Cerberus peered down at Cyane, hunger hollowing out his gut. He tried to cup her cheek, to lift her face to his, but she wouldn’t let him, hiding deeper into him. His gloved palm came away slightly damp, and his eyes narrowed upon it.
Her tears had gathered upon his armor.
He hungered for more than souls. Her tears looked delicious. The thrilling feeling returned to claw away at his insides, making him shudder.
Iamhungry.
Starving.
He made his choice.
Cerberus pulled Cyane tight against his body and gathered the darkness around them. He slipped her away to safety just as his hounds rushed forward to join the giant, rabid horse.
Hades’s laughter followed.
Power
Cerberus held Cyane.She wavered on her feet, and he wasn’t certain if it had to do with the nectar she’d drunk or being privy to Hades’s evil nature.
Cerberus had taken her back to the gatehouse tower a short while ago, but she wouldn’t move away from him, gripping what she could of his armor with hands that turned increasingly white. She silently cried and shook. The longer she continued to do so, the more he realized he had no idea what to do.
She wouldn’t unbury her face from his chest, nor move away, and so he remained where he was and let her take what she needed from him.
He understood sadness and confusion. He even understood fear. He’d seen and even felt such things himself now and again over his long life, but comfort? Comfort was foreign to him. Comfort was something he’d only seen between his lord Hades and Queen Persephone and only on the rarest occasions.
Queen Persephone had cried often at the beginning of her reign. Though, eventually, her grief had turned to love.
Cyane’s grip loosened upon him, and he lowered his arm.
Slowly, she removed herself from his side. He remained silent as he watched her reassure herself of her surroundings.
Part of him wanted to grip her in his hands again, to pull her back upon him, and feel her mortal heat seep into his armor. Another part wanted to force her back to her knees.
Such a strange thing...
She wiped her cheeks with the backs of her hands and looked back at him.
Her brown eyes were even more glazed then before. Tears were a beautiful adornment to her soft features.
She flinched when he reached up to touch her hair with the tips of his fingers.
“I don’t want to die,” she said, shuddering.
Sudden anger flashed through him at Hades’s intentions. Just because he hadn’t intended to kill Cyane at this time didn’t mean Hades wasn’t going to eventually. Cerberus never cared for the lives or souls of mortals beyond his scope of making sure they did not linger in Styx or try to return above. The gods and titans of Olympus adored and abhorred mortals equally, as they had often shaped the world as it was today.
Atlas kept the world afloat for them, holding a burden Cerberus could not fathom. Prometheus had defied Zeus to give them fire and was still punished for it.
Cerberus pinched Cyane’s lustrous hair.
“I would like a gift from you,” he rasped, still bristling at the thought of her death. Meanwhile, his hounds ate the corpses of the undying as they spoke.
Cyane drew back.Cerberus’s fingers pulled at her hair. They didn’t let go.
Her eyes widened. “A gift?”
He’s completely unfazed by the horrible bloodbath.
She could still hear the screams, could still smell the blood.
