wasn't. I would never make Liam believe something that wasn't true. If I had reason to suspect her, that would be different. But, I knew she wasn't involved. She was jealous. That was it.

"Yeah," she muttered. "I'm sorry for being rude to you. It was just . . . I thought it was the king that I slept with and when you came along, you were given everything that I had and I was angry."

I shrugged. "It's not like it was my fault. I didn't ask him to treat me that way."

"Yeah. I know that now."

"Truce?" I asked.

She nodded. "Definitely."

For the first time, she smiled at me and left the room. I snuggled closer to Zeus and absently pet him. His soft snores told me he was fast asleep already. Zeus could sleep anywhere, especially if I was present. Sometimes I wished he could hold a conversation with me. I talked to him all the time and only received stares. If he knew I was sad he would cuddle with me or nudge one of his toys on my lap to play. Even though he couldn't talk, I got the feeling he understood me. Zeus' love was unconditional. He was the only thing on the planet that would love me regardless of what I did. Of course other people could love me, but if I wronged them they would stop loving me. If I wronged Zeus, he would forgive and still love me.

The longer I laid with Zeus the worse I felt about being rude to Liam. I shouldn't have taken it out on him. It wasn't right of me and I knew that.

I carefully slipped away from Zeus and made my way out of my room to knock on Liam's door.

"Come in," he called.

I slipped inside the room and closed the door behind me. For a moment, a thought passed through my mind. If this had been Azrael, I would have been completely uncomfortable, but it was Liam and he made me feel at ease. Maybe I always knew it would never work out with Azrael and maybe I was kind of okay with that. It wasn't like I was crying over him every second of every day. I was sad, but I was starting to be okay.

"I'm sorry I was rude," I said.

"No need to apologize," he responded.

I walked further into his room and glanced around for a second. It looked exactly as I remembered it. Not a single detail had changed.

"Is it weird to be in here?"

"It's my room," he said carefully.

"I know. I mean, you haven't been you in so long and we took off to Ireland. You haven't been in here."

"I think it's more weird for you. Feels normal to me."

I agreed. Maybe it was just weird for me.

"Can I ask you something?"

"You're acting odd," he commented.

"I feel odd," I muttered. "Have you ever felt like part of you just disappeared?"

"Are you okay?"

I nodded quickly. "I just . . . I don't feel like me anymore, but I don't know if that's because I'm maturing or if I lost who I am."

He placed his hands on my shoulders and locked his eyes with mine. "Anna, are you regretting being with me?"

"No. It's just that I don't even know how to be in a regular healthy relationship let alone whatever we have going on."

"Do you want to call it off?"

"I don't think so."

"You should take some time to think about it. I won't be mad," he assured.

"I know you wouldn't be. When I got here I was so different. It's like this year has completely changed me."

"You're young. You just got ahold of your real senses and you're confused. It'll get better."

I shook my head. "Everything I learned in church was a lie."

"Not everything," he tried.

"Almost all of it. I thought angels would be different."

"Yes, well, they can be rather disappointing, but everything about God is real. He is the only thing that will love you unconditionally completely."

"More than you do?"

He smiled at me. "It's a close call."

I half smiled. "Yeah, well, if you need me I'll be next door. Sorry again."

"Don't worry about it, Anna."