Page 82 of Love and Death
“Here,” he whispers, grabbing an old torch off a nearby wall and lighting it before handing it over to me. “I would rather we traveled in the dark, but I cannot carry both bodies and still hold your hand.”
“I understand,” I say, trying to hide my relief that we won’t be continuing on without light.
Cerberus glances once behind us and then moves to a shadowed corner to pick Death’s body up off the floor. I hadn’t even noticed it, despite the light of my torch, he’d hidden it so well from view.
“We need to hurry, it will not be long before someone gets desperate enough to expand the search outside the city, if not down here.”
Cerberus leads the way, our footsteps muffled by a thick layer of dust and the rot of time. My torchlightflickers across patterns carved in stone, collapsed tunnels, dark crawlspaces, and gods know what else.
Bones lie strewn about the floor from what I believe were once tombs, long since desecrated. I grimace as the toe of my boot connects with one, but it does not clatter against the stone, it simply turns into a cloud of dust … That wafts into the air, forcing me to cover my mouth as I try not to breathe it in.
We move deeper and deeper, the silence unnerving as each arched tunnel only seems to grow narrower than the last, until we step out into a wide, low-ceilinged room.
“I thought I might find you down here,” a woman says, her voice little more than a bored drawl.
Cerberus spins to face her, quickly moving to put himself between us.
The woman sits on a stone ledge, one leg bent to lean on as she twirls a blade in her hand.
“Eris,” he hisses in greeting. “Still slithering through the shadows, I see. Tell me, has Hades finally given you the pleasure you so crave, or are you still begging him to notice you?”
“Tough words for Hades’ runaway mutt and his mortal bag of bones,” she sneers. “You did not honestly think you would get away with this little … rebellion of yours, did you? I have been watching you far too long not to know enough of your secrets.”
“Last I heard, it was not you but me who brought Hades to his knees.”
“Enough foreplay,” she snaps, Cerberus’ words hitting their mark as she rises from her seat. “I will end this, here and now.”
She’s quick, but Cerberus is quicker. He drops Death against the wall, blocking her attack and kicking her backward. Yanking on a leather strap, he drops the harness and Eros next to Death and charges goddess.
They crash into the far wall, causing the stones to tremble and dust to rain down from the ceiling. Eris lets out a grunt of pain, but manages to slip his hold, her blade flashing in the flickering light of my torch.
“Cerberus!”
He whirls around just in time to block her strike, grabbing her arm and throwing her over his shoulder to hit the ground. Hard. I swear I hear the crunch of bones, but she is on her feet the next moment.
There is nothing but fury left in her features as her eyes shift from him to me.
My heart leaps into my throat before my legs can move into action, and I just barely throw myself to the ground before she lunges at me … missing by a thread as her blade sings past my ear.
I cough, ancient dust shooting up my nose and coating my mouth as it extinguishes my torch, throwing the whole room into complete and utter darkness.
“It would have been so easy to obey him,” Eris calls out, her voice nowhere near where I expected it to be. “It could still be so easy. You could have your fill of the girl here and return to your king’s side a hero. All it would take is a few thrusts of cock, then blade ... Or claw, as you seem to prefer.”
“Perhaps that is all it takes for you,” Cerberus snarls.
“The bond means nothing,” the goddess continues, her voice changing location yet again. “It is forced. Shewill not want you once it is broken. Once the Fates get what they want and unravel you again.”
Flames burst to life in the middle of the room with a growl of fury, and I realize that Eris is trying to destabilize him by poisoning the reality of our relationship.
“Don’t listen to her! The bond doesn’t matter,” I call out. “I will still care for you, regardless.”
“Care for you, see?” Eris laughs wickedly. “She even admits that there are no mutual feelings there.”
“I do not care,” Cerberus says. “She is free to choose. I will not force a bond between us, not when I know what a lifetime of that feels like.”
“You say that, but this is different from a leash,” Eris says, her voice seeming to come from everywhere at once. “A fate bond will force intimacy. Force her to like you. To want you, and only you. And, it means you can finally havesex, what does it matter if she wants it now or not? She will. Do you not want to feel her wrapped around your—”
“Enough, Eris!”
