Ariston scooped her up within seconds, cradling her like a child with an arm behind her back and another under her knees. Not knowing what to do with her hands, she wrapped them around his neck and then cringed at how comfortable she found herself there. She barely resisted the urge to curl herself against him, which appalled her. She didn’t really want to stay, and she’d only agreed because well...she’d been stuck on a horse in the sky. Not that she thought Hermes would drop her to her death if she’d been against it, but she had to admit her curiosity about her predicament overpowered her fear.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Ariston bit out to Pegasus. “She’s mortal. You could have broken her neck!”
Pegasus stood and flicked his tail. He didn’t seem too concerned; in fact, he seemed a tad bit bored. So much for her “ally.” Hermes may have been mistaken in leaving Pegasus to protect her. If bruises were his idea of safety, Lily didn’t want to know what would happen when he decided she was in danger.
Ariston turned his attention to her and she shivered beneath the intensity of his perusal. “Are you okay? Can you move your neck? Do you want fried horse for dinner, because that can be arranged?” Ariston carried her back to the cabin without waiting for her to answer. Over his shoulder, Lily noticed Pegasus took offense to the fried horse comment and stomped his hoof, adding a slight grinding motion as it hit the dirt as if he imagined crushing Ariston’s skull.
Wait a minute...
Could she understand Pegasus? His motions or noises had immediately registered in her mind as legitimate reactions several times before. She narrowed her eyes on him, taking his measure. He winked. Horses couldn’t wink! This isn’t happening.
An impatient sigh drew her attention away from Pegasus, and she turned her head, shocked to find her face mere inches from Ariston’s. His breath tickled her cheek and her throat went dry. He furrowed his brow and asked, she assumed for the second time given his impatience, if she was okay. Maybe it is happening. Shit.
“I think I need to lie down.”
“Technically you’re sort of lying down now.” He held her closer then, if it was even possible. Had he really just rubbed his cheek across her forehead as he stepped through the doorway and took care not to bang her head or feet on the framework?
“No, I mean in a bed. Take me to a bed!”
“Why, Lily. I thought you’d never ask.”
“Ugh.” She hadn’t meant it that way. Damn satyrs and their one-track minds. “Put me down!”
“Nope. Not happening. You said you needed to lie down, so letting you walk would be counterproductive.” He smiled widely as he teased her.
Lily had to glance away. When he looked happy he was, well, dazzlingly attractive. Warmth fluttered low in her belly, and she concentrated on not allowing Ariston to know he’d affected her on any level. Had he been that way from the start, and she hadn’t been so scared... Oh God. Staying is a really bad idea. “You’re really frustrating, you know that?”
“I’m not the only one.”
“Whatever. I don’t have to stay.”
He’d cooked something with red meat and a hint of garlic, and the aroma saturating the cabin made her stomach growl.
“Then why’d you come back?” Ariston asked as he toed the door closed and headed for the bedroom. Lily had no comeback ready and decided not to answer. She didn’t want to admit Hermes gave a good sales pitch. It would only make him cocky.
Cockier judging by what she felt against her hip as he placed her in the bed. Lily noticed the cuffs had been removed, to her relief. Yet she was still back at square one. Back in Ariston’s bed with the impending doom of what would happen there if she stayed. And that rush down my spine just now, yeah...definitely fear and not anticipation.
Ariston lingered over her a bit longer than necessary. He really was handsome. The horns didn’t look that bad...in fact, once she recovered from the shock of initially noticing them, they didn’t stand out so much unless she thought about them directly. Lily recalled the blonde woman’s shrieks of delight the day before and immediately wished she hadn’t. Knowing Ariston’s mouth had been all over the other woman made her queasy, but at the same time it made her insanely curious at what he’d done to her. She stared at his lips and sucked in a breath. He climbed onto the bed and kneeled directly in front of her, and she needed only to lift her head scant inches to close the space between them.
As though he knew the direction of her thoughts, Ariston smirked, allowing the pink tip of his tongue to peek out between his lips. That tongue held wicked promises, and he knew it. Ariston had evidently perfected the use of that appendage; at least Lily had something to look forward to if she went through with—
“Ouch!” His shout broke whatever spell she’d been in as Ariston whirled around to where Pegasus’ head extended through the open window. Ariston rubbed his rear end and removed himself from the bed completely. “Did you bite me on the ass? What the hell is the matter with you?”
Lily started to giggle. Since her ass still smarted from being dropped on it, she could sympathize with his pain. She silently thanked Pegasus for his impeccable timing in breaking the tension. Kissing a satyr would do nothing but lead to trouble.
“It’s not funny.” Ariston complained, his face flushed. He rubbed his backside. “I don’t think he drew blood. Stop laughing.”
Lily laughed harder.
“Why is he still here anyway? Why didn’t Hermes take him when he left, speaking of which...where is that meddlesome son of a bitch?” Ariston shoved Pegasus’ head out the window and poked his own head outside as if suspecting Hermes would leap out and shout, “Gotcha!”
Lily wiped a tear from her eye. “He left.”
“He left? Like poof, no more Hermes?”
“He didn’t poof. He flitted. Besides, he has things to do. He’s a god.” Lord, had she actually used the phrase, “he’s a god,” in a sentence like it was an everyday occurrence?
“Flitted?” Ariston really seemed perplexed by the concept of Hermes leaving.
“Yes. Flitted. You know, like flew quickly but fluttered on those dainty little wings of his. Those things move fast to be so tiny.” She scrunched up her nose, thinking she sounded lame. She hated when she rambled.
“Hermes is the poster child of the ‘size doesn’t matter’ movement.”
“I was talking about his wings.”
“So was I.” Ariston’s tone was dry. Lily couldn’t tell if he was teasing her or not. He probably played a hell of a game of poker.
Ariston slammed the window shut and secured it. “That doesn’t explain the horse menace.”
“Oh, Pegasus is staying.”
“What do you mean?” He didn’t sound too pleased about that, as she’d suspected.
“Would you like me to explain the meaning of the word?” Lily batted her lashes.
Ariston scowled. “Okay, let me rephrase the question, smarty pants. Why is Pegasus staying?”
“He’s my chaperone.”
“Chaperone?”
“Dude. Buy a freaking dictionary already and read it.”
“You can’t expect me to handle Hermes and Pegasus’ visits without trepidation. You just met them. Their presence tends to bite me in the ass. Literally.”
Patience waning, Lily rolled her eyes. “Now you know how I feel. You expect me to bide my time and be the hot little piece to break your curse. Hermes explained how it all came about. I feel for you, I do. But here’s the thing, I’m willing to hang around and decide if I like you, as a person or whatever. If feelings develop, maybe I will stay ‘til the eclipse. If I can’t stand you, Pegasus is my escape boat. So yes, Pegasus is my chaperone. He’s here to keep you from getting fresh with me before then. I would suggest being nicer to me if you really want to win me over.”
She studied her nails to keep from meeting his gaze. “Also, I need food. Something smelled delicious when you brought me inside.” Lily’s stomach growled again to verify it.
“As you wish.” His tone peculiar, Ariston turned and headed back into the main room of the cabin. She’d expected more of an argument. Maybe he realized having someone monitor his behavior was beneficial.
Once Ariston removed himself from earshot, Lily crawled across the bed to open the window again. Pegasus took one look at her and turned, preparing to trot off.
“Not so fast.”
He faced her, seeming every bit an average horse, but Lily knew better. Pegasus could understand everything she said to him, and somehow she understood him. “Did you really have to bite him?” He tossed his head once to the right and then back. “Then you did it because you wanted to?” He lifted his head up and brought it down. “Why can I interpret your responses so well?”
Pegasus didn’t react right away, and it made Lily feel silly. Maybe she’d assumed she understood when she really hadn’t. Then she heard a faint voice, like a man whispering to her, but there was no comedic movement to his lips like in the movies.
Because you’re a nymph. Nature speaks to you. The earth, the water, the animals. You’ve never noticed this gift before because it seems to have recently awoken. Gods and satyrs, as well as many other immortal creatures, can understand me too.
“Did you speak in my mind?”
Pegasus raised his head and dropped it again.
“Why not communicate this way all the time? Wouldn’t it be easier?”
Takes a lot of energy to project words. I believe the ability is a trait I share with my father, but I would exhaust myself if I held conversations all the time. Even now I grow weary. It is a flaw of my forming as a horse rather than a humanoid, demigod or not.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Not your fault. Go eat. Rest. If something happens, yell out my name, and I’ll break through the front door and bite that motherfucker again. I’m sure he deserved it. Pegasus retreated, and Lily fastened the window behind him.
As she repositioned herself comfortably against the pillows and the headboard, Ariston returned with a steaming bowl of stew and a couple dinner rolls. Her mouth watered. The promise of meat and vegetables made her toes curl. Camp food could sustain her, but she’d been dying to return to the real world and have a good, solid meal.
“This looks like the bread I buy out of the frozen section at the grocery store,” she commented as she took first the plate of bread and set it on the comforter and then the bowl from him.
“Probably because that’s where they came from. The stew was premade by the deli. I had to reheat it.”
“That’s cheating. You said you were going to hunt.”
“I let you assume what you wished when you misunderstood my statement.” He’d only been gone for most of the afternoon. What else was she to think when he’d said he’d hunt down food?
“So there is a town close by?”
“Not close enough to walk to in less than a day.” Damn.
“You have a car then?”
He sighed. “Would you eat and stop plotting to run away again?”
“Can’t help it. A girl needs options. In this instance, escape routes. Aren’t you going to eat too?”
“I will after I know you’re situated and fed. Am I truly frightening to you?”
Lily considered it as she tore a piece off a roll. “At first you were, but I think it’s the unexpectedness of your appearance, and then the kidnapping...followed by the hostage situation I woke up to. I’m more worried about this ritualistic act than I am of being around you. Hermes said no other satyr has ever successfully broken the curse. He didn’t go into details of why, and it made me start imaging what could go wrong.”
Ariston grinned, catching her off guard with the burst of super-fine-masculinity. She swallowed a clump of bread without chewing and promptly coughed. “Why is that amusing?” she asked, eyes watering.
He thumped her on the back helpfully. “None have been successful because none have found a nymph. Well, a nymph they hadn’t already slept with.” When she opened her mouth to inquire what he meant, he added, “Long story. Nothing will go wrong, I promise.” He disappeared again before she could read too much into his expression and returned with a glass of water, composed. “All I have is water and coffee. I hope you don’t mind.”
The glass was cold in her palm when he handed it to her. “Water is fine. Thank you.” She’d let the subject drop for a while.
***
Adonis sat in a pine tree overlooking the cabin. Not only had Ariston recovered the nymph, but she’d come back willingly. Low and behold, they had company on top of it all, which meant Adonis had to remain farther away if he wanted to keep himself incognito. Pegasus didn’t appear to be going anywhere. In fact, after he trotted off to chew on some grass, he returned to the cabin and lay down beneath the bedroom window like a guard dog.
It wouldn’t do at all. Adonis was not tangling with Pegasus. That damned horse was ancient and had been responsible in making Perseus and Bellerophon into heroic figures. Of course, he’d knocked Bellerophon off his back when the Greek attempted to fly to Olympus. Pegasus was as lethal as he was legendary. Damned if that wasn’t the Gorgon blood in his veins.
“I found myself wondering who’d let Ariston’s nymph run away and not reveal themselves as her hero. It would seem my gut instinct was right, as always.”
Adonis flinched at the unexpected voice and scrambled to cling to the branches above and beside him to avoid dropping out of the tree like a coconut.
“What the...Pan?”
“Really? Even mortals know who I am on sight, and you think I’m Pan.”
Adonis’ gaze dropped to the intruder’s ankles where the blurred evidence of wings kept the god afloat. “Hermes.” He looked remarkably like his son, though the slight differences were becoming evident. Hermes had a narrower face and a deeper voice.
“Very good. Unfortunately, you didn’t win the stuffed bear. Better luck next time.”
Adonis wasn’t amused. “What do you want?”
“Funny you should ask. Why are you cock-blocking poor Ariston? He never did anything to you besides turn down Aphrodite, which was pretty brave on his part. She has emasculated men for slights like that.”
“Poor Ariston? Seriously? Fuck off, Hermes. You don’t know me.”
“Voyeurism doesn’t do it for me, so I won’t be doing so in your presence. Show some respect unless you want me to rip your balls off and replace your eyes with them.”
Adonis resisted the urge to cover his groin. Barely.
Hermes wasn’t done, it seemed. Like his son, the god didn’t know when to shut up. “I think you want the nymph for yourself, but it ain’t gonna happen, pork chop. Might as well pack it up and move on out.”
“I don’t want the nymph.” She was attractive, but meant nothing to him. Besides, he found himself attracted to the opposite of Lily’s dark hair and vivid eyes. A reminder which he’d not needed at the moment. Aphrodite, that bitch, had been fair of hair and so beautiful that mortal men had been known to weep. Adonis hadn’t, and it was one of the many characteristics she’d said made him irresistible to her. Lying trollop.
“Puh-lease. I’m the messenger of Zeus. I can smell a lie from fifty miles away.”
“Then something must be on your lip because I don’t want the wench. Instead of dancing around the situation, do whatever it is you’re here to do and leave. Kill me. Put me down. Not like I have anything left to live for anyway.”
Hermes rubbed his chin. “This is why no one likes you. You’re too...whiny. ‘Aphrodite doesn’t want to play with me anymore. Ariston is better than me. I have nothing to live for.’ Snap out of it!”
He’d like to snap something all right—Hermes’ neck. “Thanks for the motivation,” he said blandly. “You do wonders for self-esteem. They should hire you to make posters for classrooms.”
Hermes ignored him. “Now that the unfortunate truth about your flaws have come out, because, come on, it would give anyone a complex when their
name is used to describe physical perfection. I have to know... Where did you put the asshole ex-boyfriend? Did you leave him buried in the cold, cold ground?”
Huh? “What are you talking about?” Adonis frowned. Hermes said his last comment in a deep, cavemanish voice as though it should mean something to him.
“Tasmanian Devil references don’t mean anything to you? So lame.” He sighed, laying on the melodrama. “What’s-his-face who stranded the nymph. Where’d he go?”
Oh, he was looking for that ringworm. “He’s alive.” Unfortunately.
“Well, drats. I kinda hoped you’d killed him so I could vilify you further when I tell Ariston you’re here. I had a whole spiel cooking about evil twins and impending doom and shit.” He rubbed his chin. “You still have time to off him, and then I won’t have to make my message less theatrical.”
“You can’t tell him I’m here.” Adonis hissed.
Even though he was suspended in the air, Hermes straightened his posture. “Of course I can. I’m a messenger. I tell people things. It’s, like, my job.”
The throbbing in his skull had eased into a dull pulse earlier in the night, but it thundered back to a roar behind his eye sockets. “What do you want?” Adonis was ready to do whatever it took, aside from abandoning his mission, to make the god leave. He didn’t want to reveal he suffered any kind of issue, let alone headaches. Gods, I could use some wine. His taste buds practically salivated at the thought.
“I don’t accept bribes. It offends me that you would assume so.”
“What. Do. You. Want?”
“Well, since you asked so...distinctly... How about some information? Why are you here? What does Dionysus have to gain by this? What reason do you have to persuade me not to tell Ariston about your stalking his cabin all creepily in the night? And it is creepy, in case you haven’t realized.” Hermes reclined in a horizontal position, hands behind his head, ankles crossed, and tiny wings flapping away to keep him afloat.
Adonis grinded his teeth. He would have to give Hermes some kind of info; otherwise, he’d have to return to Dionysus a complete failure, having gift-wrapped a cure to an Arcadian with nothing to show for it. Dionysus wasn’t the most stable of gods to begin with, and displeasing him didn’t bode well. Adonis would kill for a drink at the moment, but instead he threw caution to the wind and said, “Dionysus wants the syrinx.” It’s not like Pan wouldn’t know that already and tell his father.
The Cursed Satyroi: Volume One Collection Page 37