Despite how things turned out, she couldn’t leave Ariston. Pan had given her the perfect opportunity before he left, one that would ensure a measure of safety from further attacks from Dionysus, but she’d taken one look at Ariston and knew she couldn’t do it. His words had stung her, his lack of confidence was painful. However, the bedroom window had been open when she’d gone inside to hide her tears from the satyrs. She’d heard every word of Ariston and Adonis’ exchange, and what Melancton had admitted.
She’d not slept the rest of the night, but spent the hours thinking about her life in Charleston, her future with Ariston, and ways to move past the hurt the night had produced. In her heart, she knew Ariston hadn’t really believed she’d betrayed him. He’d been pushed by Adonis and, indirectly, by Dionysus to react that way. It still hurt though, and having watched him through the window as he’d realized what he’d said to her, she knew it hurt him as well. Melancton was right, doubt was a knife. It cut into her even as she sat there wondering what would happen next.
Ariston wandered into the cabin, hesitating in the doorway before he joined Lily on the couch. Their legs sprawled side by side over the edge, and neither met the other’s gaze. At some point he’d found a pair of pants, though she wasn’t sure when. The night had been chaotic and then he’d gone off with the thyrsi to remove them from his home. They were alone, for real. No Pegasus or Melancton watching them. No Adonis lurking in the shadows. Ariston and her at last, and the giant pink elephant of what he’d accused her of wedged between them.
“You should have left with Pan,” he said at last.
“You...you want me to leave?”
He ran the palm of his hand over his face. “No. If you stay, I’m going to have you in bed. Maybe I can hold off tonight. Maybe even another week, but it will happen. The longer I wait, the less I will be in control when it occurs. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to chance hurting you.”
An unspoken, “More than I already have.” hung in the air.
Peeking at him from the corner of her eye, she licked her lips. Dressed in nothing but faded blue jeans, Ariston looked like a gorgeous male model. His hair was as wild as ever, and the horns did nothing to dispel the savagery of his appearance. If not for Adonis and Dionysus’ schemes, she’d have woken up next to Ariston and everything would be normal. He’d be human, and he’d be hers. In a whisper she said, “I’m okay with that.” And she was, even if she’d be smarter to get away while she still could.
“You shouldn’t be. I’m a monster, Lily. Straight out of the fairy tales. Half-man, half-beast, and if I have to live with that fact, so should you.”
He wasn’t half-beast though, not unless he acted as one. She’d never seen him as feral as when he’d bowed his head like a ram and meant to pummel Adonis. To butt heads. Even then he’d been fearsome and beautiful. Unique in the world, well...among the group of them.
“You’re a real jerk when things don’t go your way. First you insult me after pigheadedly assuming I screwed your brother or Melancton just because they were there and I’m a nymph, or maybe because I’m too dense to tell the difference between one or the other. Now you are shutting yourself off and whining about being a monster because you didn’t break the curse like you wanted. You know what? There are people out there with diseases they can’t get rid of, but they still live their life to the fullest because it is their life and they choose how they live it.”
“So you think my being a satyr is a disease.”
She narrowed her eyes on him. Why did he want to tear himself down? “You’re a fucking idiot, and you twisted my words.” Lily leapt to her feet and stormed away, slamming the bedroom door behind her. Once in the room she didn’t know what she should do. Pack a bag? No...he wanted her to do that, and damned if she’d give him the satisfaction so he could mentally abuse himself more. The way he’d looked, so broken, when he’d realized how he’d misunderstood what he’d seen...
The door opened behind her while she stood there dumbly. Lily could sense him fumbling through the same inner turmoil. Finally, she couldn’t stand it anymore and faced him. Ariston had his arms crossed over his chest. Everything about him was on high alert. She allowed herself a peek downward. God, no wonder he hates himself. His sex drive is stuck permanently to on mode.
“I didn’t mean you were diseased. I meant you needed to ignore the fact you look a little different from other men and live your life to the fullest. Carpe Diem, man. Haven’t you seen The Dead Poets Society?” At his blank expression, she added, “Guess not.”
“I know what Carpe Diem means. I was around during the time Latin was a common tongue.”
“If you’re gonna spout off comments about how old you are, and how you used to walk a mile to and from school in the snow, don’t do it when standing around half-naked and thinking of making time with a lady who hasn’t lived even half of one century. It’s a little creepy.”
“You’re very strange, do you know that? Sometimes you speak perfectly understandable words but make little sense. What does walking miles to school in the snow have to do with Latin and my age?” Ariston’s gaze traveled down her body as he spoke.
“I’m still mad at you.” Lily changed the subject. He had to know what he did was not okay. She wouldn’t tolerate being belittled anytime he was mad.
“For my lack of good judgment?”
“For your low opinion of me.”
Ariston crossed the room and hooked a finger under her chin to force her to look at him. “I have the highest opinion of you, but not so much for Adonis. Even as I said the words I knew I was speaking from my worst fears and not what I actually believed. I’ve never been more ashamed of myself than I was last night.”
She hated that he was forced to suffer those thoughts, almost as much as she hated hearing them vocalized. She needed a distraction. Ariston’s lips were close enough to hers where all she had to do was stand on tiptoe to join them, but she hesitated. Vaguely, she was half-aware the light was dimming, and she cursed her stupid powers. She was upset. The rain would come back.
“There are no words I could say to atone for hurting you. I know nymphs can love unconditionally, and once they do, they would never betray the one who holds their heart. Knowing your human lover did the same to you, I...” Ariston shook his head. “I would not blame you if you hated me and left. I don’t deserve you.”
“Ariston, you deserve so much more than you allow yourself to dream of.” She licked his lower lip and was rewarded when he leaned in for a real kiss. He took over her senses completely with his woodsy smell, the taste of wild berries and man, his warmth. Lily molded herself against him and gasped for air. She was too aware of the length of him pressing against her stomach when Ariston backed her against the wall and branded her with his lips. Eventually Ariston broke the kiss, but he kept his forehead against hers.
“I really wish you hadn’t put pants back on.” He unsnapped the button on her jeans. Ditto.
“I didn’t put on any panties.”
Her jeans were nearly ripped off in response. She wondered what he’d have done if she’d worn the lacey black negligee Kat and Pan had gifted her with. Lily would have plenty of opportunities to wear it in the future. In the meantime, she’d have to contact Hermes about Zeus’ offer. If Ariston would be stuck as a satyr, she didn’t want him to watch her age. If they went out in public during the day, she’d end up looking like his mother rather than his wife.
With a start, Lily realized she’d lost her ring throwing it at his face. The thunk it had made hitting flesh had been so gratifying though. Maybe she could find it later if she searched. A glance at Ariston’s left hand showed, despite her request for an annulment, that he hadn’t removed his own band.
The past faded from her mind when Ariston thumbed her nipples over her shirt. She needed flesh on flesh and yanked her top over her head, glad, for once, she’d foregone a bra. Lily used the hard wall behind her for leverage as she pulled herself up his torso.
Taking the hint, Ariston gripped her thighs and pinned her gloriously against him. She reached her hands between them to unfasten his pants. The sky had grown even darker, and the morning gave off the dull light of the evening regardless of the hour. She turned her head toward the window, but Ariston shifted her and the dark sky was promptly forgotten.
“There isn’t any going back if you don’t stop me now.”
Lily clicked her tongue. “Always trying to talk me out of things. Let me tell you a little secret about me.” She wriggled her hips against him, and the rewarding grunt from Ariston delighted her. “There is no way in hell I’m waiting months or a year or however long it will take for the next Satyr Moon to grace us with its presence. So you’re a big, bad satyr man. Big deal. You’re my satyr man, and if I want to have sex with you whenever I want to, so be it. Got it?”
“We won’t be able to change our minds about this.” Ariston warned.
“I think you have a mental block or something. I don’t care. Zeus offered a way to make me immortal, but we can look into options. We have time...if you want me.”
“Of course I want you!” He moved his groin against her to remind her how much.
“Good. Because if you try to un-curse yourself on another nymph I will cut off your manhood and make you wear it on your forehead like a third horn. You would be the first triceratyr.”
“What other nymphs? And what in the world is a triceratyr?”
“Good answer.” Lily reached down and fumbled for Ariston’s dick, releasing it from his jeans. “A triceratyr is a one of a kind breed.” She gave him a few teasing strokes and watched him squirm. Ariston was thousands of years old, had magic when he played music on his panpipes, and was a sensual creature of legendary proportions. One of said legendary proportions she held in the palm of her hand. She smiled. “A cross between a triceratops and a satyr. Which will be you if you cheat on me or call me a whore again. Or upset me grievously.”
Enough of the foreplay. There would be time for slowly teasing Ariston to the brink later. For a week, he had tortured her with sexual promise neither of them had been allowed to act upon. It was time. She couldn’t wait any longer.
Lily guided him into her, biting her bottom lip at the exquisite sensation of him filling her completely. Since she hadn’t had many lovers of her own, she couldn’t help but silently relish in the upgrade in size and girth. And when Ariston thrusted? The world quaked around her, or maybe that was her body, and all thoughts ceased.
Thoughts? What were thoughts when all that was important in life was sensation? White hot tremors of ecstasy coursed through her body as she gripped Ariston’s shoulders, met him stroke for stroke. Yes! This is what she’d needed from the moment she laid eyes on him. Even when she was terrified, she’d fantasized about it. In fear and wonder, pure curiosity. And later, a lust so great she was sure she had lost her mind.
The first orgasm hit her not long after they began, but her body was too stubborn to allow it to end so soon. Lily needed more, needed control. She unwrapped her feet from Ariston’s waist and flattened her feet against the wall behind her. Then she kicked away with violent force. Ariston’s eyes widened as he found himself careening backward, the pants around his knees impeding his balance. He slipped out of her as they crashed to the floor, and she landed on top of him. Her body wept at the loss, but not for very long. She mounted him again, pinning Ariston beneath her as she eased him back inside. If Ariston had any problems with being on the bottom, he didn’t complain. He dished out as good as she gave.
Outside, rain crashed against the cabin with the force of a hurricane. For the first time since the strange phenomenon occurred, she could feel it in her. A powerful core deep down thrummed like a Tesla orb, but it needed the presence of water to charge it, which she assumed is why it brought the rain. She wondered what sex would be like in a pool or a lake. She trembled. It couldn’t possibly be more intense, could it?
Lily arched her body, her hands splayed on his thighs behind her, and tossed her head back as she cried out her release and the cabin shook with an answering clap of thunder. Ariston shouted something in Greek as he followed her over the edge.
***
Oh, gods, the sight of her.
Every cell in his body tingled with awareness. He was still hard inside of her, despite having just released seconds before. Seeing her there, arched back, rosy nipples hard from arousal, the pink flush down her neck and chest. And then the elements had answered her when she orgasmed.
Ariston tried to speak, but his voice didn’t work. All his blood had headed south and remained there, ready to please his nymph once more if she desired it. The way she looked at him with that satisfied smirk told him she did. Lily had taken over completely, but Ariston was perfectly okay with that. She could do whatever she pleased to him, and he’d be willing. Lily leaned down as though to kiss him, but she never got the chance.
A blinding pain shot through his skull, tearing it asunder. He cupped his head in his arms and fought down a scream. His bones were extracting themselves from his skin.
“Ariston? What’s wrong?” Lily hovered over him, searching for the cause of his distress. “Talk to me!”
He couldn’t speak. The direction of the pull had shifted, like someone had taken metal stakes to either side of his head and were slowly beating them into his skull with a sledgehammer. Abruptly the pain ebbed, though it throbbed the way wounds did when left opened.
“Oh. My. God.” Lily pulled her hands away, scrambling off of him. Ariston opened one eye to peer at her. That wasn’t reassuring. Lily’s gaze traveled from his face to his feet. He kicked, flailing in panic when something unseen pulled at his hooves, ripping them from his legs. His ankles snapped. The bones crunched under the weight of his invisible attacker.
“What’s happening to me?”
Oblivion overtook him.
Chapter Twenty
Tender, cool brushes of dampness across his face pushed him to the surface of the dulling ocean of agony. When Ariston cracked his eyes open into slits he realized he wasn’t lost in an abyss at all, but in bed. A gentle hand mopped at his forehead with a wet cloth. He closed his eyes again.
“He’s awake.” Ariston heard Lily say. Who was she talking too?
A woman answered, “Oh, good. The moon is weary of this side of the planet and I must return to see it set back to right. I always wondered what would happen when my brother’s stupid curse was removed. Fascinating.”
Brother? Curse? The fuck?
He didn’t check his legs, but was sure he’d been dismembered. When he opened his eyes a second time, he grimaced when the lamps blinded him. The cloth had shielded his eyes the first time, but it wasn’t there anymore. He heard it splash into a basin on the floor beside the bed.
“The lights are too bright, nymph. Here, allow me.” The woman’s voice was soft but laced with arrogance. A goddess, without a doubt. The lights blinked out and he quickly took in his surroundings as best he could without jarring his aching head. Daylight streamed through the closed mini blinds enough to reveal Lily clearly as she hovered over him, A tall female stood beside her with straight, silvery hair and white Olympian robes adorned along the edges with...rhinestones? Her face was round, but slender with high cheekbones and eyes which flashed silver. They glowed eerily in the subtle darkness of the room.
“Ariston? How many fingers am I holding up?” Lily wagged two fingers in front of his face, distracting his attention back to her.
“Two. What happened?”
The silver-haired goddess answered. “Congratulations! You’re a boring human again. Personally, I liked you better the other way. Your head looks smaller without the horns.”
“Whaaaa—who are you?”
The woman actually pouted. “Everyone recognizes my brother on sight. I show up and it is all, ‘Who’s this bitch?’ Maybe I should start cursing people for a change. Then people would know.” She crossed her arms. “I miss the old days when people reco
gnized me.”
“Apologize, Ariston. You’ve insulted Artemis, and she is the one who helped un-curse you.”
Artemis curled her lip. “Technically, I didn’t wake up tonight and think un-cursing you would make me miraculously happy. I have far better things to do than inconsequential matters of this nature, though Apollo and I shared a bowl of popcorn while we watched the events unfold last night from my lunar temple. We really thought you were going to get it right on the first try. Your brother has horrible timing. Thank Melancton next time you see him. He practically ripped out his heart for you.”
It seemed Artemis was an over-sharer, and she talked entirely too much. Ariston’s breath caught in his throat as he realized Daphne had told him true when she’d asked him to trust Melancton. He’d stayed on hand to protect Lily the night before, and then he’d gone out of his way to set things right. Melancton had definitely gone rogue, and Ariston owed him so much.
Lily’s eyes bulged. “You didn’t mention that before.”
Seeming to realize how her last sentence sounded, Artemis backpedalled, “Not literally. He gave up something he wanted more than life itself so Ariston could be human again. It didn’t seem important at the time, what with Ariston writhing in anguish on the floor.”
There was only one thing Melancton could give up that would mean anything to the Boeotian. “Daphne?” Ariston groaned, aching for Melancton’s loss. Why would he do something so drastic? They weren’t even friends.
“Lily better be what you meant, bucko.” Lily glared at him.
“No, Melancton gave up Daphne. His true love.”
“Oh.” Lily said, looking crestfallen. “Why would he?”
Artemis shrugged. “From what I pried out of Apollo when he came stomping back to my temple this morning, all fiercely put out about making a deal to save you, was Melancton had broken his loyalty to Dionysus. By doing so, he voided a deal with Apollo, so the only trump card he had left with my brother was to forfeit any claim to Daphne. It’s sad really.” Artemis, however, smiled brightly and didn’t look the least bit forlorn.
The Cursed Satyroi: Volume One Collection Page 53