by Melody Rose
“You stay away from her,” I snarled. Ansel put a warning hand on my elbow, but I shook him off. “You hear me?” I said, never looking away from Eros.
The god of lust shook his head at me. “You misunderstand me, Cheyenne. I would never threaten her. I was only curious because I thought I was going to have to explain the story a second time, as I did to these Officials. But you saw everything when we connected. It was surprising.”
“Yeah?” I asked. “Surprised me, too, okay? I thought you were doing it.”
“No, daughter of Hephaestus,” Eros said as he shook his head. “That was you.”
I swallowed audibly and relaxed my muscles, relieving them from attack mode though my fist curled at my side. My head whirled with all of this new information. I could barely keep any of it straight, especially now that Eros implied my mother had been involved somehow.
As much as I wanted to dive into my mom’s potential involvement, I didn’t want to do that here with Eros himself and the Olympic officials. That would be a conversation with my mom when I went home for winter break.
Right now, we had to solve the problem of Esme. Even though she had been gone for weeks, she was still wreaking havoc on the Academy. Now, it appeared that she was the one responsible for Love Struck, not Eros. Though that revelation didn’t soften my feelings towards him one bit, I resented his foolishness and pride for landing us in this situation in the first place.
“How long ago did Esme take the bow and arrow?” I asked, getting to the point.
Ansel’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “Esme did what?”
I waved my hand at him. “Esme stole Eros’s bow and arrow, which makes me think that she did all this, right?” I gestured around campus, indicating the Love Struck epidemic.
“It would appear so,” Fiona said regretfully.
“And let me guess,” I said snarkily, “you haven’t been able to find her or your weapon?”
Eros sneered at my tone. “Unfortunately, no, we have not. My brothers and I have been searching since the Summer Solstice when she took it, but to no avail.”
“It’s been gone since June?” I said, completely baffled. I was surprised the whole world wasn’t swimming in false love at this point.
“Yes,” Eros said through tight teeth. “We have been searching for surges of lust throughout the world, but it appeared that even though the daughter of Prometheus might have taken the weapon, she had yet to use it.”
Eros rubbed his hands up and down his trousers, nervously. “When we sensed the intense sexual desire at this location tonight, I came down to check it out, hoping that Esme had finally revealed herself. However, I found the campus completely infected but no Esme.”
“She is banned from campus,” Tené reported harshly. “If she ever crossed into our borders, we would know.”
“Even her clay forms?” I asked.
“Yes,” Tené confirmed. “We accounted for those as well.”
“So without the bow and arrow, there is no way you can reverse any of this, is there?” I wondered, though I sensed I already knew the answer.
“I have no way to channel my abilities,” Eros explained. “I could try, but the level of power needed could harm the students and I refuse to physically injure any demigods.”
“Oh, so you won’t physically harm them, but you’ll hurt their minds and their hearts?” I snapped, unable to swoop in on his obvious opening.
“Cheyenne,” Tené hissed.
Eros stared at me, a hard expression crossing his face. Even though our eyes connected, there was no zap into a different scene this time. We just simply looked at one another.
“Do you not believe in love, daughter of Hephaestus?” Eros asked, his voice the softest I had ever heard it since meeting him.
“I believe in love,” I argued, “just not false love. I believe in choice, and you don’t give people a choice.”
“I give people courage,” Eros battled back though not a bit of defensiveness slipped into his voice. He never rose from his seat, never showed any anger. He seemed completely confident in what he was saying, never wavering from that belief that he did good in the world. “I give them that nudge needed to pursue happiness. Yes, my weapon can be used for evil, to manipulate and bend the mind like what has been done here, but that is not what it was built for. As a weapons maker yourself, you know the dual sides of a blade. The multipurpose uses.”
Eros held out both hands as if mimicking a scale. “It is not the responsibility of the weapon, but the one who wields it, is it not?”
I paused and digested his words. Though they went down my throat like an overcooked steak, they settled nicer in my stomach. He appealed to one of my core beliefs about weapons and blacksmithing. His argument was that the notion applied here as well.
I considered his points and found that I didn’t need to sit on it very long. I knew he was right. It was my anger that wouldn’t let me see it right away, but thankfully, reason spoke up and allowed me to accept his explanation.
I sighed, relenting. “So what do we do now? If you can’t fix this, and you haven’t been able to find Esme, I don’t know what we can do to help.”
“You really don’t, daughter of Hephaestus?” Eros raised a teasing eyebrow. “Can’t you guess?”
The way he emphasized my father’s name turned me on to his idea right away. Even before he said it, I knew what Eros was going to ask.
“I need you to make me another bow and arrow.”
27
For the first time in my life, I was repulsed by the idea of making a weapon, scared of it even.
“I can’t,” I stumbled. “I can’t make you a new bow and arrow.”
“Cheyenne,” Ansel said, surprised at my declaration. “You’re the best blacksmith on campus, arguably the world.”
“That’s sweet of you to say, but the keyword is blacksmith,” I said delicately. “I’ve never worked with gold, ever. It’s a whole different technique, a whole different medium. I don’t…” I shook my head, unable to find the words.
“You had to do the same thing when you worked with the Eternal Flame,” Ansel reasoned. “That thing threw off everything you knew about blacksmithing. And that’s a supernatural element. This is much more natural.”
“I would have asked your father, but he seems to be unreachable,” Eros added. “Had I known of your existence, I would have reached out sooner.”
“We really want two of these weapons out in the world?” I argued, still finding ways to stall the inevitable.
Eros waved his hand, unconcerned. “The first one will run out of juice if it isn’t wielded by me. It will simply become a bow and arrow after a while.”
I licked my lips and looked at the ground, debating with myself. I tried to push past the fear and tap into the excitement of taking up a new challenge. I had always wanted to thrive as a blacksmith and delving into different materials wasn’t something I had done yet. But now was the perfect time to try. While I would have liked to have a couple of practice chances with gold before making one of the most iconic gold weapons of all time, I knew this was important. If we had any hope of curing the campus of Love Struck, then I had to build this weapon.
Before I could change my mind, I crossed the garden scene, passing Eros and the Officials. I headed off in the other direction, hiking up my skirts as I went.
“Cheyenne,” Ansel called out.
“What?” I spun around, annoyed.
“Where are you going?” he wondered, speaking aloud the question on the other three faces.
“To the forge,” I said as I gestured with my thumb behind me. “To make a bow and arrow. The sooner I get to it, the better, right?”
For the first time during this conversation, Eros stood. Tené and Fiona remained in place, though their eyes were like magnets, attached to his elegant form as he crossed over to me. While he didn’t have his wings out, it was as though I could still see them there with the way his back arched, the way
he held his shoulders. The god of lust approached me with a twinkle in his eye that I found way more intimidating than attractive.
“You should begin in the morning,” he suggested gently.
“In the morning?” I gasped. “I’m going to need as much time as I can get. We owe the campus that much.”
“Take a look behind you,” Eros suggested.
I cocked my head to the side, exasperated and annoyed. Eros flicked his fingers, indicating that I should turn around. So I followed orders and spun on my heeled boots to face the direction of the dance floor.
Students had returned from their previously injured states and crowded the dance floor in clumps of joyous gyrations. They flailed about, some with excellent rhythms and others with reckless abandon. Many shouted out the lyrics of the upbeat music, singing them in each other’s exuberant faces. Some students corralled by the food table, feeding one another caramel apple slices or chocolate-covered strawberries, like newlyweds shoving cake in each other’s faces. There were still some couples in the tableaus, enjoying intimate moments together, but everywhere I looked, I saw the same thing: happiness.
“Let them enjoy tonight,” Eros said as he leaned down over my shoulder. “It would be a shame to waste such a good party.”
I sighed and didn’t resist the smile creeping on my face. I had worked really hard on this evening, and it brought a swell of pride to my chest at the sight of my fellow demigods in such a state of joy. The Academy had great moments but was often hard on us, expecting greatness at every level. However, here was a celebration where no rules or expectations loomed over their heads. It was freedom at its finest.
“And, I think you deserve to enjoy the rest of your evening as well,” Eros hinted as his eyes flicked over to Ansel, who stood back in the garden with Tené and Fiona.
My skin responded instantly to Eros’s implication. It remembered the feel of Ansel’s hands on it, the sensations when his tongue ran over my bottom lip. The anticipation I felt moments before I found out about Esme, my mom, and the missing bow and arrow. How Ansel and I were headed to…
I left Eros’s side, and I could feel his knowing smirk burn into the back of my neck as I walked away. I stomped determinedly over to Ansel and took his hand.
“Come on,” I said as I pulled him away. “I believe we were in the middle of something.”
Ansel didn’t hesitate. The fire instantly relit in his eyes, and he met me step for step as we crossed to the edge of the quad. The heavy beat of the music drifted away behind us, turning into a dull roar rather than a blasting sequence. We dipped into a darker part of the grassy area, with only one nearby Eternal Flame lantern.
Ansel wrapped his hands around my waist and pushed my hips in a different direction than I was walking. Suddenly, I found my back against a tree trunk and his lips upon mine. He cradled the back of my head with one hand while the other explored the curves of my body. His fingers ran up the ribs of the corset and then along the exposed tops, his touch tickling the curve of my breasts.
I inhaled sharply as the sensation caught me by surprise. It was the softest of touches but elicited such an intense reaction. My breasts pushed against the edge of the corset which quickly grew uncomfortable.
My hands left his body, regretfully, but I pulled at the strings at my back, trying to find them amongst the fabric of the dress and in between the bark of the dress. Ansel immediately noticed that I was distracted as I couldn’t focus on my moving lips and my searching fingers at the same time.
“What’s wrong?” he asked breathlessly.
“The corset,” I heaved, “I can’t…”
But I didn’t need to say anymore. Ansel recognized what I needed immediately and set to work about righting it. He took control of my hips again and spun me around so that my back was facing him. I braced myself on the trunk and bent over slightly, pressing myself into his groin.
Ansel moaned and shifted so I could feel the fullness of him, already growing hard. He swiveled his hips up against me while his fingers zipped through the laces. He was as swift as a pianist, whipping his hands up and down the keys, as the corset loosened around me. I barely noticed when the binding released me because I was too focused on the heat growing between my legs as Ansel rubbed against me.
He wrapped his arms around my middle and spread his hands up my shirt. Now that there was no corset, I only wore a shift beneath which was little more than a strip of fabric. Quickly, his palms traveled up my belly and stroked the underside of my breasts. He teased my nipples with his thumbs, cupping me in his hand.
I moaned at his touch, encouraging him as he rolled, pulled, and flicked. My back snapped straight, so I could press more of my body against him. My head fell back against his shoulder, and I reached up to nibble on his ear, needing to do something with my tongue as he played with me.
Ansel pulled out of the grip of my teeth so he could whisper in my ear. “I don’t want to take you here,” he said. “I want it to be just you and me, no one else.”
“Then where?” I gasped as he gave me a final squeeze before sliding his hands back down to my hips. I felt cold without his touch and instantly wanted it back. We needed to get wherever we were going and fast before I hiked up my skirts and mounted him against the tree.
“I have my own room,” Ansel said as he curved one arm around my waist, positioning me, so I faced him again. He kissed me deeply, only offering a flick of his tongue before pulling away. “Come on,” Ansel said, breaking into a run with a wicked smile.
I watched him run, dashing farther away from me. His hair blew back, freeing his face so I could witness the playfulness and joy that emanated from his wide smile. His body moved so gracefully, each muscle tensing and relaxing as he pushed on. I wanted to see the muscles without the cloth against them, pushing against me as we moved as one.
My legs pumped to catch up with him, the cool fall air slipping through the thin fabric of my shirt. I abandoned the corset in the grass and stripped off the sleeves of the dress as well. Ansel suddenly stopped at the door of the Fotia building, watching me.
“What?” I asked, slightly out of breath when I approached.
“You look… ” Ansel shook his head, the words evading him.
I looked down at myself and saw that in the dim light of the Eternal Flame, my chest and torso were clearly visible through the white fabric. He just watched me jog across to him, like a Baywatch actress, free and flailing. I decided to take the image one step further and untied the bustle. The large skirt of fabric fell away, so now I was only in the loose undershirt, the tight pants, and heeled black boots of my costume.
Ansel opened the door, his eyes never leaving me as I sauntered into the dorm. We teased each other all the way up to his room. We pulled each other against walls, stealing kisses or not-so-subtle touches. With everyone still at the dance, the hallways were empty, so there was no fear of being caught. I was too swept up in the feel of him to care.
The soldier pushed open the door to his apartment. No lights were on, but it looked ridiculously similar to mine and Janet’s dorm, except his had a full kitchen. The living space was bigger because instead of having two private rooms, there was only one.
Ansel shut the door behind him, and once we were in the privacy of his apartment, immediately shrugged out of his jacket and whipped off his shirt. I gasped at the sight of him, a soft glow coming in through the window at the other end of the room. I had seen him shirtless before, during training mostly, but when he stood before me like this, knowing that I could run my hands over him, the sight took on a whole new meaning.
Feeling bold, I mimicked his movement and also removed my shirt. Ansel’s mouth opened slightly as I stood bare before him. Though both of us were still half-clothed, there was still something erotic about being topless in front of one another. It was a sign of the anticipation of what was to come.
In two steps, Ansel was on me. The skin to skin contact on our chests lit my insides on fire. We didn’t e
ven kiss one another. Instead, we just roamed our hands all over each other’s bodies. I ran my fingers down his spine and dipped into the curve of his back, slipping a hand down into his pants.
“If you want them off, just say so,” Ansel said into my skin as he kissed my collarbone.
I giggled and slid my hands around his hip bones to the front of his pants. I struggled with the button, as it was on the wrong side for me and felt unnatural. Ansel put his hands over mine and assisted me in unbuttoning him. He stepped out of his pants, sliding out of his shoes simultaneously. When he was just in his boxers, he charged for me and scooped me up in his arms in a fireman’s carry.
Elated by his enthusiasm, I laughed as he carried me into the bedroom and threw me onto the large bed playfully. It was much darker in the bedroom with the curtains drawn. Ansel quickly fixed this by snapping his fingers. A single flame appeared on his pointer finger. He blew on it, but instead of disappearing, the flame traveled through the air to a lantern sitting on the end table next to the bed.
A soft orange glow illuminated the simple room. If I hadn’t been so consumed with Ansel, standing there practically naked at the foot of the bed, I would have taken time to examine his room, find out more about this man I adored.
But I didn’t.
Instead, I chose to look at the man in front of me who looked down at me with a sultry smile and a hunger in his eye.
Even with a look, he made me burn. I squeezed my legs together in anticipation. Quickly, I sat up to remove my boots, but Ansel stopped me when he crouched down and put his hands over mine.
“Let me,” he commanded softly.
I remained sitting up as he undid the laces of my boots and slipped each off, one by one. He flicked his eyes up at me every so often to make sure I was paying attention, as if I could take my eyes off him. It was agony to wait as he slowly dipped a finger in my sock and rolled them down off my ankles.
“Ansel,” I begged as I leaned forward again to hurry him along.