“Nothing from you.”
“Then why are you bothering me?”
Cerberus moved his eyes back to the goddess, surprised. Melinoe had never not wanted his attention before. “Hades deems it fit to punish me with your presence this day, goddess.”
She laughed, but it was tinged with sadness. “You must’ve done something horrible for such a punishment. Tell me, is the punishment really for you or for him? To keep me away from him this day?”
“I wouldn’t presume to guess our lord’s mind.”
“Try, if not for me, then for a promise that I won’t approach my father this day?” Melinoe dipped her fingers into the water, and the nymphs jumped out.
“He did it for both then, as much to torment me as to ensure nothing ruins his day.”
“Hmm.”
The Arae’s corpse floated and drifted to the middle of the small pond. The body began to convulse and shake, slow at first then wildly. A soul tore out from its body and transformed into a ghost. He screamed and wailed, moving unwillingly towards Melinoe.
The goddess flicked her fingers through the water, urging the Arae’s soul to her, and when he stood before her, his translucent jaw hung slack from such violent screams. Melinoe forced him down to kiss her.
Disgusted, Cerberus turned away.
When she was done, Melinoe shoved the ghost towards him. “Something to alleviate your torture.”
Cerberus stared at the crying male and drew him closer. His belly yawned with hunger, his mouth grew wide beneath his helmet, and familiar sharp teeth split from his gums. Several of his hounds arrived as Cerberus grabbed the ghost by its neck and opened his human mouth beyond its natural limits. The Arae screamed again as it contorted and slipped under Cerberus’s helmet to be devoured.
The soul’s cries joined the hundreds of thousands of others inside him. It did little to quench the void.
Cerberus found Cyane when he was done with his meal. Nothing would ever be as good as her.
I get to devour her slowly, beautifully, lovingly.
Lovingly.A strange word to enter his head. He hissed.
Melinoe tilted her head. “Was it not enough?”
“It’s never enough.”I want Cyane, by my side, not Hades’s.
This truly was punishment.
“How did you find her?” Cerberus asked.
“Why does my father hate me so much?”
“I don’t know, perhaps the same reason everyone detests you, goddess.”
Melinoe wiped her fingers on the grass and stood. “But you do know. I know you do. End my eternal torment, and I’ll end yours. I’ll never bother you again. We made a deal, your dear Cyane and I.”
A deal?“You assume I can’t withstand your presence, I lived for eons before you were brought into this world, I will live countless more after you’re gone.”
“I offered her freedom,” Melinoe taunted him with a whisper. “Tell me what I want to know and my deal with Cyane will be broken. Besides, she won’t make it above before her mind dies, then she’ll be mine forever more.”
His hand shot out to grip Melinoe’s neck before he realized what he had done. “What did she offer in return?”
She didn’t fight him off. “I want an answer to the question I’ve been asking, the same one even my own mother won’t answer.”
“You’re the goddess of nightmares.” He squeezed, wanting so badly to snap Melinoe’s neck. “The goddess of insanity. You’re mere existence hurts.”
“I’m powerful.”
