Psyche laughs a little. “Okay. Come on.” She releases me and walks out of the bathroom, leaving me to trail behind her. I do without hesitation, and as a result, I’m treated to the sight of my wife stripping as she walks toward our bed. She shoots me a look over her shoulder. “You were staring at my ass, weren’t you?”
“Can you blame me? You have an excellent ass.” Big and bitable.
“I know.” She slides between the blankets and scoots over, making room for me.
I strip quickly and join her. The sheets are cool, and Psyche wastes no time plastering herself to me and pressing her nose to my neck. “You keep this place way too cold.”
I settle onto my back with her draped half across my chest. This. This is what I need. I can feel her heartbeat through my ribs, her soft exhales against my skin. A reminder that she’s here, she’s safe, and she’ll stay that way through the night.
She twines her legs around mine and snuggles closer. “Eros?”
“Yeah?” I sift my fingers through her hair, enjoying the weight of it against my palm.
“I meant what I said. I won’t let it get to the point where you have to make that choice—the one between me and your mother. There’s a solution here. I just need time to figure it out.”
I close my eyes, letting the soft weight of her against me lull my racing thoughts to a standstill. “If anyone can find a way through, you can.”
“Just…trust me, okay?”
“I do.” It’s even the truth. We don’t have enough time, enough space, to come up with a better plan than we already have, but all of it hinges on Demeter getting us a meeting with Poseidon. “Sleep now.”
“I will.” She squeezes me tight. “We’ll figure this out together. I promise.”
As sleep rises up and takes me, I almost believe her.
30
Psyche
By the time morning rolls around, I have something resembling a backup plan. It’s not a good plan, and if I tell it to Eros, he might lock me into the panic room and throw away the key. Of all the things I never expected of this marriage, his protectiveness surprises me the most. It’s not just in regard to the current situation with his mother. He’s constantly…taking care of me.
It’s not an act, either.
Eros has what he wants from me, everything he wants. We’re married. We’re having sex. Judging from the way Clio’s story about us broke across multiple gossip sites this morning, we’re successfully convincing Olympus that ours is a love story for the ages. He has absolutely no reason to lie to me, not in word and not in action.
Which means he meant what he said last night. He cares for me. I’m not foolish enough to think that caring translates to love, but it’s more than I could have dreamed. It’s almost enough to give me hope.
First, we have to survive the coming confrontation with Aphrodite.
My phone buzzes on the nightstand, and I angle myself enough to reach it without dislodging Eros where he’s wrapped around me. He’s held me like this all night, clinging as if he thinks I’ll slip out of our bed under the cover of darkness and never return again.
Considering that’s what my sister pulled with Hades when she rode off to save him from the last Zeus, Eros isn’t too far off the mark there. I could tell him he has nothing to worry about on that front; trying to deal with Aphrodite in secret will just backfire a thousandfold. Keeping things below the radar is what got us into this trouble to begin with. It’s time to bring everything out into the open.
I see my sister’s name scrolling over the screen and swipe to answer the call. “Early for you, Persephone.”
“Early, or late.” She sounds a little breathless. “Why is Hades fielding calls from both Mother and Zeus this morning?”
They’re working fast, which doesn’t mean anything good. I had planned to call Persephone this morning and loop her in, but apparently I should have done it last night if I wanted a jump on things. I don’t like that our mother is already up and maneuvering. The call with Poseidon must not have gone well. I sigh. “There’s been a bit of trouble.”
“More trouble than you up and marrying Eros without so much of a word of warning?”
“Persephone, I thought we were past that.”
“It’s been less than a week. We’re not past it.”
I roll my eyes, both frustrated and comforted by her overprotectiveness. Alone in this situation, it’s something normal and expected. “If not Eros, it would have been Zeus.”
She’s silent for a long moment. “Tell me she didn’t. Not again.”
“Mother is single-minded. You know that. She has her heart set on establishing one of us as Hera.”
She curses. “Okay, we’ll deal with that later. Right now, I need to know what’s happened with you, since that seems to be the more immediate issue.”
“Aphrodite took a hit out on me.” It feels good to say it aloud, almost cathartic.
“What?”
“Yes.” I feel Eros tense a little, a silent acknowledgment that he’s awake. “Zeus won’t step in unless we have definitive proof, so we planned to get the support of Hades and Poseidon and force his hand. Even Aphrodite can’t stand against those three.”
She’s silent for a beat. “It’s not a bad plan as such things go, but it’s not really a good one, either.”
“I’m aware.”
Another pause. “You have something in mind for backup.”
My sister knows me so well. Normally, I’d appreciate her insight into what I’m considering, but I’m achingly aware of Eros against me, listening to everything. “We’re set on trying this first,” I finally say. It’s even the truth. Just because I don’t think it will work doesn’t mean I’m correct. I desperately want to be wrong.
“Hades will stand in support of you.”
That makes me smile. “You aren’t going to talk to him first?”
“I don’t need to. One, he’s sitting right here, listening in like a nosy husband. And two, you’re his sister-in-law and he likes you, so obviously he’s going to do whatever it takes to ensure you stay safe. Right, Hades?”
I hear a deep murmured assent in the background. Well, that takes care of that. I didn’t anticipate anything different, but I’ve been surprised enough in the last week that I can take nothing for granted. “Thank you.”
“He’ll let Zeus know, but you need to work on Poseidon. He stays out of this stuff, and it would take one rather large inciting incident to get him into the mix.”
I’m all too aware of that. “Let Mother worry about that.” We’re both silent for a moment as we contemplate what our mother could possibly have to incite cooperation from that man. I shudder. “I have to get up and make some calls.”
“Stay safe. We’re here if you need us.”
My throat goes tight, and I have to swallow hard to get the words out. “Love you.”
“Love you too.”
I toss the phone aside and turn in Eros’s arms to face him. “You heard.”
“I heard.” He cuddles me close. For such an icy man, Eros certainly likes to touch me. Almost as much as I like being touched by him. He rests his chin on the top of my head. “One down, one to go.”
I press a kiss to his chest, enjoying this closeness. It feels like we’ve turned a corner. I don’t know what the future holds if we can get through this current mess, but a strange sort of hope takes up residence in my chest. I love him. He cares about me, which seems to indicate he could love me if given the opportunity. “Eros?”
“Yeah?”
It’s tempting to keep my thoughts internal, but I’ve never been good at controlling my mouth around this man. Especially when his feelings hang in the balance. “Last night, you said you don’t know how to love.”
He tenses. “I don’t.”
“You’re wrong.”
Eros huffs out a strained laugh. “I think we can both agree I’m damaged goods.”
“Stop that.” I sit up. “Stop talking about yourself like that. I wouldn’t let someone else talk about you so cruelly, and I’ll be damned before I let you do it, either.”
The shock on his face hurts my heart. “It’s the truth.”
“Eros, you love Helen.”
He makes a face. “She’s like a sister to me.”
“I know.” I press my hand to the center of his chest. “And you love her like a sister. That love counts. One could argue it counts even more than romantic love because there isn’t sex in the mix, muddying things up.”