Chapter XXIX: Dionysus

CHAPTER XXIX

DIONYSUS

Dionysus had left the cottage to retrieve more water from the ocean and find something that would suit for breakfast. When he returned, Ariadne was sitting up with her legs hanging over the edge of the cot.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Better,” she said, holding his gaze. Her eyes were warm, and they made his blood stir.

He cleared his throat and held up the basket he carried. “I hope you like figs,” he said. “Because that’s about all there is to eat.”

“Figs are fine,” she said as he set the basket by her feet and knelt before her.

The move felt intimate, more so because she held his gaze the entire time.

“Let me see your leg,” Dionysus said.

He expected her to resist, but she drew the blanket back and let him see her wound, which was far less angry today. He drew his hand beneath her thigh and let the other hover over it, using his magic to heal and mend the cut until no sign of it existed.

“If you are able to use your magic to heal me,” she said as he dropped his hands from her, “are we not able to teleport off this island?”

“I am not able to teleport within Poseidon’s realm,” he said.

Only the three could teleport to and from realms without permission. The only exception was Hermes.

“Even if I could get us off this island,” he said, rising to his feet, “I must fulfill a debt before we leave.”

“A debt?”

“An old man pulled us from the sea and led me to this cottage. In exchange, I agreed to kill a cyclops.”

He was pretty sure the old man was a god, but who exactly he did not know.

Ariadne’s eyes widened. “Why?”

He answered honestly. “Because I was willing to do anything to keep you alive.”

A heavy silence stretched between them as he crossed to the hearth where he had laid her clothes to dry. They weren’t in the best condition, but they were better than nothing. He gathered them and brought them to her.

“Get dressed,” he said.

“Why?”

“You’re more than welcome to stay naked,” he said. “I will surely enjoy watching you traipse across this island.”

She glared, and he was relieved that the tension that had been building between them suddenly felt familiar again.

“What if I don’t want to watch you kill a cyclops?”

“Then you can close your eyes,” he said. “But you aren’t staying here.”

“I can—”

“Don’t tell me you can take care of yourself,” he snapped. “We’re on an island we know nothing about in the middle of Poseidon’s territory. He was willing to rape you in front of me. He threatened to tear you to pieces and feed you to me. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

She did not argue, and to his surprise, she did not wait for him to turn away. She pushed the blankets away and stood completely naked and changed. He watched, transfixed, eyes scouring her perfect body. She was beautiful, and his mouth watered at the thought of tasting her.

She didn’t even seem to notice he was staring. He was certain if she had, she would have snapped at him or turned away. As it happened, he managed to tear his gaze away and focus instead on deflating his growing erection while he packed food and water.

His efforts were in vain, however, and he only became more aware of his thickening arousal as they left the old man’s cottage and began their search for sheep.

“Where are we going?” Ariadne asked.

They had been walking at a steady incline for about an hour, and she was lagging.

“Up,” he replied.

Her silence worried him, and he paused to look behind him in time to see a fig flying toward his face.

Dionysus caught it and narrowed his eyes. “It’s not nice to throw things.”

“I wasn’t trying to be nice,” she hissed.

He sighed and then descended to her. He drew the water skin from around his neck and handed it to her.

“We need the height so we can see where we’re at,” he said as she took a drink from the bottle.

“You want to go all the way up this mountain just to see where we’re at?”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“Yes. How about we just stay on flat land?”

Dionysus stared. “Are you afraid of heights?”

“No,” she snapped.

He smiled. “You are.”

“I am not!”

“Are too.”

“Shut up!”

Dionysus laughed and she pushed him. He wasn’t prepared for the shove, and it sent him to the ground. Ariadne must not have expected him to actually fall either, because she lost her footing and landed on top of him.

She leaned over him, her lips inches from his, her hands planted on his chest.

“Stop laughing,” she said, but he already had.

He was solely focused on where their bodies met, where his cock swelled between her thighs.

Their gazes held, and then her eyes dropped to his lips and she said his name, a quiet and fervent whisper.

He wasn’t sure who moved first, but their lips slammed together, and he groaned as their tongues clashed again. Fuck, he was starved for this—for her. He had never had enough. She was in his blood, filling his veins, an addiction so keen, he craved it.

He rolled, pinning her beneath him, grinding his hips into hers.

“Yes,” she gasped into his mouth, and his body felt alive and electric.

He could not believe this was happening.

And then, all of a sudden, a terrible wail tore them apart.

Dionysus rolled off Ariadne, his gaze going to the sky where something white and round soared through the air. At first, Dionysus thought it was a rock, but…it was screaming.

“Is that…a fucking sheep?” Ariadne asked.

They exchanged a look, and then a booming sound filled the air and the ground began to shake. Far above the canopy, they saw the cyclops, who seemed to be running after the sheep.

“Guess he likes to play with his food,” said Dionysus, looking at Ariadne, who rolled her eyes. “What?”

She didn’t say anything but started down the mountainside.

“Where are you going?”

“Well, we don’t need to go up anymore, do we?”

He vehemently disagreed, but that was mostly because he was still hard and his only source of relief was practically running away from him.

Stupid fucking sheep.

He got the impression that she was running from more than just the height of the mountain. She was running from what had happened between them, from how quickly things had escalated.

She was running from him.

“I’m taking you to your cyclops,” she said.

He smirked. He had let her lead for the last hour. Once she’d come to the bottom of the mountainous terrain, she’d started in the direction of the cyclops and the sheep. The issue was that the cyclops was huge, and his strides were miles, not feet.

“You think the cyclops will still be there when we make it out of this forest?”

“I’m not sure that’s my problem, given you’re the one with the debt.”

“Considering you’re the reason I have a debt, I think it is your problem.”

He didn’t really mean those words, and he could tell they hurt her because her steps faltered for the first time since they’d left the mountain.

“I… That isn’t what I meant,” Dionysus said.

He did not want Ariadne thinking that what had happened to her on Poseidon’s yacht was her fault. She shouldn’t have had to worry that Poseidon would assault her, but now, because the world valued his power and had for so long, she would never be safe from him.

“I think we both know what you meant,” she said.

“I didn’t—” He paused, frustrated. “Why do I always fuck up?”

She hesitated a step.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Look at where we are,” he said, gesturing to his surroundings. “All because I promised you we would find Medusa and it turns out, it’s probably best if we don’t find her at all. I should have just continued helping Hades look for the ophiotaurus. It would have been another way to Theseus.”

Ariadne paused and turned to face him, a line of trees just behind her. “That ophio…what?”

“The ophiotaurus,” he explained. “It’s a half-bull, half snake creature that will likely be our downfall. So everything I have done will be in vain anyway.”

“Has it been found?” she asked. “The ophiotaurus?”

“Not yet,” he said. That he knew of, at least.

“Then nothing has been in vain,” she said.

They stared at one another for a moment and his chest felt funny, eased by her words. She turned from him and stepped through the trees and screamed.

“Ari!”

Dionysus scrambled after her and was surprised when the ground gave way beneath his feet. He fell forward and rolled down the side of a shallow ravine. He came to a stop and groaned as he hit a large rock. Nearby, Ariadne sat up, holding her arm to her chest.

When the pain in Dionysus’s side had subsided, he met her gaze.

“Are you all right?”

“I think I…hurt my arm.”

Dionysus paled and crossed to her, kneeling in front of her. He took her hand in his and felt along her wrist and forearm. Though she winced, it didn’t seem broken. He let his power radiate through her, knowing she’d fallen just as hard as he had and would likely be sore.

“You know what might have prevented this?” he said, glancing at her as he worked.

“Fuck off, Dionysus,” she said, rolling her eyes.

He chuckled and helped her to her feet. He took in their surroundings, realizing that they were in fact standing on the edge of a cliff that dropped down into a massive canyon. In the valley below, amid green rolling hills, several sheep grazed.

“Well,” Ariadne said. “I found you sheep.”