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“What if someone’s harboring them?”
Minthe has a way of speaking the things I’d rather not think about. It’s incredibly frustrating but makes her an excellent part of the team. “Then we deal with it. It’s a big job. Pull whoever you need for it.”
“Was already planning on it, boss.” She puts an ironic lilt on the last word. She might show a little more respect to Hades, but she and I have known each other too long to stand on ceremony. When we were teens and her parents were having a hard time accepting her identity, she moved into this big ass house with us. Her relationship with her parents has mended in the years since, but she never moved back out again.
A lot of people who work for Hades have similar stories. Minthe once joked that we’re like the Island of Misfit Toys, and she’s not wrong. Hades has a habit of collecting the desperate, the broken, and the hopeless. Then he gives us a home. Acceptance. Safety.
As a result, every one of us would die for him.
15
ORPHEUS
I sit in the back of the car for a long time. Our driver, a buff white woman with short blond hair and snake tattoos, grudgingly left the engine running for me before she followed Eurydice into the restaurant. I don’t need the faint heat coursing from the vents, but I do appreciate the gesture. It gives me time to think. Up to this point, I’ve mostly been flying by feel. I would’ve done anything to prevent being sent away. I didn’t expect to enjoy it so much though.
And now? After this morning, everything is crystallizing into a hope I never thought I would fulfill. I don’t want this to end once I’ve paid penance to Eurydice’s satisfaction. I didn’t think it was possible to earn her trust again, but now I wonder.
And then there’s Charon.
Every time I think of him, I expect to feel a stab of jealousy. Eurydice is beautiful; she always has been. There’s something about her that makes people want to gather her up and put her on a shelf. I’m guilty of it myself. I wanted to hoard her time and her presencefor me and me alone. She was my muse, after all. As much as I enjoyed the way people’s gazes would linger on her whenever we were in public, there was a part of me that wanted to throw my coat over her and shield her from their attention.
I don’t feel that way with Charon. Watching her ride his cock…his mouth…his hands…it pulls at parts of me I didn’t know existed. Seeing her come on his tongue while he shoved his cock down my throat was an experience bordering on religious.
In the past, I preferred to put my own spin on reality in my paintings. A portrait where the subject is identifiable, yes, but I like to insert fantastical elements that deepen the meaning. I’ve never been overly drawn to Impressionism or any of the styles that leave too much up for interpretation though.
Sitting in this car, with the memory of last night flowing through my mind, my fingertips itch again. I don’t know how to convey the tangled feeling in my chest into color and movement, but for the first time in so many months, I want to try.
I lean back and close my eyes. Eurydice has always felt a graceful blue to me, but with lust and need riding her hard—and that delicious thread of dominance—she bleeds over into magenta. She is all bold strokes and sensual curves. Charon, on the other hand, is a red so dark it’s almost black. His desire is not anything as simple as lust. He wants me, he needs her, and he is the framework that holds this entire experience in place. He is both the grounding force and the boundary that keeps us safe. His presence won’t stop us from cascading into ruin, but it would be all but guaranteed without him involved.
And me? I’ve never been one for self-portraits, but this imagewould not be complete without my presence. A fragile lacework of pale blue twined with lilac morphing into red at the edges.
I can’t quite see how the three fit together seamlessly, but the threads are there all the same. In this moment, I hope with all my heart that life can imitate art. But then, I haven’t painted this yet, have I? I don’t know if I’m even capable of doing it anymore.
The door opens, startling me. I open my eyes to find Eurydice leaning down to catch my gaze. She glances over her shoulder, looking almost guilty. “Let’s go.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask her where her sister is, or at least her security detail. I don’t. I have a feeling that to ask is to be left behind. She’s allowing me to come with her, trusting me this much, and I won’t do anything to make her doubt that decision. I scramble out of the back seat and follow her down the sidewalk at a quick clip. We’re not quite running, but it’s increasingly obvious that she’s going rogue. “Charon’s not going to like this,” I murmur.
“I’ll deal with him when I get back to the lower city.” We turn the corner, and she slows down enough for me to catch up without rushing. She shoots me a sharp look. “Tattling won’t earn you any points with anyone.”
I hold up my hands in surrender. “I am a vault. Take me where you will.” The words come out a little more serious than I intend, but I don’t take them back. It’s only been two days back in her presence, and I’m willing to do a whole lot more than crawl in order not to be sent away.
“We’ll see.”
We walk three more blocks before she flags down a taxi. I followher into the back seat and wait for the car to pull away from the curb to ask, “Where are we going?”
“I need to see a woman about a thing.” For a long moment, I think she’ll leave it there, but she sighs and slouches against the seat. “How caught up on current events are you?”
“Enough. Most of what I know comes from the gossip magazines, but it’s easy enough to read between the lines. Minos is the enemy, or at least the first wave of the enemy. It seems like his foster son went rogue when he relinquished the Hephaestus title, but the family has still done a damn good job of destabilizing the city.”
Eurydice gives me a pointed look. “Not just a pretty face.”
A year ago I would’ve made a quip about her thinking I’m pretty, but I just shrug and give a pained smile. “I am Apollo’s brother, after all.”
“Yes, but you’ve always been his brother. You’ve never paid attention to politics that don’t directly affect you before now.” She tucks her hair behind her ears and lowers her voice. “After Minos’s party, Eris approached me with some information. Ariadne isn’t as on board with her father’s plans as it would seem. She’s also far cleverer than anyone notices. She sees things, hears things that will be incredibly useful to us if she’ll share that information.”
I consider that as the cab pulls to a stop in front of the university. If it’s easy enough to read between the lines of current gossip, Eurydice might as well have lit up a neon sign over her head. “No one except Eris knows you’re doing this, do they?”
“It’s a long shot, and Ariadne is easily spooked. Better that I try on my own. If I’m successful, then my sisters can yell at me about it later. If I fail, no one needs to know.”
