FALLEN (A GODS OF OLYMPUS NOVELLA)

CHAPTER THREE

How those words filled me with joy better than I ever thought they could. For the last one hundred years I have gone without sex. Not as a celibacy thing mind you. But that's what I've preferred every time we're apart. Sure I've had sex with mortals a few times but none of them could hold a star to Zeus and he knew that. The music ended on a somber note as did our dance, but neither of us wanted to let go of the other. We stood there under the starry sky with the moonlight shining down upon us as eyes were firmly locked together. I could feel his fingers press deep into my skin through the fabric of my shirt as he pulled me in even closer until there was nothing left between us, but a breath of fresh air.

I inhaled on an impulse which I knew was a bad idea given the intoxicating scent that rolled off his skin in waves. He leaned in slowly, closing the distance between us as my heart flooded my veins with excitement and an undying roar in my ears that made it impossible to think about anything else. Tilting my head back to his advantage, his hand still holding mine had moved, and now found a new home as it grasped the underside of my jaw, turning my head on its side and exposed my neck. When I couldn't see his eyes anymore, and felt the warm breath on my skin, his lips made contact and my eyelids fluttered.

"Zeus," I muttered, his name barely audible. "Kiss me. Kiss me."

My breath caught up in my chest as his lips molded against mine in a kiss that was fueled by a century of being apart only to be reunited in his arms set against the backdrop of modern day London. My hands rose up and clenched at the folds of his shirt, pulling him into me as his hard body towered over me in a way that made me feel special and protected against those that wished to do me harm. When the kiss broke, and we both welcomed the air back into our lungs, I realized that during our heated embrace we had moved from the balcony back inside and ended up on the couch together with me straddling his lap.

Suddenly I felt a strange feeling in the air that was so strong, I practically bolted standing up as I looked around the room. My entire body shuddered as if a dark entity was in the room with us. I moved around the couch in search of the problem, using the goosebumps on my skin as some sort of guide until it became too much and I distanced myself from the cloth-covered object lying on Zeus' desk in his private study. Forcing myself to be strong, I yanked the cloth away revealing the mystical dagger that had been in the hand of a Titan that was sent here to kill me. My brow furrowed as I looked back at Zeus who remained silent in the doorway.

"What the hell is that doing here?" I asked.

"Ganymede. Listen..."

"Answer the question!"

"I am trying to! After you left I tried to destroy it. But even in this mortal coil, I do not have the strength or the power. Unless I return to Mount Olympus and destroy it there, Hera, will know that I stopped the Titan from killing you. And now that it's in my possession, I may be able to extract some information from it that might tell us what Hera's next move is."

I sighed as I stared at the dagger. "I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"It's all right, baby boy. You have every right to be mad."

"You know, for the first time in my life, I genuinely feel like this might be the end of the road for me. But is it wrong for me to say that? After all, I have lived a long, long time." Turning to face Zeus I continued, "If that Titan had successfully killed me, what would your reaction be? Would you be upset? Would you take your revenge out on the world? Would you even miss me as the days turned into months, years, centuries?"

A look of somber resonated in his eyes as he made his way towards me, taking my hands in his. "If you're asking me if I would mourn your loss, then my answer would be yes. Would I want revenge on those that ordered the hit, abso-fuckinglty. I'll admit, I have had many lovers over the last couple centuries, but none of them could ever hold a star to you. I know our time with each other is short. But I promise that I will do everything I can to put an end to this before we're forced to be separated again."