Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
He’s not holding back now.
He wedges one big arm beneath my hips, lifting my ass to the angle he wants. And then he plunders me. There’s no other word for it. He takes my ass as if he owns it, as if I’ve been his all along, and I’m only now coming to terms with it.
As he pulls out of me and comes across my back in hot sticky spurts, I’m not sure he’s wrong.
21
CHARON
I expected the summons, so I’m not surprised to find a text from Hades when I wake up in the morning. What does surprise me is that he wants Eurydice to attend. Maybe it shouldn’t. For better or worse, she’s the reason that we have Ariadne in the lower city. I have a feeling that Ariadne might be hesitant to share the information she possesses if the person she reached out to for help isn’t present. That doesn’t mean I want Eurydice involved in this any more than she already is.
Not that anyone has asked me what I want. I won’t be consulted when it comes to this situation. Hades might have all but explicitly agreed to let me figure things out between me and Eurydice, but that courtesy doesn’t apply to anything that will officially affect Olympus.
I sit up and drag my hands through my hair. My whole body aches after last night, a pleasant reminder of just how good it is when the three of us get out of our own way. At some point we need to have an actual conversation, because no matter how good the sex is, it’s only one part of the equation that creates a healthy relationship.
That’s what I want. With Eurydice…and Orpheus. The bond between them remains strong, even if there’s plenty of baggage to go along with it. The wound between them never properly healed, and I don’t know if having me in the mix is enough to keep it from festering further. Shit is complicated.
Either way, I can’t chase down those answers right now. As much as I want to prioritize Eurydice over politics, the fact remains that she inserted herself into said politics. I would have preferred to keep her away from all the bullshit and danger, but she’s also made it incredibly clear that she won’t be kept out of anything. Not even for her own safety. With that in mind, I reach over Orpheus’s sleeping body and lightly tap her hip. “Wake up, baby. It’s time to pay the piper.”
She stretches slowly, arching her back until the sheets slide off her breasts. I don’t think she’s doing it on purpose, but it’s incredibly distracting. Still, it’s best not to keep Hades waiting. I haul myself out of bed and make quick work of a shower before anyone can think to join me. Eurydice walks into the bathroom as I wrap a towel around my waist. She won’t be fully coherent until she has some coffee. I enjoy the soft, sleepy look on her face. There’s a trust inherent in witnessing these early morning moments, and I don’t want to lose the intimacy.
She makes a beeline for the sink and grabs her toothbrush. “I know for a fact that both my sister and Hades are night owls. Why are we being summoned this early in the morning?”
“You kicked the hornets’ nest, baby. The sooner we get things squared away with Ariadne, the better.” I haven’t heard of any other attacks since the ones on Triton and Poseidon, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t happened. Minos might not have been directly responsible for most of the recent assassination attempts—possibly excepting Triton—but he’s still a danger.
The problem is that he’s no longer the only danger.
I don’t know how we, as a city, deal with the now-public knowledge that there’s an assassination clause. I would love to think that it’s an upper city problem that has no bearing on the lower city, but for better or worse, we are one city. What happens here affects the upper city, and vice versa.
The thirteen positions of power that were previously considered unassailable now appear all too accessible for those willing to get their hands dirty. I don’t know how we move on from that.
I don’t have an answer as I get dressed. It’s above my pay grade. Normally that would be enough to have me put the problem aside entirely, but the ever-present worry that someone will attempt to kill Hades makes it my problem.
For whatever reason, Eurydice decides not to dress up for the meeting. Instead, she pulls on a pair of jeans that are more holes than fabric, and a knitted sweater that’s seen better days. She slicks her hair back into a ponytail, dabs on a bit of makeup that seems like nothing but makes her look well rested, and announces herself ready to go.