Cerberus let her go, and she quickly pulled a blanket from the bed and covered herself. The warmth he craved, denied in one simple action.
“I look like him because he remade me in his image. If you want to know why, you’ll have to ask him yourself.Ido not question gifts from my lord.”
“H-he killed all those guests, they screamed for help, they begged, they clawed the walls. The devil I know above is the liar, and he lied to his guests,” she whispered. “Hades feels like the devil. If I spoke too soon, pulled away too fast, it was because I trusted the man I thought I knew, not…”
“What am I to you now?”
Cyane shook her head.
His mood darkened, and he lifted his helmet to put back on.
“Wait! Please don’t.” She took a step forward and took his helmet from his hands. He watched as she placed it on the table beside his gloves. “I don’t want your face to be hidden from me anymore.”
Confusion bled into his anger. The hunger in his gut grew with each passing second. Her nakedness, so clearly visible under the blanket, her vulnerability, even her fear, did not deter this feeling. It made it worse. “You can’t have it both ways.”
Her shoulders shook, and she turned to face him, snapping her eyes to his face then away just as quickly. She looked down at his hand where her ring of hair wrapped around his thumb.
“That”—she pointed at his thumb—“will be how I’ll tell you apart.” Cyane picked up one of his gloves and handed it to him. “Hide it. So only you and I know where you wear my gift.”
Cerberus stilled, his confusion only building. He took his glove from her hand and pulled it back on anyway.
“If you really aren’t Hades, then you’ll show me your hand whenever we meet,” she said.
“I’m not a liar.”
“But Hades might be?”
He should hate her for asking him to keep something from his lord, for forcing Cerberus to keep a secret from the one he was most loyal to. But the smell of her trepidation ebbed, and he was willing to do what he must. “You do not realize the gravity of the things you ask of me.”
Cyane curled her arms back over her chest, her eyes downcast, and nodded.
Despite her lie, and considering her reaction only reminded him that mortals were known for their deviousness...the ring was the first tribute he’d ever received.
The feel of her hair pressed tightly between his glove and his skin wasright. It was precious to him now.
He began to understand the obsession that many of the gods had for the lower beings that dwelled on their world. Humans were strange creatures. They dictated so much of what the realms did, and in return, they forgot about the gods that served them...gods who only wanted to be served in return.
The revelation compelled Cerberus to reach out and explore Cyane further, to lay her out before him and see if she was warm everywhere. To find her imperfections that so clearly told him she was not one of his kind—the very flaws that made her captivating.
But death, the Underworld, and Hades himself were not easy things for her kind to handle, and he watched as her gaze drifted from his exposed face. She couldn’t keep her eyes on him for more than a moment. It frustrated him, and he worried he may harm her in resentment.
Cerberus frowned.
He ached, staring at her, unable to do anything but. Cyane’s submissive posture rushed his veins with blood.
It would be so easy…
She had yet to lift her eyes back up from his feet, and the ache he endured gathered in his loins, testing him.
Cyane shook unwillingly.
She’d forgotten that the same being that made her feel safe was also a creature that took demands and requests with ease. His anger reminded her that she was alone in a place meant for the divine. Tension seized her. She searched for the courage to look back at Cerberus but feared his face and the confusion it wrought.
His eyes bore into her flesh, and she tightened her arms against herself. A bloom of warmth rose to her cheeks as the tension held. The intimidation. The unease. The pounding, waiting ache of her sex that still wanted to take his power inside her and ride it straight into hell.
I can’t take it anymore.She met his gaze.
Cerberus’s eyes glowed with fire. His lips twisted and parted. She inhaled sharply. This time, her eyes could linger on his face a moment longer.
