“Do I?” he tempted. He shifted between my legs, sending a shock of sensation through my core.
“You do,” I purred. “And I cannot put into words just how much I enjoy it.”
He leaned down, his lips at my ear. “This is what you do to me,” he whispered, stroking his length against me. “What are you going to do about it?”
I wasted no time. I fisted one hand in his hair, tugging gently as I nibbled on his neck. With my other, I reached between us and guided his cock to my ready, aching entrance. Thanatos moaned as his tip slid into me, and he succumbed to a series of shivers before he was even fully inside.
I clung to him fiercely, flooded with relief and anticipation. This must be the most transcendent sensation in the world: to be so delightfully full, to hear Death whimper for me, to feel him shake in my arms from the pleasure we gave each other.
But then he moved in me, and the heavenly rush surpassed every pinnacle that came before. My articulate thoughts retreated with each sensual thrust, replaced entirely by a singular, desperate plea.More.I released his hair and dug my fingers into his back instead, relinquishing all control.
Thanatos pinned me down harder. He thrust into me with unfettered intensity, and I saw stars. I was incapable of lowering my voice, no matter how much I tried. Over and over his pounding hips drew out my heated cries, and the room filled up with the sounds of my moaning. I might have been embarrassed, except that he was not exactly being quiet, either, and his pleasure only fueled my own.
The tension built in my pelvis again, faster this time than ever before. I arched my hips, digging my nails into his skin, my moans escaping as breathy cries. “Don’t stop,” I begged. And he hardly had a chance to react before the rapture of being filled with him sent me tumbling into an ocean of bliss.
I squeezed my legs around him and held him inside me as I came, massaging him with my peak. Pulses of overwhelming pleasure flooded over me, all flowing from that wonderful place, the one I could only ever feel when he stroked it with his cock. When the sensation began to fade, he rocked into me again, faster, and I cried out as he drew me back into the unrelenting waves. “Fuck!Thanatos!”
He moaned heatedly in response to my elation, in reply to the sound of his name. He flapped his wings once, gasping, his hips picking up a desperate pace. “My woman,” he groaned. “My love. Ages upon ages, and now you have shattered me. You areeverything, Cyrie!”
My name left his lips as a yearning cry, and I felt him let go, his body shuddering on top of mine. He wore that most perfect expression, the face that only I got to see. Vulnerable ecstasy.
When we floated down from our high, we collapsed there together, satisfied and spent. He rested his head on my chest, still panting softly as the room readjusted to the sudden quiet. I stroked gently through his hair, admiring his beauty, adoring his soft skin and sweeping wings. Our fingers intertwined as my heartbeat slowed.
We lay there in silence, holding each other, basking in the glow of our risk and our reward. Here, I felt safer than anywhere. Here, in this room, was all the happiness I could ever dream of. I would gladly risk my life for just one more moment.
But since my choice had been settled…I saw no reason why I shouldn’t ask about the fate with which I danced. I parted his messy hair and traced lovingly down his spine, between Death’s inky wings.
“Hey, Thanatos?” I murmured through my lazy euphoria.
“Mmm. My love?”
“Will you tell me more about the Underworld?”
11
“What would you like to know?”
Thanatos didn’t stir from where he’d collapsed on me, his head on my chest. It seemed he had no intention of moving—which was good, because I had no intention of releasing him from my snuggle anytime soon. He’d relaxed his wings completely, and they sprawled out across the bed, a cloak of sleek, inky feathers.
“Hmm,” I considered. I massaged his scalp with the tips of my fingers. “Where do you live? What does it look like?”
“My home is in the palace of Hades,” he answered softly, “in the center of the realm. It is the grandest palace ever built, a towering black fortress adorned with gold and gemstones. Spectacular. Superior even to the ones they have on Olympus.”
“Incredible,” I whispered. The greatest beauty was hidden in the Underworld, for none to see until their deaths. I supposed I shouldn’t be surprised, as it was just the same with him. “Do you think Zeus could ever outdo his brother in extravagance?”
“Never,” Thanatos replied. “Hades rules over all that is beneath the earth, and thus the riches of the earth belong to him as well. The Underworld is filled with precious metals and stones in abundance. At least theniceparts of the Underworld.”
“And what of yourhome there? What is thatlike?”
“I rarely spend much time inside,” he answered. “It is not as if I need many possessions or a place to sleep. But it is nice to have all the same, a place where I can relax undisturbed. I preferto lounge on my balcony, high up the castle face. From there, I can watch most everything that happens in the court below.”
“So you can see the drama?”
“So I can pick up the most interesting stories.”
“That’s the same thing,” I said with a laugh.
“Fine,” he conceded. “Sometimes I sit up there to watch the drama. I am told that many in the court find my presence foreboding, and some even believe it an omen for a particularly harsh judgment of souls.”
