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“No one?” the cyclops said. “I am Polyphemus.”
“A pleasure,” Dionysus said.
“How did you come to my island?” the cyclops asked.
“I was stranded here,” said Dionysus. “I am afraid I do not know where I am.”
“This is Thrinacia,” Polyphemus said. “You will have to know if you are ever to visit again.”
Dionysus smiled. At least he had some idea of where they were now.
“Would you like more wine?” Dionysus asked.
“But there is not water for you to turn into wine,” said Polyphemus.
“I do not need water to make wine,” said Dionysus,and suddenly, the lake was full again, and Polyphemus downed another batch.
This time, when it was gone, Dionysus refilled it without question.
“That is quite a trick,” said Polyphemus, blinking slow and swaying.
“I suppose it was a trick,” said Dionysus.
“I think…I think I have been poisoned,” said the cyclops, slurring, and then he swooned and crashed to the ground, unconscious.
As soon as he was down, Dionysus scrambled to his feet, and Ariadne darted from the shadows, throwing her arms around him.
“Dionysus,” she whispered, and his name had never sounded so good.
He kissed her, holding her face between his hands. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said, holding his gaze. “You came for me.”
“Of course,” he said.
The ophiotaurus huffed, drawing their attention. Ariadne pulled Dionysus closer to the creature.
“This is Bully,” she said. “He’s a friend.”
“Bully?” Dionysus asked.A friend?
“That’s his name,” she said.
“You named the ophiotaurus?”
“Well, I had to call himsomething,” she said. “He kept me safe.”
He smiled at her and shook his head a little. “Fuck, Ari. I didn’t know what to think. I—”
“It’s all right, Dionysus,” she said, her eyes searching his, and then he kissed her again.
He was too relieved to think twice about it, too grateful she was okay to feel awkward or uncertain.
“How sweet,” said a voice, and then the ophiotaurus roared.
They whirled to find Theseus standing a few paces from them with two men, who had restrained the ophiotaurus. Bully was pushed onto his back so his soft belly was exposed.
Before Ariadne could scream, Theseus plunged his knife into the creature’s stomach to the hilt and then dragged it down.
