15. Orpheus

15

ORPHEUS

I sit in the back of the car for a long time. Our driver, a buff white woman with short blond hair and snake tattoos, grudgingly left the engine running for me before she followed Eurydice into the restaurant. I don’t need the faint heat coursing from the vents, but I do appreciate the gesture. It gives me time to think. Up to this point, I’ve mostly been flying by feel. I would’ve done anything to prevent being sent away. I didn’t expect to enjoy it so much though.

And now? After this morning, everything is crystallizing into a hope I never thought I would fulfill. I don’t want this to end once I’ve paid penance to Eurydice’s satisfaction. I didn’t think it was possible to earn her trust again, but now I wonder.

And then there’s Charon.

Every time I think of him, I expect to feel a stab of jealousy. Eurydice is beautiful; she always has been. There’s something about her that makes people want to gather her up and put her on a shelf. I’m guilty of it myself. I wanted to hoard her time and her presence for me and me alone. She was my muse, after all. As much as I enjoyed the way people’s gazes would linger on her whenever we were in public, there was a part of me that wanted to throw my coat over her and shield her from their attention.

I don’t feel that way with Charon. Watching her ride his cock…his mouth…his hands…it pulls at parts of me I didn’t know existed. Seeing her come on his tongue while he shoved his cock down my throat was an experience bordering on religious.

In the past, I preferred to put my own spin on reality in my paintings. A portrait where the subject is identifiable, yes, but I like to insert fantastical elements that deepen the meaning. I’ve never been overly drawn to Impressionism or any of the styles that leave too much up for interpretation though.

Sitting in this car, with the memory of last night flowing through my mind, my fingertips itch again. I don’t know how to convey the tangled feeling in my chest into color and movement, but for the first time in so many months, I want to try.

I lean back and close my eyes. Eurydice has always felt a graceful blue to me, but with lust and need riding her hard—and that delicious thread of dominance—she bleeds over into magenta. She is all bold strokes and sensual curves. Charon, on the other hand, is a red so dark it’s almost black. His desire is not anything as simple as lust. He wants me, he needs her, and he is the framework that holds this entire experience in place. He is both the grounding force and the boundary that keeps us safe. His presence won’t stop us from cascading into ruin, but it would be all but guaranteed without him involved.

And me? I’ve never been one for self-portraits, but this image would not be complete without my presence. A fragile lacework of pale blue twined with lilac morphing into red at the edges.

I can’t quite see how the three fit together seamlessly, but the threads are there all the same. In this moment, I hope with all my heart that life can imitate art. But then, I haven’t painted this yet, have I? I don’t know if I’m even capable of doing it anymore.

The door opens, startling me. I open my eyes to find Eurydice leaning down to catch my gaze. She glances over her shoulder, looking almost guilty. “Let’s go.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask her where her sister is, or at least her security detail. I don’t. I have a feeling that to ask is to be left behind. She’s allowing me to come with her, trusting me this much, and I won’t do anything to make her doubt that decision. I scramble out of the back seat and follow her down the sidewalk at a quick clip. We’re not quite running, but it’s increasingly obvious that she’s going rogue. “Charon’s not going to like this,” I murmur.

“I’ll deal with him when I get back to the lower city.” We turn the corner, and she slows down enough for me to catch up without rushing. She shoots me a sharp look. “Tattling won’t earn you any points with anyone.”

I hold up my hands in surrender. “I am a vault. Take me where you will.” The words come out a little more serious than I intend, but I don’t take them back. It’s only been two days back in her presence, and I’m willing to do a whole lot more than crawl in order not to be sent away.

“We’ll see.”

We walk three more blocks before she flags down a taxi. I follow her into the back seat and wait for the car to pull away from the curb to ask, “Where are we going?”

“I need to see a woman about a thing.” For a long moment, I think she’ll leave it there, but she sighs and slouches against the seat. “How caught up on current events are you?”

“Enough. Most of what I know comes from the gossip magazines, but it’s easy enough to read between the lines. Minos is the enemy, or at least the first wave of the enemy. It seems like his foster son went rogue when he relinquished the Hephaestus title, but the family has still done a damn good job of destabilizing the city.”

Eurydice gives me a pointed look. “Not just a pretty face.”

A year ago I would’ve made a quip about her thinking I’m pretty, but I just shrug and give a pained smile. “I am Apollo’s brother, after all.”

“Yes, but you’ve always been his brother. You’ve never paid attention to politics that don’t directly affect you before now.” She tucks her hair behind her ears and lowers her voice. “After Minos’s party, Eris approached me with some information. Ariadne isn’t as on board with her father’s plans as it would seem. She’s also far cleverer than anyone notices. She sees things, hears things that will be incredibly useful to us if she’ll share that information.”

I consider that as the cab pulls to a stop in front of the university. If it’s easy enough to read between the lines of current gossip, Eurydice might as well have lit up a neon sign over her head. “No one except Eris knows you’re doing this, do they?”

“It’s a long shot, and Ariadne is easily spooked. Better that I try on my own. If I’m successful, then my sisters can yell at me about it later. If I fail, no one needs to know.”

“Except me.”

“Except you.”

It’s the smallest trust, but it is trust. Even so, I can’t entirely celebrate. Eurydice is meeting with the daughter of the enemy, and while I think she’s smarter than anyone gives her credit for, that doesn’t mean that she can’t get in over her head. If Ariadne is as clever she says, she might be laying a trap. It’s been done before, after all. “It’s not safe.”

“It’s Olympus. There’s nothing about the city that’s safe. I know that better than anyone.” She climbs out of the cab and starts toward the gardens that the university boasts on its grounds.

I told myself I wouldn’t push her, but I can’t let that statement stand. I pay the cab driver and hurry after her, my guilt so thick that it chokes the breath from my lungs. I catch up to her just as she enters the gardens. “I’m sorry. I know words don’t mean a goddamn thing when you experienced harm, but I’m so fucking sorry, Eurydice. I should’ve known that there was more going on, but I was so selfish that it never even occurred to me until…” Until I’d seen the headlines. I may play the part of the pretty fool, but I’ve always prided myself on seeing the rhythm of things. Of understanding what isn’t being said. There wasn’t a single positive reason that Eurydice would be in the lower city. Only negative ones. By the time I realized it the next day, it was too late.

“I know.”

Her quiet confidence stops me short, and then I have to scramble to catch up again. “What do you mean you know?”

“You’re right—you were a selfish prick. Maybe you still are, but the only thing you ever harmed was my heart. I don’t believe that you would have set me up if you knew what Zeus really planned.”

Maybe her words should reassure me, but somehow they make it so much worse. Because she’s right; I did harm her heart. “I didn’t say I was a prick.”

“Am I wrong?”

Well…no. “I don’t understand how you can even look me in the face. Why didn’t you turn away when I came to you on the bridge?”

She slows her pace, and we take several turns through the gardens in silence. I haven’t come here since I graduated, but I used to spend a lot of time haunting these pathways. No matter what time of year it is, the gardens are a riot of inspiration.

They have nothing on Eurydice.

She finally stops and turns to face me. “I loved you.”

“Loved. Past tense.”

“What do you want from me, Orpheus?” She crosses her arms over her chest and glares at me. “I have a lot of conflicting emotions right now, all campaigning for supremacy. I don’t know what I’m feeling at any given moment. Sometimes I still love you. Sometimes I really would like to run you over with a car. It varies.”

I know I should be focusing on her wanting to run me over with a car, but all I can hear is those four words. I still love you. The fledgling hope in my chest sprouts a second set of wings and beats madly as if trying to escape my rib cage. “I still love you too.”

She curses and throws up her hands. “You are one of the most infuriating people I’ve ever met.”

I grin. Her irritation only increases my joy. We have a chance. We have better than a chance. If the love is still there, then we can figure out the rest. I may not always be the smartest person in the room, but even I know better than to say that out loud. “I’m sorry.” I do my best to sound meek and repentant. From the look she gives me, both irritated and amused, I don’t do a good job of it.

Her phone pings, and then pings again and again and again. Eurydice pulls it out of her purse and her expression goes waxen. “Oh, fuck. We need to hurry.”

I almost asked her who we’re meeting, but the risk of her sending me away if I irritate her too much is too high. I’ll find out my answers soon enough.

Eurydice hurries through the pathways, moving with an assurance that tells me she’s definitely been here recently. She’s not going to school here right now. From my understanding, she dropped out at the start of winter quarter last year. Another fault to lay at my feet. I’ve cost her so much, she must be a damned goddess to still love me after it all.

Most days I don’t even love me.

I get my answers as we walk through the doors to the greenhouse and into balmy heat. I shake out my hands, which instantly start prickling from the change in temperature. If the gardens outside reflect the change in seasons, the various plants readying themselves for winter, in here it’s a permanent summer.

The woman who steps into view is one I haven’t met personally, but after a few seconds, I place her. Ariadne. She’s only been photographed with her father a handful of times since arriving in Olympus, but the woman in front of me hardly looks like the same person. Oh, she has the same light-brown skin, curvy body, and straight black hair, but she’s wearing a pair of leggings and a long sweatshirt that clings to her hips and waist and chest. She also doesn’t have on a drop of makeup, and it’s clear she hasn’t been sleeping well by the circles under her dark eyes.

Those eyes take me in with suspicion, which she turns on Eurydice. “You were supposed to come alone.”

“Consider Orpheus an extension of me.” Her sharp tone softens, and she takes a step forward. “What’s going on? You said we wouldn’t be able to meet for a while, but your texts seemed pretty panicked.”

“Yeah.” Her full lower lip quivers. “I need you to get me out, Eurydice. I need you to do it right now.”