Her mind whirled around Hades’s words…This is not for you, mortal, this is for them.
The only thing that had stopped her from having a nervous breakdown was Cerberus. He’d blocked it all. He continued to block it all. Every time she was near him, the world righted itself, just a little bit.
He had saved her again.
She was beginning to think he would always save her. A terrible, painfully buried part of her desperately wanted that to be true. But also didn’t want it to be, because feared this growing dependence. It made her feel weak and disoriented.
She could blame the parents that had given her up, the ones she desperately wanted to meet, to confront—but that was weak, too.
Was it weak to allow someone control for a while? Even if it was her choice? Her tears threatened to return with her confusion.
She'd heard the exchange between Cerberus and Hades, even through the horrible chaos of noise happening around her. It reminded her that Cerberus wasn’t a man, or not only a man, but an indescribable creature as well. Although it had been days since she’d been forced to glimpse his true form, it still lingered in the back of her mind, reminding her who she was willing to give up her control to.
Cerberus pulled and rubbed at the lock of her hair, his focus solely on the strands he held. “Yes,” he said, low and grave. Like the request haunted him.
She knew what he wanted.
Her belly heated. She shifted back and forth on her feet as that heat pulled down between her legs, making her sex knot.
With a shiver, Cyane reached up and ran her fingers through her hair, pulling the strands from his grasp. The bed was right there… Would she survive taking a man like him into her?
This place was beyond her world, and strangely, death didn’t feel as terrible here. Even though she’d seen those in the ballroom killed, had they really died?
She wrenched her eyes shut.What is wrong with me?Dozens of beings had just been slaughtered. She was in over her head, and she was just assuming that Cerberus was even interested in her?
But if he wanted a gift from her, she would gladly give it. Thanking him was the least she could do. “Unsheath your sword,” she said softly.
He took out his weapon and held it vertically between them.
She pulled the strands of hair he’d been playing with taut, much like she’d done earlier, and lifted it to the blade. His eyes sparked a deep red as she pressed her hair against the edge. Cyane held the cut locks between her own fingers as he lowered and sheathed his blade.
She handed it to him and held her breath, wondering why he wanted something from her to begin with and what he planned to do with it now. He turned and went to the table.
She followed him to see what he was doing.
Cerberus laid her hair upon the table’s surface and made short work of taking off his gloves. Long, white fingers, the same pale skin that could be seen elsewhere, were revealed. His hands were clear of marks and scars, almost porcelain in appearance despite the strength that seemed to emanate from them.
There was nothing horrifying nor monstrous about them.
Just hands. They were just hands.
I want to see more!A selfish part of her almost snatched her hair back, to hold it hostage until she got her way. But he picked up the strands before she could and wove them around his thumb, much like how Hades had done earlier. Only this time, it didn’t fill her stomach with dread.
It made her...happy.
He began to draw his gloves back on.
“Stop, please.” Cyane reached up and grabbed his fingers. They were icy cold. She gripped them tighter.
Cerberus’s body went rigid before her eyes. His fingers twitched in her grip.
He slowly turned back to her.
“Why do you hide?” she asked before she lost the courage.
He gripped her hand back. “Cyane…”
She canted her head and waited for him to say more, but instead, he brought his other hand up to cup hers between them. His gaze moved from her face to look at their joined hands.
