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“I will give you the world,” he whispered, his mouth hovering over hers.
“I don’t need the world,” she said. “I just need you.”
He kissed her, made love to her, and brought her to release under his sky.
CHAPTER XVIII
DIONYSUS
Dionysus was surprised to find Ariadne awake and sitting in his living room. He expected her to avoid him, though perhaps things had only changed between them from his perspective.
He could not look at her the same way anymore. Before, she had only mildly annoyed him, and while that was, in part, due to his attraction to her, nothing compared to how he felt now. She was fire beneath his skin, and all he thought about was how he felt when she kissed him.
It did not help that she looked so at ease in his home, like she belonged right there, at the center of his life. She sat on the couch with a book in her lap wearing his shirt, her long, bare legs crossed in front of her.
She had even madecoffee.
She looked up as he came into the room.
“How did you sleep?” he asked.
“Fine,” she said. “You?”
“Fine.”
He wasn’t sure why he sounded so passive-aggressive. Maybe it was because he was lying. Silence followed his reply, and for a moment, all he could do was stare at her.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
Dionysus hesitated. He had not expected her to ask.
“I have a meeting,” he said. “You can stay here if you prefer, or I can take you back to Bakkheia.”
He should not give her the choice to stay, but selfishly, he liked the idea of coming home to her. It was ridiculous, given he rarely stayed here, but it wasn’t as if he’d had a reason to be here before.
Ariadne seemed just as surprised by his offer. “I…I think I’d like to stay here.”
Dionysus swallowed, frustrated by the relief he felt at her choice.
“The maenads will guard the house,” he said.
Ariadne’s eyes hardened. “Is that a warning?”
“It’s only a warning if you are planning your escape.”
Her mouth tightened. “Have you thought any more about your plan to rescue Medusa from Poseidon?”
The reality was that he had thought about it, and his meeting was actually with the god himself, but he did not want to tell Ariadne that because he did not wish for her to accompany him. The fewer women he could put in Poseidon’s path, the better.
“I’m working on it,” he said with far more frustration than he intended.
“You’re moving too slow,” she said.
“Can you just trust me once?” Dionysus snapped. He should have stopped talking then, but he couldn’t help himself. He continued. “You’re used to shovingyour way into situations that don’t concern you because you think you have authority, but you have none here. The sooner you realize that, the better.”
She slammed her book closed. “You wonder why I don’t trust you.”
“I don’t wonder,” he said. “I know.”
