by Deanna Chase
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More Books by Liz
Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
The Guardian Trilogy:
Secrets
Choices
Consequences
Easy Bake Coven
Hungry, Hungry Hoodoo
Pickup Styx
Tiddly Jinx
Mystery
Dark Corners
Dark Passing
Dark Obsession
The Ninth Floor
Anthologies
Naughty or Nice Christmas Anthology (Ella Reynolds Christmas short story)
Christmas Yet to Come (Baker Christmas short story)
Short Stories
Be Light (A Guardian Trilogy Short Story)
Sweet Little Lies (A Sekhmet Short Story)
Desperate Housewives of Olympus: Hyacinth
An Ambrosia Lane Novella
Saranna DeWylde
A new goddess is taking control of her happily ever after. Hyacinth, errant daughter of Apollo is on fire. Literally. And the only one who can put out the flame is the cold, reluctant God of the North Wind, Boreas. Too bad he’s burning with her. It’ll take a night of passion at the Ambrosia Lane Halloween Ball to prove once and for all that this goddess is a woman in charge of her own destiny.
Chapter 1
Notus, God of the South Wind, fucked like a champ.
He was all that a demi goddess like Hyacinth should have required. Notus made her come at least twice—thrashing and screaming in tongues—before he got off. Even though their relationship was strictly casual, he was considerate in other ways, too. He called when he said he would, took her out to dinner and didn’t expect there to be sex just because they’d gone out. He took the time, put in the effort to seduce her each time. Notus knew what he was doing.
But tonight, Hyacinth’s head wasn’t in the game. Notus had done everything right, said all the pretty words in praise of her beauty that any female could hope for and all she could think about was what had happened earlier in the evening. Her father, Apollo, had been out on a date with Nyx and she’d taken a big steaming shit on their evening. As if it wasn’t bad enough she was thinking about her dad after having mind-blowing sex, she couldn’t help but wish said mind-blowing sex had been with Boreas, God of the North Wind, who’d taken her home.
Hyacinth hated herself sometimes.
She’d been a perfect troll. For no good reason really, except she got up on the bitch side of the bed. Nyx seemed like a perfectly nice goddess. Truth be told, the way Apollo had looked at Nyx, she was probably The One. She’d be more than a one-night stand in the Stable of the Sun and what had Hyacinth done?
Tried to sabotage it like a child who didn’t get enough attention. Hyacinth was so disgusted with herself she could spit. She clenched her fists as she relived that moment where her mouth kept moving but her brain had disengaged.
The worst part was that Apollo hadn’t even been angry with her. He just wanted to know she’d get home safe. That both warmed her heart and pissed her off at the same time. Because she was a demi goddess, everyone insisted on treating her like she was still a child. Gods and demis aged more slowly, but Hyacinth lived in the mortal world and some days she felt every minute of the century she’d been alive.
Of course, it didn’t help matters when she acted like the spoiled, rebellious coed Apollo insisted she was. Although, she rather imagined she knew what Persephone felt like, having her mother’s nose up her hind parts long after it should have been stuck in her own business.
After making an Olympic Ass of herself, Hyacinth had quickly scanned the club floor for the exit. The sooner she got the hell out of there, the better it would be for everyone involved. Instead of the exit, sparks ignited when she found a familiar face. Boreas, God of the North Wind and Keeper of Winter. For Hyacinth, there was no god on Olympus that could compare to Boreas. He was the culmination of every fantasy, every dream and the very breath on her lips—sin personified.
He was tall, like all gods. Broad shouldered, like all gods. Golden; again, like all gods. But silver too and there was something about his smile, the way his lips curved that made her imagine kissing him. His moonlight eyes pierced her on a cellular level, but they weren’t cold. It was like they burned with a fire so hot it melted all color. And all sense, too. Just thinking about him made her two flavors of stupid.
And his wings, Sweet Elysium, his wings. They were the stuff of fantasies, all soft and downy like an angel’s, but the tips were purple. Like Hera’s new hair. Her fingers itched to stroke down the length of them whenever they were visible and while Hyacinth had never asked, she imagined it would be something akin to asking to touch his cock.
Which she’d do happily if not for the surety he’d turn her down.
Boreas played “big brother” to her “little sister.” A role she didn’t relish and hadn’t wanted for some time. Oh, it had been fun at the age of twelve to have the mighty North Wind come to pick her up and take her to visit her dad on Olympus. But she was a woman grown and had been for a long time. Mortal men bored her; she wanted a male with experience. With wisdom and power.
And well, with a body like a Greek god.
Hyacinth liked looking at it in more shallow terms because to admit she was actually in love with him, well, that was just unacceptable. Pining away for most of her life over one male who’d never even kissed her?
Pathetic.
What was even more pathetic? Calling Notus to come pick her up at her father’s temple after Boreas had left so she’d feel like a desirable woman rather than Apollo’s snot-nosed kid.
She looked over at Notus, who slept on, oblivious to her turmoil. Not that it would have bothered him. Oh, he would have been consoling, asked her if she needed to talk and he would have listened. Even about her feelings for another god. One would think a god associated with the south wind and summer would be hot-tempered and high-passioned—and he was to a point. But Notus was open, forgiving and kind, too.
Why couldn’t Hyacinth be in love with him?
Not that she was in love with anyone else, she rushed to reassure herself.
She disentangled herself from his embrace and slipped back into her clothes and tiptoed out of the room to the front door. Hyacinth was thankful he’d brought her to his temple on Ambrosia Lane. Much easier to creep back home to her father’s temple down the block.
“I thought Apollo told you to go home?” A deep voice startled her as she backed out the door.
Hyacinth spun around and found herself face to face with the object of her obsession: Boreas.
She rolled her eyes. “And I thought I was a grown woman who could do as she pleased?”
“You could have told me you wanted to go to Notus’s. I would have brought you.”
Oh, that would have been fucking fantastic to have the God of Her Dreams escort her to her God of Right Now’s temple.
“That’s okay. I can walk down the Lane by myself. I just needed wings back to Olympus from that discothèque in Greece.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you still doing on the Lane, anyway?”
“Hyacinth. I promised Apollo I’d take care of you.”
She sighed. “I appreciate the concern, but I’m not a child.”
Boreas raised an arctic brow. “Obviously. If you were still a child and Notus had even thought about half the things he just did to you, I’d kill him.”
“So, how long were you out here?”
He didn’t answer, only arched a brow.
“That long, huh? What would you have done if I’d stayed the weekend?”
He still didn’t answer, but he
didn’t have to. Boreas would have sat outside the temple until she’d come out, regardless of when that happened to be.
“You know, that’s kind of creepy lurking out in the bushes.”
“Notus invited me to come in and wait in the living room. Have a beer, watch some Rugby on his big screen.” He shrugged.
“He did not!”
“He most certainly did.” Boreas nodded. “When I declined, he asked me if I wanted to join instead. Said you wouldn’t mind.”
Her face flushed. Not because she was embarrassed. She wasn’t. Goddess, if Notus had asked him and he’d said yes? Damn. It was something straight out of one of her favorite fantasies.
“I wouldn’t have.” she admitted.
Boreas narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you know better than to taunt a god, little girl?”
Hyacinth narrowed her own eyes in return. “I’m not a little girl. I haven’t been for some time.”
“Then why do you keep having to tell me how grown up you are?”
She fisted her hands and growled, “Because no one listens to me.”
“Because you keep doing things like what you pulled at the club with your father. A grown goddess, demi or otherwise doesn’t pull stunts like that.”
“Oh, who are you talking to right now?” She put her hands on her hips. “I’ve read all of the mythology, even some of the things the humans don’t know that’s in the Great Library. The way that my father behaved? Look who I’m named after. One of his lovers. And let’s not even talk about Zeus.”
His mouth thinned. “Okay, I have to give you that one. But maybe because you’re half-human, we hold you to a higher standard. It’s not fair, but it’s how it is. You don’t have the powers that Zeus does to protect himself when he screws up. All you have his me.”
“I don’t need you. I can take care of myself.” She watched as an expression akin to pain crossed his face. She’d hurt him. What the hell did he want from her?
“Maybe I want to take care of you,” he said, his voice low.
He stood there, so earnest and honest that she wanted to punch him. How dare he say this to her now. Like this. If he’d said it while embracing her, kissing her, that would’ve been one thing. Like whispering he was about to grant her best wish.
But this. It wasn’t to be borne. He was big brothering her and by Zeus, she wouldn’t stand for it anymore. She didn’t want a big brother. She wanted a god.
She grabbed him “Maybe you should know better than to taunt a demi goddess.”
Then Hyacinth did something she’d been dreaming about doing for years.
She slammed her lips into his and kissed him for all that she was worth.
Then she did something that she never thought would happen to her—she promptly burst into flames.
Literally. She went up in an inferno of fire and luckily, Notus, being the God of the South Wind was impervious to heat and so was his temple.
Ganymede’s temple next door, however, was not.
And it too promptly burst into flames and burned to the ground around the surprised goddess who happened to be lingering in her bath.
Chapter 2
Nothing says “grown up” like needing your daddy to come fix your mess.
Hyacinth sighed and shrugged as a crowd had gathered around them, and her inferno, on Ambrosia Lane. Notus had seen the destruction of his neighbor’s house, and her state of nakedness and had quickly ushered her into his backyard.
Ganymede didn’t look pissed, but that didn’t mean anything. She was the Goddess of Youth and could make life very, very difficult for Hyacinth if she wanted to. She’d have to apologize with…well, how did one apologize for destroying someone’s temple? Sacrifice a virgin? She didn’t know.
Apollo wore a worried look on his face and Nyx, his new woman was nowhere in sight. She really hoped she hadn’t screwed it up for him with the stunt at the club. Maybe this was her punishment.
“Can you turn it off?” she asked him.
“First, I have figure out just what you did. You shouldn’t be on fire.”
“Well, no shit. Normal people don’t just…catch on fire.”
Her father nodded slowly. “You’re not a normal people, my darling. You’re the daughter of Apollo. Sometimes people in our family do spontaneously catch on fire. But not when you’re a demi. Only full blooded gods and goddesses.”
“Is it possible there’s demi in her mortal bloodline?” Boreas asked.
“I’m still here. I can hear you. And, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m still on fire.”
Boreas wrapped his arms around her, his great, white wings cocooning her and the fire was snuffed. When he moved back to release her, she burst into flames again.
“It appears,” Apollo said, “that you’re just going to have to hold her that way until we can figure out what’s going on.”
Great. She was stuck to a god that she’d dreamed about since she was fifteen and he had absolutely no interest in having her there. Just great. Fucking fabulous.
Further, she’d just had sex with Notus and had yet to have a shower.
Eww.
This was really not how she’d imagined spending her day.
“It’ll be okay, Hyacinth. I’ll take care of you.”
“You always take care of me. Like I’m a child.”
“Next to gods, you are,” he reassured her.
“Boreas with take you to his temple where it’s cold. Maybe that will keep the flames off while I talk to the Fates and see what’s going on.”
“Apollo, I…I’m sorry about last night and your date with Nyx.”
“She’s forgiven me.” He smiled brightly, the sun itself in his eyes. “And I’ll always forgive you. You’re my daughter.”
Damn if that didn’t choke her up a little bit. “Yeah, well. Okay.” She sniffed. Her mother had always told her such negative things about her father and when she’d spent time with him, he was always so busy and he had so many children.
But he was always there when she needed him.
She was already overwrought, why did she have to go and have more feelings? The little fuckers were like fleas. Get one, and they all started making themselves at home. It was an infestation.
Boreas took to the sky, the great strength of his wings and the chill in his touch cooling her skin, but lighting fires in other places that had no business burning. She loved how cold he was. Touching his skin was like holding a metal canister after spraying out the compressed air. There was a strange pleasure in the contact.
She’d been to his temple a few times before. Everything was made of crystal and ice. Hyacinth hoped she didn’t melt it down. She’d already destroyed Ganymede’s temple. She didn’t need this on her hands, too.
“Did the fire hurt?” he asked.
“No. I mean, I can feel it, but there’s no pain.” She turned her face into his shoulder. “Gods, what am I going to do if I’m stuck with this?”
“It might not be all bad. It would mean you’re a goddess. You’ll live until you tire of it. You’ll stay young, too.”
“I guess that’s nice, but I’m kind of worried about not burning down my friend’s temples.”
“Eh, well. There is that.”
“You’re always so calm. So controlled. Nothing fazes you. How do you do it?” She wanted to touch his icy face, and she knew better than to be afraid of burning him. What she feared was that she’d burn herself by reaching for what she couldn’t have.
“Not always, and when I do lose my temper it’s ugly. The fury of the north is a terrible thing.”
“I’ve never seen it. Whatever could incite you to such strong feelings?”
The landed at his temple—on a fat, dark storm cloud. Thunder and lightning raged in an artistic light show.
“This morning.” He looked away from her even as he held the door open and interestingly enough, he wasn’t touching her and she wasn’t on fire. Maybe it had fixed itself.
“Because you wai
ted all night outside of Notus’s temple?” she ventured.
“Because when he invited me to come in, I wanted to.”
Fear, anticipation, and something dark and hot twisted in her belly. “You wanted to watch Rugby on his big screen?”
“I think you know what I’m talking about.”
“Then why didn’t you?” All trace of the dare from before was gone. She really wanted to know.
He still wouldn’t look at her. She reached up and cupped his cheek. “Boreas.”
“You’re killing me, little flower. Killing me.”
“Talk to me. You said you wanted to take care of me. Part of taking care of someone is communication.”
“I thought you said you didn’t need or want me to take care of you.” His voice was quiet.
Having her own words thrown back at her cut like a knife. Maybe they had hurt him after all. “Since when do you listen?”
“I always listen. I listen to everything you tell me. I have since you were a child.”
“Is that the problem? Because you used to pick me up and bring me to visit my dad when I was little?”
“Of course it’s a problem.”
“I’m of age, Boreas.”
“You weren’t the first time you pressed against me, your breath hot on my neck, your lips parted…” He closed his eyes. She wondered if it was to block out the memory. “I was sure you’d get over it. A crush on an older, familiar male. A way to test your boundaries in safety.”
“We haven’t tested my boundaries. We’re not anywhere near anything approaching a hard limit.”
“The way you speak—”
“What? Like I’ve had The Sex? Yes, I have. I’m explored all of my fantasies.”
“All of them?” His voice was strangled.
“All but one.” She splayed her palm on his chest. “All but you.”
“It can’t happen, Hyacinth. No matter how much either of us wants it. You saw what happened when you kissed me. You burst into flame. What would happen if we did more?”
“I’m willing to take that chance. I’m burning now, for you.”
His big hand closed over her wrist like he was going to push her away, but he didn’t. He just held her there, his flesh so cold it was hot. He didn’t normally touch her if he could help it, so even this tiny gesture was a decadent pleasure.