17 The Minotaur

17

The Minotaur

Ariadne cries herself out and then falls asleep in my arms. She's so fucking strong, but even strong people need a place and time to crumble. She's always come to me in the past when things become too ugly in her head. It warms my heart that she did it tonight, even with everything else going on. But I can't stop thinking about everything she said. The way the words poured out of her like poison.

I carry her into my bedroom and take a moment to strip out of my shirt that she's soaked with her tears. Then I stretch out next to her, waiting until she instinctively finds her way to me and presses against my side.

I fucked up.

I knew shit was bad with Minos. He's even worse at being a father than he is at being a person. He might not beat the shit out of his kids, but they both wear emotional scars with his name on them. It was my mistake for not realizing the depth of those wounds. If I had, maybe I would've anticipated Ariadne running to the Olympians instead of me when things got too scary. For better or worse, I'm attached to her father in her head.

Her brother didn't help. Later, I might have more grace for him. Right now, all I know is that talking with him caused Ariadne enough distress to seek me out. As much as I love that she came to me, it hurts that she needed to in the first place.

"Only a little while longer, sweetheart." I speak softly so I won't wake her, the endearment slipping out as naturally as breathing. I can't stop myself from stroking my hand down her spine and urging her a little bit closer. Someday, she'll come to me simply because she wants to be in my presence, not because she's fleeing worse nightmares.

I let her sleep as long as I can, but I wake her well before dawn. "It's time to get going." She mutters a protest and nuzzles my shoulder. Ariadne was never one to spring to wakefulness. I give her a light shake. "You've got to get back to your fiancé."

That snaps her eyes open. I can practically see the moment she registers what happened—that she came to me, that she cried herself to sleep in my arms, and that she's waking up in my bed. At least she doesn't skitter away from me. She blinks slowly. "What time is it?"

"Four."

"Damn. Okay. I didn't mean to fall asleep." She sits up and rubs her eyes, still puffy from crying. "I'm s—"

"Don't you dare apologize. Not to me. Not for this."

She pauses, her knuckles still pressed to her eye. "You say that, but you're mad at me."

I start to deny it, but she's not wrong. "Yeah. I am. But not because you came to me, and not because you got an abortion."

"Asterion. I wish you'd…" She takes a deep breath and shakes her head. "Never mind. I'll have the blueprints to you by tomorrow night."

She's retreating from me again, and the realization makes me want to snarl. For someone so smart, she seems determined not to see the truth of me. Of us . Again, I wonder if Icarus is right. If this has only ever been one-sided, if all she feels for me is lust and fear. "Okay," I finally say.

"Oh. I forgot." She doesn't quite shift away, but the distance between us seems to grow. "Hera is willing to clear the way for you to take down Dodona Tower, as long as you promise not to kill anyone but Zeus. It's a good deal, and it means only one person will die instead of hundreds. It protects your team, too. Less resistance and all that."

It's interesting that Hera didn't inform Ariadne of our conversation. It might simply be because they didn't have a moment alone yesterday, but I don't think so. That woman is holding her cards close to her chest. She wants her allies to think that they know everything there is to know, but she's not telling the left hand what the right hand is doing. "I'll let her know the time and day we plan to bring it down. It's on her if she wants to evacuate the nearby buildings or not." I have no interest in mass casualties. I honestly don't give a fuck if Zeus lives or dies, either. But keeping Hera happy means keeping Ariadne safe—from the Olympians, at least. It's a small enough price to pay.

Ariadne frowns at me. "Just like that?"

It shouldn't continue to sting that she thinks so little of me, and yet here we are. "The tower coming down is the important part. The rest is just details." Dodona Tower…and the barrier. I don't trust Hermes as far as I can throw her, but I'm willing to wait and see if she'll follow through on our conversation. If she does, it will make my life significantly easier. Even if it means waiting a little longer than I like.

"Oh. Okay." She slides to the edge of the mattress and stands, seeming almost reluctant to leave. That makes two of us. I'm fighting the instinct to drag her back to the bed and lose all track of time. Only the fact that staying here too long will put her in danger keeps me from giving in.

But she surprises me.

Her gaze lands on my chest, sliding from one scar to another. I have more than a few. Plenty from before I came to live in Minos's household, but nearly half of them came after. Minos doesn't believe in coddling his weapons in training. Not to mention all the assignments he sent me on that went wrong. I probably should be dead a half-dozen times over, but I always managed to drag myself back to the villa where his team could patch me up.

To drag myself back to her .

"Asterion…" She licks her lips. "It's like I'm addicted. I get close to you, and I lose all sense of self-preservation." She speaks softly, almost to herself.

Because part of you recognizes me as yours, even if the rest of you won't acknowledge it . I don't say the words aloud. I doubt she'll believe me. I just sit there and wait to see what she'll do next.

Again, she surprises me. She hesitates, twisting her hands together in front of her. "Thank you. For last night. For your kindness. For taking care of me."

"Sweetheart—" Again, that damned endearment slips out without my meaning to.

"I'm not ready to leave yet." She throws herself into my arms hard enough to send me back onto the mattress. And then her mouth is on mine. If I were a better man, a kinder one, I would stop this. If I had any of the self-preservation that she seems to possess in spades, I would deny her until she acknowledges the truth between us.

I don't.

Instead, I pull her closer. "I'm not ready for you to leave yet, either." There's no going slow this time, no playing with her pussy for hours, no taunting her. There's only the frantic scramble of hands shoving clothing to the side so that nothing remains between us. Desperation is thick on my tongue, twining with the taste of her.

Why is it always like this with us? Stolen fucking moments. Secrecy. Frenzy. It feels as bad as it feels good.

And then I sink into her and nothing else matters. Just her wet pussy welcoming me home, her fingernails digging into my ass, urging me deeper, her whimpering little cries that rise with each stroke. Frantic. Fast. Rough. I drive into her and she rises to meet me. I barely have the presence of mind to shove a hand between us and stroke her clit, to make sure she follows me right to the edge and then over. To pull out at the last moment and finish all over her stomach instead of deep inside her.

I stare down at my come lashing her light-brown skin. Another time, the sight might fill me with satisfaction, a temporary marking of ownership. Right now, it feels like a lie. She's still fighting the truth of us, and I'm a fucking fool, because I keep giving her exactly what she wants even though she plans to get out of this bed and leave me. Again.

I squeeze her thigh, right over the scar of my bite mark, as much to comfort myself as a reminder that it's still there. "I'm going to come to you today."

She blinks those big eyes up at me. "What?"

She won't believe me if I tell her that I'm worried about her. That I'm not sure all the power players actually have her best interests in mind. Right now, she's leading with lust, so lust is where I'll meet her. "Tomorrow night isn't soon enough, sweetheart. I need this pussy again."

"Asterion, you can't say things like that."

That I need her? Or that I called her sweetheart ? I swallow down the questions, deciding it's better if I don't know. "What are your plans for the day?"

She worries her bottom lip and then looks down to where my orgasm marks her. Her thighs shake a little on either side of me. "Um… I think there's a dinner or something. Dionysus and I are supposed to be seen as a couple desperately in love, but it's really for the Thirteen to be seen as a united front."

The thought of her playing loving fiancée makes me see red. I release her thigh and move back. "No panties, Ariadne. I want you ready for me." If fucking her rough and dirty is the only way she'll have me, then I'll damn well do it.

"I can't. We almost got caught yesterday. There will be press there. If I'm photographed with you…"

"Then I guess you better be careful. Do you remember what I said in the dressing room?"

"That you would fuck me at a party in front of all of Olympus." Her voice wavers a little bit, as if she can't decide if she likes it or not. "But, Asterion—"

"Be ready for me, Ariadne. Or I'll bend you over the table right in front of your fiancé and all those cameras."

She squeezes her thick thighs together in response to my words. Yeah, she likes the thought of that a lot. She might not trust me entirely, but she eats up the fact that I want to claim her in front of everyone.

It pisses me off that the only thing she'll take from me is sex, but at least she's not running screaming into the early morning darkness. I'm trying to see that shit as an improvement. More, she came to me when she was upset. Just like she used to. Maybe she doesn't understand the significance of that, but I do.

I really want to believe it is significant and I'm not looking into things that aren't real.

I watch her walk toward the door, moving slow enough that it's obvious she's not eager to leave. "Ariadne." I wait for her to turn and meet my eyes before I continue. "Don't trust Hera. Or Dionysus. Or any of them. They're playing benevolent captor now, while you're doing what they want. The second you push back, that will change."

She smiles, but her dark eyes are sad. "I know."

It's on the tip of my tongue to ask her to stay. To say, Fuck everyone, we'll figure this out on our own . She's gone before I have a chance.

I sit there for a long time. I'm not one to doubt. At thirteen, I set my eyes on the girl and knew she would be mine. Knew that, in a way, she already was. As soon as I realized whose daughter she was, I knew it wouldn't be easy. But this? This feels like standing in a pit of vipers. I haven't been bitten yet, but it's only a matter of time.

There's no way forward but through. The steps of the plan haven't changed. The tower comes down; the barrier quickly follows. I take Ariadne and get the fuck out of here. We can figure out the rest once we're free of this place and her family. She's not going to be content to leave her brother behind, so I guess he's coming, too. I don't exactly relish the thought of spending more time in close quarters with Icarus, but Ariadne will never forgive me if something happens to him.

It's a lot easier to kill people than it is to keep them alive.

I spend the day going through the motions. I meet with Aeacus, but his plan is heavily dependent on the blueprints that we don't have yet. I check in with Minos and sit on the phone with him for ten minutes while he rants and raves. Theseus has cut him out completely, to the point where he won't even entertain a visit. I'm proud of the fucker despite myself. He might be wearing Eris's collar now, but it seems like he welcomes it. With him gone, Minos has lost what little leverage he had with the Thirteen. They've cut him off completely. I'm pretty sure continuing to get close to them isn't part of the plan; he just doesn't like to be told no.

By the time I manage to get him off the phone, the sun is sinking toward the horizon. I send a quick text to Hermes, but she leaves me on read. Typical.

Then I change into one of my rarely used suits and head for the restaurant where Ariadne will be tonight. Pan's restaurant, the Dryad, in fact. It's a small miracle that Dionysus is still allowed through the door after what he let happen, but that's just Olympus. They take the old saying of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer to heart in a way I've never seen before. Not even on Aeaea.

I don't bother to come to the front door. I'll be turned away for sure. Instead, I slip in through the kitchens. The head chef turns with a vicious look on his face, but I hold up a wad of cash before he can order me out. He stalks to me, a tall, lean Black man with dark-brown skin and a shaved head. "I'm not giving private shows. Get out of here. I'm busy."

"I don't want any trouble." I hold up the cash again. "A friend of mine is having dinner here tonight, but she's on the anxious side, so she's not likely to eat if left to her own devices. I just want a chance to feed her."

The chef narrows his eyes. "I know who you are."

Everyone seems to these days. At least he doesn't accuse me of coming here to murder him. "Like I said, I'm not here to make trouble. You have my word."

He doesn't seem like he believes me, but he grabs the cash out of my hand and shoves it into the back pocket of his pants. "All of the individual dining rooms are claimed tonight. The only thing I have to offer you is my office."

Hardly a romantic location, but at least it's guaranteed to be private. "That will work." Guess that shit this morning did fuck me up, because I'm determined to show Ariadne that I'm good for more than fucking. That I'll take care of her better than anyone else in this fucked-up world. And if anyone dares to threaten her? Well, killing is what I do. What I'm good at.

It would be a privilege to kill for her.