Thanatos looked down at the remaining whiskey in his glass before facing his usually confident friend. “You mean to share her as we did the others?”
After Anubis’ marriage ended, they’d shared several lovers. Anubis shrugged. “I want to explore the option if you are willing.”
Thanatos stared at the fire, sifting through his emotions. Would he be able to handle sharing Iliana? His few relationships had always been fleeting. Goddesses either feared him or misread his silence. The only long-term partnerships were those he shared with Anubis, and even those were about pleasure, not attachment. He’d avoided mortal lovers entirely, unwilling to risk what time would inevitably claim.
But Iliana was different. She already mattered more to him than the others ever had.
“If Iliana chooses both of us, you’d accept that?” Thanatos asked.
Anubis tensed beside him, seriously considering the question. “If she chooses us both, then yes.”
Thanatos sensed the tension he’d been carrying since Iliana’s injury uncoil.
She slept in his brother’s arms. Unaware of the promise forming between them—to her, to each other, and to whatever happened next.
Chapter twenty-five
HYPNOS
Hypnos tried to focus, brushing his powers against Iliana’s curse. He was searching for a way to untangle its grip on her, but his mind continued drifting back to the dream. To her. The memory of her peace battled against seeing her coughing up blood, her body convulsing under his hands.
He considered changing her out of her bloodstained clothes, but didn’t.The last thing he wanted was for her to wake up, see her clothes altered, and assume something had happened to her. He wasn’t about to add to the mistrust she felt toward him.
Instead, he closed his eyes, skimming the edges of her mind, reluctant to go too deep again.
He slipped into a half-awake dream state. He stood next to the bed, looking down at Iliana sleeping so peacefully in his arms. Bewildered, he watched his own arm tighten around her.
“She is pretty,” Pasithea’s voice spoke from beside him.
He tensed before slowly looking over to see the bewitching face he’d longed to see so many times over the long, lonely years.
She didn’t return his look, staring instead at Iliana.
He immediately changed the scene. Obscuring it. Creating white walls around them.
“Don’t,” he warned, but didn’t know how to finish his sentence.
He’d kept their connection open during his sleep, always hoping one day she’d slip into his dreams. Hope was such a foolish thing to hold on to, but that damaged part of him wanted to believe Pasithea would return to him.
“I am not here to hurt you,” she said, almost apologetically. “Who is the mortal?”
“It’s my duty.”
“Is it?” she asked, warmly. The same way she used to when they were happy. Or when he’d thought they’d been happy. “You care for her.”
Hypnos swallowed, feeling his hands in the waking world still where they unconsciously smoothed Iliana’s hair. “What do you want, Pasithea?”
She moved, coming closer to him. “To apologize.” The word came out broken. “Seeing you care for someone again makes me remember what I threw away, what we had.”
Despite his attempts to stay cold, he softened. She sounded genuinely remorseful. Not like the calculating goddess who’d used him for power and status. He closed his eyes, afraid he’d fall to his knees and beg her to take him back. “You left,” he stated.
“I was foolish,” she said, moving closer.
He felt her softly caress his shoulders. He stubbornly kept his eyes closed.
“I thought I wanted power more than love. Seeing the gentleness you show the mortal, I remember why I fell hard for you.”
Iliana moved slightly against his body, murmuring something incoherent. Hypnos’ attention snapped back to her as she placed her hand on his chest. Over his heart.
