by Lucas, Naomi
Hecate chanted.
Cyane’s eyes brightened, and her vision wavered. She pulled her hands from the floor and brought them to her mouth as her body filled with power. She worried she’d be burned alive, without the chance to be immortal, much less serve, when the gods’ hands lifted from her head, and the pain went with them.
She lowered to the floor with a gasp. Hades and Hecate moved back to their places. She rested her brow on the cold stone.
I’m undying… The words were weak and filled with awe in her head. Strength surged through her veins. Her body cleansed itself of all the impurities of mortality.
“As for you Cerberus… Queen Persephone and I spoke at great length about your punishment,” Hades mused.
Cyane stiffened and lifted her head to peer worriedly at Cerberus.
“My beautiful queen is benevolent and kind,” Hades said. “She is far more merciful than I am. If it were up to me, I’d restore your primordial form and chain you to the gates for the next ten thousand years. I would deny you speech, deny you souls, deny you companionship. For you knew…how much I cherished you.
Hades slumped back into his throne with a flourish. “But perhaps I can’t fault your reasons for doing did what you did.”
Cyane curled her fingers and held her breath. She wanted to pray for Cerberus, but didn’t know who to pray to.
“For your punishment. You will suffer as I have had to suffer. Cyane will join Persephone above for six months of the year where she can fulfill her duties. And you, Cerberus, will remain with me in the dark, waiting for Cyane’s return. You will never have more than I, in this or anything. Look at me,” Hades ordered.
Cerberus raised his head, his shoulders were stiff, his eyes a ruby glow that shined outward. Cyane knew his eyes glowed when he was overcome with emotion. She traced the sleek and sharp curves of his Grecian warrior helmet, swallowing the lump of dread in her throat.
Six months? Six months apart for every year of all eternity?
“You will never know if she is safe without your protection. You will worry by my side and know what true longing is like. Do you accept?” Hades asked.
“Yes, my lord,” Cerberus said.
Cyane glanced up at Hades. A cup had magically appeared in his hand. He grumbled and stood again, offering his free hand to Persephone, who took it. Her adoring smile had not left her face. Cyane’s chest filled with love, even though her heart was heavy.
She didn’t want to be apart from Cerberus, but she didn’t want to be apart from Persephone either. Her punishment wasn’t really a punishment, but it still hurt.
“My queen and I have a bed to return to.” Persephone rose and slid under Hades’s arm. “The court is dismissed.”
One by one the gods vanished into thin air, swirls of shadows and darkness slipping around them, only to immediately dissipate. Hades and Persephone remained.
When the four of them were alone, Cerberus rose and helped Cyane to her feet. Persephone rushed forward and enveloped Cyane into an embrace made of flowers and sunshine. Cyane hugged her back, having missed her goddess greatly.
Hades joined them, his eyes as ruinous as ever. “Eternity is a long time,” he said.
Persephone and Cyane released each other. Cyane bowed her head. “Thank you for the gift, my lord.” She truly meant it, astonishing herself.
“We will have so much fun!” Persephone giggled a little too mischievously.
Hades sighed and gulped back his drink. When he was done, he pulled Persephone back into his arms. “Come.”
They vanished.
Cyane smiled, relieved. “What now, my god?”
Cerberus reached up and slowly pulled off his helmet. His dark curls fell out to tousle around his sharp and darkly enchanting face. A very familiar, although a little more grave, a little more constrained, wicked gleam sparked his eyes.
Eternity.
Abysmal, devouring, scorchingly wonderful eternity.
Her stomach danced with butterflies, and an entirely different rush of power shuddered through her. She licked her lips, hungry.
“Now,” his voice darkened with sinfulness, making Cyane’s skin prickle. He curled a finger under her chin and lifted her face. “I get to teach you how to serve.”
Epilogue
Eleven months and one week later...
* * *
He hungered. His pants chafed his erection.
The Day of Deviance had come and gone in a rather boring fashion. After the events of the previous year, nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Not a soul tried to flee or a rain of flowers try to drown the guests.
Except, perhaps, the return of Melinoe and Hermes.
The winged god was no longer winged, nor was he golden and gleaming. His once sun-kissed skin was pale and taut, and his hair a dirty blonde—as if it had soaked up the Underworld’s endless pitch—and the once muscled curves of his body were now lean and sharp. There was a crazed, possessive darkness in his eyes that hadn’t been there. And now his hatred for Hades was palpable and no longer hidden behind fake smiles.
Hermes kept his grasp tight on Melinoe’s wrist, as if she’d vanish if he didn’t keep his hold on her, as if he owned her, instead of the other way around.
The once God of Crossings had been wrecked by his lady love’s problematic daughter. Cerberus couldn’t have been more pleased.
Hermes and Melinoe had taken the celebration by storm, offering the only entertainment to be had. It was all the better, because the blighted princess of Tartarus soaked up the attention, leaving Cerberus and Hades alone.
Hades rose from his throne and paced, glancing to the ballroom doors again and again. Watching his lord in such impatient distress helped Cerberus give the pretence of calm, even though he was anything but.
More than anything, Cerberus wanted to leave the ballroom and wait at the Gates of the Underworld, where Hecate, Persephone, and his Cyane would sail through once the shores spread out and the river became the beginning of an ocean. But the descent was ritualized, and even Hades was a stickler for tradition.
There was power in tradition and in the stories that the mortals told each other. No one—not even a god as powerful as Hades—turned his face away from what mortals believed.
Cerberus could care less about the beliefs of mortals.
He was ravenous, and his hunger was and would remain, far from being quenched. Sinful souls no longer sustained him, not now that he knew what he was missing. Cyane’s submission fed him, warmed him.
He longed for her just as Hades told him he would. That longing had him pacing the shores of Styx for weeks on end, xiphos drawn out, lashing at the rocks that stood between him and where Cyane dwelled.
Whenever his mind grew black with fear for her safety—the gods of Olympus were no better than those that lived in Tartarus—he found himself stretching his mouth open, breaking his human jaw, and tearing his skin, just to listen to the screams of souls within.
It reminded him that he was not alone in his torment. That he was just as trapped as they were.
For the first time in his long existence, Cerberus welcomed the start of the Celebration of Descent, and he finally realized why Hades threw the weeks-long party every year. The waiting grew worse with each day, and the distraction of the event helped.
A little.
He was rubbing at his thumb, where her hair lay hidden under his glove when he heard it. The soft sound of footsteps. He, his hounds, and Hades all pivoted to the foyer at once. Three women appeared, as glorious and as beautiful as dawn.
Hades stilled as Cerberus stepped off the dais.
Queen Persephone, in her chiton gown of pale yellow, bringing with her the fresh scent of life, of flowers new and old, stopped when she saw her king. She was heavily pregnant, and exuded the aura of fresh godly power soon to enter the world.
Hades strode to her, bringing all the shadows of Erebos with him, eclipsing Persephone in the full force of his protection.
Cerberus’s eyes fel
l on Cyane who appeared behind his queen.
Their eyes met. He inhaled sharply. His heart quickened.
A soft smile brightened her face. She bowed her head slightly, demurely, pulling her gaze down to the floor at his feet.
Cerberus smiled behind his helmet.
The wait was over at last.
* * *
The End.
Author’s Note
Cyane, Kyane, or Ciane, is in fact a real mythological naiad. She is known for her blue-green waters. Her story takes place during the Abduction of Persephone by Hades, where she (Ciane) was the only one who saw and tried to stop the God of the Underworld from stealing Persephone.
She grabbed Persephone’s belt, but the belt tore, and Ciane lost the Goddess of Spring. In her grief, she cried herself into a spring, dissolving away. When Demeter and Hermes searched the world for Persephone, it was because of Ciane that they were able to find her. Ciane gave them Persephone’s belt.
Ciane is honored to this day in Syracuse, Sicily. Fonte Ciane is the only place left in the world where papyrus still grows wild.
Thank you for reading Six Months with Cerberus. If you liked the story or have a comment, please leave a review!
What’s next on my plate, you ask? The seventh book in Cyborg Shifters (Cypher!!), the third book for the Bestial Tribe (Thyrius!!), and a collab project with some friends.
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Naomi Lucas
Also by Naomi Lucas
Stranded in the Stars
Last Call
Collector of Souls
Star Navigator
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Cyborg Shifters
Wild Blood
Storm Surge
Shark Bite
Mutt
Ashes and Metal
Chaos Croc
(Book 7 Coming Soon!)
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The Bestial Tribe
Minotaur: Blooded
Minotaur: Prayer
(Book 3 Coming Soon!)
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Valos of Sonhadra
Radiant
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Standalones
Six of with Cerberus