Chapter 6 Nyssa
Nyssa
Perhaps all hope wasn’t entirely lost. Perhaps I might be able to overcome this sorrow after all.
There were still specks of brightness in my life — I just had to ensure I noticed them. Like the fact that I could still find peace in the unwavering touches of both my steadfast companions. Or that I could still feel genuine amusement at the Titaness Themis crucifying Poseidon’s dick.
Charon would abhor the thought of me wallowing like I had been all week. I was doing him a disservice, neglecting myself, my duties, and my training.
But no more — it was a vow to him, and a vow to myself. Today, I would choose to try. I would choose hope, courage, and love — if only because he couldn’t.
Charon had always lived life to the fullest of his abilities. Today I would try to do the same. I would live mine in a way that honoured his — not in spite of his loss.
I would no longer be a tomb.
I glanced sidelong at Caelus as we trekked up the marble staircase built into the side of Mount Olympus. The cells were deep in its belly, Poseidon and the mysterious Evadne tucked well beneath the surface.
I wonder what she’s like.
Then, a second thought plagued me.
Poor girl, stuck down there with that self-important little prick.
The stairs were slippery fuckers when it rained — seriously, whoever had thought to carve them from marble was a poor fool — but today was clear and warm, so the worst we had to contend with were the bugs and mountain dragons.
And mountain dragons in this case did not mean of Velira’s line and that we’d recently discovered a whole thunder of snarling multihued creatures, but rather disgusting little reptiles with sandpaper scales and horns all over their body, who scurried across your toes with their hideous little legs as you climbed to the top.
Velira’s chortle rumbled through my mind, tickling unpleasantly and somehow itching my ears.
Okay, so I hate them, I groused.
You’re afraid of them, she laughed.
Am not.
Are too.
You’re leaving now.
If you— she started but her voice cut off mid-sentence as I slammed the mental barrier closed between us, exhaling heavily.
“Alright?” Caelus asked with a sly grin.
I scowled, but it was an impossible expression to maintain when his smiles were my own Achilles heel. “Yes, I’m just enjoying the view.”
At least I was, until an enormous purple menace dropped into view.
Vel swooped in from above, from where she’d apparently been surveilling us.
Her membranous, lilac-coloured wings flapped in slow, steady beats — like an ancient drum pounding in time to the heartbeat of Olympus itself — as she hovered in the air before us just off the edge of the mountain.
Her gold serpentine eyes blinked at me knowingly, teasingly, before flitting to my left.
The side of her mouth curved upward as she stared at Aros, then snorted — a plume of violet-tinged smoke exiting her nostrils as loud as a roaring bonfire.
Her hot breath rushed by, buffeting us like a desert storm, scattering loose stones across the flawless steps.
Tiny scratching sounds echoed long after her breath passed — sounds caused by a freshly disturbed nest.
I shrieked as fifty — at least, maybe more, it definitely looked like more — mountain dragons darted in every direction, most notably, and disgustingly, across the tops of my boots. My feet fled the ground before I’d even consciously realised I’d jumped, and thankfully, did not return to it.
Caelus was ready, scooping me into his arms like he’d only been waiting for the precise moment to do so, even as he desperately quashed the mirth that was skirting down our bond.
Aros grinned, flicking an errant lizard off my ankle, and Vel chortled, scattering the grounded wretches anew. Her amusement grew — loud and playful — emanating from deep within her throat as she rolled through the air, as close to a cackle as I’d ever heard her make.
“Who’d have thought,” Aros drawled. “That our most esteemed, fearless leader was not so fearless after all?” He laughed heartily as I scowled in his direction. “That all it took to sweep you off your feet was a tiny reptile skittering across them?”
“Fifty, actually,” I grumbled.
He bellowed a deep guffaw, clutching his stomach — the sound echoed fifty metres to our right in the form of a gleeful dragon. “Twenty, maybe,” he offered between laughs.
I pouted, turning to my storm-wielder for help.
Unsurprisingly, Caelus was already peering down at me when I dared to look up, biting his lip in a courageous attempt not to smile.
His silver eyes swirled, dancing inside that ring of black, conveying a message he didn’t need to voice — they darted to Aros, to Velira, to the stone door of the mountain, then back to me, before his eyebrows waggled suggestively.
“You can go now, wretched dragon.”
Vel snorted, blowing a smoke-filled kiss out her ophidian snout, then darted into the clouds and disappeared from view.
“You as well, Aros. Go give your sister a five minute warning.”
“Good idea,” he agreed, eyes wide, his amusement immediately diminishing. “She’d have my balls for batting practice if you just waltzed in before she’d had a chance to fix her hair or prepare her speech.”
Caelus winced at the mention of balls and bats.
“Speech?” I frowned.
“Unfortunately, yes. You’re her new favourite person,” Aros groaned.
“Me?” My head snapped around to his. “Why?”
“You’re the first being to land a hit on Kronos in eons.
” He shrugged. “Not to mention, you beat a bunch of older and more experienced gods in the Rite — including me — and took out that prissy pin-dick junior, throwing your power in our father’s face at the same time.
” He raised a ginger brow, daring me to refute.
“You should have seen her gushing about it afterwards,” he moaned, shooting an exasperated look behind me.
Caelus chuckled, his breath teasing the loose strands at the nape of my neck. I fought to suppress a shiver, but ultimately, desire won. The cloying scent of raspberries and vanilla permeated the air in the light morning breeze.
I flushed copper as Aros grinned ruefully.
“Oh, I see how it is,” he teased. “Five minutes is a pittance, Caelus. You’ll need to work on your stamina, lest our Queenie find her satisfaction elsewhere.”
“Believe me, she’s plenty satisfied, you lustful bastard,” he retorted through gritted teeth.
Aros barked a laugh as he wrenched the ancient door open.
“See to it that she is!” He strutted into the darkened alcove tossing one last parting remark over his shoulder, before disappearing into the blackness. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”
“What exactly wouldn’t Aros do?”
“Well, he draws the line at dryads. He tried once but succeeded only in collecting splinters with his cock and vowed never again,” he replied with a grin.
An unabashed howl of laughter escaped me, ricocheting down the side of the mountain. Caelus’ grin slid off his face faster than a flash of lightning. Its disappearance struck deep, stealing the hilarity of the moment as he set me back on my feet — lizards mercifully gone.
“What?” I asked, unable to decipher the emotion flooding our bond. “What is it?” I asked again when he refused to answer.
He cupped my cheek and I leaned into it, tilting my chin up as I stared at him.
His eyes swirled furiously, power sparking and igniting within those irises, though I knew he was fighting to control it.
“I’ve missed that sound so damn much,” he admitted softly, his gaze dropping to my lips as his eyes settled back into that liquid mercury normality.
“Keep telling me about Aros’ sexcapades and I’ll have plenty to laugh about.” The joke fell flat — Caelus frowned, and a strangling feeling constricted my chest.
“Oh? And why would you be interested in Aros’ sexual encounters?” he grumbled.
There’s no way…
My brows shot up my forehead. “Are you… jealous, Golden?”
His frown deepened and his lower lip stuck out so much I had the most intense urge to kiss it.
So, I did.
Standing on the tips of my toes, I closed the gap between us, relishing in his groan as our lips finally, deliciously met. His hand snaked around the back of my head, the other sliding down my body to rest against the curve of my ass.
With no warning whatsoever, he lifted me wholly off the ground again and pressed me up against the rough stone door.
My legs instinctively tightened around his waist and my hands wandered to cup his unshaven cheeks.
I opened to him and he did not hesitate to deepen the kiss.
Our tongues met and twined around each other, even as his hips ground against the needy ache between my legs.
He tasted of strawberries and wine; of faint, lingering caramel, and something less tangible. He tasted of promises and pining, and like the next thousand years of my life, if we were so lucky.
He groaned, his cock twitching against the confines of his black leather breeches as we both reached new heights of shared desire.
It was both too much and not enough, and a moan slipped free — I felt as if I would combust any moment.
I’m going to need so much longer than five minutes if she keeps making those sounds.
I laughed, breaking the kiss to answer him. “We have two,” I said, unable to help rolling my hips once more, chasing the ecstasy I knew we both craved.
He pressed tiny kisses down the side of my neck. “Two what?”
“Two minutes. Although, if you keep making those sounds, I may be forced to strip naked and let you have your way with me against this mountain instead.”
He groaned. “As loath as I am to deviate from that particular line of thought, do you realise what you just did?”
I pulled back, suddenly terrified. “Did I do something wrong?”
He smiled softly as a warm, gentle emotion untangled the new knots in my chest. This one I knew, because I felt it for him, too: adoration.