Chapter 31
CYDON
I tried to smother the flame of hope that the old Irish God was presenting us, but it flickered in my chest anyway. It was burning bright and strong in Wren’s eyes, and that was enough for both of us.
We took Donn’s offer to stay for the night, and Fea led us upstairs to an empty room. And I mean upstairs. We must have climbed thirty flights before we reached our floor. I hadn’t even thought it was structurally possible, but clearly, this wasn’t a place that had to adhere to the laws of physics. It was more like the TARDIS than Hotel California.
Finally, we stopped in front of a heavy wooden door, which Fea pushed open to reveal a basic room. “Rest, Wren. The walk to the Tar Pits isn’t far, but it is arduous.”
Wren reached out and gripped her hand. “Thank you, Fea. I couldn’t have done any of this without my guide. I appreciate it.”
Smiling back, Fea ushered us into the room. “My honor. Get a good night’s rest. We’ll leave early for the Tar Pits.”
Quietly shutting the door behind us, I joined Wren in looking around at the room. It was basic by modern standards, but I imagined that it would have seemed palatial just a century or two earlier. Worn, thick blankets covered a double bed, and it actually had a proper mattress. Given the rest of the place looked like it had been pulled straight from a history book of medieval England, I’d been a little worried that we’d be sleeping on pallets on the floor, or on straw mattresses.
I wouldn’t have cared. In dog form, I’d slept in a lot worse places than a comfortable room in a damn castle. But I wanted only the best for Wren.
“How can I be dead and this exhausted?” she groaned, flopping down onto the bed.
It was the general effect of this place. I had my theories that it was how they made the non-denominational souls choose, because exhaustion took hold, so anywhere looked like a good place to eternally rest. I didn’t tell her any of that, though. I couldn’t stand that sadness on her face again tonight.
“Is it just me, or does the God of Death have the hots for our guide?”
She rocketed up into a sitting position. “Right?! They are adorable, though I’m not sure either of them realizes the other one is flirting. So sweet. Do you think we should tell her that he’s interested?”
I laughed at her enthusiasm. Who knew playing matchmaker would pull her from her melancholy? “Only if you first tell her that you’re Néit’s partner. When she spoke of him, I wondered if she was holding on for him to pass over.”
Visibly shuddering, she grabbed my hand and dragged me down onto the bed with her. “Hard pass on that conversation. I’m hoping that she’ll drop us off at the Tar Pits and go on her way, so I can avoid that whole thing.”
I didn’t know how soul guides worked, but hopefully, that would be enough to satisfy whatever force or magical pull was compelling Fea to accompany us. We wouldn’t know until we got there, I guess.
I pulled off my shirt, tossing it down beside the bed. Wren was still in the long white gown, like some bride of death, and she hiked it up so she could put her legs over mine, tangling them together.
“Have I said how glad I am that you’re here with me, Cy? Even if it’s the most selfish feeling in the world.”
I shook my head and kissed the top of her hair. “It’s only selfish if there was somewhere else I wanted to be, and there isn’t.” Honestly, being one of the guys topside, mourning over her dead body, seemed worse than a thousand deaths.
“You think I can do it, right? That I can pass whatever this Weighing thing is? That I can go home?”
“Yes. If anyone deserves it, it’s you.” I sucked in a deep breath. “If it doesn’t happen, we’ll regroup then. Figure something out. Find a place to rest.”
She didn’t really understand how big of a deal it was in itself for all the rulers of the afterlife to get together. It would be everyone from Hades to Hel, in a single room. Just the idea of that amount of power made me want to gag. Hades usually tamped it down when he was around us, but he wouldn’t down here, in a place with a bunch of other highly powered Mythics. It was going to be like getting electrified from the inside out.
I wished, for the first time ever, that I could speak to my father. I could ask him what the fuck the Weighing was, what it entailed, and how to prepare. I hated walking into things blind.
“I’m sorry I dragged you along with me, though. You didn’t deserve to die just because you’re tied to me.”
I covered her plush lips with my finger. “Stop apologizing.”
She nipped the end of the finger, making me groan softly. She looked up at me, her eyes big and shiny and full of desire. It was an expression I dreamed of every night, and woke up aching for every morning.
“Cy?”
“Mhm?”
“Will you make love to me? Prove that I’m still here, even if I’m not alive?”
My whole body shuddered with need, or relief, or something visceral. “Every day for the rest of my immortal life, if you’ll let me.”
She gave a watery chuckle. “Do you think it counts as necrophilia?”
The laugh that burst out of me wasn’t sexy in any way. This woman could make me laugh in the very pits of Hell. She really was perfect.
“Let’s hope not. Come here, Wren.”
Tugging her up my body, I kissed her hard. I traced her lips with mine, memorizing them in case we never had this moment again. I dragged the death dress up over her head and threw it across the room. I wondered if I could ask Fea for something different, something that didn’t scream Bride of the Undead.
Wren’s body was beautiful. When she’d died, I wasn’t sure if it had reverted back to how it was pre-children, or if it had formed on the banks of the Styx in whatever way she saw herself. There was no trace of the small pouch from her pregnancy, or stretch marks, or any of the other beautiful badges that said she’d given birth recently. Even her breasts weren’t tight and filled with milk, as they normally were. They were small, fitting easily in my palms as I ran my hands up her sides to cup them.
“So this is how you get back to your pre-baby body,” she joked. “Dying seems a little extreme, though.”
I nodded, running my thumbs over her nipples, making them peak at my touch. “Especially when you’re gorgeous either way.” Leaning up, I took her nipple in my mouth, and she threw her head back with a moan.
Her knees were either side of my thighs, and when I rolled my hips, my cock brushed the wetness between her thighs. At that moment, I thought I might die right along with her. I sucked and nipped at her breasts, reveling in the sweet little sounds she made. I wanted to record those sounds, play them back over and over.
She ground herself against my cock, making me worry I was going to blow way too soon. Ripping my mouth from her nipple with an audible pop, I watched as she reached down and grabbed my cock.
It was this point I realized I was not in control at all. She was using my body for her pleasure, to ground herself in the here and now, and I was helpless to slow her down. Not when I was lying beneath her, staring up into her face filled with pleasure. Not when she was notching me against her entrance, and I was sliding in achingly slowly.
“Wren, fuck…” I breathed, and her gaze burned into mine as each pleasurable inch of my cock sank into her. It felt like home. It felt like my destiny. I was afraid to move and blow it all too quickly, to lose this feeling before I’d even grasped it completely.
Finally, I was seated completely inside her, our bodies pressed so tightly we could be one entity, and I let out a shuddering, happy sigh. We might be in turmoil. We might not know what the future held. But I had my whole universe right here in my arms, and if this was the only moment we ever got, then it would sustain me until I could follow her into eternity.
She was breathing heavily, and as I gripped her hips, making her move, her whimpers became moans. When I didn’t come inside her instantly, I got bolder, moving her up and down my cock with my hands pressed to her hips, until her moans became screams that could drown out even the River Styx. My mouth returned to those glorious breasts as I licked and sucked and fucked us both into oblivion.
“Cy,” she breathed over and over until she was chanting my name and coming hard around my cock. I gritted my teeth as she milked my cock, but it didn’t matter how hard I clung to my control, she stole it completely. I came hard, deep, deep inside her.
With shaky arms, she collapsed on my chest, her face buried in the curve of my shoulder. “Wow,” she breathed.
I made a strangled sound. Wow wasn’t quite a strong enough word to describe the life-altering joy of being inside her, but it would do.
“Wow, indeed,” I chuckled. I gripped her tightly to my body, worried she’d disappear like dust on the wind now.
Pushing up on her hands a little, she looked down at me seriously. My heart was in my throat. Was I terrible? Did she not feel the same soul-rending pleasure that I did?
“We can do it doggy style next time, if you’d like.”
A chuckle bubbled up my throat, but it had formed into a full-blown laugh as it left my lips. Pulling her body back against mine, I bathed in the sound of her soft laughter combined with mine. Cheeky little bird.
When the laughter finally trailed away, her cheek was on my chest, and her hair spread out across my arm and the pillow, I wondered if this was really the Elysian Fields. Maybe I was the one that was dead, and this was just the happiest place I could think of.
“Who were you before you were stuck on Crete, waiting for me?” she whispered into the darkness, and I chuckled softly.
“I was a shadow of the man I was supposed to be for you.”
I could feel her smile against my chest. “You romantic bastard. I mean it. I know what your dick looks and feels like, so I feel like I should know more about you. When did you realize you could turn into a dog?”
“I’ve been able to shift to my other form for as long as I can remember. My mother told me that she thought I’d been kidnapped by my father and a puppy left in my place the first time it happened. She said that she got none of that newborn reprieve, because I was able to shift and trot around the house within weeks of being born.”
She shuddered, and I knew she was imagining if the babies were puppies. Three of them would be… rough. Then I felt the moment she remembered she was dead. Her whole body went stiff, and the scent of her sadness burnt my nose.
“I’ll get you back there to see them take their first steps, Wren. I swear it.”
She reached up and stroked my cheek. “You can’t promise that, but I appreciate it anyway. We should get some sleep.”
I didn’t care what I had to do, but I was going to keep that promise.