Page 25 of Immortal Sun (Dark Olympus)
CHAPTER 25
CYRUS
“A beautiful thing is never perfect.” – Egyptian Proverb
C leo’s eyes bulge. I can imagine she’s thinking I’m going to force her into something. Instead, She scrambles back against the headboard, her lower lip trembling.
“Don’t worry.” I cross my arms. “I just do better when I’m naked.”
“Do better with what?”
“Nine questions, an impossible number of answers.” I grin at her then lower my body onto the bed. “Every right answer gets you a reward, every wrong answer gets you a punishment, but know that the gods enjoy both.”
“And why would I care about the gods?”
His smile is cruel. “Because I’ll allow you to pick one before I slit your throat. Isn’t that generous?”
“What!” she shrieks. “I don’t want a god!”
“Believe me, you will. It’s a gift, for your sacrifice.” I grab her by the hair and wrap it around my fist then pull slightly. “Each of them is different, each of them has preferences, and we do want this to be a very enjoyable experience before your blood is spilled. We have mere days before the last eclipse, where you’ll choose. Maybe you’ll even choose Apep, since you seemed so mesmerized by the fact that he gave you a small amount of his expensive time.”
“He’s a stranger. You’re a stranger.”
“None of us are actually strangers to you, Cleo.” I don’t know why, but my hand trembles as it runs down the side of her jaw. She looks ready to bite me.
I think I would probably welcome it.
“So now what?” she asks, her voice bitter. “You rape me? Get me ready?”
I don’t answer her. Instead, I grip her by the wrists and pin her to the bed then lower my mouth to her neck and suck. Tasting her dirty skin is so erotic, I feel like moving my hips.
Strange.
I pull back and lock eyes with her. “Inti likes to chase,” is how I start. “So if you pick him…” I quickly flip her onto her stomach and run my hand down her back until I grip her ass tightly. “…he’ll tell you to run, and you will literally be running through the forest, hiding until he can find you. And once he does, he’ll want to use every single sense he has except for sight. Everything will be by feel.” I run my hands farther down her legs and then shove one hand between her legs ripping her jeans completely from her body along with her underwear. “He won’t be gentle, and he won’t look at you, but he’ll use his mouth in ways that some have said sends people straight to heaven as if you’ve just done battle with his tongue. Many pass out during the experience only to wake up and feel him…” I lean in close and whisper against her neck. “…feasting.”
Cleo tries to shove me back, but I’m stone against her, like a marble statue she can’t get rid of. Not to mention just talking about this is wreaking havoc on my body.
“You’ll need to prepare yourself for the torture of pleasure with Inti. Do you have any questions?”
She trembles beneath me; I can smell her lust and confusion. “Why does he have to chase?”
“He likes games, and he likes to see people run from him. One time he fought a Fae who ran and ended up screwing her instead of killing her. Trust me it was a horrible mess.”
She raises one eyebrow. “The screwing?”
“The fallout,” I correct with a bit of bitterness in my voice. “The whole point of this is to save your brother, remember? You’ll take his place as the sacrifice, and we let him live. You’d do anything for him, so you will do this, and you will learn how to control yourself and please the gods. So ask your first question.” My fingers inch up her thighs and start to play.
She arches back against me.
Sweet torture.
I grip her thigh and pull her wide. Then, not satisfied, I grab her and set her on her hands and knees.
The little sacrifice weeps for me, but no matter what she says with her mouth, I can read everything I need by the honey streaming down my fingertips.
“Your question?” I prompt again. “Having trouble focusing are you, Cleo?”
She lets out a little cry and tries to fight me again, shoves me, her one fist goes flying behind her before she tries kicking me in the face.
It’s so amusing I laugh, and then I increase my minimal efforts. Never has this been more entertaining. They usually crumble against me and beg me to do it again.
Bonus points if this stupid human draws some of my blood.
Voice quivering, she asks, “Why do I have to pick a god?”
I remove my fingers then run them up and down her ass. “Why wouldn’t you?”
“I don’t need a crazy orgasm before death, Cyrus. Just kill me already and let Jake go.”
I lean over her back. “Doesn’t work that way.”
I rise, breaking contact with her. Why is this so hard? Why does my chest hurt? I can feel her body humming for me, pulsing, needy, dirty. Still on her knees, she shakes. I strain for her, but I keep myself far enough away that I don’t make a mistake I won’t come back from. Heat burns through my chest; a loud crack sounds in my head. This is wrong. All wrong.
“So, I pick a god for their pleasure or mine?” She asks, shaking me out of my tormented thoughts.
“That’s question number two,” I rasp. “You only get one, and to answer the original one, sacrifices must always be made, and yours will be by giving your body to one of the fallen immortals, a ritual to very briefly return some of the power you stole the minute you were conceived.” I shrug. “Think of it as giving back. It’s basically sexual charity at this point.”
“Sexual charity? Why would an immortal need sexual charity?”
I smack her on the ass. “That’s three questions. I’ll remind you again. You only get one question each time I’m here.”
“How many times will you come?”
“That’s four questions.” I slap her ass again, leaving a red mark. “I’ll at least tell you, there are just six major deities left here who failed, the rest are lower immortals, and those are who you will choose from, me not included.”
“Because you hate me?”
“Because I’ve never had sex with a human before,” I answer honestly. “I have no need for it.”
She stills. “Never?”
“What need would I have for a tiny human body?”
“So you’re like a thousand-year-old virgin?”
Is she mocking me? “Don’t tempt me to break you in and remedy that, Cleo. You’re lucky I have self-control.”
“No wonder you’re so mean.” She actually laughs. “Wow, it all makes sense now.”
I slap her again across the ass. “Keep talking and see how many stripes I can leave here.”
She looks over her shoulder. “Don’t worry, I would have never chosen you anyway.”
I clench my jaw so hard I’m afraid I’m going to shatter every last tooth in my mouth. “Good. I would have never said yes.”
“Yeah, I think you would have.”
“You’re insolent.”
“And you’re struggling. You want me.” Her gaze lingers up and down my body. “I bet you wish you knew what it was like to sink between a human woman’s thighs just once.”
She’s trying to trick me. I have Enki to thank for that. His influence always starts to drive people to insanity, and he was just in the cave.
I ignore her words. “Shall we continue with your training?”
“Sure.” She just shrugs and turns back around.
What the hell?
This time when I kiss upward along her back to her neck, she doesn’t respond, she doesn’t even move. She just takes it like it’s a punishment when the training is supposed to be part of the reward. She should thank me for touching her, for honoring her. Thousands of years ago, humans would worship at my feet and beg to wash me.
I keep kissing her; she responds and yet doesn’t, finally I stop and look down. She just looks over her shoulder and says, “I guess we’re done?”
I jump back onto my feet and glare at her. I know my eyes are storming, that if she looks into them too long she’ll be lost but I can’t help myself. This has never happened.
She gets into the bed and draws the blankets around her, and then the stupid girl closes her eyes and falls asleep right in front of me.
I’m too stunned to move.
After a few moments, I force my feet to turn on the dirt and walk out of the cave. In the corner, Bast the panther yawns. I snap my fingers, and I’m in my bathrobe again as I walk to the sea to cool off my arousal.
“You sure you did that right?” Enki asks from behind me. I turn and catch an amused expression lighting his face before he bursts out laughing. “She didn’t even scream!”
“What the hell!” I roar, and waves crash against my legs and chest. “She’s broken.”
“Maybe you’ve just finally met your match when it comes to stubbornness.” He shrugs and pushes away from the rocky cliff swinging his hammer casually in his hand, still in his armor. “I’ll guard tonight since you probably need to read up again on how to please a human.”
I lunge for him as my vision heightens, becomes more acute. I know my eyes are glowing white. From the way everything around me appears.
He stumbles back, still smirking. “I plan on telling everyone.”
“Don’t you dare.”
“It’s the best thing I’ve heard in over a century, the hell I’m not.”
“Start a text thread about this and?—”
He holds up his phone, the title of the text thread is. “Big bad sun, burns too bright, super bad at sex, send links.”
“Hilarious.”
“I thought so. Oh, by the way, Dag offered to stand in on the training, but I told him he’d probably accidentally kill her considering he’s used to those damn fairies.”
“He screws like a vampire.”
“They seem to like it.” Enki shrugs. “Anyway, I’ll just be going to my spot over by the cave, don’t forget to bring her more clothes and some food later.”
“I don’t forget things,” I grumble.
“Yeah, except for how to give a human pleasure. Maybe removing your heart was a bad idea since it wasn’t really in it.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m headed back up.”
The wet robe clings to my body as I walk up the stairs. About halfway up, I call back to Enki. “Be careful. She has the amulet, and some dumb ass taught her to use it.”
“Bastard.” Enki grins. “I just like to keep things interesting also I thought I was being helpful. We don’t need a repeat of 1920.”
I wince. “She was strangely good at it.”
“She destroyed half of Ken’s island.” Enki shudders. “And he’s still pissed about it, I swear that’s why he never visits.”
“He scares the locals.”
“Also, true.” Enki gives me a wave, and I continue walking up the stairs. I don’t even want to look at my phone when I get back into the house; it keeps going off, which means every single damned god is in the group.
I could kill him.
And yet I can’t.
Rules are for the strong, not the weak.
My screen lights up again. I sigh and grab it.
Twenty-seven missed text messages.
Maybe I will murder him after all, because the first ten look to be from Enki with links to every single strip club in the area along with toys from Amazon.
“I can Prime it!” His excited text after.
“Do it and I’ll Prime you straight to the underworld.” I text back and then go and take a shower. It’s going to be a long six days.