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“All is well, Butterfly,” he assures me, scooping me up until I’m at eye level with him. A blush tethers my cheeks from the closeness. “Just some impromptu business. Purgatory and the Underworld, the usual. If it eases you, my love, Hades only has eyes for Persephone.”
I shake my head as he sets me back down, where his hardness nudges my belly from beneath his breeches. “It’s not that. It’s just…the way he looked at me. His eyes never left mine, but it was like…” I shiver.
“He could see into your soul, yes, I know.” Eros scrapes a hand down his face. “It’s a God of the Dead thing. He has a thing for mortal rattling.”
Desire snorts and chuckles. “Pot calling the kettle black.”
Eros narrows his eyes on his brother, and their banter relaxes me. The twitching erection nearly has me flush against the gargoyle, and my mouth waters at the thought of his chocolate elixir. Not that I’m swooning or anything.
As Eros cups my cheek, a fevered chill sweeps along my spine while heat gathers in my core. “If you are too rattled, little one, we could delay and simply enjoy a quiet dinner.”
I tense, reacting like I’ve been stung. “Why don’t you just stab a fork into my chest and scoop out my heart so you can eat a delicacy?”
Crescendo chuckles behind me and plays Britney SpearsBaby One More Time. Longing bursts into stitches of laughter, and I shake my head with a soft giggle. The song fades as Eros takes my face in his hands, tilting my jaw and lowering his chin to me.
“I need you to understand, Aradia…” He searches my eyes, pressing his body against mine. “My brothers drove you to such heights of desire, so you would be strong on a physical and sexual level to receive me, but it was also to weaken your emotional defenses.”
I screw my brows low, confused, even as tendrils of heat curl into my bloodstream. “What do you mean?”
Crescendo transforms the notes into a new tune. One I’ve never heard before. Emotive and somber, it evokes raw and vulnerable emotions.
“I’ll take everything tonight, Butterfly,” Eros says. “As a god and the God of Love, I will feed upon your heart, your essence, your very soul. I will fuck your beautiful body, and make love to you, but I will also fuck the three former. You will feel thecrowning peaks of pleasure, the uttermost lust, and bliss…bliss so transcendent.”
“But…?”
“Complete and utter darkness.” The abyss in his eyes passes into me, scraping its claws upon my soul’s windows, tapping, beckoning, commanding me to open them.
“The whole time?” I tremble.
“The whole time.”
The words chill my skin. But a thrilling tingle follows. Something strange and wondrous and yet, dark and terrifying. The sensory deprivation will give me such mad, wild levels of intensity. A deeper and unexpected vulnerability. The idea of him shattering my emotional fortresses is a temptation—an enthralling one. What does it mean that he will feed on me and take everything? Does that mean he will keep me here…forever?
Tears glisten in my eyes, and I lick my lips, wondering. Will he simply fuck me and be done with me? Will he destroy my heart, my soul? A storm of questions tears through my mind.
“Aradia?”
I register my whole body is shaking.
“Eros,” I say hesitantly. “Will this…will this night be my last night to live?”
He blinks. Leans in. And kisses my brow. The emotion wells up in my throat because he didn’t say no.
“There is a risk, a danger to the ways of gods and mortals,” he confirms while bringing me closer to embrace me. “You wish for both, Butterfly. Like me, you won’t settle for less. The gargoyle and the god. The monster and the man.”
I slide my quivering hand along his obsidian chest, fortifying my heart, my will. If Psyche survived, so can I. And if my death means I will stay with him in Purgatory forever…would it be such a horrible thing?
“As I mentioned, you don’t have t—”
“I want to.” I throw my head up to meet his eyes.
“Are you truly ready?” He sifts a hand through my hair.
I offer him a soft smile. “No one could ever truly be ready, Eros. That’s the whole point of accepting something dangerous.” Fucked to death by the God of Love also seems like a way to go out with a bang.
“We have a few hours before dusk settles. Until then, my brothers will prepare you.” He gestures to Longing and Desire, who approach me from behind.
“I’ll be ambiance music!” Crescendo chirps excitedly, his bells jingling as he swings toward us. I smile when Longing steals a kiss from him.
