Page 80 of Of Monsters and Mazes

“He kidnapped you and put you in danger in the first place.” I managed through my defeat.

“He did but…” Butterfly forgave him so easily. Maybe even more easily than she’d forgiven me for that nightmare I’d put her through. “People are complicated.” She said with a shrug. “You guys are the most complicated.”

“He tried to kill you.” I reminded her. That went way past complicated. “He would have taken your head off if you weren’t tied to him.”

“Around here, that just feels like cultural differences.” She snorted as she said it, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I also laughed. “To be honest, there are a lot of feelings that have been really difficult to parse through lately. Maybe all of them are just defense mechanisms for trauma, but at this point, I’m just going to go with my instincts and stop worrying so much about what’s right and wrong and brilliant or questionable. I’ve spent enough of my life being all wound up and quick to dismiss, judge, or fight people. This time, if someone wants to act like they care about me, I’m going to let them.”

Her gaze lingered on mine for several seconds that felt like days, and I didn’t know what to make of that. I failed to find words before she closed her eternally expressive eyes. She turned on her heel to flit off to join the men who were both tainted by Olympus blood.

I stood frozen as I let it all sink in. My heart beat was as erratic as it always was around her.

Then with the deepest breath I could draw into my lungs, I took the first step forward to catch up with this growing band of demented heathens.

Don’t ask me what I was doing, because I’d completely lost the plot at this point.

Seriously fuck every fucking minute of my fucking life.

Chapter 44

Much to my surprise, as we carefully and peacefully navigated our way towards the end of the Orange Sector, the men of the Labyrinth were all getting along fairly well. As well as anyone could hope for, anyway.

I couldn’t say if it helped or it hurt that they’d all known each other for thousands of years. I suppose at that point in anyone’s relationship, you would either be irrevocably bonded, or irreparably hateful. But as noted, these men had the same emotional intelligence as normal human men, considering how much they struggled to admit their own feelings for each other, so how could I expect them to have sorted out their differences when all they’ve had to work with was a literal eternity?

Despite Theron’s ability to delve into minds and parse out someone’s deepest fears and insecurities, he was still impressively oblivious to the idea that he, and everyone around him, had emotions.

Alessi seemed to enjoy playing games too much to be mature for ten minutes. He’d obviously long since forgiven every mistake Theron ever made, but god forbid he just communicate that.

And Rai over here could literally cut his hand, give someone a high five, and emotionally connect on an impossibly deep level with anyone he wanted. Yet, instead of enjoying his first ever human connection, he saw it as unbearable torture that I hadn’t allowed him to remain cold and dead inside.

In my thirty five years of life, working in an industry of permanently immature nerds no less, I was somehow the wisest and most observant of them all, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

Regardless, things were boding well for my quest to save my cat. With the literal soul of the maze at my side, I didn’t see how this could possibly be a challenge from here on out. There was only one sector to go, and I was basically free and in the clear.

Stupendous. No problem. What’s the worst that could happen!

I sighed, wanting to tell Tartarus that I was mocking myself and not issuing a challenge, but there was no point. The damage was already done. I was about to be big time fucked, no doubt.

“It’s been ages since you’ve graced me with your presence. How lucky that my sweet Bijou could bring us all together.” Alessi made small talk as we walked the squishy orange pathway.

“This is temporary, I promise.” Rai wouldn’t make eye contact with Alessi, and I had no clue why.

“Will it be more permanent if I let you scratch me behind the ears again?” His catlike grin and the twitch of his partially shifted ears instantly turned Rai’s whole face a shade of red.

“Th-that was one time—”

“Wait, when the hell did that happen?” Theron piped into the conversation with his jaw hanging open in pure offense.

“You sound like a jealous boyfriend.” I said with a roll of my eyes. These guys were as cute as they were idiots.

“I do not.” Theron huffed. “I just wanted to know when the last time Jericho let his dog out of his kennel long enough to cuddle with someone else.”

“I’m not a prisoner.” Rai scoffed. “Just because you’re not allowed in the castle anymore, doesn’t mean it’s a cage.”

“Really, puppy dog?” Theron tugged at the top of his scarf, noting the collar around Rai’s neck, and I looked between the two of them with confusion. “Does he just use the paralysis features while he’s fucking you then? Or do you keep that on to look more edgy.”

A paralysis collar?

I wanted to ask, but Rai smirked at that question, unexpectedly unbothered. “You really do sound jealous.” He chuckled. “When’s the last time you had sex in the real world, Dream Weaver? Or better question, when’s the last time the thought of someone taking your dick was a dream instead of a nightmare?”