by Deanna Chase
He leaned down slowly, but stopped short of touching his mouth to hers. “I just can’t.”
She wanted to stomp her foot like a petulant child. She was so close to what she’d been dreaming of—he wanted her, too. What was the problem?
Hyacinth simply had to find a better way to build a mousetrap—or a godtrap as the case happened to be.
“Fine. Go with me to the Halloween Ball and I’ll leave it be.”
He eyed her suspiciously. “What if you’re on fire?”
“Then you’ll just have to hold my hand. It’s what I’ve dreamed about with you since I was sixteen mortal years old. The Halloween Ball with you.” That and the dirtiest, filthiest, wall-bangest sex of her life.
“Then we’ll try to forget this?”
Maybe he would, but she’d never forget it. “Please.”
“I notice you didn’t agree. I know all of your tricks, little one.”
“Ah, there are quite a few that you’re not privy to. Unless you were hanging out inside Notus’s temple.”
“Gods, woman. Why do you taunt me?”
“Because I’m the spoiled brat child of a god who indulges mostly my every whim to make up for an absent childhood. I want what I want.” She wanted to kiss him again, but knew better. This wasn’t the time to keep pushing.
“Come—”
She clenched, thinking that she’d definitely like to.
“—Sit in front of the ice-fire with me and I’ll tell you a story.”
She settled down next to him in front of the fire place where ice crystals grew, shattered, and rebuilt themselves offering a strange warmth that was both fire and ice.
“It was a long time ago, when I was still young, as was the world. She was a demi, like you. Beautiful, spirited, more beautiful than any goddess I’d ever seen, and she loved me. We were married.” He stopped speaking and looked down at the crystalline floor. The lightning visible in the storm cloud that was the foundation of his temple. “And sometime during the night, she got frostbite and hypothermia. When the dawn came, she was cold, her skin blue and she was very much dead.”
“That’s not your fault.” Her voice was low and soft as she fought back grief for him, for how he must have suffered.
For how he suffered now.
The storm cloud beneath them raged and Hyacinth realized that’s why he was always so stoic. All of his grief, his pain, that’s where he kept it all hidden away.
“It was my fault. She was a child of Apollo, too. I won’t betray his trust.”
“It’s not up to him.” Hyacinth took a deep breath. “I understand what you’re saying and why you’re afraid. I suppose I would be, too.”
“I promised to protect you. I will. Even from yourself.”
“Well, that’s no life lived,” she whispered back and leaned her head on his shoulder.
“It’s better than none at all.”
“What if I’m a goddess? You said I’d live until I tired of it.”
“If you’re a goddess, I…” He gave her a lascivious grin, but it seemed to melt from his face. “I don’t think I can take that chance. Not with your life.”
“So, after the Halloween Ball, I’m just supposed to go on like we never had feelings for each other? I’m supposed to forget how close I came to getting everything I ever wanted?”
“Yes. Because I have to do the same thing.”
The flames erupted again, her whole body was engulfed and it burned hotter this time, charring her skin black. It didn’t hurt like fire should, but it was still damn uncomfortable. The ice around them began to melt and drip, large pools of water forming in the floor.
His arms came around her again and quelled the fire, bits of her skin flaking away.
“Are you in pain?”
Physically? Just her heart. “I’m okay.” She plucked at a bit of skin that disintegrated into ash. Hyacinth inspected the new, pink skin. She’d had a scar on her arm from where she fell off her bike when she was six. It was gone.
The immortal version of a peel? She wrinkled her nose.
Then it began to itch, like a thousand bugs crawling on her skin. She began to tear at it, ripping it away—anything to relieve that terrible crawling sensation.
“Stop it, stop!” He pulled her close again against his chest and just his touch soothed her, numbed the bugs, and her skin began to flake away on its own. “It doesn’t seem like it now, but it will be okay.”
Then she realized the skin underneath wasn’t pink at all. After it was exposed to the light, it turned into the prettiest shade of gold. When she relaxed, she shed the rest of her burst skin like an empty shell.
Hyacinth found she rather liked it, sans the bugs and itching of course.
So did Boreas, apparently. He touched her new skin with the barest hit of contact between them. “You’re so warm and soft.” He said this as if it were some kind of revelation.
For a moment, she thought he might kiss her.
At least until her father materialized in the middle of the room.
“Not cool, Apollo. Knocking is good.” She said to her father. Damn it, Boreas had been about to kiss her. She was pretty sure he’d just ruined her life.
He waved her off. “Pretty sure I don’t have to bother with that. Nyx might be pregnant.”
Hyacinth arched a brow and Boreas pursed his lips.
“You know what causes that, right?” Boreas asked him.
“Of course I—” Apollo looked at him over the rims of his glasses. “—Yes. It’s just, we both thought we were beyond that.”
He looked so frazzled and exhausted. Rather than feeling jealous, all she felt was a great desire to take some of the weight off his shoulders. “You should go be with her then. I know goddess pregnancies are a bit different. She might need you. Boreas will take care of me, if I need it.”
“I can do both. She hasn’t told me she’s pregnant yet, anyway. She’s avoiding me. I’ll give her some time to come to terms with it.” He grinned. “Terms. See what I did there?”
Hyacinth squirmed. “That was bad, Dad. Really bad. I hope you don’t say that to her or she’s going to punch you in the face.”
His grin didn’t waver. “I know. It won’t be the first time. I’ve had a lot of children. But you, my darling child, might be a goddess.”
“Might I?” She grinned. Hyacinth loved the idea.
“I was petitioning Zeus to give you eternal life and eternal youth, but it seems just like with everything else in your life, you might have taken it for yourself.” He leaned in and examined her closely. “Well, would you look at that.” He beamed. “You look more like me now than your mother.” He held up his arm next to hers and their skin tones matched. She was as golden and Olympian as he was.
“What are you going to do about Nyx?”
“I’ll wait for her to tell me in her own time. She’s got a lot on her plate at the moment and I’m sure she’s going to be really sick soon. All of my children’s mothers get violently ill.”
Hyacinth flashed him a scathing look. “Then why do you keep making them?”
“Is that something I really have to answer? I trust you’ve had the birds and the bees discussion.”
“Gods.” She threw up her hands.
“Is she cursing us, or…” Boreas looked at Apollo with a smirk.
“I think you should quit while you’re ahead. The fire seems to be linked directly to her emotions. I spoke with Lachesis and she says that Hyacinth will be a sun goddess. Which means I will get paternity leave when this child is born.”
A smart ass retort was on her tongue, but she bit it back. It hadn’t been his fault he’d not been there for her mom. Her mother hadn’t told him when she needed him. Or that Hyacinth even existed for the longest time. “Yeah, I guess.” She grinned. “So I’m not dying?”
“No, my little sunshine. But you have to keep your emotions in check or you’re going to blow up everything in a two mile radius.”
“Is Gany
mede pissed?” she ventured.
“No, she’s hanging out with Notus.” He drew Hyacinth close to him. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Daddy.” She squeezed him. “But you’ve got a pregnant titan to deal with. You can go. I’m good.”
He kissed her forehead and was gone.
“Maybe you really have grown up, Hyacinth.”
“No, not really,” she admitted. “I still want what I want when I want it.”
“Don’t we all?”
Chapter 3
Hyacinth sat in the bright, cherry red booth at Pomegranate Pizza. It was one of the best spots on Ambrosia Lane to get a bite. The crust hand-tossed by the resident cyclops. She was sure he’d seen his fair share of drama in his day, working a pizza parlor for eternity.
She drummed her fingers on the table nervously waiting for Ganymede.
The goddess entered the shop not quite timidly, but with reserve.
Hyacinth waved her over to the booth and as soon as she sat down said, “Look, I’m really sorry.”
Ganymede flashed her a bright smile. “Oh, it’s okay. Nothing that can’t be replaced. I’m just glad that you’re not still on fire. You know, when Apollo was born, he was on fire until he was twelve. It was terrible.”
“Really?” She spread the napkin in her lap. “Well, I’m glad you’re letting me treat you to pizza anyway.”
“Oh, I will always let someone buy me pizza. Especially from here. It’s the very best. I brought some Rosa Regale to share.” She pulled a bottle of Aphrodite’s favorite dessert wine. “Cy doesn’t care. I told him I was going to smuggle it.” Ganymede’s smile was genuine, but after a second it faltered.
“What’s wrong?” Hyacinth asked her.
“I hope you’ll be as forgiving.”
“Why? Did you burn down my temple? I mean, not that I have one yet. I think I will, I don’t know—” The goddess’s expression stopped her dead in her tracks. “What happened?”
“So I’ve been staying with Notus.” Ganymede bit her lip.
Relief washed over her. “Oh, is that all? It’s a fair trade, really. A house for a god? Why not?” She smiled.
“You’re taking this remarkably well. Notus said you would.”
“We were never anything more than good friends.”
“But I saw you sneaking out in the mornings. He’d kiss you goodbye.”
“That’s just who he is. I always wished he was the one I’d fallen in love with, but he wasn’t. Even considering how great he is in bed. Out of it. In the pool, the shower, the kitchen….”
Ganymede’s smile widened. “The patio, the moon…” she sighed.
“The moon? Wow. Okay, now I might be a little jealous.” She pinched her thumb and first finger together to accentuate how little.
“I’m sure it’s a phase. It’ll all blow over after a few more sessions. I mean, really. How can you outdo the moon?”
She thought about the floor of Boreas’s temple. That would be a good start. “I might have some ideas.”
“With Boreas?”
“Am I that obvious?”
“You kissed him and you blew up a temple. There’s kind of no hiding that.”
She palmed her forehead. “Ugh. Gross.”
“I think it’s sweet. Boreas has been alone for a long time.”
“He told me about his wife.”
Ganymede nodded. “That was terrible, and the worst part is, I don’t think it was his fault at all. Her mother was an elemental. She was a green thing that lived and breathed so brightly, but her winter had come. Her time was over.”
“That’s even worse. No wonder he’s afraid. I would be, too.”
“I’m sure he has feelings for you. Notus told me that when he invited him in that morning that Boreas threatened to break his face if he hurt you.”
“He’s always been like that.” She took a sip of the wine and suddenly understood why it was Aphrodite’s favorite. It was sweet, bubbly on her tongue and just made her all around happy. “Especially when I was young. Can you imagine what he looked like to a mortal who wanted to take me out?”
“Not so much, no.” Ganymede shook her head, laughing.
“No one got anywhere until the 90’s.”
They cackled together and Cy brought their pizza out.
“I bet that grunge-apathy thing really twisted his tit.”
“Yeah, you’re a god. Whatever. Look at the state of the world. Obviously that’s not working out for you.” Hyacinth practically howled.
“Oh gods, is that verbatim?”
“Yeah. After that, he finally left them alone. Figuring I’d call him if I needed to be saved.”
“He saved you today.”
“He did.” It wasn’t funny anymore. She sighed. “I guess it’s a sad state of affairs when I make a new friend and all I can talk about is the god I can’t have. I can’t pass the Bechdel test in my real life.”
“Well, before we get too comfortable, I think it’s okay that we hashed out you’re not sleeping with Notus anymore and it’s not going to bunch your knickers if I do. No one needs a war on the Lane. Pizza, wine, and talking about boys is a perfectly acceptable alternative.”
“This wine is amazing, by the way.”
“Right? Aphrodite’s got half of Olympus addicted to it. Have you tried it with ambrosia?”
“I haven’t had ambrosia yet.”
“Oh! I forgot. Well, you will. It’s more than amazing. It’s better than—” she mouthed Dionysus “—but he’ll shit if he hears you say that.”
“Like, right there? In front of everyone?”
“Maybe.” Ganymede nodded. “I was at a feast once with him once and someone dared to say that Cleopatra’s fig wine was better than his. He actually got up on the table and pulled up his toga and…” she nodded expectantly. “He said that was what he thought her fig wine.”
“Oh my gods. I’ve been missing so much. I have to meet him.”
“No, he’s such a pill. He’ll try to get in your pants.”
“Ugh. Okay, maybe not.” She took a bite of the pizza. “Are you going to the Halloween Ball?”
“Notus hasn’t asked.”
“I asked Boreas.”
“What did he say? Do you have a dress?” Ganymede took a small bite of her pizza.
“It was a grudging yes. Only because I told him that I’ve dreamed about going with him since I was a kid. After the Ball, he said we had forget those kind of feelings.”
Ganymede flashed her a wicked grin. “So I guess that means you better make it count, huh?”
“And how do I do that?”
“Seduce him, of course.”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“Which do you want more? The dream of being on his arm, or winning?” Ganymede asked.
“You make it sound like a war.”
“With Boreas, it might just be.” She narrowed her eyes. “You’ll need a proper plan of attack.”
“Like what? I’ve tried almost everything.”
“You haven’t tried Aphrodite.”
“I don’t want to take away his choice.”
“Not his choice, just his inhibitions.”
“She’s pretty busy. I don’t want to bother her.”
“No, she’ll love this. She thinks love gets a bad rap. Really, she’ll dig it. I promise.” She lifted her glass of the wine. “Aphrodite, darling?”
Aphrodite appeared, snatched the glass of wine out of her hand and downed it like a vodka shot. “Thanks, I needed that.” She sat down next to Hyacinth. “So, what is it you’d like, most lovely daughter of Apollo?”
“I don’t know.”
“Of course you do. You want to be with Boreas. You love him, he loves you. I can see your heart shining, it’s so full.”
“He’s afraid.”
“Love is scary,” Aphrodite said and patted her hand. “A lot of people think so.” She snatched a piece of pizza. “But you’re not going to die if y
ou sleep with him.”
“I wasn’t planning on doing much sleeping. I want to bang him like a screen door in a hurricane.”
“I’m sure that can be arranged. I know of these sweet little flowers. Once upon a time, during Samhain they were used like mistletoe. If you’re caught standing under them, you must kiss. Or you’ll get a rash like poison ivy. It’s terrible.”
“If it’s so terrible, then why are you smiling so wide?”
“I just like to see love prevail is all. It gets a bad rap.”
“I was going to suggest that she call off the date and then show up alone. It’s a masque, after all. She could drag him into a closet and have her wicked way with him.” Ganymede was drinking straight from the bottle now.
Aphrodite tapped her finger on her chin. “I can see why that might be a good idea in some cases, but not for Boreas. He’s a very straight-laced kind of god. He was never the party boy. He wouldn’t be dragged to a broom closet with someone he didn’t know, even under pain of rashes, hives, and maybe the plague.
“That’s true. I love that about him.” Hyacinth was rather disgusted by the girlish pre-teen sigh that escaped her.
“You just put on your best gown and be yourself,” Aphrodite said.
“Aphrodite knows best.” Ganymede took another drunk, then flung herself down in the seat. “Oh fuck. Hercules is on the Lane. Don’t let him see me.”
A giant of a man pressed his face against the glass.
“Too late,” Aphrodite winced. “I hate that guy.”
“Couldn’t you make him fall in love with a pig?” Ganymede asked her friend.
“No. He beat me to it, with the way he loves himself.” They snickered.
Hercules came in and stopped at their table.
Ganymede suddenly found something very interesting outside. VERY. INTERESTING. In fact, she wouldn’t even turn around and face him. Not even when he spoke to her.
“Hey, G.”
Hercules turned toward Aphrodite. “She still won’t talk to me.”
“Because you’re a dick.”
“Well…” He seemed to think about it for a moment. “Yeah, I guess I am. But that’s not the point. Once, when I found our father’s thunderbolts, you granted me a boon I never used.”