by Sam Cheever
I closed my eyes, calling out to him in my mind, and clenched my fists in impotent fury. Either way he was lost to me. I held his life in my hands. My decision came down to loss of love or loss of life. For me they were one and the same but for Bion…
Bion’s limp body dropped suddenly, just a few feet away from me. He lay in a crumpled heap. I could see his chest rising and falling as he breathed. Thank the gods. They hadn’t lied to me. He was still alive.
“Attend me, child.” Clotho’s voice had softened now and when I glanced at her, her cheeks were slightly pink again. All three of them suddenly dropped their hands and the nerve-jangling roar of the wind died down to a soft hum.
Behind me the magical fall of water resumed its majestic song.
My heart hung lifeless in my chest. If I lost Bion I would die.
I knew that I had lost. I would not have my love. But I could save the man I loved from a terrible fate.
“Do you agree to have your life thread re-formed?”
I sobbed and dropped to my knees, my legs suddenly unable to hold me. I hung my head and lifted my clenched fists. I would lose all. And the Furies would win.
Slowly I lifted my head and glared my hatred at the three abominations before me. Tears ran freely and copiously down my bloodless cheeks. But my lips opened and I said the word I never dreamed I’d say. “Yes.”
Clotho nodded once, her pretty face tinged, amazingly, with sadness. But she stepped up to me and reached out a hand. As before, her fingers danced upon the air, creating the complex magic that would illuminate my life thread so that it could be viewed and re-formed.
I waited despondently, my eyes locked on Bion and my heart barely beating in my chest. As soon as it was over I would end my life.
I couldn’t bear to live without him.
My life thread hung before me now. Clotho searched it for the knot that held my love for Bion. A chirp of delight told me she’d found it.
She touched the finger that held my tear to the knot and the knot flickered and pulled the tear in, throwing off a single red spark as it was consumed.
Clotho glanced at her sisters and they shook their heads. Then she turned back to me with a new urgency in her expression. Her fingers on the air became more frantic, moving so fast I could barely see them as she crafted the hideous magic that would rip my heart from my chest.
I waited quietly, already succumbing to a hopeless condition.
Then something flared and Clotho jumped away from my thread with a cry of pain.
I looked at her and one of her fingers was smoking and scorched.
My thread had disappeared.
Suddenly pain engulfed me and I fell to the ground. I cried out and folded into a fetal position, writhing in exquisite agony. I was dimly aware that Clotho had stepped back and that the three of them were huddling, discussing something with frantic movements and worried faces.
Tears filled my eyes and pain racked my body. I realized I would get my wish. If I was going to lose Bion I wanted to die.
Suddenly Bion was there, bending over me, looking terrified. “Daphne, talk to me. What have they done to you? I’ll kill them…”
But as he touched me the pain disappeared.
I lay there in wonder for a moment, afraid to move for fear that it would return.
“What is it, Daphne? Are you okay?” Bion’s handsome face was inches from mine and his strong hands caressed me.
I nodded and struggled to sit up. “I’m okay. I just had this awful pain here…” I reached to touch my chest, just over my heart, and Bion’s hand covered mine. I gasped as a sudden throbbing warmth radiated from the place beneath our hands.
“By the gods! Look at the ground.” Atropos’ husky voice came from somewhere behind me.
Bion helped me sit up and we turned to see what the Furies had seen.
All three goddesses stared at the spot on the ground where I’d been standing. On that small piece of land, in the midst of a larger ripped and barren spot, had grown a thick circle of lush grass with bright spots of color where flowers dotted its surface.
“It’s from her tears!” Lachesis proclaimed.
I looked at them and saw that the Furies were gone. We had only the Fates to deal with now. The three Graces.
Bion helped me to my feet.
“The circle of love has been completed. We are too late,” Clotho murmured almost reverently.
Bion frowned. “The circle of love?”
“It appears that you have won against the Fates, son,” a booming voice rang out over the cavern. “You and Daphne have been blessed by the Garden of Love.”
This proclamation was followed by the happy sound of small, soft hands clapping in delight. “You have been given the gift of love!”
We turned to find Zeus and my mother striding toward us across the funnel-ravaged ground.
In their magical wake, grass sprouted and flowers popped, creating a vibrant walkway through the chaos that the Furies had created.
They walked arm in arm, looking every inch the elegant gods of mythology.
My mother, lithe, shapely and breathtaking as always, had a sparkle in her violet eyes that I hadn’t seen for years.
Zeus was impossibly tall, easily eight feet from the bottom of his feet to the top of his heavily jeweled head, and he was the breadth of two normal men across the chest. His hair was glossy, dark brown and flowed in smooth waves across his shoulders. A bright, hot sun followed their progress across the cavern, glinting off the jewels in their hair to create vibrant sparks of color.
They stopped several feet away from the three Graces and Zeus cast a glower at the three frowning goddesses. “It appears they’ve bested you, crones.”
Clotho sniffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “It would appear that way, yes.”
I shook my head, my mind not able to wrap around what I was hearing. “I don’t understand. What’s going on here?”
Bion wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Let me explain, if I may?” He looked at his father and Zeus inclined his head in regal agreement.
Bion turned to me. “You and I joined in true love in the pool at the base of Lover’s Fall, in the Garden of Love. As the happy result of this activity, we’ve fulfilled the prophecy. Forever breaking the loveless cycle for the Cupid race.”
The three Graces scowled and scuffed their pretty pastel slippers in the thick grass that continued to spring up around them as the Garden of Love repaired itself and returned to normal.
My mother threw back her head and laughed with delight. “You’ve done it Daphne. You’ve beaten the Fates and rescued our race from a loveless existence! You have fulfilled the prophecy.”
I turned to Bion and smiled, finally understanding the enormity of what we’d done. “We did it? We can be together?”
His answer was to drag me close and claim my lips with his own. Driving heat into my body and life into my poor battered heart. And as we lost ourselves in the wonder of being together, finally and forever, I felt a warm tenderness in my heart, secure in the knowledge that I would never again live without love.
About the Author
Sam Cheever writes about feisty, fun characters who move quickly from one disaster to another in a world that is filled with unique problems and the constant threat of disaster. Sam’s characters meet these threats and challenges with humor, bravado, and a realistic mix of human (and non-human!) frailty and good old fashioned belligerence. A long-time writer of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, Sam has found her strides with fantasy and paranormal romance. Her fantasy worlds brim with hot devils, cool Angels, sexy dilemmas, and dangerous situations.
To pay the bills, Sam started her writing career as a freelance writer and has worked as a business writing consultant for medium and large organizations for 10+ years. However, she is much more comfortable in her fantasy world, and plans to stay there as long as the medication holds out.
The author welcomes comments from readers. You can find her
website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
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Also by Sam Cheever
Check out the author’s books at Cerridwen Press (www.cerridwenpress.com):
‘Tween a Devil and His Hard Place
‘Tween Heaven and Hell
Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.
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