Sitting on the floor, hands pressed to her scalp and back against a corner, she watched through tangled curls as the man she was currently dating – not a nice man, not a nice man at all, too bad even for her own tastes – paced through the room, looking over at her once in a while before sneering and turning away.
She didn’t like him right now.
“So that’s who you are,” he said, voice deep and smooth and like crushed velvet. It ran over her skin the wrong way, sending goosebumps down her spine and making her want to contort in her own skin. “Gods I should have known…little woodland nymph who repeats herself. Who else could you be but Narcissus’ little bitch?”
She flinched at the name, fingernails digging into her scalp, eyes widening as she rocked side-to-side. “Little…bitch…little bitch…Narcissus’ little bitch…”
“Ah, there’s the nymph everyone knows so well. You’re very good at repeating the important parts of conversation. Just like a parrot. A good little parrot. …But why does the name ‘Narcissus’ bother you so?”
Echo flinched again, curling tighter in herself, rocking back-and-forth-and-back-and-forth-and—
“Oh…this is interesting…”
“Yes, little nymph,” Cronus smiled, the expression practically splitting his face in half.