Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
For a little while, and several glasses of wine later, I almost forgot that I was surrounded by these bars. Pia had been telling me stories of a time when Eryx had been someone different. He hadn’t been any less intense, but he had been someone she had thought was redeemable.
The ultimate pitfall of their marriage? His inability to understand the chaos of the heart, whether his own or that of others. The irony of it all. The god of discord, born of chaos, had been unable to handle how fragile a heart could be, even when it wreaked havoc on multiple lives.
It wasn’t just the wine warming my blood but a deeper understanding of the complicated god holding me here.
Our conversation drifted into lighter topics, both of us giggling over stories from our past.
“Did he really not realize the chalice had been switched?” I wiped imaginary tears from my eyes as my laughter lingered.
Pia shook her head as her hand tried to stifle her giggling.
The skies outside turned grey, storm clouds rolling in like angry fists pounding against the sunshine until it retreated. A sharp flash of lightning cut through the sky, and the crack of thunder that followed vibrated through the house.
Pitter.
Patter.
Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.
Raindrops began slowly before creating a steady rhythm against the windows, a damper on the atmosphere and somber draw back into reality.
A heavy sigh escaped Pia’s lips. “Zane’s in one of his moods again. I should be going before he decides that the mortals need a reminder of who controls the skies and their fragile little infrastructure.” The words came out laced with boredom as though she had seen this sort of tantrum before.
Rising from her seat, she approached the cage door. I pushed myself up from the floor to meet her, curling my hands around the bars. Pia’s hands covered mine, giving them a light squeeze.
When she spoke, there was a gentle reassurance in her tone. “Charlee, the next time we meet—”
Whatever sentiment she was about to give was cut off by the bedroom door swinging open with enough force to convey pure impatience. Eryx’s silhouette filled the doorway, arms crossed in front of his broad chest.
“It sounds like you’ve been called away from this precious bonding time,” he stated with a husky dryness to his words.
The mix of lavender and violet hues in Pia’s eyes shone with something unsaid between us. This wouldn’t be the last time we saw one another.
She gave one final squeeze to my hands before she stepped back and transformed into a picture of composed elegance once more.
Eryx twisted his position just enough to let Pia pass by. There was a moment where she paused, looking up at him. Her voice was low enough to be inaudible, but whatever words were exchanged had Eryx bristling. His muscles flexed underneath the crisp white shirt he wore.
Then, just like that, she was gone from sight.
Steady was the downpour outside, the only reminder that the world continued while everything here seemed to be at a standstill.
I didn’t dare move, just watched as I waited to see who stepped into this room. The man whom Pia had described as misunderstood, or the god who relished in tearing apart anything representing calm stability?
He moved with a predator’s gait, heavy with intent. The door drifted closed behind him with hardly a sound worthy of drawing his attention away from his prey. From me.
“Enjoy girl time?” he asked with feigned interest.
I straightened, standing there in the lingerie he had placed me in earlier. The blanket I had used earlier to preserve my modesty had been left abandoned on the floor.
“It was enlightening. I can see why you were once drawn to her.” My voice came out steady, refusing to let him hear the uncertainty that I felt with my nerves on edge.
He barked out a bitter laugh. “Does my little Heartspite think she understands me now?” A strained smirk curled at his lips.
Lifting my chin, I stood tall, even if my knuckles were white from grasping the bars of this prison too tightly.
“Understand? No. I think that you are a product of your own creation. You don’t just inflict discord on others, but you use it as a shield for yourself.”
He stepped over to the window, observing the precipitation with detached interest. The reflection of his sharp features and earthy hues gave away nothing.
Had my words made it past his defenses?
A slight wave of his hand, the cage door unlocked and eased open with a whisper of hinges that dared to squeak in warning.
Without looking back at me, he spoke calmly. “You think her favor protects you?”
Looking at the open door with a healthy dose of suspicion, hesitation kept me from immediately moving forward.
“Only as much as this cage does,” I responded in a near whisper.
He huffed out what may have been a laugh.
Turning from the window, he walked over to an armchair positioned nearby. The chair itself looked like something out of a castle. The upholstery consisted of various shades of dark reds with golden threads creating a subtle floral pattern.
It looked unforgiving and uncomfortable until he sank into it. Something about the way he took up the space with such ease suggested he had found his dominion there. One might have believed it was a throne he had ruled from for a lifetime.
The set of his body, broad shoulders squared and back set straight, told a story of a god who wasn’t easily challenged.
Each movement he made while he sat there was unhurried, like he had all the time in the world.
Fingers worked his shirt cuffs open, rolling each side to his elbows with precise movements.
The colors of his tattoos on his corded forearms contrasted against the stark white of his shirt.
His muscled thighs spread apart, not just for comfort but to communicate what type of rule he wanted over me. My eyes were drawn to the apex of his inseam, the bulge and shape of him on shameless display.
When my eyes eventually forced themselves to stop staring, my gaze moved upward to see that the same message his body gave off in waves was also saturating his eyes.
Lust, even when darkened by circumstances, had the same familiar sheen to it in one’s sights. It’s what I saw in Eryx’s pools of onyx that had dilated enough to leave the faintest ring of chocolate around them.
“Crawl to me.” A command not to be disobeyed, the words were spoken with the hardness of diamonds and grit of sandpaper.
If he wanted to revel in conflict, I’d give him none, so all he had left was the raw feeling of what lay beneath his self-inflicted wounds.
Swallowing pride in the name of a greater cause, finding whatever damaged heart he had left, I lowered myself to my hands and knees. A wave of humiliation washed over me, and there was no sash wrapped in ancient lore to account for my actions.
His eyebrow twitched, the only indication that my compliance had taken him by surprise. The rest of him remained as still as a statue with unnerving patience.
Keeping my eyes locked on his, I moved one hand and one knee forward. Then, the other hand, the other knee.
Arriving at his feet, I glanced down at his shoes, polished with enough shine that my distorted reflection stared back up at me.
There, I saw the wide eyes of a woman who was uncertain of her future.
Saw a goddess questioning her abilities.
I saw a glimpse of who he saw me as, his little Heartspite.
Moisture welled in my eyes, bringing the blue of my eyes to life with the brightness of the clearest oceans.
I looked up at him, finding no pity and no softness in his gaze. Instead, just a visceral hunger older than the birthing of titans.
Every pound of my heart in my chest echoed louder in my ears as we stared each other down, waiting for the other to make the next move.
Finally, he curled two fingers in a gesture for me to come closer.
“Up here,” he instructed. “Over my lap.”
Sitting back on my ankles for a moment, I gathered my courage and rose on legs that threatened to buckle beneath me.
After positioning myself with stiff movements, I lay across his lap in a position of vulnerability that tugged reluctantly at an ache deep in my core.
“Like this?” I glanced back at him over my shoulder, one hand clutching onto the armrest and the other weakly holding onto the top of his calf.
Crack!
No warning. His palm connected with my backside, and heat bloomed across my ass, leaving a tingling sensation in its wake. It drew a shrill gasp from me, momentarily rendering me unable to breathe.
“Does my hand feel like a god who can show mercy?” He growled the words out, indicative of his barely leashed control.
I whimpered, my hands clawing at the rough material of the armchair. Pressed against my stomach, his arousal grew more insistent. My thighs pressed together, trying to ease my own neediness that steadily increased despite everything.
“Eryx—”
Crack!
“Wrong name, Heartspite.”
I panted, squirming from the sting and curling threads of desire while remaining draped over his lap.
“Theos, please.” My plea came out as a breathless rasp.
His palm soothed over the sting spreading across my flesh.
“Do you think you deserve to be a goddess?”
He leaned over and whispered, breath warming my skin. “Do you deserve to be my goddess?”
Without waiting for an answer, his fingers hooked into the strip of fabric nestled between my cheeks. One forceful tug, and it snapped under the pressure.
The tip of his forefinger traced along my spine, ghosted over the tight ring of my back hole, and eventually rested at the entrance to my cunt. He circled the opening with maddening slowness, leaving me torn between wiggling off his lap and spreading my legs wider for him.
A choked moan punched through me as that single digit invaded my depths, sliding in easily from the arousal his biting slaps to my ass had caused.
“Er—theos!” I gasped out, breathier than intended.
“Mm, you’re learning. There may be hope for you yet,” he purred with clear satisfaction before pushing a second finger into my aching pussy. My thighs drifted apart, granting him more access to my body.
He worked his thick fingers inside me, scissoring them in ways that had me crying out in pleasure that I hadn’t felt in gods knew how long. It was the overture to the sounds of our heavy breaths and the slick rhythm of his fingers pumping into me.
My nails dug into the upholstery of the chair, trying to claw into anything to anchor myself. He was relentless in his ministrations, curling his fingers deep and applying pressure to a spot that made stars burst behind my eyelids.
All pretenses, all ulterior motives, and every sane thought fled my head.
“Please, theos! Please! Fuck, I c-can’t!” I was outright gasping for oxygen as my moans grew frantic in coordination with a coil of pleasure swelling inside me.
Eryx tsked, slowing his efforts until his two fingers were lodged as deep as they could be inside my cunt. My walls fluttered around him with desperation for more. More friction, more of him, more of anything that would bring me euphoric release.
“Not yet, Heartspite. If I let you come now, you won’t learn the lesson I am trying to teach. No, I think I’ll enjoy this moment for what it is. Your body clenched around my fingers, needy and soaking me, and begging for more.”
A sob of frustration and stalled pleasures broke from me. My hips jerked beneath his grasp, but his arm around my waist kept me trapped in this vulnerable position.
“I could keep you like this for hours. Filled with my fingers and dripping all over them. After all, it’s what you do to all the precious matches you make, isn’t it? You tease them with promises of long-lasting pleasures of the heart, only to be denied completion just when they need it most.”
I shook my head in protest. “No! It’s not that way. I let them experience what they need to find an even greater happiness, a more permanent state of fulfillment.”
His fingers twitched inside me, prompting a whine of need from me.
“Interesting perspective,” he murmured as he leaned over, his lips brushing against the base of my spine. In one long lick, he dragged his tongue down the crevice of my ass.
A full-body shudder ran through me, certain that I was gouging holes into his leg with my nails.
Trying to form a coherent sentence was a cognitive function that escaped me at the moment. It took no less than three stutters and just as many gasping breaths before I could get the words out.
“I yield to you, theos. I am yours. I am your Heartspite. I’m begging you.” I swallowed hard before adding, “Fill me with all your chaos.”