Chapter 35 #2
“But a deity will only receive the truth when they’re ready to hear the answer,” Sorrow adds while fixating on the grass.
“And that immortal will only be ready to hear the answer if they’re ready to change,” Merry finishes.
Andrew frowns. “What does it mean for The Stars to shine their brightest?”
“Answer, and he’ll just interrogate us with a dozen more questions,” Love teases, then nips Andrew’s ear. “Not long ago, I do remember telling you to—”
“‘Pick your battles, you exhausting creature,’” he quotes in a dramatic voice, biting her lower lip in retaliation. “How could I forget?”
“Maybe it means The Stars will shine in an unforeseen manner,” Wonder theorizes.
“Or just blind the shit out of us,” Malice says.
“Or cast light from an uncharted perspective,” Anger murmurs.
“Can we pick a subject that isn’t ninety-nine percent random?” Sorrow grunts, earning a bunch of pissed off looks.
Malice sneers. “You’re a regular ray of sunshine, aren’t you?”
“Hey,” Envy growls. “Leave her alone.”
Grimacing, Sorrow dices her gaze toward him. “I don’t need you defending me.”
“Is that right?” Envy leans forward and mocks, “What do you need, Nymph?” Then he snaps his fingers. “Ah, right. Not a fucking thing.”
“What will everyone do, once we’re victorious?” Merry tries again. “I mean, in addition to establishing a resolution about free will. I imagine we’ll have centuries of work ahead. But what about during times of respite?”
Her distraction succeeds. Everyone contemplates, their expressions banked in firelight.
“From time to time, we’ll check on things back home,” Andrew says while Love curls into his broad chest.
By home, he means Evershire. The mountain town where he and Love resided during her temporary stint as a human.
“How you must miss it,” Merry empathizes. “Your family and friends.”
“Everyone.” Andrew’s voice cracks. “Every day.” Then he balls Love’s hand in his, pressing his mouth to her knuckles. “But I’m right where I belong. Like hell am I going anywhere without you, Little Myth.”
Love turns, nuzzles his lips, and whispers, “Like hell would I ever let you go.”
They tangle themselves up in one another. At least they’ll have eternity to split their lives between realms. It’s not without sacrifice, but from what Envy sees, they have no regrets.
“We’ll make returns to Celestial City,” Merry says to Anger, who clasps her tighter.
“And make use of that motorcycle,” Anger husks, as if hinting at a smutty memory.
“We’ll rebuild The Archives. And I’ll show you my house in the Astral Sea,” Wonder says to Malice, her head resting in his lap. “Remember? I promised you.”
He combs through her locks. “Will I be jealous of your bookshelf, Wildflower?”
“You can count on it, Demon.”
“Christ,” Sorrow grumbles. “All this sap is giving me a migraine.”
She collects her weapons, launches to her feet, and flees the scene. Because that attitude isn’t out of the ordinary, no one blinks.
Envy’s not deceived. She’d looked on the verge of tears.
A gruff noise cuts from his lungs. “Fuck.”
Launching to his feet, he stalks after her, the lingering gazes of his crewmates charring a hole into his back. Before their eyes, two unprecedented events occur. To start, everyone witnesses The God of Envy doing something he’s never done: chase after a female.
Next fun fact? This isn’t the first time Envy and Sorrow have stormed off after a public fight. But it is the first time they fire in the same direction.
At the cliff’s promontory, a rock wall shields the goddess from the encampment. Shadows cloak her silhouette like a figment holding too many secrets for the light to penetrate. Idling beside the ledge, she audits the distant peaks, elevations so far out of reach.
No, not the peaks. Sorrow gazes at The Stars. She focuses with concentration, as if calling to someone.
“Hey!” Envy demands, burning a path toward her.
She swerves around, strings of hair batting her chin. “Hey, yourself.”
“What the fuck?” He flings one arm in the direction they just came from. “What was that shit? What are you doing, Sorrow?”
“If I told you I came here to pee, would you go away?”
“What the hell is going on with you? In the grotto, I thought—”
“That was a mistake.”
As though stabbed by an arrowhead, Envy staggers back a step. Not that her striking him down is a new experience. Although he’s used to it, his defenses have never developed a thick enough surface, a notion he’s finally made peace with.
She takes a shot, he reacts. That isn’t about to change.
Regrouping, Envy glowers. “A mistake? Which part?” he bites out. “The part where I came inside your cunt, or the part where you came around my cock?”
“For Fate’s sake, get lost!” Sorrow tears her fingers through her hair. “For once, let me be!”
Fury doesn’t become him, so Envy changes tactics. He storms forward, eating up the distance in seconds, throwing his weight until he’s got Sorrow backed up against the cliffside. Plastering one hand above her head, then flattening the other beside her hip, he burrows down, caging her there.
“Oh, hon,” he coos. “If my proximity is so overwhelming that you needed a breather, all you had to do was say so.”
“Quit bullshitting,” Sorrow spits, her voice shaking. “Your swagger doesn’t work on me.”
His feline grin drops. “Then tell me you don’t want me.”
The goddess’s features crimp. “I… I don’t…”
“Go on,” he grits out, burrowing down, seething against her lips. “Tell me what happened in the enclave meant nothing. Tell me you’re not still thinking about it.” His timbre lowers to a rough whisper. “How deep my cock sank. The way your pussy melted. How we watched each other the whole time.”
His voice cracks like a twig. Worse, his heart commits a similar felony.
When Sorrow’s fingers drift to his waist, Envy takes that as permission and runs his palm along the side of her breast. “Tell me you don’t want that again.
Right here, right now.” He shears his mouth over hers, their hot breaths clashing.
“Say you don’t crave that sharp release, my hips snapping between your thighs, your mouth hanging open, your body coming around mine, hidden from view but with everyone less than fifty feet away—”
On a snarl, her mouth snatches his.