Page 25

CIRCE

T he rush of the fall strikes like a gong.

I gasp at the surge.

Ero’s arms surround me, holding me close.

“Together,” he shouts over the roar of the wind.

My eyes snap open, locking with his opalescent stare. “Forever.”

Even if forever is only for a few more seconds. I feel the ground draw nearer.

“I love you, Circe.”

“I love you too!” My words cut off as he kisses me, the world pinwheeling around us.

We brace against each other. Turn in midair.

And both glance down a split second before we hit the water. The splash concusses in my ears, popping with sharp agony as it claps around my head. Speed and descent sent us all the way to the bottom of the deep end.

It was a gambit. A bit of a ruse.

Ero’s head swivels around at me underwater, his eyes wide. We push off the bottom at the same time, torpedoing for the surface. We emerge from the depths into a resplendent dawn.

Renewed. Baptized through fire and fear.

Together. Born again.

“What did you say right before we landed?” Ero gasps, bouncing along the bottom.

“What? I said I love you,” I huff through spatters of glistening pool water. I can barely hear past the ringing in my ears. Ero squints, watching my mouth.

“Say it again. I already forgot…” I watch his lips to make out his words.

“I love you,” I say more insistently, letting him wrap me in his muscular embrace. His shirt clings to his body, showing off that spartan chest, abs chiseled from ancient marble.

My God.

“One. Last. Time.” His lips brush mine.

“I love you, Ero.”

“Show me,” he mumbles as our foreheads unite, his face splitting into a grin.

A breathtaking, full-toothed … grin .

I’m on him in a flash, spraying warm water behind me. Maybe the pool’s heated. Or I’m just burning up.

Our wet clothes slurp, plopping onto the Tuscan tiles.

He crawls back as I crawl over him, onto the steps, lifting me on top of him like I weigh nothing. We join without preamble, Ero’s already erect manhood filling me to the brim. I’m still sore from last night, from only hours ago, but it’s the only thing that can satisfy my longing.

I ride him, enveloping his body with mine, embracing his love deep inside me.

All I feel is him.

Every sensation that he provides is singular. All-consuming.

That love swelling in my chest uncovers so much more than just my emotions. It blasts away any fear and doubt. It unlocks memories and experiences I shut away to protect myself. Precious treasures dear to my soul.

Among them, my family. My friends. The code of the Lyras that I’ve willfully forgotten to reconcile my life under Ananke.

Alongside those, another life spent with Ero at our home. Only there. With our children.

They’re so much more strange, almost shimmering in a hazy glow. But they are very, very real.

Those thoughts pass in an instant, temporarily swept aside in the current of Ero’s affection. His lips lock onto my nipples, dragging me back to this moment.

“Ooh, don’t stop doing that…”

“Mm?” He grunts, doubling down, rolling his hips and the pulsing pillar inside me.

“Ero. Fiero . Promise me…”

“Anything,” he breathes, never letting up on his tongue lashing against the rigid tips of my breasts.

“That we won’t lose each other again.”

“Never. Even if they tear us apart. I’ll always be in love with you.”

“Nnng, yes,” I bounce faster, plunging him deeper. Water laps at the sides of the pool in tandem with the pitch of my hips. I grind harder, squeezing his smooth shaft as tight as I can, drinking him in with every thrust. My completion is so close.

Our completion, I realize as I open my eyes, witnessing Ero’s whole torso contort with a rippling display of muscular perfection.

“My love …”

“Only yours.”

I never thought words alone could do me in.

Buried to the hilt, neither of us moves, locked in the grips of adrenaline-fueled rapture. The tension between my thighs quakes through my entire form. Cascading auras of pure nirvana vibrate out from my core, swelling higher on the blossoming warmth of his essence flooding my insides.

I’m hopelessly lost in him for an eternity.

We subside, dragging our battered bodies onto the terrace, laying naked in the early morning sunlight.

Tomorrow, we may forget this. Be forced to.

But I know we will always find our way back. Discover our love all over again.

For now, I let my fingers play through sodden locks of raven hair, documenting every strand and tucking it away in the most sacred vault of my being. Ero watches me, his eyes tracing the lines of my body.

Softly, faintly, I hear his voice humming. The melody is haunting, almost imperceptible as he lays next to me running fingertips across my skin.

“What is that?” I murmur.

“Hm?” he stops humming, giving me an odd expression. “What’s what?”

“Nothing,” I shrug. Must have been my imagination. Or the ringing in my ears.

Our peace could last forever here. Until an alarmed voice squeals out into the morning.

“ Que porra vocês dois est?o fazendo na minha piscina ?!”

“What the fuck are you two doing in my pool?!”