Destined (16 page)

I choked back a startled gasp, horrified by the creature holding my hands as softly as if I could crumble.

“Look at me, Psyche.” His voice was hypnotic, almost familiar. I stared into the blackness surrounding his form and found a pair of lovely blue eyes gazing out at me. “I know you fear me, but I beg you, believe that I will never hurt you.”

 
“Why won’t you show yourself then? If there’s nothing to fear?”

His voice came back to me compassionate, but firm. “I didn’t say there’s nothing to fear. I said
I’d
never hurt you. Don’t confuse the two.”

 
That good old I’m-about-to-puke feeling made me wish I hadn’t eaten every bite of food on my plate tonight. I reached back for the bed, easing myself down as I tried to figure out what could possibly be scarier than the invisible beast in my new bedroom. Or who else wanted to hurt me now that I’d already been condemned to a fate worse than death.

He reached a satiny, smooth hand to my face and let his finger trail from my cheek down my jaw line. “Psyche, I am no monster. I love you, and I will love you always.”

“You don’t even know me,” I shrieked, swatting away his hand. “How could you possibly love me?” Hurt registered in those soft blue eyes and he blinked them closed for what felt like an eternity. “Who are you?” I finally whispered.

His eyes popped back open with a glimmer of hope. Like I’d just thrown a life line to a drowning man. “Aristeo, but please, call me Aris.”

That wasn’t exactly what I’d meant, but I couldn’t hold the literal answer against him. “Okay, Aris,” I paused, sucking in a deep, jagged breath and steeling myself to ask the real question, “what are you?”

“You cut right to the chase.” His darkened shape retreated a few steps until it looked like he must be sitting on the stool in front of my silver vanity. I welcomed the extra space between us, but the weight of those eyes I knew were watching me from across the room still felt intensely heavy.

“I’m the son of a harpy. Hence the wings.” The night air rustled with the sound of feathers beating once and then refolding into place.

Well, that’s new. Didn’t know harpies even had kids - not that I’d ever considered it - or thought that harpies were anything more than a scary bedtime story to make kids shut up and go to sleep.
But son-of-a-harpy sounded pretty foreboding. I mean, harpies were the ones who supposedly tortured souls on their way to Tartarus. And soul torturing gave me a clue as to why even the gods might fear him. I just hoped his supposed love for me was enough to keep his torturous side in check.

I swallowed. Hard. “So, um,” I looked around the pitch black room, grasping for some way to save our floundering conversation before he got bored and decided to entertain himself with a little sadism. “Tell me something else about you.”

He rose and moved closer. When he was right in front of me, he dropped down to his knees, leveling his gaze with mine. “I know you don’t believe this yet, but the only interesting thing about me is how much I feel for you.”

Seriously? The guy tells me he’s a mythological creature and his feelings are the most interesting thing about him?
The darkness must not have been enough to hide the rampant disbelief splashed across my face.
 

With an effortless move, he swept me up into his arms and laid me gently across the bed. “I know you’re tired. And stressed. I can feel it coming off you in waves.” His lips brushed across my forehead and I felt the soft wisp of a curl follow in their wake.

“Sleep, my love,” he whispered. “You’ve had a long day. But know this one thing.” I focused my eyes on his, now only a few inches away from my face, dreading the words that were coming. “I will earn your love.”

As creeped out as that idea made me, my muscles relaxed. A great warmth coursed through my body, starting from where he’d placed the kiss on my forehead and moving down. I felt peaceful. And sleepy. The alarm puling through my veins faded, even as I tried to pull it back and keep myself awake. As sleep overtook me, I somehow knew I’d at least make it through this one night intact.

Chapter 20 - Eros

From back across the room, Eros watched Psyche as she slept, taking in the sweet scent of her hair and enjoying the soft rise and fall of her chest as she breathed deeply. He loved how at peace she looked. And he yearned for her to be as relaxed with him while she was awake.

Finally daring to ease onto the bed next to her, Eros unwound Psyche’s hair from on top of her head and let it spill across the pillows. He stroked her long, chestnut strands, carefully keeping them away from her face. When the words threatened to rip open his chest if he didn’t speak them, Eros whispered in her ear, “I will never hurt you, Psyche. I love you more than my own life. Love me, please,” he begged. “Love me.”

Psyche barely stirred as Eros pled softly in her ear. Perhaps he had hoped she would open her eyes and pledge her undying love for him too.

But that’s not how his magic worked.

Slowly he rose, being careful not to wake her. He took a deep breath to assure himself he was about to do the right thing. Eros wanted Psyche to love him on her own, but he couldn’t wait.
 

When he’d landed on the windowsill that night, he’d slipped off his quiver and hidden it behind the curtains. He reached into his hiding place and pulled out one of the long, powerful arrows. Hermes’s words from earlier that evening played back in his head. “You can change all that in a second with one of your arrows…”

Hermes was right. All he had to do was nick Psyche’s skin with an arrow and she would be as hopelessly in love with him as he was with her. Granted, being with Psyche is what he’d actually wanted, at least subconsciously. He was pretty sure she didn’t yet share the same sentiment. Eros slowly twirled the arrow in his hand and looked over at Psyche.

She was so soundly asleep, she’d never notice the sting as the arrow grazed her skin. And this time he wouldn’t have to shoot her. He’d simply nick her with a caress. Not like the impersonal release of a bow. He wouldn’t be hunting her if he marked her with his own hand.

He reached out to touch her, the arrow poised, but pulled away. His jaw clenched and his eyes scrunched closed. Something akin to physical pain kept him from hurting her. Eros knew all too well that the arrows would make Psyche suffer. During the daylight hours when he couldn’t be in the palace, she would need him so badly that her heart would ache.

Eros didn’t want her days to be unhappy. He simply wanted her love.

Sitting on the bed, Eros let the arrow fall from his fingertips, dissipating as its unused magic released into the floor. He’d have to do as he’d promised her.

He’d have to earn her love.

Chapter 21 - Psyche

As I slowly opened my eyes and took in the room, I realized I was alone. Sitting up, I studied myself. I was whole. Definitely still alive. And my dress was intact, though rumpled from sleep. Whatever bad things harpy kids might be, at least he hadn’t harmed me while I slept.

As quietly as I could, I slipped out of bed and down the hall. Maybe I could catch a glimpse of him in the light. The tension of not knowing what he looked like seemed almost worse than just seeing what I was dealing with and moving on.

My toes barely touched the mosaic tiles as I crept along the corridor. When I reached the end of the first hall, I placed my back against the wall, took a deep breath, and peeked as little of my head around the corner as possible.

Since I couldn’t see any floating towels or serving trays headed my way, I figured it was clear. As I prepared to bolt down the next hall, a voice rang in my ear.

“You’re up. Did you sleep well?”

I jumped with a startled screech.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” It was Alexa, of course.

“If you’re invisible and don’t want to scare someone, you ought to give some notice before you go talking in their ear,” I snapped, more embarrassed than angry.

Alexa didn’t seem to notice. “So…” she dragged out the word like we were in some conspiracy together, “tell me how it went last night.”

Gross. Did she think I’d actually
do
anything with him? Or tell her about it if I did? I shrugged my shoulders. “Fine, I guess.”
 

“Fine? That’s it?” Alexa asked, squeezing my hand. “He’s wonderful, isn’t he? I told you you had nothing to worry about.”

“Is he still here?”

“Oh no. He’ll always leave before dawn.”

“Why?” I asked. “Why can’t I see him?”

“That’s just the way it has to be. It’s safer that way,” she explained.

I leaned against the wall and sighed. “You too? What’s safe for me about not knowing
anything
about him?”

“Stop exaggerating. Just because you can’t see him doesn’t mean you can’t know him. What if you were blind? Does that mean you’d never know anyone around you?”

My head dropped back against the cool marble wall. She was right. Again. If she kept that up, it was going to get really annoying.
 

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” Alexa asked.

“I can trust you right?” I realized as soon as I said it, it was a dumb question. Like anyone would say no to that. “I mean, you’ll tell me the truth if I ask you something, right?”

“Of course.” She grabbed my hands in hers. “I’m here to serve you, but I want to be your friend too. I’d never lie to you. Promise.”

I was afraid to ask the question on my mind, but I had to know.

“What does he look like? He told me he was a harpy’s child, but I don’t know what that means. Good or bad, I just think I’d feel better knowing.”

“I can’t tell you that.” Her voice was an apology, barely more than a whisper.

“You just promised you’d tell me the truth.”

“I am telling you the truth. I can’t tell you that. It’s forbidden.”

“Is it really that bad?” I moaned.

“Are we going to go through this every day? Not everything you don’t understand is bad.” She wrapped me in a warm hug. “Please, Psyche. He loves you. Didn’t you feel that last night?”

I swallowed back the lump in my throat and tried to calm my pounding heart. This was my life — all around me in this palace. My future was in these walls. Invisible servants, mostly-invisible suitor? boyfriend? I didn’t even know what we were supposed to be to each other. Whatever repulsion I felt to the idea though, I had to admit it was better than what I’d feared after hearing the Pythia’s prophecy. And if every day was basically a repeat of yesterday, I could handle it. I’d have a friend in Alexa and eventually I’d get past not being able to see Aris. Not that I planned on loving him or anything, but how hard could it be just to talk?