Cerberus shook his head. “It’s been dealt with. She was given what she’s been looking for.”
Cyane’s eyes widened, then she nodded. “Thank you,” she whispered, wanting to reach out to Cerberus again but didn’t know if he’d accept it with Hermes there. Their interactions had always been private until the glade.
“Well, are we going?” Hermes muttered. “The day is almost over, and Persephone and Hecate will be coming down this way soon. I’m assuming you don’t want to be seen? I certainly don’t want my fair Goddess of Spring to see me breaking Hades’s law. I’d like to return next year.”
Cyane turned to Cerberus. He hadn’t put his helmet back on. She hoped he’d be okay with Hermes knowing his face. Cerberus’s countenance had changed since he’d returned with the winged god; he was acting as though they had already said goodbye.
“Please come with me,” she begged again.Know my pain.She needed him to hear her plea for him, to give him that last opportunity to choose her. “Please.”
He didn’t respond, he didn’t move at all. She couldn’t wait any longer and didn’t care who or what saw. She flung herself against Cerberus one last time and hid her face against his armored chest. The smell of worn metal filled her nose.
She held onto him desperately, and eventually, his arms came around her one last time and held her, too.
“Lovingly,” she thought she heard him say, gripping him like her soul depended on it. His hands fell from her back, and she quickly drew away before she decided to stay and serve Hades, just to have the chance to see Cerberus. To be near him.
“We’ll meet again,” she said, growing numb. Then she whispered so low she barely heard it herself. “Ask me to stay. Please ask me to stay.”
“Come,” Hermes said softly, holding out his hand.
Cyane waited for Cerberus to stop her from making this choice...but he remained silent.
Heart breaking, she stepped back, turned away from him, and took Hermes’s hand. He pulled her toward the shoreline, headed for where the light grew brighter with each step.
And when she glanced back, there was nothing but darkness to greet her.
Cerberus watched Cyane walk away,watched as the light haloed around her, swallowing her as she returned to its embrace.
A prickle coursed down his back—Hades called him—but Cerberus couldn’t move, resting his hand on the hilt of his sword. What was one more defyment in the grand scheme of things? No punishment was worse than this.
It’d been so long since he’d seen the light. Its glory wasn’t meant for him though, never had been, and never would be. Hercules had once forced Cerberus into it, and it had blinded all his hundreds of eyes. The loss had sent him into a rage and he’d had no recourse to the thousands of evil mortals who kicked, stabbed, and prodded his body.
That torment was nothing compared to the hollowing ache in his chest. It built with each step Cyane took.
But she is meant for the light.
Not here.
Not where Hades would use her. Not in the one place Cerberus couldn’t ensure her complete safety.
Hades would break her, warp her into a dark creature. And Cerberus couldn’t have that. Not now that he knew the lengths of what his lord had gone through to bring her here. Hades had plans for her. Plans Cerberus didn’t know.
So sweet, so easy to pluck and possess.
He wouldn’t be able to bear seeing Cyane destroyed, plucked and possessed. Especially by anyone that wasn’t him. He’d kill anyone who tried.
She twisted to glimpse him, and he stepped back into the shadows. She still wore her golden dress. She sparkled like an angel. His hand tightened around his weapon’s hilt.
When she stopped searching for him in the dark, where she’d never be able to find him, she turned away, and Cerberus had an epiphany. Love. That’s what his feeling worming through his chest was.
We will meet again.
Cyane and Hermes became dots on the horizon, near gone now in the light.
Even in death, she’ll never be mine.He could at least guard her soul, take her where she needed to go, but ultimately he would have to let her go a second time.
Cerberus put his helmet back on and turned away.
Persephone, Demeter, and Hecate
