“How fucking dare you!” she screamed, pain squeezing her heart as her body shook with the memory of those hands on her body.
In the next breath her wig was thrown to the side, short black hair falling around her neck as he gripped it tight. She cried out as he pulled them nose to nose, fury written across his features as dark as a storm about to break. Their ragged breaths mingled in the small space between them as each refused to back down. His nose scrunched right before he let out a growl and released her. They stood, frames rigid as they watched each other.
The Devil took a few more tense breaths before closing his eyes and wiping the sand from his shirt. She gaped as the tensionmelted from his body and in its place stood the suave business man she’d had in between her thighs earlier that evening.
“Don’t forget our deal, kitten.” He turned to walk back into Club Hel, but stopped short to say, “Oh, and don’t tell our friend about me. I’ll be checking up on you and don’t want any more kinks in the plan. Unless they’re yours, of course.” His wink was sin, but she couldn’t tell if it was butterflies or centipedes in her stomach. Disappearing into the shadows, he left her in a pile of her own misery.
Nyx swallowed and looked to the man hunched over the goddess on the sand. The nightmare pulled from the depths rattled her to the core, but she didn’t have time to dwell. The people she protected were counting on her.
Evangeline was counting on her.
Nyx took a deep breath and let it out slowly before donning the mask of her new role. She scrunched her face until she knew fear was painted across it and took off toward Chaos.
“Hey!” she yelled, but it didn’t carry past the sound of waves beating against the sinking cliff face. She tried once more, bellowing as loud as her scratchy throat would allow.“Hey!”
Nyx waved her arms to get their attention as she ran. Chaos glanced her way and froze, distrust was written all across his features. Nyx slowed down and held up her hands as she approached. “Look, I know you don’t know me and you’re smart not to trust me.” He would never know how true those words were, but she shoved down the guilt and forged ahead. “But there’s a man inside and he’s looking for her. I think he wants to kill her.”
He said nothing and her rising impatience fed the irritation bubbling to the surface.
“I can take you somewhere safe, where she can recover and no one will find you. You just have to trust me.”
He looked down to the beauty in his arms and the way his eyes softened made her stomach roil. This betrayal would be the one to end her life. But she had to do it for Evangeline.
Nyx held out her hand to the most powerful being in the universe and said, “Just take my hand. Use your chaos to move us and I’ll use mine to guide us.”
He gave her one last thoughtful glance before stepping forward to take her hand. What she thought would be a companionable hold turned menacing as the fine bones in her hands crunched and popped beneath the force of his grasp.
She couldn’t catch a fucking break.
“I don’t want to end your life, but it is but a mere ember of light in my world compared to the rays of her sun that I orbit. If you betray me, I will kill you. If you get her hurt, I will kill everyone you love. Do you understand?”
His eyes glowed a piercing blue as she nodded, nervousness dotting her upper lip with sweat. “I understand,” she gulped.
Understanding was not agreeing. He had a lot to learn in this new world.
He nodded and sent a burst of chaos so pure through her soul she nearly wept. Hers was a murky puddle of piss and rain water compared to his. Traveling with the God of Chaos was an ethereal experience that urged her to fall to his feet and worship in his wake.
“Take us,” his voice echoed in her mind.
Right.
She thought of Avyssos– it was full of ramshackle homes pieced together by whatever material was available. The sky was always dreary and the sterile soil made it impossible for crops to grow. But it was home.
She let the love for her village mingle with his chaos and before she could close her eyes, their feet thudded on the mossy grass surrounding the place she held most dear. Nyx didn’t givehim a backward glance before walking toward the shabby line of homes. She didn’t know how she was going to explain the pair to everyone, but it was definitely a future Nyx problem.
The brown haired stranger grinned ear to ear at Persephone and the most handsome dimples dotted both cheeks. The sight of them did impossible things to her brain. Adoration sent butterflies fluttering in her stomach and she giggled like she used to when she was child, before the politics of gods consumed her soul.
Persephone and her perfect stranger laid together next to the tinkering brook. She looked forward to their secret visits as Demeter tended the famine, counting down the minutes from the moment she left his side.
“Surely of all the flowers itching to bloom from those delicate fingers, the daffodil isn’t your favorite.”
“Why can’t it be my favorite?” she asked. A smile she couldn’t shake stuck to her face. If he made her smile any harder, she would have to frown for a week just to relax the muscles.
“Because it’s too simple. Six petals and a cone, and most are only yellow. They’re the most ordinary flower in the fields. Abeauty such as you can bloom dimensional roses, or bold blues and purples that unfurl and wake with the rising sun.”
Their bodies were angled apart, but their heads were mere inches from touching. His touch was one that she found herself longing for all hours of the day. Persephone twirled one of the beautiful, six-petaled flowers in her hands as he reached back and fingered a string of her pink hair. The first time he’d done it she nearly fainted. No one dared touch the daughter of a ruling Olympian without their permission.
What she loved about him though? He didn’t ask anyone for permission.
