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“Then it doesn’t sound like we’re a good fit,” I say with as much moxie as I can. “Take me to Eros, and I’ll be out of your hair.”
“I’ll tell him where you are, but you must proclaim that he couldn’t do his job and help you find the love of your life.”
“But he did,” I say, defending Eros for whatever good it does. “In a way.”
“Are you now living happily with the love of your life?” he asks point blank.
“No. I believed Carl was my true love, but I don’t think he is anymore.”
“Then Eros failed.” Hermes smirks again. I want to smack that smug grin off his jerk face.
“But it isn’t Eros’s fault.”
“Isn’t it?” Hermes argues. “If he’s so talented at his job, then he would have known you and Carl weren’t a match.”
“Is this part of your game? That Eros loses by not finding me the love of my life?” I place my hands on my hips.
“What makes you think it’smygame?” Hermes pops away after dropping that suggestive comment.
I fall back into the bed and close my eyes.
When I open them, I’m in Hypnos’s dream realm with him lying next to me.
“You see now that I’m the best choice of the gods?” he asks with a raised, knowing eyebrow.
“Dammit,” I curse. “I don’t want to be with you either.”
“Who do you want to be with?” he asks pointedly.
I sputter at that question.WhoI want is irrelevant. This is all a game. None of them really want me. I’m a prize that will be discarded once I have named the winner.
All I’ve wanted is for someone to truly love me. One would think after all the heartache I’ve experienced that I’d finally learn my lesson—love sucks. Ugh. Maybe I’m a dreamy-eyed, hopeless romantic. Maybe it’s just my fate that love will evade my grasp.
“Hey, dreamer,” Hypnos says, bringing me out of my thoughts.
I turn to look at him directly and study his face. He’s the kindest of the gods, other than Eros. Thanatos is a jerk, and Hermes is an asshole.
“What happens to me if I refuse to let any of you claim me?”
“I don’t want to think of that outcome.” Hypnos caresses my cheek. I allow it because it doesn’t feel overtly sexual, but more like his attempt to soothe me. “What’s wrong with me?”
“I suppose nothing, but I don’t want to be a companion for someone who just wants to win me like a child wins a toyprize.” I stare deep into the abyss of his hypnotic eyes. “Are you expecting me to love you with my supposed pure heart?”
“No. I know you won’t ever love me like that.”
Hypnos says this with a sadness that almost breaks me. I feel that pain. I will never be loved by someone with a pure heart either. I won’t find them with the god’s meddling in my life and my death and fighting over rights to my soul.
“Then why try to win me?” I ask, genuinely curious.
“I like you, and I fear what will happen if Thanatos or Hermes win,” Hypnos says softly. “Eros has already lost, so your best option is to be with me.”
His statement falls on me like a piano from the sky, creating discord and chaos in my heart.
Eros has already lost.
He’s not coming for me… Why does that break my mortal heart?
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