One of the dogs at her side growled low.
The goddess pushed through the hounds and wrapped Cyane in a hug one-armed hug. “I missed my friend,” Melinoe said.
Cyane went stiff. Melinoe was as beautiful as ever, making Cyane feel even lesser. Images of the goddess and Cerberus dancing rose in her mind like venom.
“You were looking for me?” Cyane asked, feeling played with.
Melinoe cupped Cyane’s face and smiled. It felt like the goddess’s fingers sank through her skin to stroke her brain. “I would always look for my friends. After my sweet Cerberus went after you with his sword, I thought the worst.”
We’re not friends!Cyane forced a smile to her lips. There was something fundamentally wrong about Melinoe. Like oil and water forced to combine.
Which didn’t make any sense, since the goddess had been nothing but kind to her.
Melinoe released Cyane’s cheeks and peered down at her dress. The goddess’s smile widened. “Beautiful. You are beautiful, for a mortal.”
There it was.
“Thank you.”
Melinoe, in a deep black dress that pulled from the shadows, grabbed Cyane’s hand and led her forward. The hounds flanked them both now, although Cyane noticed the bristle of fur upon their backs.
“Wherever you have been, you are here now, and just in time. The procession of gifts is about to begin. If we don’t hurry, we’ll be last.”
‘You’re to meet with Hades,’Cerberus’s words came back to her.
“Melinoe,” Cyane said, tugging back on the goddess’s hand. “I don’t understand what’s happening or what to expect. I don’t have a gift to give. I don’t want to offend.”
“Mortals have everything they can give. I’m sure you’ll think of something. Hades is most generous to those who have little but offer him what they have. You’ve chosen a dress of a vestal virgin. My lord father will be pleased with the sight of you alone.”
Cyane flinched, disgusted. But she couldn’t dwell on it. Melinoe was already pulling her again down the candlelit corridor.
“When I go before my lord father as a maiden virgin, he always looks upon me for a moment,” Melinoe continued.
“But you’re not dressed as one now.”
“I want him to view me as a woman.”
Um…“Why?”
Melinoe peered back at her with a twinkle in her eye. “There are two paths for a goddess—to follow the virgin queens of Artemis and Athena, or to join the flesh worshippers of Aphrodite.”
“And Hades?”
“I want him to look upon me for more than a moment.”
Cyane’s internal flinching took a turn for the worse. But before she could ask more of Melinoe, the corridor opened up to its grand obsidian star-shaped foyer that led to the ballroom—the sound of lutes and whispers filled her ears.
Melinoe laughed and giggled, pulling Cyane into the center of the room, unaware that everyone else had fled their presence. The goddess peeked into the ballroom and clapped her hands. “Cyane! Isn’t he handsome?”
Don’t mean Hades...
“Who?” she asked.
She never got her answer as Melinoe darted into the dimly lit ballroom towards the dais. Atop it sat Hades, and beside him stood Cerberus.
Shivering despite herself, maybe because of the dress or maybe because of Melinoe’s incestuous ways, Cyane took in the two dark men. They were one and the same when they were close. Hades with his dark curling shoulder-length hair, his shadowed eyes, and pale skin stood out in his equally pitch-black attire.
She hadn’t bothered to study Hades before, hadn’t wanted to for fear of being drawn into his devastating thrall. Evil gods of legend were often depicted as uncannily beautiful in stories, and it wasn’t fair. She didn’t want to find the devil beautiful—or handsome.
