14
I received only speechlessness in return. “He’s really great!” I added helpfully. “He—”
But Alex held up a hand to stop me, her eyes still wide with terror. “Hold on. You’re telling methat’sthe guy?”
At this, I couldn’t help but break into a grin. “I know, right?” I said dreamily.
This didn’t seem to calm her down, though. She gulped and wrung her hands together, knuckles drained of color. I supposed that was fair, after what she’d seen.
“You’re dating Death,” Alex repeated. “Thanatos, reaper of souls. That’s who you’ve been sneaking out to meet? Almighty fucking Zeus.How?”
“Is he not the most gorgeous man you’ve ever seen? I met him when Damarion died, remember that?”
She nodded slowly, and I meant to continue explaining, but I was cut off by a knock at our door, along with the sound of the lock clicking open. “Make haste or you’ll be late,” Andrew called from the other side. The patter of his footsteps retreated briskly down the stairs.
Unfortunately, his words rang true.
“Look, I’ll explain everything as soon as I can,” I said quickly. “Please, just don’t say anything. Don’t even pray about it!”
Sophie frowned and folded her arms. “We haven’t up to this point. Why start now?”
“I’m sorry,” I said again. “I’ll explain at lunch.”
So we put off the discussion and reluctantly prepared for our work. I could feel my sisters’ stares burning into my back as I led the line of seers down our spiraling staircase. I couldn’t blame them. I would have to be patient with their fears and their questions.
The relief of potentially spilling my secrets did bring a small smile to my face, though. I promptly discarded it before entering the courtyard; by now I was well practiced in concealing my emotions from parishioners. Our morning work passed agonizingly slowly and mostly uneventfully, although Zoe did discern the impending demise of some man’s favorite cow. Too bad for that guy.
When lunchtime arrived, we gathered up as much food as we could carry and hurried back to the privacy of our room. There, with the door closed and all of us seated comfortably, I continued my tale in hushed tones.
“Thanatos doesn’t visit our realm too often,” I explained. “His plane is for the dead, so mortals don’t see him until the end. But when he came for Damarion’s soul, I did. I saw him there when I wasn’t supposed to. That’s my gift.” I grinned at them.
“Okay…but I’m pretty sure we all saw him this morning,” Alex pointed out.
“Yeah, well, that was an accident. I think maybe he got too cozy, lying there with me? Anyway, he’s been up here before, and you’ve never seen him.”
“Seriously?” asked Sophie. “Fuck, Cyrie. That’s…that’s pretty creepy, you know.”
“He wasn’t—ugh, he saw nothing of you!” I responded hastily. “It was only once or twice you were awake in the room with him. All the other times…” I faltered, blushing uncontrollably. “All the other times, he just came to cuddle me atnight. Well, and these last few weeks I’ve been braiding his hair behind my curtains.”
Sophie stared at me. “You’ve been snuggling with Death and braiding his hair,” she repeated flatly.
“Yes.”
“Do you even understand how serious this is?” she demanded, throwing her hands into the air.
“Of course I do. I’m well aware that if either the temple or the Olympians find out, it will mean the end for me.”
“No, that’snotwhat I meant, and I don’t think you understand at all,” insisted Sophie. “We’ve supported your agency to knowingly risk your own life over love. We’ve even gone along with your keeping this relationship a secret from us. But now you’re saying that…thatThanatoshas been cuddling you one bed over while the rest of us try to sleep! Dear gods, no wonder Alex has bad dreams.” Her eyes flashed with concern and bewilderment as they searched my own. “Come on, Cyrie!Deathin our bedroom? You can’t tell me that’s not weird!”
“Well, this entire situationis weird!” I retorted. “It’s really fucking weird, but I like it! And he’s not what you think. You haven’t let me finish.”
“Fine, fine. Go on.”
“Well, first of all, it’s not like he goes around killing people. Get that out of your head. He just comes for our souls when our time runs out, and steals us away to the Underworld. Anyway, all of that happens in a realm distinct from our own, so when I met him, he was really confused by my sight. I shouldn’t have known that he was there. That’s why he talked to me at first.”
An unconscious smile tugged at my lips as I envisioned our first meetings. “We were both curious about each other. And then I asked him to come back, and he did. Every night he came to see me, and we sort of just…happened.” I sighed dreamily.“My Thanatos. Oh, and he’s the one who fixed my face! And sliced up Keeper’s…well, you saw.”
Zoe made a noise of discomfort. “And you’re not afraid at all? Even after seeing what he’s capable of?”
