33. Pandora

33

PANDORA

I fully intended to be a comfort to Eris tonight, not to end up on the couch with her mouth between my thighs. Or at least…I think I did. It’s hard to think clearly with her clever tongue working my clit. She has the most blissed-out expression on her face, as if she could spend hours in this exact position, wringing wave after wave of pleasure from me. I’m certainly not opposed to the idea.

But not tonight. Not when so much hangs in the balance.

I dig my hands into her long dark hair and tug her up to my mouth. She tastes of me and need. It’s too good; I keep expecting it to dispel the way a dream does. I moan against her lips. “We don’t have much time.”

“Fuck them.”

Gods, but I’m falling in love with this woman. It doesn’t matter that it’s happening far too fast and far too intensely. There’s no room for how things should be, only how they are. I can’t see a way through, no matter which angle I look at the problem from. That knowledge scares me more than I want to admit. If there’s no path through, then this ends in tragedy.

I’ve never been a fan of tragedies. I prefer romances with their guaranteed happily-ever-afters.

Desperation gives me the strength to flip us, to press Eris back to the couch and kiss her hard enough to make my head spin. She smells expensive, some perfume I could never afford. Not that I’d wear it. I prefer to trail my nose across her collarbone and inhale it right off her skin. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

She doesn’t waste her time with meaningless words of comfort that we both know would be a lie. Instead, she kisses me hard and delves her hand between my thighs. This time, I don’t stop her as she strums my pleasure higher and higher. I tell myself she needs this as much as I do, but the truth is always the same.

I am greedy when it comes to pleasure.

There is so little happiness in this world. Can I really be blamed for grasping the threads of what comes my way and clinging to it with all my strength? It never lasts, but there’s sweetness even in the loss. Or at least that’s what I tell myself when it happens again and again.

I don’t want to lose Eris, though. The thought of her being yet another casualty in the ambitious games of Minos and people like him makes me sick to my stomach. I pull her closer, kissing her as if my mouth can keep her with me, can ensure her safety.

A lie. All of it is a fucking lie.

That doesn’t stop me from coming against her fingers, my body shivering and shaking. I barely wait for the aftereffects to ease before I slide down her body and set my mouth to her pussy. She tastes better than I could have dreamed.

I’m starting to discover that’s just Eris… Better than I could have dreamed.

She sifts her fingers through my hair and lifts her hips. “Yes, right there.” Her low voice is breathy with need.

Knowing I brought her to this point makes me downright giddy. I follow her low urging, using the flat of my tongue to rub back and forth on her clit. Her breathing goes choppy and every muscle in her body tightens. “Don’t stop.”

Another night, I’d leave her on edge. Would see just how far I can push her before her patience runs out and she turns the tables on me. Not tonight. Tonight, I need her orgasm more than I need my next breath.

She cries out my name as she comes, the sound as sweet as the taste of her on my tongue. I give her one last long lick and then lift my head. Desire thrums in my blood, but we don’t have time to indulge. Still, I can’t stop myself from pressing a quick kiss to her thigh as I sit up.

Eris catches my wrist and pulls me down on top of her. She wraps her arms around me and inhales deeply. “I’m not ready to be done yet.”

“I know.” I settle against her, letting her hold me as our tensions ease. For how fierce and downright vicious this woman can be at times, she’s sweet right now. With me.

She sighs. “Things are going to get ugly tonight. Everyone is so damn stubborn.”

“I know that, too.” I smile even though it feels bitter. “Though I hope you’re including yourself in that list. You’re no wilting flower in danger of being steamrolled.”

Eris laughs a little. “No, I’m many things, but not that.” She sifts her fingers through my hair. “Things might be easier if I was. Let others take the lead and be content with following.”

I know she’s not intending it as criticism of me, but it’s hard not to take it as such. I tense. “Sometimes that’s the only way to live. Emphasis on live.”

“I will never fault a person for doing what it takes to survive,” she says quietly. “I’ve done a lot of things I’m not particularly proud of in the pursuit of surviving… But I always craved more. As soon as I was able to move out of my father’s house, I wanted enough power to ensure no one would make me feel helpless again.”

I understand that on a foundational level, even if I’ve gone about things differently. “Was it bad? With your father?”

She opens her mouth, but seems to reconsider whatever she was about to say. “Yes.” She shudders a little. “Yes, it was bad.”

“I’m sorry.” And I am. Even if she’s come from an incredibly privileged life, that doesn’t mean it was free of harm. Unfortunately, monsters exist in all forms, in all walks of life.

“There’s no going back in time and changing things. Even if time travel were possible, there’s no one powerful enough to challenge him. Or there wasn’t then.” She kisses my temple and nudges me to sit up. “It’s not like that in Olympus anymore, though the gods only know if that will be to our benefit or detriment.”

I understand. No matter how much I hate Minos, I can’t deny that he’s effective in pursuing his goals. Only someone like him—someone like Eris’s father—could come into an enemy city with a small household of people and take the first steps of bringing the entire population to their knees. I tuck my hair behind my ears. “I meant what I said this morning. I don’t know if you can convince Theseus to join your side, and without him, I don’t see how you have even a sliver of chance of succeeding against Minos.”

“Even with him, it’s still a long shot.” She shrugs a shoulder. “But the alternative is submitting to defeat, which is no alternative at all.” Eris’s lips quirk. “I fight, Pandora. It’s the only thing I know how to do. It might not be in an arena with a weapon in my hand, but it’s no less important.”

Worry worms its way through my stomach. I’m not a fighter. I run from danger, preferring to let flight be my response to fear. The only people I fight with are those I trust. Realization rolls through me in a slow wave. Guess we shot right past the falling stage and into fallen.

I swallow hard. “I don’t know how much help I’ll be, but I’ll try.”

Her smile is terrifyingly fragile. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” I rise unsteadily to my feet and grab my dress. “We might as well get some food ordered. Gods know, if Adonis is anything like Theseus, he’ll be starving by the time dinner rolls around.”

“Pandora.” Eris waits for me to look at her to continue, more tentative than I’ve ever heard her, as if feeling her way through each word. “I don’t know what the future brings or what it will look like for the…four…of us, but I’m glad you’re here.”

I’m glad I’m here, too. I don’t know where we end up or what it looks like, either, but I’m caught in the tide of Eris and Theseus and even Adonis. Maybe it’s naive to think that the only way through this is together, but I can’t shake the belief. I shimmy into my dress as Eris pulls on her clothes.

She hesitates and glances at my dress. “Would you like something more comfortable? I expect this won’t be a short night.” When I start to frown, she blushes. “I might have ordered in some clothes for you. Um, you know, just in case you wanted to sleep over at some point. I wanted you to be comfortable, and while I deeply appreciate the sexy dresses you wear, I know all too well that they’re not for lounging around the house.”

“You bought me clothes,” I say slowly. My stomach dips. It’s a sweet gesture, but Eris and I aren’t remotely the same size and if she misjudged, that’s going to feel…really bad.

Some of her embarrassment seems to flick away. “If you’ve got that look on your face because I overstepped, then that’s one thing, but if you’re underestimating me and thinking that I was ham-handed in this gift, then have a little faith.”

My throat feels tight. “I’m sure it’s a nice gesture, but—”

“Have a little faith,” she repeats. Eris slips her hand into mine before I can decide if I want to argue. She tows me down the hall, and I’m both surprised and strangely pleased when she turns to the door before her bedroom. She catches my look and gives a sheepish smile. “I do listen when you talk, you know. I want you in my life, but I’m not going to tie you down or shove you into a role that doesn’t feel good. I get the feeling you don’t want to play wife to me, and that’s okay. I’m happy to give you your space.” She pauses. “But I would like at least some of that space to be in proximity to me, no matter how you choose to utilize it.”

I don’t know what to say. I haven’t tried to date much up to this point. People either get the wrong idea about what I want in a relationship, or they have a significant problem with Theseus’s role in my life, which really just categorizes them under the first umbrella. There was a lovely person before we left Aeaea who seemed like they might be a good fit, at least in part, but then we left before I could fully realize that.

Eris opens the door and tugs me into the room. It’s decorated in similar vibes to the rest of the place, expensive and sensual. The comforter is a deep cerulean and there are a wide variety of pillows on the bed in white and varying shades of blue. Thick curtains hang over the large windows overlooking the city.

She walks to a doorway leading into a large closet. It’s mostly empty, but a handful of obviously new clothes hang near the front of it.

That sick feeling in my stomach rises again, but I try to do as she asked and have faith. I cross to the clothes and frown. These certainly aren’t Eris’s size. A quick look at the nearest tag has my brows rising. “These are my size.” I check another two, finding the same thing.

“Of course they are.” She sounds a little smug, but I don’t hold it against her. Not when she’s grinning widely with happiness lighting her dark eyes. “Do you like them?”

As promised, they’re comfortable lounge clothing. Expensive, yes, but nothing so overt that it would give me the excuse to refuse the gift. I almost laugh. As if I would. Maybe there are people out there who value their pride more than fancy gifts, but the latter are few and far between in my world and I’m not about to turn them down.

I cross back to her and go up on my toes to kiss her. “Thank you. They’re lovely.”

A sound from the entrance of her penthouse has her lifting her head. Her frown clears when a deep voice calls her name. “Oh, that’s Adonis.” She presses another quick kiss to my lips. “Why don’t you get changed and I’ll get that food ordered?”

“Okay.” I turn back to the clothes as she slips out of the room. Impossible not to take this evening as a sign that we could really work. Oh, my rose-tinted glasses aren’t so thick that I don’t see the wide variety of pitfalls awaiting us, but Eris is one of the most formidable people I’ve ever met. If anyone can make a nontraditional romantic situation work and keep herself and Theseus alive in the process, it’s her.

I get the feeling that Adonis will go where she—and where Theseus—goes. Which leaves us with the last potential wrench in this tangled situation. Theseus. I don’t know what he’ll do. He’s surprised me a few times since he married Eris, but that doesn’t mean that he’s going to counteract more than a decade’s worth of loyalty to Minos.

No matter how much I desperately want him to.