“Old news. So he thinks Ariston has it. Obvious choice since he was the closest to Pan. Too obvious, which is why he doesn’t have it.”
Adonis had figured that out. “You know who does?”
“Maybe I do and maybe I don’t. You won’t ever know.”
“The nymph was a way to distract Ariston so I could look for the syrinx.” Adonis offered, hoping to keep Hermes talking.
“Waste of time. Leave.” The abruptness surprised him.
“Not without the nymph.” At the stern glare from Hermes, he added, “I don’t want her for me.”
Hermes shook his head sadly. “Don’t make me transport your ass to Antarctica, Adonis. It’s cold there. I don’t wear coats—they’re claustrophobic. Don’t make me do it.”
“I thought gods don’t feel temperature shifts.”
“Just roll with it. Geez, no sense of humor. What the hell did Aphrodite ever see in—never mind, don’t answer that.” Hermes visibly shuddered.
“Why do you care what I do?”
“Because my son and his pregnant fiancée will be here soon to visit. If you try anything that could bring harm to Zeus’ new great grandson, my grandson, the big man won’t be happy. Then I won’t be happy, and the baby’s daddy won’t be happy...you can probably follow this thought to your imminent painful death in the end, yes?”
Great. This whole thing was a giant disaster, and Dionysus would find a way to make Adonis suffer for it. “I have no interest in the baby. Dionysus might, because he’s a kook—”
“Takes one to know one.”
“—but I’m only here for the syrinx and the nymph. If the instrument isn’t here, the nymph becomes priority. We found her, and we aren’t giving her away to an Arcadian.” Because that’s how it had to be. Boeotians and Arcadians didn’t mingle. They remained loyal to the one that gave them magic to take human glamour. To the one that helped them deal with the curse and prevented them from turning into the beasts they were meant to become.
Hermes made an impatient noise. It was several moments before he finally said, “Gods help you, Adonis. This path you’re on will lead to disaster.” He’d gone vertical once more.
“It’s better than a desk job I don’t want with a boss I don’t like dictating my every move.” He was still being dictated, but from afar. After he returned to Bach Industries, he’d lose the sense of freedom the wilderness provided for him. When was the last time he’d lived off the land, the American Revolution?
“You could have followed Pan. You never had to remain with Dionysus.”
“And hang with my brother for eternity?”Adonis retorted. “I’ll pass.”
“The only thing Ariston wants is his humanity back. The only thing. Keep that in mind before you make your move. It’ll get ugly if you interfere, and the woman will be caught in the crossfire. Do you really think she would be your ticket to freedom if you stole her? She’s already about ninety-eight percent sure she won’t cure Ariston. Throw another satyr in the mix and she won’t have anything to do with either of you.”
Adonis commented under his breath, “I look just like him.”
Jaw slackening, Hermes gaped at him. Adonis didn’t think many people ever made that particular god speechless, but he had.
“There will be no redemption for you if you go there. None. If Ariston didn’t kill you as soon as you regained mortality, someone definitely would.” It went unspoken that Hermes would gladly volunteer.
“Whatever. I already told you, I’m not touching her.”
“We’ll see what you say as the Satyr Moon approaches. You’ll sing a different tune then, and I swear to the gods, Adonis, don’t go down that road. As to my original question: the human you didn’t kill, where is he?”
“He’s somewhere. Melancton is shadowing him to ensure he leaves and doesn’t attempt to track Lily down to apologize. The human had second thoughts after it was said and done.”
“Melancton is here?” There was an odd tone to Hermes’ voice and a bite to his words.
“Yes.”
The god had been several feet away, but zipped over to face Adonis. “In the Blue Ridge Mountains? Before a Satyr Moon that could free Ariston from the curse?”
“Um, yeah. Why are you pale? Scared of that purple-eyed warrior?” What was it about Melancton that made even Dionysus a bit spooked by him sometimes? Dionysus had promoted Melancton to his assistant when Pavlo died, supposedly by Pan’s hand—Adonis wasn’t too convinced in the accuracy of that. Melancton had been the only other one present though.
Hermes muttered under his breath. Something he said sounded like, “I can’t interfere with this. Fate has to play out.”
“You okay?” Adonis asked, ignoring the pain ripping from temple to temple, causing him to see bright spots where Hermes hovered about.
Hermes didn’t seem to remember he had an audience until he glanced back at him. “You can still switch teams. Think about that before you do anything drastic.” And with those words he was gone.
Fucking gods.
Chapter Eight
“Do you have any apples?” Lily asked as she poked her head out of the bedroom. She wore shorts with another plain T-shirt, but she looked as beautiful to him in casual clothing as she would in silk and lace. Adornments weren’t necessary. She just was.
Ariston reclined on the tan couch, feet propped on top of the oak coffee table. He was in human glamour and dressed in a clean ranger uniform. He’d decided to put her mind at ease and help her to search for her “boyfriend,” but all thoughts of being noble left his mind at the sight of her. Hermes hadn’t returned the night before, so Ariston wanted to prove he was useful to her without another’s criticism. Since she promised she would consider staying, the least he could do was find out what had happened to the scrawny kid from the photos.
Lily had deleted the pictures of the man and her together, looking happy. She’d been laughing and smiling in those images. He rubbed his chest absently. What would it be like to have a woman light up with so much joy to merely stand next to him? Eyes closed, Ariston dispelled the image. She’d never look at him that way, and wishing for more than he could have wouldn’t do him any good.
If the man thought Ariston would hand Lily over to him, he was mistaken. What did the rangers say when they found abandoned electronics no one called to claim? Finders Keepers. Lily was his, and Ariston wouldn’t be fool enough to discard her. He’d made enough mistakes already in assuming she was owed to him, and he’d almost lost her. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. Earning her trust would be rewarding on more than one level. Which is why he would hold off questioning her method of escape until later. He would give her time, and she might even give him the information willingly.
However, Lily’s arrival into the main room made him realize no amount of taking matters into his own hands would help with the lust. You’re a decent guy. You don’t maul innocent women. Don’t think with your penis. Stop it. Stop. He sighed. Maybe I should take a hammer to my hand, and then I can focus on a different part of me suffering.
“Um...I asked if you had apples. Earth to Ariston?” She waved a hand to regain his attention. He’d barely noticed until she crossed her arms in front of her chest. Great, he’d been staring directly at her breasts and zoned out. Way to start proving himself as a decent person.
“What? Oh.” He blinked. “In the bowl on the kitchen counter. There are more in the refrigerator, in the drawer at the bottom.” He pointed to the doorway at the back of the cabin. Lily slipped into the kitchen and out of his line of sight. She soon returned with two shiny red apples.
“For me?” Ariston asked, glancing at the extra apple.
Lily took a bite from the other and regarded him while she chewed. She shrugged one shoulder. “Actually it was for Pegasus. I can grab another.” She tossed him the apple.
Ariston stared at the fruit after he caught it. She thought to feed a demigod who could fend for himself, but she had little thought about him
—not that he expected her to feed him. He wanted to prove he could provide for her, damn it, but he would like her to put him before a horse. Perhaps I have screwed this up too badly to repair. She’d stayed, hadn’t she? Had slept in his bed. His sheets would smell like her. The last thought caused him to sit up a bit straighter in his seat.
“Is there a problem?” Lily asked. Ariston needed to snap out of it. She would leave for good if he didn’t start acting normal. He had the feeling if she ran again, there wasn’t going to be a third chance.
“Why do you ask?”
“You’re staring at that apple like it is going to grow legs and crawl.”
Ariston glanced at her and then back at the apple. He was, in fact, holding it far away from him between his thumb and his middle and index fingers. To disguise it, he quickly took a bite and let the sweet taste wash over his tongue as his teeth crunched into the fruit. His mind immediately decided to imagine a taste he’d rather have on his tongue, and he nearly choked.
“You’re worrying me.” She shifted on her feet, seemingly unsure of herself.
“Sorry. There are a lot of things on my mind. You, fate, ways to keep Hermes from returning, and seeing Pan again for the first time since, well, a really long time. It sort of threw me that you wanted to feed a demigod breakfast.”
“So...you’re sitting there confounded because I thought to feed your other guest and you didn’t.”
What in the name of Hades was she going on about? Ariston hadn’t invited the damn horse to his home and wasn’t responsible for feeding him. “No, I...he’s very independent. He’s immortal!”
“Oh, my God. You were gonna let him starve or eat grass.”
“Horses enjoy eating grass. It is, like, their number one favorite food.”
“Ariston! You should be ashamed of yourself. I hope you never kept any pets with this mentality.”
He gaped at her. “Pegasus is not a pet.”
“Well, duh. He’s a god, er, half of one.”
He dragged his free hand across the side of his face. “For gods’ sake, woman. You’re going to drive me insane before the week is up.”
Her tone was dry when she replied, “Gee, that really makes me anxious to stay here.” Yet she followed that statement by flopping into one of the chairs. “What are you all dressed up for?” She eyed his uniform.
“Today, you and I will go looking for your former boyfriend.” He noticed an upward tilt to her brows at the word “former.”
Lily had been about to take another bite of apple, but lowered her arm to her lap. “Oh.”
She also didn’t argue that he was current, and his suspicions were confirmed. What caused them to split while in the middle of the woods, and where did he go?
“I thought that is what you wanted?”
She turned away from him. “Well, yeah. I want to make sure he’s alive.”
“You don’t act like it.” Ariston took a bite of his apple and managed to swallow it without choking. His spirits lifted. If she didn’t care to see the ex again, that meant she’d be more open to a new relationship. Is that what I really from her? He’d think about it later.
“We parted on bad terms,” Lily admitted.
Ariston shouldn’t be pleased by that news, but he was. He pushed, “Really? So...you aren’t involved with him anymore?”
She rolled her eyes. “Like my having a boyfriend would be a deal breaker for you. I’ve met womanizers before. I know your type. I’ve even seen you, personally, in action, remember?” She made an exaggerated show of shuddering. “God knows what you caught from that bimbo.”
He wished to the gods that wasn’t the way she’d first seen him, but he could only play it off by sidetracking Lily, “Oh, honey, you really don’t know my type.” He chuckled. “Had many satyrs in your bed?”
She rolled her eyes, swallowing the bite of apple she’d taken when he’d replied. “It is easy to forget when you look so human. I thought rangers had to have short hair anyway. How’d you infiltrate their number?”
“Want to know a secret?”
She didn’t respond.
“I’m not actually a ranger. They just think I am. So, if they say anything about the hair, I play them a little tune and they forget.” He did keep it tied back though. Not like he showed up at the headquarters looking like a savage. He was on friendly terms with several of the men and women who actually were rangers, and he respected them enough to limit his involvement directly so he had less damage control and deception to deal with. Ariston didn’t enjoy having to protect his secret, but he did what he had to.
“Imagine that.” she replied flatly.
“Easier to make them think I’m one of them if I bump into a ranger and have to explain myself. And if someone runs across me at night when I can’t use a glamour, magic is most convenient so I’m not shot at.”
Lily pursed her lips. “Isn’t impersonating rangers illegal?”
“I take it you want to turn me in.”
“I didn’t say that.” She looked thoughtful. “Don’t you get lonely out here all alone? Where are your satyr friends?”
Ariston snorted. “Well, apparently Pan has crawled out of the rock he’s been under and wants to stop by soon, but I haven’t seen another satyr for a several centuries.”
Ariston became interested in a speck of dirt on his pants. He used a fingernail to scrape at it. “When Pan left, so did any organized effort on our parts. Half of us wanted to live day to day, satiating our desires however we could. Others decided to see the world. I was the last one to leave.”
“Were you sad when you traveled out of Greece?”
Beyond a doubt, but change had been necessary. “Yes and no. I wanted a chance to reconnect with my brother, but I didn’t know how or if he’d be open to it. Leaving seemed the best option.”
“Adonis. Hermes told me about what happened with Aphrodite, and how you turned down a goddess.” Had that been a glint of approval in her gaze?
Of course Hermes would run his mouth, though he wasn’t certain how much of the nitty gritty details had been told. Ariston nodded, not wanting to talk about his brother. “Rumor had it the Boeotians scattered long before the Arcadians did. I visited the ruins of my human home and then began my travels. I searched every forest, every mountain, and visited more coasts and lakes and rivers than I can count or name. And you are the only nymph I have encountered along the way, aside from one other.”
A fleeting curl of her lip was quickly suppressed by a bite of apple. But why? She didn’t seem particularly interested in him. She’d probably build a clubhouse for her and Pegasus with a sign reading, “No Satyrs Allowed,” by the time the week ended. Then Hermes would return and be welcomed as their guest while Ariston remained baffled as to why the two of them could gain her trust so easily.
“You found another nymph, but you weren’t able to break the curse? Did you not wait ‘til the eclipse?” Lily took a dramatically violent bite of her apple and pinned him with a glare, letting him know she thought he was the biggest womanizing whore she’d ever met. Well, I can’t really say she’s wrong.
“First of all, if I had slept with her, and not on a Satyr Moon, I’d be trapped in this curse forever. However, she had given her heart to another and was only there to pass a message along. And offer a look into my future so vague that an oracle would be proud.”
“What did she tell you?” Lily leaned forward in her chair and the scoop neckline of her shirt gaped open, giving him a lovely glimpse of her cleavage. Ariston nearly groaned.
“She said I would eventually meet my nymph, and she would be beautiful.” He kept the parts about Melancton and the possibility of danger to himself. Ariston wasn’t sure if Melancton’s absence was good or bad. If the Boeotian was destined to help him, then there wasn’t a threat present. But if Melancton never appeared, did it mean Lily wasn’t the nymph prophesized?
Watching Lily as she returned to the kitchen to collect another apple for Pegasus, he scof
fed. Surely a nymph more beautiful than her never existed. Even Daphne paled in comparison.
***
Heat seeped into Lily’s pores only to pool between her legs as she tried to stay nonchalant under Ariston’s gaze. Like the wuss she was, she avoided eye contact with him since she didn’t know how to respond to it. Nobody had ever glanced at her with such raw desire before. In that fleeting moment, she was sure Ariston would do anything she asked of him, and she refused to give into the satyr so easily. Donovan had been meek, shy even. Lily always made the first move with him. Which probably explained why his actions had been such a shock to her. Besides the fact he’d been a complete jerk.
Thinking about Donovan killed the moment, but probably for the best. Lily bounded out of the kitchen, in a hurry to reach open air and put more space between Ariston and her. Feeding Pegasus would give her a distraction and a moment to compose herself. There was absolutely no reason to be irritated because Ariston met another nymph in the past. She refused to be jealous when she didn’t even know if she wanted to be with him herself. After Donovan, could Lily even consider a relationship built around sex? Why am I even debating this?
She rubbed her open palm on her thigh, almost as if the denim encasing it could remove the stain of a bad breakup. One thing was certain—she couldn’t give Ariston proper thought as long as Donovan remained a loose end. She’d never forgive him for what he’d said and for ditching her, but she also couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t solve the mystery of what happened the night he vanished. He could be dead while she sat there angry that Ariston had almost had another nymph in her place.
There is seriously something the matter with me. Her spiteful body tingled with yearning as she spied Ariston checking out her ass when she passed. If he truly was twin to Adonis, he was identically perfect in form as his brother. So perfect that goddesses had wept over him. Stop thinking with your crotch or you will be putting the O in nympho. Os of another sort came to mind when Ariston raked his gaze over her body like he wanted to tackle her on the spot and show her what he was made of. Dear God. Why did I come back and do this to myself? She couldn’t deny the attraction was definitely there, but she didn’t trust him and therefore would not commit to more than getting to know him as promised.
The Cursed Satyroi: Volume One Collection Page 38
