An amused chuckle echoed against my back, the pitch black felt suffocating with his proximity.
Spinning around, I lashed out in an uncoordinated swing of limbs. Yet none of the strikes landed on anything but air.
“Oh, so close,Heartspite,” Eryx’s irritatingly deep voice came from somewhere off to my left now.
I growled in frustration with whatever game he was playing. “Coward!”
That smooth drag of something oddly familiar against my skin once more, but this time itmade contact withmy ear. I tucked my chin as I pulled away from the taunting strokes.
“Coward, am I?” There wasasharp edge of offense in his voice. One that managed to seep into every pore in my body, leaving me breathless.
Another snap of his fingers and light reappeared. It only seemed to exist inside this cage, leaving anything beyond the bars in the dark. Standing before me was Eryx, a hunger in his eyes for something too close to revenge for my liking.
“Let me tell you something, Charlee. You knownothingof my life, of what I have persevered through. All these years, you have flitted through on nothing but the childish notion that love conquers all.” He crowded me until I was pressed back against the unforgiving bars of this massive cage.
“You’re right, I don’t know what you have been through,” I conceded. “But I do know that even the most bruised and battered hearts still are worthy of someplace warm to call home.”
For a split second, I thought that maybe my wordswere enough to sway him. But with unyielding force, he grabbed my wrist,and with his other hand, he bound our mirrored wrists together. His left hand and my right pressed together, our radial pulses dancing against one another.
His choice of binding? Golden silk that ebbed with ancient powers. Once it was secured around both our wrists, the warmth of its true purpose flooded my body.
Oh gods, this couldn’t possibly be…
I didn’t even finish my thought before Eryx seemed to read me like an open book.
“Aphrodite’s coveted sash,” he murmured in grimconfirmation.
His fingers laced with mine in a tight hold, and a devious smirk highlighted dimples in his cheeks. When he spoke, the words came out with false thoughtfulness.?
“It’s said to be one of the few items that can control the gods themselves. Originally crafted to inspire attraction, rumor has it that it also bears the ability of compulsion.”
Something in his voice told me that he believed the old lore of our people to be true. The way my skin prickled with the heat of a thousand volcaniceruptions?How it felt like a lover’s tongue licking up the base of my spine? Damning.
Instead of pulling my hand away from his in vain, I clutched onto his as I locked eyes with him. Let him feel the strength of my resolve in my grip, let him see it in the turbulent emotions beneath the windows of my soul.
“I am the goddess of desire. The deity responsible for controlling matters of the heart for lovers everywhere. Sash or not, my heart belongs to me.” My voice came out steadier than I felt, conveying a false sense of confidence when my insides teetered on a knife’s edge.
Ducking his head down, Eryx’s forehead pressed to mine. A rogue strand of his nearly black hair fell out of place, tickling the bridge of my nose.
His whispered words came out like both a promise and a threat. “Guess we’ll have to test that theory. Won’t we,Heartspite?”
Eryx’s free arm wrapped around my waist, tugging me up against the unforgiving strength of his body.
“I suppose we shall,” I responded while in a state of breathlessness, my words as steady as a feather atop a house of cards.
Tilting my head back to maintain eye contact, there was something beyond the coldhearted calculation of his actions. Before I could interpret it, the look disappeared behind a veil of chaos draped over broken glass.
An unnatural gust of wind cut through the cage, whipping my pink-tinted burgundy hair around my face. Squeezing my eyes shut to shield them, the world tilted precariously around us.
The rush of air roared in my ears, making it difficult to concentrate on the shifting surroundings. Even after the wind quieted, my body remained tense, and my heart continued to beat rapidly against my ribs.
With great hesitation, I eased my eyes open.
Still in the cage, but the view had changed.
Drastically.?
Eryx remained before me. Instead of the dress shirt and slacks he had been wearing moments ago, he had on farless. The view was startling. No longer did I see a polished and tailored man of privilege, but a man with aggressive edges and dangerous stories etched in ink across his body.
