Chapter XXXI: Dionysus

CHAPTER XXXI

DIONYSUS

Dionysus and Ariadne found a narrow path down the side of the cliff, but their progress was slow because Ariadne was afraid of heights, though she still refused to admit it.

“I’ll carry you,” Dionysus said.

“No. What if you fall?”

“I’m not going to fall. I’m a fucking god,” he said, annoyed.

“As if that’s somehow impressive,” she snapped.

“I fucking healed you!”

“And yet we’re still stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean because you can’t compete with Poseidon’s power.”

He ground his teeth, wishing her words didn’t sting. He knew his abilities did not compare to the God of the Sea, and he had thought often over the last two days that none of this would have happened had he had more power—had he been better.

Her words seemed to bother her just as much as they had him, because her shoulders fell and she let her hands drop from the wall, shuffling toward him. He watched her approach, feeling heat creep into his body the closer she came.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

He wanted to say something sarcastic, to draw her anger to the surface again, because that was more comfortable, but instead, he touched her cheek, brushing his fingers across her skin. She didn’t pull away.

“I think you’re hungry,” he said.

She nodded and then let her head fall against his chest. She didn’t fight him as he swept her into his arms. He carried her until he found an opening in the rocky wall—a shallow cave where they could rest for the night.

He left to gather wood for a fire. When he returned, they sat beside one another on a large log he’d dragged from the back of the cave and ate figs. Dionysus did not hate the fruit, but they reminded him of sex, and given that he sat in close proximity to the woman he’d desperately desired over the last month, eating them was torture. Their pulp was sweet like honey, their juice a fine syrup.

He glanced at Ariadne, who was sucking her fingers clean, and thought about how she probably tasted just like this, but then she spoke, and his thoughts came crashing down under the weight of his past.

“How long did you live with madness?” she asked.

Dionysus looked down at his half-eaten fig.

“A long time,” he said, which was not a very good answer, but in truth, he did not know. “Long enough to wander the world…long enough to do horrible things.”

Hera had known what she was doing when she had inflicted such a punishment. He’d been completely aware of the horror he caused but unable to stop it. He had wandered from country to country, body high and mind euphoric, dancing and drinking, dragging along followers who were just as crazed. Anyone who stood in his way or questioned his divinity faced his bitter wrath. He’d sentenced men to be torn to pieces by their daughters, punished them by killing their sons. He had driven people mad to the point of death.

“It was awful,” she said.

Her words twisted in his gut, and suddenly, he had no appetite. He sat the fruit aside.

“I did not want to do it,” he said, but he had not known what else to do. It seemed like the better alternative given the threat Poseidon posed.

“I don’t blame you,” she said, though he wasn’t sure he believed that or if it would remain true. “I’m sorry you had to live like that for so long.”

He said nothing, preferring not to indulge in this line of conversation. It took his mind to places he preferred to keep buried.

They were quiet, and the only sound was the fire crackling as it burned before them, casting shadows on the wall.

“Why did you become a detective?” he asked.

“I wanted to help people,” she said.

“And now?” he glanced at her, but she was staring into the fire.

“I guess I just found out how hard it is.”

It was strange to hear her say that—to acknowledge that it was hard to help people who did not want it, especially given that she felt responsible for her sister and was determined to rescue her from Theseus.

“It isn’t fair,” Dionysus said at length.

“What isn’t fair?”

“That Theseus had you,” he said, and while he spoke honestly, he couldn’t look at her. “He didn’t deserve you. He still doesn’t, and yet he takes up so much space in your head.”

He would give anything to replace him—to fill her mind every minute of every day.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered and hesitated. “You should rest. I will watch over you while you sleep.”

“I do not wish to sleep,” she said, and there was a heat to her voice that drew his attention. They stared at each other, and the air between them felt thick and heavy. It always did, but this was somehow different, sharper. He could taste her desire.

He swallowed hard.

“Then what do you wish to do?”

He knew what he wanted—had wanted since the moment he met her—but that yearning did not prepare him for what she did next.

She leaned in and kissed him once, her lips barely brushing his. It was a chaste kiss, and he knew she was capable of more—he had experienced it before. When she went to pull back, he followed, anchoring his hand behind her head as his mouth collided with hers. She did not pull away, and he kissed her hard, channeling every ounce of frustration she’d built within him since the beginning.

This, he thought, is how badly I want you.

When he broke away from her, it was because he knew he would take this too far, but it was somehow harder to face her now, her eyes dark and her lips gleaming.

“I want you,” she said.

Dionysus started to speak but no words came out. He tried again. “Are you sure you didn’t hit your head when you fell earlier?”

“I’m of sound mind, Dionysus,” she said, her voice taking on a frustrated edge. “I’m asking you to have sex with me. Are you saying you don’t want me?”

“No,” he said quickly. “That is not what I am saying at all. Fuck, Ari. I just want you to be sure.”

She held his gaze. “I asked for it. I want it.”

He swallowed hard. He wasn’t sure why he was having such a hard time with this. It was everything he had dreamed about since he’d met her.

“Why me?”

She seemed to think the answer was obvious because she frowned and shook her head a little.

“Because you’ll take care of me. Because…you have taken care of me.”

Dionysus did not know what to say. There was a part of him that could not believe this was happening, no matter how much he’d desired it, no matter how many times he’d fantasized about it, no matter how often she’d aroused him just by being…her.

She rose to her feet and pulled her shirt over her head, baring her beautiful, full breasts. Her pants followed, and for a few glorious moments, she stood completely naked before him, the firelight and shadow dancing over her skin.

His cock thickened and throbbed.

She placed her hands on his shoulders as she lowered into his lap.

“Touch me,” she whispered, guiding his hands to her breasts.

He obeyed her, squeezing her soft flesh, letting his fingers trace lightly over her nipples until they peaked, then he drew them into his mouth. All the while, she ground against his length, careful and slow. Each thrust made his head rush, and when he lifted his mouth to hers, he timed the thrust of his tongue with her body’s movement.

“You are glorious,” he said, tearing away from her mouth. “Up.”

He was so used to her arguing that he expected resistance, but in this, she obeyed, and as she rose, his face was level with her center. Her curls were dark and he could smell her sex. It made his mouth water.

He let his hands slide down over her ass and met her gaze as he kissed along one thigh and then the other before guiding her to brace one of her feet on the log where he still sat. He rubbed his fingers along her opening, her skin like silk, hot and warm, and when he buried his head between her thighs and gathered her moisture against his tongue, she tasted just like the fucking fig—honeyed and sweet.

She breathed in tandem with his strokes, her fingers tightening in his hair as he directed most of his attention to a single point inside her while Ariadne rubbed her clit. He pulled his head back to watch her expression as they both worked together, moving at an equal pace to chase her release.

She clenched around his fingers hard and her hands clamped down on his shoulders as her whole body shuddered. Dionysus released her and rose to his feet, capturing her mouth against his, pulling her hard against him, ready to feel her heat on his cock. He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the wall, unwilling to take her on the hard ground of the cave.

It wasn’t how he’d ever imagined this, but he would never miss the chance to know her in this way.

He pressed her back into the smoothest part of the wall as he kissed her, and when he pulled back, her eyes smoldered like embers. He could feel the impact of her gaze like a blow to the chest. He wanted her to look at him like this every fucking day.

“Undress,” she said, pulling at his shirt.

He let her slide down his body and obeyed, and as he removed his shirt, she went for the button of his pants, kneeling before him as she pushed them down his legs. She didn’t wait for him to step out of them before her hand closed over his cock and her mouth was on him.

He took a breath and then groaned, bracing one hand against the wall, twining the other in her hair.

She concentrated on the tip of his cock while she fisted his length, gently squeezing until he thought he would explode. He pulled her to her feet, slamming his mouth against hers as he took her into his arms again. He shifted her so that her shoulder blades met the wall. His cock was between her thighs, nestled against her heat. It made the bottom of his stomach knot with anticipation.

“Where do you want me to come?”

It wasn’t the most romantic question, but it was important all the same, and he’d rather know now before he was too lost in her to think.

Her lips hovered near his as she answered, “Inside me.”

The only way to describe how he felt was giddy, like he’d never fucking done this before, but he hadn’t, not with her, and this mattered in ways he couldn’t explain. He managed to lift her enough to settle the head of his arousal against her opening, and then he gripped her ass, spreading her as she slid down his length. They both groaned, and Ariadne’s head rolled back against the wall as he moved her and his hips.

“Gods, you are perfect,” he said, leaning forward to press a kiss to her mouth, then her jaw, then her chest. She felt so good and her muscles clenched around him like a hand jerking him off. He could not ask for more. He could not ask for better.

She was all there was, the center of his universe, and the more she responded to his body, the more powerful he felt.

“Fuck,” Ariadne moaned, her voice vibrating with his thrusts. “You feel so good.”

“Is it what you imagined?” he asked.

“Yes,” she breathed, one of her hands moving to her breasts, and he marveled at how she touched herself. “Gods, yes, yes, yes.”

Her voice went higher and her body tightened around him, and then she released all at once, suddenly heavier in his hands. But he did not care as he held her, driving his hips forward toward his own release, and when he came, he let his head fall into the crook of her neck, his legs shaking.

He couldn’t move for a long moment, fearful he might fall and take her with him, and when he finally set her on her feet, he felt cold, the heat they’d shared suddenly gone. As he stared down at her, he realized he didn’t know what to do now that they were finished.

Did he kiss her?

“Are you okay?” he asked instead.

“Yes,” she said, her voice quiet.

He hesitated.

Fuck, why was this so hard?

“Let me get your clothes,” he mumbled and shuffled away to retrieve her shirt and her pants.

“Thank you,” she whispered as he handed them to her.

They dressed in silence and then sat beside each other in front of the fire just as they had before they’d fucked. He could still feel her on his skin, smell her sex in the air. He was hyperaware of how she felt beside him, both close but also so distant.

“Do you regret it?” he asked suddenly.

Her eyes widened and she met his gaze. “No. Do you?”

“No,” he said. “I never will.”

---

Dionysus woke with one arm hooked around Ariadne’s stomach. The other was under her head and numb. After they’d had sex, they sat in a strained and awkward quiet. He had meant it when he’d told her he would never regret what happened between them, and while she’d said no in the aftermath, today was a new day, and it was possible she might see everything that had transpired between them in a different light.

Even with these doubts, he marveled at her beauty, hardly able to comprehend that he had woken up to her.

When she stirred, dread crept into his chest, roiling in his stomach as he tried to prepare himself for her rejection, but when she opened her eyes, she didn’t roll from his grasp but turned to face him. He found he was just as confused as he was last night after they’d had sex. He no longer knew what to do with his hands, though he was highly aware of where they lay, splayed across her lower stomach.

“Good morning,” he said.

She smirked, her eyes dropping to his lips. “Good morning.”

He felt like that was enough of an invitation and kissed her, his lips brushing hers softly. He had every intention of letting that be enough, but he had not accounted for her enthusiasm, which was like a hot claw curling into his stomach.

Her mouth widened and he took her deeper, tongues clashing. She pulled on his shirt, luring him on top of her, and he gladly obliged, his hips settling against hers, and as they descended further into this mad passion, his thoughts went wild—they were going to fuck again.

This was more than he’d ever imagined.

A sudden, sharp bleating tore them apart.

Dionysus wasn’t sure what it was about the sound, but it had sent his heart into a complete panic, and when he looked up from Ariadne, he saw a sheep at the entrance of the cave, its narrow pupils unnervingly focused on them.

Ariadne giggled.

“Go away,” Dionysus said, throwing a small pebble in its direction. The sheep offered another wavering cry.

“Don’t hurt him!” Ariadne said, pushing against Dionysus’s chest as she sat up.

He wanted to groan, knowing there was no reclaiming what might have been now that they had been interrupted.

“He’s lucky it’s just a pebble,” Dionysus said. That was twice now he had been cockblocked by a fucking sheep.

He hated this island.

He fell onto his back and stared up at the cavernous ceiling while Ariadne inched closer to the animal. It was lucky Ariadne was nice, because if Dionysus had gotten near it first, he would have tossed it across the island like the cyclops had done yesterday.

As he worked through his frustration, the cave, which was full of morning light, darkened. He turned his head in time to see a large eye block the opening, and then a giant hand shoved its way into the mountain’s side.

“Ariadne!” Dionysus shouted as she screamed, enveloped by the cyclops’s fingers. As the monster tore her away, parts of the cave came with it, and the ground shook beneath his feet. Dionysus summoned his thyrsus and dodged falling rock, racing toward the edge of the cave, catapulting through the air to rescue Ariadne, but the cyclops’s other hand closed around him. Trapped beneath his fingers, Dionysus thrust the sharp end of his thyrsus into the cyclops’s palm. The monster screamed and then slung him away.

He flew through the air and hit the earth, moving through each layer as if it wasn’t a solid thing beneath his body. When he finally came to a stop and managed to climb out of the hole his body had made, Ariadne and the cyclops were gone.