by Elena Monroe
“Party got boring, but this is gonna be a lot more fun…” Bolton’s lips turned upright into a smirk, knowing he had some reason for hating Dorian. More than half of me wanted to know what that was, and I was going to pry it out of him.
Bolton slammed the door behind us, making our presence known, and I tossed Dorian’s direction: “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Any closer to the answers you’re so desperate for?” Dorian asked. Sitting on my desk comfortably, amongst Henry Jon’s clues, made his intentions seem even more impure with Luna.
Exchanging a confused glance with Bolton, he shrugged, unsure of what he meant. He hadn’t been searching this whole time for clues, The Cloth, the weapons, and the way home like I had.
“Let me guess, this is the part where you bargain with gods… to keep Luna all to yourself?”
Dorian’s perfectly curated good guy routine was just that: an act, a show, information gathered up together to create a false sense of trust—one we had all fallen for, except Nyx.
“Luna? Cute… You think that’s what I want?”
Bolton’s arms crossed, and the crown invisibly on his head would have been so shiny it blinded Dorian. “Rewind. Who are you, and what do you want?”
Dorian tossed the journal over his shoulder and pressed off the desk, making his way to us, blocking the only exit. “You, at your best, young gods… a fair fight for the mortal world, because we’re coming for you all…”
Bolton grabbed Dorian’s bicep, yanking him back and unsteadily off balance, stressing the words into him: “If you hurt her…” His sentence failed to form when he realized I was listening. “…you’ll wish the fight wasn’t fair.”
He held onto his arm, making sure Dorian got his point, but it was clear he didn’t, when a wide smile spread across his face in an attempt to mock Bolton’s threat. Bolton didn’t snap easily. Well, okay, maybe he did, but he didn’t make threats that he knew he wouldn’t follow through with.
Letting Dorian go, I rushed to the desk to make sure everything was accounted for. A sigh of relief exhaled. Everything was accounted for, not one clue missing or out of place, except the journal he pawed.
“So… why do you hate Dorian, again?” I assessed the damage to Bolton reading all over his brooding fucking face.
“Just a hunch…”
Reorganizing my clues, Dorian’s words played over and over in my head. He knew something I didn’t—something I couldn’t extract the same way I could from Bolton.
“Cut the bullshit. You never have a hunch without something to back it up. You wouldn’t feel if people didn’t force you to.”
He paced like it would wear me out. “She had some bruises. They could be from work, but she was acting weird. She yelled at Ari, covered them up when I noticed, just off…”
“Yelled at Arianna… Is that where this is coming from? Punishment for disrespecting your queen?”
Bolton stopped pacing and pushed his palms into the desk, leaning into me, more serious than normal, which was real fucking serious. I had never seen him with a genuine smile, let alone laughing. “Killing Cheyanne is punishment enough for Luna.”
If I wasn’t already paranoid and now second guessing everything because of Dorian, I would have said I heard something new in his voice: compassion. He wasn’t a bad king. Before Arianna, he was cruel, but now he was just too gracious.
He worked only in extremes.
Slumping down into my chair, I watched Bolton leave the library, and he pushed the door wide open just to piss me off. I slammed my closed fist onto the desk in frustration and heard the wood splinter. All of the clues were staring me in the face, and Dorian dangled knowing the answers like candy in front of my face.
I wondered if I beat my fists into his face enough that it would crack like a piñata and candy would pour out.
Pushing everything off the desk, I heard it all crash down to the floor, and papers floated away from the pile of bullshit the collection of clues had become. I spent months hunting down anything on Henry Jon I could—from Arianna when she ran away, but when it was still fresh enough in her memories and reading every book on mythology to recently annoying Hades with my questions.
Months had passed, and I had gotten nowhere.
Months, and I was still stuck among mortals.
Months, and I was still the only one with no one to confide in.
My fingers smoothed along my suspenders, and I stepped over the debris I created to go back down to the party, distracting myself. Slamming the door behind me, I heard a yelp in the darkened hallway while I tried to make out any kind of shapes.
The normally perfectly poised Kate was in a state of disarray—one I knew all too well. We may have only dated a few months, but she had a healthy appetite for deviance, the kind her mother was known for.
“Well, well… Now, I don’t see Austin anywhere…” That’s what we called the doormat masquerading as her boyfriend.
Mockingly, I called out his name, knowing he wasn’t in the shadows, “Austin? Austin, don’t get shy on us now, buddy.”
Kate slapped my broad chest playfully. “Stop it. You guys are so mean to him.”
Slinging my arm around her shoulders, I noticed the heels in her hand instead of strapped around her ankles. “More like hoping he’ll toughen up. He’s Poseidon’s son and takes all our shit like a demigod.”
“He’s sensitive, has patience, doesn’t need to prove how strong he is to anyone…” Her voice trailed off, and the guilt was obvious, hitting her in the face. Someone had just met her demands, and it wasn’t Austin.
“Guys? Is that you?” Luna’s delicate tenor made us both pause and look over our shoulders. Luna was practically glowing like a flashlight as she skipped over to us.
Shoving herself between us, she reigned us both in with her small arms. “Party still going?”
I glanced right past her at Kate, confused and delighted to have our Luna back, but unsure of how or why. Kate wrapped her arm around her small waist, clearly infected by her happiness. She healed everyone she touched without trying. Nyx included.
Walking back down the stairs, I made my way right to the dish of Oracle sitting on the bar top, sticking my pinky in my mouth before dipping it in the dust. Sucking it off my pinky, I validated my actions by telling myself it was a party and I needed the frustration to fade quickly before I was inclined to break things.
Grabbing the bottle of vodka, I twisted the top off and let my body fall onto the couch, just as I noticed Dorian like sandpaper to Luna’s sunshine.
Bolton’s worry was the loudest thing in the room, and it wouldn’t be drowned out, even with the booze or drugs coursing through me.
It was hard to ignore, and my eyes kept drifting back to Dorian, looking for the slightest break in his character.
Luna plopped down on his lap, smiling, and I watched his grip on her arms. He was holding her in place more aggressively than a normal touch—certainly not affection or lust.
This was him realizing along with the rest of the room that Luna was happy… and it wasn’t because of him.
Bolton shot me a look, and our exchange said everything we couldn’t—one only Kate picked up.
Everyone else was absent-mindedly watching the comedy on the television hanging on the wall, and Arianna was pawing at Bolton like he was her damn cure.
Luna
I t may have been bad, what I did with Nyx, but he was a high I didn’t want to come down from.
Dorian was like the morning after, trying to give me a headache and regret all at the same time.
Nyx wasn’t something you wore only on the inside. No, he seeped through clothes and skin and crawled his way to the surface. Dorian was seeing him stamped all over me, or at least something; maybe he didn’t know exactly what.
If I was lucky.
Nyx never paraded back into the room, despite my eyes drifting from the movie to the entry points, listening and looking for him carefully.
&nb
sp; I waited to hear his boots, hear the sizzle of his blunts burning against his flame, looking for shadows forming bodies before breaking into the dim lighting of the room. It never came.
The movie ended, and the group broke off slowly to go our own ways home. Kate was asleep against Austin so peacefully that he looked scared to move and wake her.
Caellum spoke up: “Take the couch. Bolton, there’s a spare upstairs. Miss Good Girl, staying or going?”
Dorian snapped into action, with his eyes locked on Caellum: “Staying.”
From my vantage point, it looked like they were having some sort of standoff. Unlike with Nyx, he was actively participating this time.
He had barely interacted with Caellum, and his sour answer was making me wonder what was wrong with Dorian.
Did something happen while I was gone? Was this the anger of sensing the bad all over me? Did he blame my friends for my bad decisions?
I placed my hand on his chest, lightly whispering into him, “Are you okay? We don’t have to stay if you don’t want to…” Half of me was panicking, while the other half was in complete wonderment at his aggressive new attitude towards Caellum.
Was he expecting sex? We had been toying with each other, and I was surprised he hadn’t brought up why we hadn’t done more yet. He truly was a gentleman, and I was pretty sure that was extinct now.
His fingers glazed over my forearm, turning his features softer for me, “We’ll stay, Luna. It’s about time…”
I was thankful he didn’t finish that sentence in front of all my friends, and my cheeks flamed up in a blushing sensation.
“Come on… I’ll show you guys to your rooms.” Caellum waved a hand for us to all follow him, while Austin propped up some pillows and adjusted Kate’s sleeping form.
Dorian’s arms wrapped around my waist the whole time, and I adjusted to following the group with his grip on me. It was clear he was done waiting politely for me to invite him between my legs.
Caellum showed Arianna and Bolton to their room for the night first. Bolton picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, while she was overtaken by a fit of giggles. It was obvious what was about to happen behind their closed door.
For a slight moment, I prayed to the gods that the door never closed, and I never had to keep moving down the hallway.
Dorian’s lips kissed along my neck as we continued to follow Caellum, who stopped at the door only a few feet away from Nyx’s door at the end of the hallway. Always the end of the hallway, away from everyone, by himself.
“Do you need anything else before I go?” Caellum was looking at me when he spoke, and I was trying to avert my eyes so he wouldn’t see how desperate I was for a way out of this.
Dorian patted his shoulder, pushing the door open from around me. “We’re good here.”
“Nyx’s room is just right next door, if you need anything tonight.” Caellum wasn’t always nice or willing to help others, but I smiled softly at him for his attempt at it.
Now I was hoping his confession made Dorian uncomfortable instead of egging him on to piss off Nyx.
Fingers crossed.
Pray to the gods.
Holy Hades.
Dorian closed the door once I was safely inside, trapped with the man I couldn’t say no to. He was my boyfriend. The man I should be saying yes to.
“I should take a shower…” I figured washing off Nyx might help my conscience that hadn’t kicked in yet. Maybe I’d beat the guilt before it had the chance to start.
I watched his muscles flex as he pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it on the bed.
It was the first time I had seen Dorian shirtless. All our teasing was fully clothed and PG-13, with no hint of a new rating.
Every part of him was toned and athletic, and his skin was alabaster, but not as light as mine.
His veins protruded everywhere they could, straining against his muscles and taunt skin, causing my eyes to rake over him slowly.
There wasn’t any doubt Dorian was gorgeous. He was clean cut compared to Nyx, with his hair short, and his clothes always looked like they had just come off a model.
Walking past him, I headed towards the bathroom that sat on the side of the room. I wasn’t terribly big but comfortable. Closing the door softly behind me and tossing him a small smile, I started to unbutton my jeans and let them fall to my ankles so I could step out of them.
Realizing I wasn’t wearing any underwear under my fishnets, I undid my shirt first and reached for the clasp on my bra.
Looking in the mirror, I was exposed, stamped in invisible kisses from Nyx’s lips and wrapped in fishnets that glorified the bad underneath.
Reaching into the shower, I twisted the knob until steam started to build into the bathroom and smeared the mirror with fog.
Stepping into the shower, I stood under the hot-as-Hades water. The phrase oddly had two meanings now that Hades was alive and well. The water burned my skin, and I didn’t flinch under its heat.
I lusted for the punishment for what I knew was going to happen when I left the steam.
Dorian was expecting something I only gave to Nyx, and I wasn’t prepared to share that experience with anyone but Nyx.
Even with the sound of the water pouring down on me, I heard the door open and footsteps invade my space. There wasn’t going to be any time for me to prepare myself.
Pressing my arms to my chest and pushing myself under the water more, I hoped the steam covered the rest of the curve of my ass from his gaze. All of a sudden, I felt a body hovering behind me, and his hands closed around my hips. His lips pressed into the shell of my ear, and he whispered, “I’ve been waiting a long time for this… to touch you, see you, feel you without any barriers.”
I felt every muscle in me tense under his touch. Swallowing a lump in my throat I knew wasn’t going to go away, my mouth dried out, and I stayed silent.
His hands smoothed down the front of my legs, brushing over me and teasing between my closed legs. “You’re tense. What’s wrong, babe?”
Another hard swallow. I tried to speak, but nothing came out as I let my head lean to one side, exposing my neck even more for his lips. I was doing what he expected, what good girls did, and being what he needed me to be.
Being the cancer I am, more ways than one.
We both knew something was wrong when my body refused to melt under his touch.
Still stiff, his hands trailed my legs and hips, and now his fingers focused on pinching my hard nipples that were sensitive under the hot water. Dorian kissed my shoulder. “What’s wrong, Luna? He touched you differently?”
His words pricked my skin when his fingers pinched my hard bud between his fingers as he spoke into me, making my body stand between hurt and pleasure.
Sucking my bottom lip in, I tried to control my body from reacting to his touch. I tried to act normal.
“What are you talking about? No one touches me but you…” I clamped my eyes closed at my own lie.
Feeling his fingers tickle down me, he stopped at my hip. “I don't remember leaving that there.” He chuckled, like it was funny when my eyes snapped down my own body to see a dark red mark left by someone other than Dorian.
Spinning around, I held up my hands, like it would save me from his temper. “It's not what it looks like. I mean… I can explain.”
I couldn't blame his temper at this moment when I couldn't even lie well enough.
“When, Luna? How long? I've been good to you.”
Minus his temper, he had been good to me. I was the one making bad decisions.
My palms reached for his chest, hoping to keep his temper at bay. “I’m so sorry. I didn't... I...” My words got tangled and altogether stopped trying to string together.
Moving past him to reach the towels, I wrapped myself up, feeling vulnerable enough that being naked seemed like an extra element not needed.
Dorian stepped out, naked and wet, following me to the bedroom, shouting in my direction profan
ities that I was trying to ignore.
“Slut for everyone but me, huh?”
“Perfect gentleman, but that degenerate winks your way, and you can't keep your legs closed?”
“I thought you were a good girl, Luna.”
So did I.
The hot tears castrated my skin. I was almost expecting scars from the trails of moisture pouring from my eyes.
“I'm sorry!” I screamed in his direction, and he rushed at me, gripping my shoulders and nearly shaking the towel from me.
“Say it. Say what you're sorry for!”
His grip was so tight that I nearly couldn’t breathe, and his grip wasn’t even on any airway. Flight kicked in, and I was suddenly convinced that I was not going to give him the satisfaction of being a good girl anymore.
Good girls are scared of men like Dorian.
Good girls are told to not enjoy sex, but help someone else get off.
Good girls heal, kneel, and listen.
I was not a good girl... anymore.
I was seething and foaming at the mouth, when my fight finally woke up. “I'm sorry I liked fucking Nyx more than being your girlfriend.”
Proud of myself, I could feel my features all turn upward, all pleased with myself, instead of dropping into shame.
Without notice, a stinging pain exploded when he hit me in the face. Something collided with the bridge of my nose, and his knuckles dug into my eye. My whole body tensed. The pain was almost unbearable, and I fell to the floor.
I tried to catch my breath, to get up, to grab anything near me, but it was no use. Dorian kneeled down, with his face inches away from mine, and hissed, “Be a good girl and learn your lesson.”
Everything in me gave up. I wasn’t good at being good, and I wasn’t bad enough to be bad.
The room started to spin and get fuzzy, and everything faded to black.
Luna
W hen I finally came to on the floor, my face was buried into the wood floors, making everything ache. I scrambled to make sure my towel was still covering me.