by elda lore
“Vee, I explained about Letty.”
I pushed back his wet hair and he turned his face into my palm, planting a kiss there. He rested his back against the front of the car and the headlights beamed around us.
“I know, and I overreacted. I always do. But there will be others, and I won’t understand. I’ll want to, but I can’t wrap my head around all you’ve done and then think you’ll settle on only me.”
“I’ll just keep telling you, I love you. Don’t give up on us before we start.”
I shook my head. Long tresses dripped water down my already-soaked shirt.
“I’m not giving up. I’m just not giving in. I don’t understand any of what I’m learning and I just…I just need time to digest it all.” I closed my eyes in frustration.
“Veva, I know it’s confusing. You’re scared. I’m scared. Hell, we share the same reasons. Abandoned by people who should have loved us implicitly, but we can work. We need to work together. You’re the other half of me. I need you.” His voice pleaded, and I almost broke. Kneeling on a wet highway, staring into his honey eyes, I almost gave in, but my hesitation was bigger than me. I had to leave him before he’d leave me. One day there would be a different Letty, one he had slept with, one he did foster a child with, and I wouldn’t be able to take the heartbreak. As if reading my thoughts, he spoke.
“I can’t help my past, but stop doubting it. Doubting me. Trust in us. We can make it.” His hands gripped mine together, shaking them as he spoke.
“Can you give me some time? I just need to get away from the estate, get away from all those girls.” I smiled weakly, although I found no humor in the harem of women prancing the grounds. I questioned if each one of them had him like me, and I couldn’t shake the images haunting my head. Jealousy gnawed at me.
“Sure, Vee.” Solis looked off in the distance where the storm carried on. “Take what you need.” His shoulders sunk, and his hand covered his face. The defeat in his tone made me question all that I’d said. Did I really want to walk away from him? Did I have the strength to leave? He rolled his body to the side and the motion distracted me.
“Let me help you,” I offered with trembling hands. I didn’t know how I could lift him, but he pressed his free hand to the pavement and stood easily. Easily in spite of potentially broken ribs.
“Maybe I should look at those.” I hesitated, holding my hands out to his mid-chest.
“Why do you…” He took a deep breath, holding in the question: Why do I care? “Never mind.” He brushed past me, walking off toward the flat expanse of land opposite the car.
“Solis!” I yelled after him. He spun to face me. Sadness stood alive in his expression. He waved silently back at me, and then turned back to the field. In the distance, a lone horse stood, and realization came to me. He followed me. He literally fell out of the sky. For me.
SOLIS
“You’re a fool,” Heph admonished me as my feet dangled off the rocks we climbed.
“Yep.” It was a simple, sweet answer to the stupid, truthful statement and I took another long pull of the sharp alcohol in my flask. My heels kicked at the rock behind my feet and I swallowed hard. Numbing the pain had been my intention since the moment she rejected me. Time. I knew all about time. I’d been alive for thousands of years. I’d had nothing but time as I waited for her. Before. Now, I didn’t know how much time I could offer her, knowing she was alive, out there, and I wasn’t with her. Time could fuck off, as far as I was concerned. Then I thought of Hades. He’d give anything to stop time as well. My head fell forward, and I exhaled to my chest, my hollow, empty chest.
For a moment, I thought I imagined that night. Veva under me. Veva over me. Veva before me. The night was an endless romp of discovering her body, her sighs and her sounds. I fell into a heavy sleep to wake alone, a single, white, peacock plume on the pillow next to me as the only sign my imagination hadn’t conjured the night. My body ached at the loss of her, and yet I sensed her leaving me each time I entered her. Filling her, I begged her to stay. Releasing her, she refused my plea. She would leave me. I wouldn’t bother chasing her, or so I thought.
There are other girls, I scolded internally.
They aren’t Veva, my conscience answered.
I threw off the covers that morning knowing what I had to do. I had to prove to Veva I meant what I said. Yet, here I sat, watching the early setting sun of August, drinking whiskey with Heph.
“You’re the god of the sky and you can’t figure out how to woo a girl? Give her sunsets and rainbows, for heaven’s sake.”
I turned to face my half-brother. In profile, he was frightening, but underneath that exterior, silently hidden, was a thoughtful man.
“Oh yeah, how are things with Lovie?”
“You’re an ass when you want to be,” he snorted, ripping the bottle from my hands and downing a hearty drink.
“Well?”
“I’m doing what I was told.” His eyes stared forward, his gruff voice harsh.
“That’s a terrible excuse to marry someone.” I tapped the flask on his thick thigh.
“It’s better than not marrying the woman I love.” I took his meaning and wanted to punch him.
“She doesn’t want me.”
“You know you don’t believe that.” He raised the metal container to his lips, shadowed by the heavier growth on his face.
“I don’t believe it. You’re right.” I sat straighter. “And you know what, I am god of the heavens, or one day I will be. I can give her sunsets and rainbows. The question remains, how?” I stared back at the setting sun, remembering Veva’s details, comparing it to her pleasure. I wanted to be the only sun that set for her. I also wanted to be the one that rose for her. Suddenly, I had a plan.
VEVA
“What do you mean, I can’t get out of this class? I don’t even understand how I got in it.” I waved the registration ticket at the secretary behind the registrar’s desk. Greek Mythology 101. How the hell did I get into such a class as a super senior, studying to be a midwife and counseling? I had clinicals to participate in this year. I didn’t need an elective course at the freshman level.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Matron. It says here you’re registered, and only the professor can remove you from the course.”
“Uhhh…” I exhaled harshly. What the hell? “The art building, right? The course is in the art building. Who’s the professor? I’ll just go speak to him myself.”
She clicked and clacked on her keyboard, and I wondered once again why my registration hadn’t listed the professor’s name. Under the course title sat TBA: to be announced, where the course instructor name typically appeared.
“It says here Cronus. S. Cronus is the professor.”
I blinked several times, clearly misunderstanding the name she spoke.
“Solis Cronus?” My teeth clenched as the name hissed from my lips.
“Yes.” The slight blush and radiating smile projected at me confirmed my question. His charm preceded him, but not with me. I didn’t have to ask her if she’d met him. Her glowing expression proved she had.
“Thank you,” I hissed as I removed the registration from the counter and stormed for the art department.
Yanking open the door to the classroom, I proceeded down the sloping aisle between auditorium seat sections. My body vibrated with both anticipation and frustration. My heart raced with excitement. Had he really followed me? I hadn’t been able to forget the argument that ensued after I watched Solis walk away and Persephone admonished me.
“He just flung himself from the sky for you. How much more of a grand gesture do you need that he loves you?”
“Just what do you think you are doing?” I don’t know why I barked at him. My hands twitched to reach for him, and my legs shook, pulsing stronger than a drum between my thighs. Excitement and trepidation collided inside my stomach. I was positive he could see my heart beating, it thudded so hard under my skin.
“Good afternoon, Ms. Matr
on.” He pulled a pair of fake glasses off his beautiful face, and my breath caught. He’d blinded me with his beautiful smile, and I froze, knowing if I came any closer, I’d rush for him. I’d climb him like a mountain range and launch myself over the cliff, begging him to take me.
“Greek Mythology?” I shook the paper in question. “And a professor?” I snorted in disbelief. No one would believe he was a professor. He looked too young. He looked too good. They’d take his class only to stare at him.
“I could have taught sex education.” My thighs pressed together.
“Please,” I spit. “Remind me why I don’t hate you.” My eyes narrowed, but his smile widened.
“Okay, fine. I could have taught electrical engineering, but I didn’t think you’d believe that one.”
I shook my head in disbelief.
“Or meteorology, but that doesn’t go with your major.”
I glared, crossing my arms.
“Art, but then they’d all want to paint me in the nude.” He winked. “Oh wait, you’ve already done that.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me.
“You’re infuriating.” My arms released, and my foot stomped. Memories flooded me. The hollowness in my chest leapt to life, racing faster than a horse, or a flying hang glider.
“I prefer invigorating,” he stated, as if he read my thoughts and remembered the day we flew through the sky.
“Incredible,” I hissed.
“That’s a good word, too.”
“Not good,” I tapped my foot. “As in, unbelievable.” My arms flapped out at my side and slapped on my thighs.
“As in, how I feel inside you.”
My breath caught at the comment. That racing heart jumped a fence and landed with a thud.
“Give me time to prove myself.” He walked around the large podium, hosting a laptop and a projector. He took a step toward me, but I crossed my arms again, setting a warning not to come closer, though every fiber of my being vibrated with the need for him to touch me. We stood like polar opposites attracted by the electric energy between us. He tilted his head at my protective stance and leaned against the side of the large desk. Crossing his own arms, he chuckled.
“Pick a number.”
“A thousand,” I huffed, uncertain at this strange request.
He snorted. “Number of years I plan to spend with you, but too high.”
“Thirty,” I blurted.
“Hmmm…plausible.” His lips twisted and instantly my own recalled the feel: the weight, the pressure, the pleasure they produced. He spoke as if to himself, tapping a finger on his chin. “That’s the cycle for the moon. Not bad, but I’m leaving the moon to Leos.”
“What?”
“Never mind. How old are you?” His honey eyes mesmerized me.
“Twenty-three.”
“Pick something lower than that number.”
“Twelve, the age you’re acting.” I snorted and let my arms fall from their barrier shield.
“Twelve.” His finger rose to trace his lips and my mouth watered. Not just a hard swallow, but a full-on desire to drink him in again. His finger tapped his lips, hinting he’d caught me staring, and then his lips curled upward. “How very Grecian of you. I prefer thirteen, but we will do twelve. Twelve days it is.”
“Twelve days for what?”
“For me to woo you.”
“That’s ridiculous. Plus, if you’re going with some crazy system of numbers, doesn’t twelve months make more sense?”
“Too long. Twelve days. That’s all I need. Come on, Veva. Twelve days to prove I’ll stick.” His eyes melted to that caramel color I couldn’t deny. “We don’t even have to have a sex.”
“Well, what a relief,” I said dryly. The very mention of sex had my center drumming up a beat. I was afraid to move, or I’d combust before him. “And on day thirteen?”
“Lucky thirteen starts our life together. No more doubts. No more running.”
I stared at him. Was he kidding me?
“Think of it like this—what’s that holiday so many humans go ga-ga over? Oh, right, Christmas.”
“You don’t celebrate Christmas?” I cut him off, shaking my head.
“The twelve days of Christmas,” he stated ignoring me. “Think of it like the twelve days of Solis.” He wiggled his brow.
“I think that might be sacrilegious.” My arms folded over my chest again as I glared at him.
“After twelve days, I’m going to be all the religion you need. You’re going to worship only me.”
+ + +
“His confidence pisses me off,” I stated to Persephone as we sat in the back of the auditorium. I hadn’t gotten out of the class, which started that same evening. Persephone sat beside me for support. She wasn’t mysteriously enrolled in some random course like I was.
“Welcome to day one. Of Greek Mythology 101, that is.” His booming voice carried out over the auditorium filled with girls of varying ages, including a few older women I’d seen working on campus.
“I think it’s romantic,” Persephone whispered to me although we were too far back for anyone to hear us. Belligerent as I could be, I sat with my feet propped up on the seat before me.
“What’s romantic about hijacking my classes?” I huffed, although my insides twisted. From the moment I saw him earlier in the day, thoughts of seeing him again consumed me.
“He wants your attention.”
“There’s such a thing as a phone.” My agitation wasn’t with my friend, but my sharp tone bit out my frustration. He hadn’t called me, but then I admonished myself: Why would he? He walked away from me on the side of the highway and that was it. I thought I’d ruined everything by asking for time, but here he stood preaching about Greek Mythology like he wrote the stories himself.
“He fell out of the sky for you, Vee.” Persephone’s harsh tone surprised me, remind me again of the argument she and I had after I let him walk away.
“You know, if it were me, I’d be walking after him,” she had said, reminding me of her delicate emotions. Hades’ return left her raw again and I damned him for hurting her.
Suddenly, the image of a rock formation appeared on the screen. My feet fell with a thud to the floor and I sat forward. I recognized the precariously stacked rocks.
“What is this?” His voice boomed and Persephone turned to me.
“I know this one.” Her harsh whisper carried out into the large room. She smacked my arm for emphasis and raised her hand.
“Yes, miss…” he looked down at his roster, as if he didn’t recognize Pea. “Miss Fields.”
“Oh my God,” I muttered, and caught his wink in our direction.
“It’s a cairn. People make them to mark a space. To say I was here. Or to leave a message to someone. Say, I am thinking of you.” Her voice slowed, and her head spun to me.
“Thank you. Correct.” He paused. “And Miss Matron, do you notice anything special about this stack?”
The special part was that I made it. I made the structure myself outside his cottage the morning I left. I wanted to make my mark. Say I was here, as he taught me, as I hoped he would remember, before he considered bringing other girls to his painting den. I bit back my retort and added something different.
“It’s a pile of rocks.” A few girls giggled in front of me. “Ouch,” I cried out as Persephone pinched me.
“Sometimes we need to look closer. Things aren’t always as they seem. Our attitudes cloud our perception.” He narrowed his eyes, lowering his glasses slightly. I stared at the image, counting the rocks.
“It has twelve rocks,” I sputtered, thinking my answer smart.
“That’s right.” He turned to face the projected image. “The Greeks believed in balance. Twelve hours marked half of each day. Ante meridian, before midday and post meridian, meaning after midday. Before and after. Opposites making up one whole. Twelve gods and goddesses. Twelve months. Twelve days.” He turned to face his captive audience, focusing on a girl in the back, ho
lding her breath. Me.
SOLIS
She’d left the auditorium as soon as class ended, but I had her attention. Day one done, I had eleven more to prove myself. Veva believed I’d cheat on her, still fresh from the disturbing situation with Letty. I could read the doubt in her face, that if it wasn’t Letty, there were others who would haunt me. I wanted nothing to cloud her judgment. Leaving the estate and following her to prove myself outside my home was the best idea.
The girls lived in a small apartment just off campus. University life was certainly different with each generation, and I hadn’t tried to pretend I was a campus co-ed in a long time. The role of professor seemed more fitting, until the class filled with women. Veva’s concern for my intentions vibrated from the back of the room, and several times I lost my focus, knowing she watched me. To be so close and yet so far from her unnerved me. I only had twelve days, but I convinced myself I could persuade her to pick me. Trust would take longer to earn, but Veva had to first decide she wanted me. Wanted us. She still sat in the crossfire of the known and the unknown.
I sat in her bedroom, waiting for her, envisioning what she’d see the second she opened the door to her apartment. Growing anxious as I waited, I stood and crossed to her bedroom door which had a clear shot of the living room.
“I won’t even question how you got in here.” She paused, letting her eyes drift from mine to her present. “What are all these?” Her softened tone, hardened my lower region. My body recognized the tender side of Veva.
“Memories.” I leaned against the door jamb while she walked among the images strung from string and dangling down from the ceiling to decorate her living room. Twelve miniature sketches captured our story.
Rain on a window. Sunset behind rocks. Lightning against the sky.
Her eyes shifted to me and then returned to other sights. I knew where she focused next.