“Yeah?” He didn’t lift his head, clinging to her front like a burr.
Ariadne shifted to curl an arm around him and squeeze, suppressing a wince at the movement. “We can’t take it back so might as well own what happened. So yeah, it was worth it. Maybe less wine next time.”
He stiffened in her arms and pulled back to give her an outraged look. “Next time? There’s not going to be a next time! You almost died.” His voice cracked, mirroring his fragile expression.
“Because we were both shitfaced.” Ariadne pointed out reasonably.
“I thought you were dead.” Dionysus told her, voice thick and red rimmed eyes heavy with more tears. “I thought that using my powers as a god had been too much for you and I thought you were dead.” He repeated, shuddering.
Chapter 15
“IT FELT LIKE I’D TURNED into my father in the worst way possible, killing the woman I love through stupidity and ego.”
“You’re definitely not your father. I’m not dead.” She assured Dionysus softly, holding both his wet cheeks in her hands. “It’s fine. We had fun and it got out of hand but we both learned a lesson.” She summed up gently.
When he just stared at her, dazed, she pulled him in for a rib creaking hug. That seemed to trigger something in him, and he squeezed her back even tighter. They held each other for a long moment before pulling back, cuts beginning to ooze again.
“Let’s get cleaned up.” Dionysus pulled her to her feet and they stagger to the bathroom. They washed the blood, ichor and remains of far too much sex off each others skin. Together they got dressed and began tending to their wounds.
He ran hands heavy with magic over every gouge and tooth mark on her with a frown, her skin tightening as it knitted together under his touch. The remaining cuts looked like something a human would do in a moment of intense passion rather than an animal mauling. The bite marks refuse to heal much at all, bruising spectacularly. Ariadne dug up a balm that soothed bruises that she rubbed on them both, not finding a lot of places that didn’t need the balm.
“Why can you only heal it a little?” She asked, gently daubing a different paste on his cuts.
“Because I’m trying to be gentle. Even healing magic can destroy if you use too much of it. I’m not going to risk you.” Dionysus pressed a kiss to her last scratch, eyelashes tickling the underside of her knee.
“Then there is no reason you can’t heal yourself.”
“A little pain won’t hurt me.” He put her leg down and gestured, pulling a stack of clothes out of the air in another absentminded show of power.
“Dionysus.” He raised a belligerent eyebrow at her tone and hands her half the stack of clothes.
Ariadne sat it in her lap and lifted her chin. “I don’t want you to punish yourself. We are both consenting adults. Bringing your powers into things wasn’t the smartest thing we could have done but-”
“I almost lost you!” Dionysus jerked to his feet, snarling inhuman and deep from his chest “How do you not understand that? Can you not understand what that felt like for me?”
Ariadne bit her lip but didn’t look away. “I’ve almost died before,” She started but was cut off again.
“I didn’t love you then!” Dionysus stopped. His hand went to his mouth, touching it gingerly as if he couldn’t believe what had come out of it. He elaborated awkwardly, “I cared that you were one of mine, but the way I feel about you now is different. Losing you then would have been infuriating. Losing you now... I can’t. I can’t do that.” He finished in a whisper, green eyes glossy.
“I told you that I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. Then I almost killed you right after with the powers I swore to get under control.” He buried his face in his hands. “I always wind up killing anyone who cares about me. I drove two of my aunts and an uncle mad and to their death. My cousins, my nannies, all of them.” Dionysus confessed.
“That’s a lot of family.”Ariadne said numbly.
“All of them dead now because of me. Sometimes I wonder if my mother asking father to see his true god form was because of me as well.” Dionysus took a breath and held it, trying to control his ragged breathing. He let it go to beg, “Please don’t leave me.”
“I won’t.” Ariadne reassured him. “You didn’t lose control last night, remember? We just went further than what I could handle.” She acknowledged with a wince.
Dionysus searched her face, looking for something he could understand. “Why aren’t you running for the hills?”
“I’m not capable of understanding Olympian tongue, remember? People talked in from of me. I’ve known about your childhood since the first week on the mountain.” Ariadne told him bluntly. “Nothing detailed, just the shape of things.” She added at his look of horror.
“I know what I am getting into.” She stepped into his personal space, looking at him down then up, meeting his gave steadily. “I want you. I want this.”
He kissed her.
There was a knock at the bedroom door.
Chapter 16
“ARIADNE? MOTHER SENT me to check on you.” Persephone’s voice came through the closed door, sounding deeply awkward. “I’ll-” She stopped talking abruptly and the door opened.
Dionysus was already up and halfway to the door, but the goddess of the Underworld had already came in with a deeply concerned expression that was rapidly turning horrified at the wreckage of the room.
“Did you kill her?” She asked Dionysus incredulously before seeming to fall into speechlessness.
Ariadne crept out from behind Dionysus. “No, no, I’m fine.” She gave Persephone a tremulous smile. “This looks bad, but we were actually getting on really well last night.”
Persephone shot her a look. “You’ve been damn close to dying within the last few hours. I’m the Queen of the Underworld, I can tell.” She glanced around the room at the shredded bedding and blackened blood and metallic gold ichor. “Not that the evidence doesn’t speak for itself.”
“We just got carried away.” She wouldn’t have bothered defending what she and her lover did in the bedroom, but Dionysus seemed crushed at Persephone’s lowered opinion.
“Doing what exactly, beating the shit out of each other?” Persephone ran a hand through her hair in a gesture remarkably similar to Dionysus and then held it in front of her like it had answers.
“I used my powers.” Dionysus admitted, looking at Ariadne with a guilty expression.
Persephone seemed lost. “You got both of you drunk?” Something crossed her face like a shadow. “No, you couldn’t have brought madness into the bedroom.” She almost seemed to be begging.
Ariadne wrinkled her nose. “I didn’t even think of it like that.” She admitted.
Dionysus gave an uncomfortable shrug. “It was an extension of the religious ecstasy and such.”
“Religious ecstasy.” Persephone repeated, closing her eyes. “And what is more religious or ecstasy inducing than having sex with a god. Of course.”
“He’s also the god of a few other, related things.” Ariadne didn’t clarify but waited for Persephone to make the connections herself. When she gave a faint grimace, Ariadne knew she had come to the right conclusions.
Being a god of erections made for divine stamina and recovery periods unseen outside other fertility deities. Being the god of intoxication and religious frenzied ecstasy and bringing the combination into the bedroom... Ariadne had enjoyed her near death experience immensely. Until her near death experience, so had Dionysus.
Persephone opened her eyes to give Dionysus the most judgmental look she had seen. “I thought better of you.” She sounded disappointed.
Dionysus didn’t even defend himself, hunching inwards.
“I’m not dead.” Ariadne pointed out, irritated.
“You are very lucky to have survived that.” Persephone rolled her eyes at Ariadne’s mulish shrug. “You’re both idiots. I’ll be in the kitchen pouring all of Mother’s alcohol out.” She grumbled, s
tomping out of the room, muttering something under her breath that sounded like complaints.
Ariadne heaved a sigh, glancing at a downcast Dionysus. She struggled to think of something to say but nothing came to mind.
ARIADNE emerged from the guest bedroom holding Dionysus’s hand, chin thrust up defiantly.
Persephone handed them each a flower crown. Letting go of Dionysus’s hand, Ariadne examined the gift. It was a tightly woven crown of blooming, fragrant roses bordered by laurel leaves. It was an exact match for Dionysus’s except for the color of the roses.
“What is this?” He asked, glancing from his flower crown to Ariadne’s. “Only gods wear laurel leaves Persephone.”
Persephone gestured for them to follow her and walked out of the house to her waiting chariot. It gleamed, the dark yellow of pure gold, a sharp contrast to the pitch black horses harnessed to it. She gathered the reigns in one hand before turning to address them, expression grave. “I know what you asked Zeus for. All of Olympus probably knows by now.”
“Father agreed to my request.” Dionysus reached over and squeezed Ariadne’s hand. “He had no problem with making Ariadne immortal.”
Persephone shook her head. “But he doesn’t approve, little one. Like he didn’t approve of Endymion or of Tithonus. He doesn’t like mortals on Olympus or even former mortals.”
“Who?” Dionysus is frowning, but Ariadne’s heart began to race at the names of her two great aunt’s formerly mortal lovers.
She explained, “Tithonus was granted immortality, but not eternal youth. Endymion was granted immortality and eternal youth but was kept in an eternal sleep.” Ariadne unclenched her fingers from where she had crushed her wreath in her free hand, scattering the petals in the morning breeze.
Dionysus inhaled sharply. Persephone nodded. “I am fond of you Dionysus and proud of the way you took responsibility for yourself by working to control your powers with Mother’s help. You are a kind, gentle man and that means more than what you could possibly imagine in my realm. I would hate to see your happiness and stability destroyed by Zeus’s pride.”
“So. I will make you and your future bride an offer.” Ariadne started at the title, thrilled that it referred to her.
“Come with me to the Underworld this year and show me your love fore each other. At the end of winter I’ll offer to turn Ariadne into a goddess as a wedding present. Zeus won’t want to be one upped and he’ll do it himself.” Persephone finished her offer and explanation, stepping into her waiting chariot with the grace of the Queen she was.
Ariadne had only half a moment to process the shock of the offer before Dionysus was dragging her onboard the chariot.
“Don’t I get as say in this?” She demanded crankily, but didn’t let go of his hand.
His smile was huge. “What, you don’t want to go?”
Chapter 17
ARIADNE WAS SO BUSY chewing over the deal that had been struck, that she barely noticed their arrival into the Underworld. They landed silently in the courtyard of a castle that was mostly concealed in gloom.
There was no visible source of light besides the occasional glowing fungus trailing beside a walking path. Yet everything was dimly visible after a moment of letting Ariadne’s eyes adjust. In was a twilight wonderland of shadows and as Ariadne looked, sources of light began to appear. Candles in windows, strange phosphorus blue glows in the distance and the intense white of stars. Frogs warbled unseen, hunting the occasional cricket chirp.
“It’s so restful.” Ariadne relaxed with a sigh. Dionysus was already bounding off the chariot to hug a surprised Hades.
Persephone turned to her and stopped. “Your eyes...”
“Oh, right. I forget about them most of the time.” Ariadne touched a spot under her eyes. “Helios is my maternal grandfather. My eyes change color occasionally, but that seems to be it for inheritance.” She had attempted to set people on fire with her mind as a child, but had no such luck.
“You forgot about them.” Persephone repeated, holding a hand out to steady Ariadne as she stepped out of the chariot. “Your glowing eyes that emit light in the dark.”
“It’s not like I can see them.” Ariadne pointed out reasonably. “Normally they don’t glow or anything either.” She paused. “Just in the labyrinth, really.” Come to think of it, that had probably been eerie for the last set of tributes.
Persephone looked far too intrigued. “I should visit that place one day.”
Ariadne almost didn’t want to ask, but the sudden fear of waking up with her dead twin standing at the foot of her bed pushed her into it. “Is my brother...” She starts but has no idea what she is actually asking.
Persephone seemed to understand her mostly unspoken question. She patted Ariadne on the head. “He is kept far from here and cannot leave where he is placed. His power when alive was tremendous, but I am the co-ruler of this realm and he is very dead. You have nothing to fear from him.”
Ariadne felt a tension she hadn’t known she was holding abruptly leave her almost boneless with relief. Then guilt set in. “He’s my twin, but I just never could escape the sensation he hated me and wanted me dead.” She admitted with a wince as they approached a smiling Hades and cheerily chattering Dionysus.
“He’s your what?” Persephone looked at her like she had fallen off the chariot and taken head damage. The other two stilled their conversation to blatantly eavesdrop together.
“My twin. Shared a womb for a while.” Ariadne repeated. “What’s so strange about that?”
Persephone looked at her husband, who looked politely baffled at whatever question she was asking with her eyes. She turned back to Ariadne. “Do you even have any mortal human in you?”
“Not currently.” She said reflexively then hid her face in her hands and hissed at a snickering Dionysus through her fingers, “You are such a bad influence.”
Persephone either didn’t get the joke or blessedly faked ignorance and apathy. “I really need to get a look at that labyrinth and that cursed bull. Demigod or not, Pasiphaë shouldn’t have been able to conceive a normal child from the bull.”
“Well, I’ve always theorized he sucked all the magic up in the womb. All the other women in my family are terrifying witches.” Ariadne suggested, unable to hide her jealousy. “All I got was an evil twin.”
“Yes, but since you’re a bastard, we’re not actually related, distantly or otherwise.” Dionysus said with a lascivious waggle of his eyebrows that made her giggle.
“No. Absolutely not.” Persephone said, dropping a hand on Ariadne. A strange sensation like viscous water settled over her and then was gone.
Hades looked at Dionysus. “What precisely happened to have my wife drag both of you here for supervision and put your lover under a chastity spell?”
Dionysus looked mutinous, glaring at what Ariadne could only assume was the spell and not her. Because if he was looking at her like that, there wouldn’t need to be a chastity spell at all, he’d be sleeping alone.
“Mixing godly powers and sex with your mortal lover is a bad idea.” He finally conceded after another few seconds of pouting.
“Dionysus!” Hades scolded, putting a hand over his face. “You could have killed her!”
“I thought I had.” He admitted soberly, eyes locked onto Ariadne. “She’s not taking it as seriously as I’d like.”
“After this winter you want have to worry about that.” Persephone reassured him, adding to her husband, “I’ve offered to turn Ariadne into a goddess as a wedding gift. After they exhibit some self control.” She added pointedly when Dionysus let out a small whoop of excitement.
Hades raised a finger. “You already put a chastity spell on her. Doesn't that count as cheating?”
Persephone sniffed. “They need all the help they can get.”
ARIADNE woke up the next morning to a shouting match. Crawling out of bed, she stopped to have a drink of wine at the bottle thoughtfully left beside the bed. She savored the
taste. It was never something she had told Dionysus, but wine almost universally tasted bitter to her. She had come to associate the taste and smell with him and found it comforting despite never quite enjoying the taste.
After drinking a few cups of wine crouched beside the bed, Ariadne finally began to tune into what sounded like an argument outside the room getting ready to turn into a borderline riot.
“Absolutely not!” Someone vaguely familiar was howling at the top of their lungs.
“I don’t give a shit!” Dionysus was yelling back.
Hm. That wasn’t a happy sign.
Ariadne stood up with a sigh and staggered out of the bedroom and into the hall, still feeling wobbly. No one spoke, silent and tense. Dionysus was barefoot, fists clenched and eyes gleaming and wearing only low slung pants. Ariadne appreciated the view for a minute before taking in the rest of the room.
Opposite him was Persephone, looking beyond irritated. Her hair was fluffed out around her, crown nothing but metal spikes with sharp edged tips. Hades stood off to the side, watching the show with raised eyebrows. Ariadne realized she was still holding onto her wine cup and handed it to Hades. He took it with a confused, startled look but she was already heading to Dionysus.
Ariadne slid an arm across his shoulders, tugging him into a one armed hug. “I woke up alone. Positively neglected, I tell you.” She stuck her lower lip out and widened her eyes comically wide and looked at a bemused Dionysus through her eyelashes. “Alone. So alone.”
He snorted, tension visibly draining out of him. He wrapped his arm around her waist and tucked his fingers into her sleep pants waistband to cup her hip. “I’m sorry.” He leaned over to kiss the tip of her nose. “Forgive me?” He asked with a raised eyebrow and half smile.
Ariadne sighed dramatically. “I suppose I must. Fine. The wedding is back on.”
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