I watched, entranced, as he flapped his wings once and rose easily into the sky. How had I forgotten that he could fly? Almighty Zeus. In my defense, he did seem to like teleporting more. And he flew so strangely, too: lazily and effortlessly, out of sync with the movements of his wings. I had to remind myself that this wasn’t really what he used them for.
Almost immediately all I could see of him was a streak of violet moving across the sky, speeding out toward the fields like a shooting star. I ran, wide-eyed, to the edge of the tower and leaned anxiously over the railing to watch. Approaching the fields, the violet light arced, then began to fall, faster and faster, straight at the ground. I held my breath on instinct as it met the horizon; but at the moment of impact, the glow simply winked out of sight. Dear gods. I supposed I should have remembered that the Underworld meantdown.
I stared, dazed, at the spot where he’d vanished. The fuckingUnderworld. Since we’d met I’d seen so many incredible things. Too bad for my sisters—mysight was clearly the best! It was worth the price of never sharing what I knew. The gifts in the room beneath my feet could never surpass mine, becausetheydidn’t get to see Thanatos.
I smiled dreamily as I waited atop the tower, looking out over the city. My lips still tingled from his kisses. I hadn’t asked how long it took to fly across the river Styx, but it didn’t matter to me, so long as he ended up right back here.
I traced a dozen constellations before Thanatos returned to me. Having barely heard the sound of wings behind me, Isqueaked in surprise when I felt his arms around my waist. “Hi,” I giggled.
“Hi.” He hugged me and swayed before twirling me around to face him. “I am glad that you waited,” he said, and he flashed me a half-smile. “But…I can still go, if you want me to.”
“Why would I want you to go?”
He gave me a pained sort of look. “I just mean—IamDeath, you know,” he reminded, as if I’d somehow forgotten. “And that makes things strange. I only mean, you never have to do anything with me if you do not desire to.” Was he still so hesitant, after all of this? His shyness was cute, but the deeper implication made my heart ache.
I took his hands and guided them deliberately back to my waist. He pulled me flush against his body at the invitation, his grip warm and eager, and I splayed my fingers across his chest, wishing that there wasn’t so much fabric between us. “Have you just spent your flight convincing yourself that I couldn’t truly want you?” I accused gently.
“I suppose I have,” he admitted. He stared hungrily at my lips, his face so close to mine that we practically shared each other’s breath.
“Well, stop that,” I whispered. “I want to kiss you, Thanatos. Do you want to kiss me?”
“Yes.” The word escaped him as a yearning sigh, barely audible against the breeze around us.
“Then kiss me.”
So he did. He claimed me, the stroke of his mouth fierce and possessive, as if my waiting atop this tower had shattered a piece of his restraint. Dizzied by his fervor, it was all I could do to loop my arms around his neck and cling to him. I mirrored the caresses of his lips and tongue, clumsy in my technique but finding that I cared little for precision in the face of my cresting desire. My body was hot and sensitive, and every placewe touched tingled paradoxically with both desperation and satisfaction.
Thanatos angled my chin to his liking, then buried his face in my neck, only to freeze with his lips hovering over my pulse. He let out a growl that weakened my knees. “I want to be rougher with you than I am permitted,” he protested. He punctuated his complaint with a deliberately delicate kiss to my neck.
“I would enjoy that, if not for the danger of being caught,” I admitted. My mind swam, fogged by the intoxication of his taste and his touch.Thedanger. “Oh, wait!”
“What is it?” he asked in alarm.
“I—we can’t—if someone looks up here, they’re going to see me tonguing the air!” I couldn’t help but giggle at the absurdity of that image, despite my seriousness. “And I have no idea how I’d talk myself out of that one,” I added.
“Oh, right. Well then, I will take us back to our room.”
Reality twisted until the stars around us were replaced by the walls of our familiar gazebo, where Thanatos tugged me possessively back into his lap on the bench. He continued to press hungry but careful kisses into the oversensitive skin of my neck and throat. He cinched his hands firmly around my waist, clutching me against his body, and I became acutely aware of the hard column of his arousal pressed against my thigh. A swell of pride rushed over me, chased by a sense of naive embarrassment. What was I meant to do with it?
Thanatos licked the hollow of my throat, and I moaned involuntarily. I was going to do nothing about it, I decided quickly, save for appreciate the evidence of his body’s desire. I was already so overwhelmed by his kisses that I feared eventhinkingabout his cock might cause me to burst into flames.
Instead, I wove my fingers into his hair and tugged gently to guide him back to my lips. He allowed me to direct him, but nipped my bottom lip in a display of performative indignation.
“My oracle is pulling my hair,” he marveled, stating the obvious as though it were the most unbelievable action in the world. The slightest shift in pitch betrayed a new edge to his voice. Was I imagining an increase in the pressure against my thigh?
“Oh, am I yours now?” I flirted breathlessly.
Thanatos nibbled my lip again, then traced it with the tip of his tongue. “Yes,” he said simply. Then he seemed to realize what he’d implied, and he looked to me for approval with a pout very unbecoming of the dreaded reaper of souls.
I kissed him deeply, giving his hair the slightest teasing tug as I did so. I felt the rumble of the sigh he caught in his throat. “Very well, precious Death,” I conceded with a grin.
Thanatos laughed. “I do not think I will ever become used to the way you speak of me. But then again, I suppose this entire happening is just one more thing that I do not understand.” He kissed my cheek, breathing deeply, massaging circles into my back with his thumb.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I mean…how can it be that theoneperson who sees me is the one who makes me feel this way?” he wondered. “I did not even know that Icouldfeel this way.”
“You didn’t know?” I repeated in shock. “Do you mean you’ve not done this before?” It should have been a stupid question—surely he could have anyone he wanted, I thought—but then again, the way he’d described his existence didn’t seem especially conducive to romance.
