Page 47 of Scion of Chaos

I trail off when the despair weighs me down enough that it becomes too much of an effort to speak. I just stare off through the windows, abstractly aware of the fact that I’m in an actualprisonwhich feels more like home than the home I escaped from, and I’ve barely even been here for a day.

“It wasn’t luck, Nemea. It was…” He pauses to look over his shoulder as if someone might overhear, then leans closer, which makes me lean closer over my empty plate. “It wasFate.”

I’m tempted to laugh at how absurd his manner is right now, except I’ve heard enough about Fate over the past few weeks at St. George that I should probably take him seriously.

I lean closer and whisper back, “So fucking what?”

Asterius blinks and sits back, staring at me in shock for a moment before a chuckle escapes, gradually transforming into an all-out belly roll of a laugh. I stare, open-mouthed and awed by his …everything. He’s huge, intimidating, and so loud the windows vibrate. But I feel the laugh down to my bones. Deeper.

In the midst of it, I realize I’m wet again because of this big lug’s laugh. There’s no logic to it. I mean, he is objectively a total snack—or more like a whole five-course meal, if I’m being honest. Even the monstrous angularity of his face is beautiful the more I look at it. His features are super expressive, the designs on his forehead enhancing every expression, and his amusement contagious. His abs tense with each guffaw, and I just sit with my chin propped on my hand and take him in.

Finally he heaves a breath and wipes his eyes, then looks at me, still smiling. I smile back.

“Why did you whisper?” I ask.

He rests a hand on the tabletop, tapping his fingers in a light rhythm. “Because Tartarus is Chaos’ creation, and Fate and Chaos are not friends. So to suggest that Fate had a hand in bringing you here would not go over well.” He lifts his gaze to the ceiling, pressing his lips in a tight line before dropping his gaze back to mine. “But the signs are hard to ignore. You called to Pan and Vesh. Typhon too. You’ve already bedded four of the guards without hesitation. Most of the others responded to you last night when you asked for us. We would have all had our turns, if you’d invited us to.”

Fuck, now he’s talking about last night, a topic I sort of hoped we could avoid if only because thinking about what he said to me makes me want it to happen. I bite my lip, then decide I don’t want the rest of my breakfast to go to waste and pull the bowl of berries close as a distraction. I pick up a fat, ripe blueberry and pop it into my mouth, savoring the tart sweetness that explodes on my tongue when I bite down.

After chewing a moment, I find the courage to voice my concerns. “I wanted it all, in the moment. But don’t want to become some depraved creature that only wants to be fucked, even if that’s all I can think about right now. That isn’t an invitation, by the way.” I shake my head, then frown. “Wait, you say I beddedfourof you? There were only three by my count—Vesh, Pan, and Erebus. And I didn’t even fuck Erebus.”

Asterius lifts an eyebrow. “He fucked you. The rest of us were privy to pieces of it, when Vesh allowed us to peek. But his eyes weren’t open the entire time.”

My cheeks warm. “He did fuck my mouth, I guess.” I recall the other things he did with parts of himself that couldn’t quite be considered fingers, and my core clenches involuntarily. “But who was the fourth?”

“Typhon was there the first time,” he says. “I grant you that you probably weren’t aware of his presence, since he was only riding along in Vesh’s mind, but I guarantee you he remembers. The Brothers Bane are close. Their fraternal bond allows a truer experience when they’re merged, so he would have experienced everything his brother felt as if feeling it himself.”

“I don’t know what that means. Who are the Brothers Bane?”

“The three Scions of Chaos: Tartarus, Erebus, and Typhon.”

“Why haven’t I met Typhon yet? He didn’t introduce himself last night. And someone else was missing too.” I kick myself for leaving my satchel and sketchbook behind, but I know there were nine figures I sketched, and so far I’ve only met four in person, and three more through Vesh. There are two who I haven’t met yet.

Asterius nods. “That would have been Alcides. He’s… solitary. You’ll meet him soon enough. The other of course is Typhon. Are you finished with your breakfast? Because I can take you to meet Typhon now. His quarters happen to adjoin the baths, so we are headed there next anyway. But I warn you, he is the only one of us who is not capable of a humanoid shape. He is quite terrifying the first time you lay eyes on him.”

My heart pounds as I recall the fearsome image I sketched of a draconic beast with a hundred heads. But I only had an image in my head with no scale of reference. And evidently this creature already has carnal knowledge of me, yet I never even realized he was there.

I give a hesitant nod and Asterius frowns. “You really don’t need to fear him, Nemea.”

“It isn’t that,” I begin, glancing down at my empty plate. “I’m just trying to reconcile the things you said to me last night with how you are now.” I wave a hand in his general direction.

His wide nostrils flare, steam coating the thick gold of his septum ring for a moment before fading. His look is inscrutable as he takes me in, but it makes my skin prickle with awareness all the same.

“Last night you asked a question, which we each answered honestly. We will never lie to you.”

“So you would really do all those things you said.”

He cocks his head, his eyes narrowing. “When you are truly ready, yes.”

I’m not sure if the slight ease of tension is relief or disappointment, but I move on. “Even the last part? You said…”

He grins wickedly. “I said I’d make Cerberus lick my cum off your tits, and then fuck him. Yes I meant that, but he’d probably put up a fight.” When my eyes widen in alarm, he shakes his head. “He’d beg me for it soon enough. Trust me, it’s a game we used to play.”

“So you basically all fuck each other here. I guess you need an outlet if you’re stuck here for eternity.”

With a deep chuckle, he sits back in his chair, making it creak. “We’ve lived together here for centuries, so we’re a bit of an incestuous little family, but no, we don’t actually have wild orgies among ourselves, if that’s what you’re imagining. Familiarity breeds boredom, and it’s usually just Cerberus, Pan, Chrysaor, and myself who play from time to time. The others have little interest. Your presence is likely to shift the balance a bit, but we’ll adapt.”

“Shift it how, exactly?” I try to ignore the voice in my head that keeps asking why I’m so special. I’m suddenly painfully aware of how focused they’ve all been on me since I arrived, aside from the fact that most of them are absent. But I’m a little grateful for that, since it means I can get to know Asterius one on one today. And maybe Typhon and Erebus, if there’s time.

---