"Riot across the mountain, then."
As he stared at her, something haunted swept over his features. That night of the curse perhaps. He blinked rapidly and glanced away. "It's easier to decide how to act after something horrific occurs. The gods are cruel, self-righteous, and powerful beyond comprehension. Even if every man present had tried to take on Dionysus, we would have failed." Adonis returned his attention to her and gave her a pointed look. "I told you I wasn't worth saving."
Sage opened her mouth and shut it. She hadn't been there, and he was right. Not about his worth—which was still up for debate. But if the gods were real and had magical powers like in the stories, there wasn't much that could have been done. Still, maybe it was kinship to nymphs of the past, and maybe it was because women in modern times dealt with the same bullshit, but she felt that their curses were understandable. A little excessive…or perhaps not, considering she wasn't there to see how bad it was. And thank God for that, to be honest.
"What did you do to make Pan mad enough to add to yours?" she asked, worry finally sinking in that Adonis had done something far worse than not standing up for a woman caught between two wrathful gods.
"I'm not a good person, Sage." Adonis held her gaze. "I've spent centuries drowning in my mistakes and blaming others for them. Despite the stories about me that for the most part were rumors and lies, I am far from perfect."
"I don't…" Sage stood, unsure how to finish her thought. "I didn't assume you were that Adonis. You weren't a satyr in the stories." Could he really be that Adonis? Taking in his build and face, there was no denying the possibility. The man was absolutely gorgeous. And though she hadn't had her hands on him long earlier, he was fit and muscular under those clothes. Had he really been Aphrodite's lover?
He snorted. "Very little of the stories about me are accurate."
There were so many questions she wanted to ask, and all of them felt too personal—even for her. Before she could think of a way to phrase any of them, Adonis walked over to the bag at the foot of his air mattress and riffled through it. He chucked a wad of something to her. She caught it and looked down. Gray sweatpants and a long-sleeved thermal shirt in a darker shade. "What is this for?"
"The rain is going to flood the road, and you won't be safe to drive tonight. It gets cold. No heat." His thoughtfulness and grumpy attitude were at complete odds with each other.
"Thank you."
"No need to thank me. I'm tolerating you only because my non-reaction to you is cancelling out curse number one. I might actually get a decent night's sleep for the first time in centuries."
Geez, a simple you're welcome would have sufficed.
Adonis didn't think she would ever stop asking questions. Though it was his own fault since he'd brought up the curses and his background. After she had changed into his clothes, which were way too big on her lithe frame, he'd found her a pair of clean socks and attempted to get her to go to bed. Giving her his bed and blanket, and trying not to think about how he'd never seen a woman wearing his clothes before. He wasn't sure how he felt about it. He didn't…dislike it…
Still, he'd had to tell her all about the curse, the Satyroi, and even told her a bit about his farm growing up. He'd left out the fact that his brother had been cursed too. He'd seen the disappointment in her eyes when she heard about how he'd been cursed the first time. He couldn't bear to see her disgust when she found out about how he'd stalked his brother and the nymph who'd saved him. What he'd nearly done to his brother's wife…
He'd also refrained from discussing Aphrodite. It had taken a long time to realize he'd done nothing wrong in that relationship. That it had never been a relationship to begin with. Aphrodite had used and abused him, and she was a chapter in his life he'd closed and locked away long ago. When she'd refused to help him after the curse, that had been the worst heartbreak of his life. Reliving that pain would do him no good.
Now, Sage had finally fallen asleep, and Adonis twisted and turned on the couch as the rain continued to pelt the roof. He couldn't sleep. Not feeling the effects of the curse should help, but he was more agitated than ever. All he'd wanted since that dreadful night in Greece was for the curse to stop, even for an hour, one night, one week…and it finally had…but how could he sleep when there was a nymph who had actually offered to lift his curse for good…and he couldn't react to her carnally.
How did one become sexually frustrated by not being sexually frustrated? It made no sense. None. And it was making him furious. At himself. At the gods. Pan. The world. How did everything go so wrong for him all the time, every time?
Adonis picked up his phone and texted a quick message to Hermes then flung it down beside him on the cushion with a thud.
Where the fuck are you?
If he didn't hear back from the god by morning, he'd have to reach out to the Arcadians who ran The Aegean Inn for help. He couldn't tether Sage to his side permanently, and the longer he allowed her to hang around, the more questions she'd ask and the more irritable he'd be that his one chance at breaking his curse was worthless. As worthless as him. Not good enough for a goddess, incapable of standing up to her or others in her pantheon, and easily controlled and manipulated for years by Dionysus.
Adonis didn't blame the Arcadians for
