Chapter 13
In the morning, I found that Andrew was true to his word: my sisters and I each received skillfully woven prayer mats and a stock of various incenses that would last for months.
After he unlocked our door, of course. Even the promised candelabra was delivered, to my surprise, and I wondered again why the man thought this an appropriate gift.
I supposed I had to admit it was a pretty thing, golden and covered with raised detailing.
But this did nothing to soothe my feelings of anger and loss as evening came and went. Another day passed, and then another, with Thanatos and I cuddling chastely in my tiny bed behind my curtains. He did his best to keep my spirits up, even as I recognized his own patience fraying.
As our confinement stretched on, I tried to keep my mood neutral around my sisters, not wanting them to suffer anything more.
But Zoe was right in that I did feel what I figured withdrawal must be like.
I couldn’t have Thanatos the way I wanted him.
I couldn’t even talk to him—all I could do was tenderly braid his hair and stroke his inky feathers.
It became our nightly ritual, after which I would lie down and enjoy his silent kisses and tales of the Underworld.
In my better moments, I realized how privileged I was to feel that this wasn’t enough.
But the truth of the matter was that I’d become accustomed to the euphoria of sharing all of myself with him, and now I bristled under a sensation of constant emptiness.
Irritation coiled tighter within me with every passing day, until it engulfed me so completely that I conjured an elaborate fantasy involving wielding the golden candelabra as a makeshift bludgeon.
Besides, I was not the only one dismayed by our new predicament.
Thanatos despaired over it as well. In fact, being the only one who could speak seemed to drive his sappiness to new heights with every passing day.
He even began to flit through the temple complex during the daytime, following Andrew’s activities in hopes of learning when I might be released.
While his devotion was endearing, the evidence of his frustration dismayed me.
That he would sacrifice time spent with souls in order to chase the living felt wrong—like a hairline crack in nature itself.
At first, his efforts were rewarded only with snippets of inconsequential gossip which he relayed to me as I braided his hair.
But after weeks of pursuit, during which the two of us became ever more agitated, he returned to me triumphantly.
Once I had settled between his wings and started to comb, he excitedly shared his new findings.
“Your overseer told his colleague today that your confinement must not be overlong,” he said brightly.
“Alexandra has complained to him about the circumstances, defending you and saying that he cannot well continue this treatment on baseless grounds. He is becoming concerned over the optics of the situation.”
I put my comb aside and set to work on his braid, feeling guilty that Alex had needed to press the matter. Surely she was unhappy to be restrained along with the rest of us.
“It is in the man’s best interest to relent,” Thanatos rambled on, “because if he does not cease this nonsense soon, he may well meet the same fate as his predecessor.” I swallowed a giggle and swatted his shoulder in a playful rebuke.
Thanatos laughed out loud. “I know, I know. I cannot maim every man who slights you,” he said.
“But I miss you. I miss your touch. I miss your voice. I dearly miss hearing you say my name. After ages of terrorized invocations, only you have ever called upon it with lust.”
A swell of warmth crested within me. I made a quiet noise to signify my longing, my fingers still twined in his hair. When I tied off his braid, he turned to look over his shoulder.
“Tell me you miss me, too,” he pouted.
Oh, if only he knew how desperately I wanted him, how utterly starved I felt without his touch. How all I wanted was to make love to him and moan his name and tell him I was his. I cinched my arms around his waist and hugged him tightly from behind, my face pressed against his back.
“Of course you do,” Thanatos groaned, spiraling. “You miss me just as I miss you. You miss the pleasure of my hands and my tongue. You miss feeling my cock fill you up. Isn’t that right, my naughty priestess?”
The heat within me nestled in my pelvis and flared. I squeezed his waist harder, bristling with aching frustration. Of course I wanted what we couldn’t have. Why did he have to torture us both?
Thanatos circled his hands around my wrists and tugged my embrace open, extricating himself from my hold. He slid down from my mattress, forcing me to duck under the sweeping arc of his wing, and stood over me with darkened eyes. “Get in the bed, Cyrie,” he ordered.
I raised a questioning brow even as the heat inside screamed for me to obey. We can’t.
He nodded, as if reading my thoughts. “I know that it would be insensitive to your sisters to care for my needs here,” he agreed.
“But you cannot tell me that you refrain from servicing yourself in this bed.” A mischievous grin curved upon his lips.
“Yes, surely you do. Surely you lie here and think of me when you are lonely and wanting.”
I bit my lip, pulse quickening, restraint fading. I held his gaze and slipped slowly beneath my sheets, leaving space for him beside me. Thanatos took my invitation. He had lain with me here many times before, but never so recklessly as he did now. This time, he joined me under the covers.
He propped himself up on an elbow and loomed over me, a vision of temptation. His feathers rustled behind him as they slid over the edge of my bed toward the floor. His other hand settled on my ribs, with only my thin sleepwear as a barrier between us.
“I am not here,” he murmured, and he shifted his hand upward to cup my breast. “I am imperceptible to all but you. You may as well be dreaming of me. Imagining the way I touch you.” He stroked teasing circles around my nipple with his thumb.
I stifled a gasp, biting my own lip to hold the sound inside.
“Let me take care of you,” Thanatos begged, his voice a breathy moan. “You can tap me if you want me to stop.”
I nodded vigorously, abandoning all control. I could never refuse him. Not when I already needed his hand lower than where it was.
He touched me delicately at first, softly brushing the peaks of my nipples, watching the deepening of my blush.
His tender caresses sent tingles down my stomach and across my hips, bursts of pleasure chased by escalating want.
He moved down to my inner thighs, stroking lightly upward, stopping just short of where I needed him.
Teasing me, again. I caught his eyes, begging with my gaze, and received a self-satisfied smirk in reply.
“Impatient as always,” he chided, but his voice betrayed his desire.
He needed this almost as much as I did. He cast his pretense aside and finally, finally, reached beneath my nightdress and rubbed me through my sopping underwear.
He massaged devastating circles into my clit, and the rush of pleasure was too much.
I arched my back and drew a sharp breath.
Involuntary sounds gathered in my throat, threatening to burst.
In an instant reaction, Thanatos covered my mouth with his free hand. “Shh,” he implored.
I looked him in the eyes, feeling at once dominated and freed. This man could do anything to me. Anything. And I would probably like it.
Recognition lit his face. “Do you like that, Cyrie? Well then, we have much to explore when you are released. But as for now…”
He pushed my underwear aside and brushed his finger along my entrance. My hips arched in reflex, straining for the penetration he withheld. On another day, he would’ve teased me until I begged. Tonight, he acquiesced.
The relief was instant, but fleeting. I clamped my muscles around him as my crest of satisfaction was overpowered by an all-consuming need for more. I scrunched up my sheets in my hands, my breath shuddering against the forced silence.
“You’re so wet,” he moaned. “So warm. Oh, fuck. I want…” A strained whine escaped him, but he closed his eyes and cleared his throat. “I want you to come.”
He added a finger, massaging that delicate, sensitive place inside me, pressing the heel of his hand to my clit.
“Think of me,” he commanded. “Think of how I fill you up. Think of how good it feels when I fuck you.”
He caressed me with slow, adoring strokes, and I obeyed his demand.
I imagined we were free in our bedroom, together in rapture.
With how desperate I was, it might as well have been true.
I clenched around his fingers, grinding helplessly against his hand, consumed by my utter surrender.
I unraveled for him in a burst of ecstasy, throbbing with uncontrollable, incomparable relief.
“Yes,” Thanatos moaned in my stead.
He waited until my quivering subsided before he released my mouth from his silencing grip and my body from his pleasuring one. He pressed a triumphant kiss to my forehead. “Good girl,” he whispered.
I had no response to that, as I was fairly certain I had just melted into a puddle. The sensations of climax still swept through me, pulsing fire through my veins with every heartbeat. I brought my lips to his ear and aimed for the quietest sound I could make. “Thanatos,” I breathed.
“Mmm,” he hummed. “Yes, that will do.”
My god of death scooped me into his embrace. “Sleep now,” he instructed, his gloating still obvious in his voice. “Go to sleep and let me hold you.”
So I closed my eyes and sank into contented dreams. Who was I to deny the desire of a god?
* * *
When morning dawned, I woke to the sound of somebody’s scream. Chaos exploded throughout my room in an instant, and I sprang to terrified attention, trying to identify the danger. I couldn’t. Instead, I was struck with several unbelievable sights.
Thanatos was still here, cuddled behind me and looking just as startled as I was. We sat up quickly, his arms still wrapped around my waist, and he squeezed me even harder when he too was faced with the state of our surroundings.
The scream—a rather impressive one, I had to admit—had come from Alex, who stood at the foot of my bed.
She stared forward with her jaw hanging open, clutching at her chest. I heard Zoe and Sophie tumble out of their beds as well, and run to inspect the problem for themselves.
And when they arrived…all three of my sisters stood there inside my curtains and gaped directly at us.
“Oh, fuck,” Thanatos stuttered. His fingers dug into my skin, and he made a couple of incomprehensible noises, seeming completely uncertain of what to do. I tried to swallow my surprise, but failed miserably.
“Did you…were you sleeping?” I asked incredulously.
“I do not sleep! It is not a thing I do!” But for once he didn’t seem so sure. He glanced back at my sisters and let out a groan. “Oh, fuck.”
“…Cyrie…?” asked Sophie weakly. “What…the…”
She was interrupted by a knock at our door.
Shit, someone had heard the screaming. I shook my head desperately, begging my sisters with my eyes.
And Zoe, gods bless her, went and muttered something through the door to placate the person outside.
She raised her eyebrows expectantly upon her return, terror written plain on her face.
Thanatos ventured to explain, still holding me too tightly. “Hello. I am sorry. This…was not supposed to happen.” He shook his head in disbelief. “I am Death,” he added, then seemed to realize this was not the most comforting news. “Never mind, forget it! That is not…I am not here for that. Fuck.”
He sighed and tried again. “I am Thanatos. I love your sister. And I am late to the Underworld…”
“Hi,” Alex squeaked out. There was a moment of silence.
“It’s okay,” I reassured them. “He was just…we were just…” My cheeks flushed red, and I tried to hide my face by turning back to him. We searched each other’s eyes frantically. “I think you sleepwalked into the mortal plane,” I blurted.
Thanatos made a flustered expression. “Oops,” he whispered. He looked up at my sisters, then back to me with increasing concern. “Fuck. Cyrie, I really have to go.”
A flash of guilt shot through me, and I wondered what consequences would await him in the realm below. “Okay…okay, just go. I’ll figure it out…just come back here tonight, yeah?”
“Will you be safe until I return?” he worried. “Apollo cannot know. They cannot alert him!”
“They won’t. Go on.”
“I…alright.” He kissed the top of my head and let me go reluctantly, still looking absolutely flabbergasted. “I’m sorry,” he whispered once more. He stumbled out of my bed, scooped up his shoes, and disappeared with a flick of his wings.
My sisters stared in agonizing silence, first at the spot where he’d vanished, and then directly at me. All of their questions hung in the air.
“Cyrie, what the fuck?” Zoe finally said.
“So…here’s the thing. Um, I sort of…fell in love with…Death?”