Melancton cursed under his breath. "Why aren't you taking the pills?"
What was he talking about? He held the phone away from his ear and looked at it before returning it. "What pills?"
"The pills Nestor made after studying how Bremusa and Vander's bodies react to each other that reduce the effectiveness of the curse. They prevent the madness."
His annoyance grew with each passing second. "I still don't have a clue what you are talking about." And who the hell was Bremusa?
"Hermes didn't bring any to you?"
Was he for real? "I haven't heard from Hermes in weeks."
After another long pause, Melancton said, "Go to the inn immediately. Take your nymph. Daphne will provide you with panpipes and some of the pills." He hung up before awaiting a response.
Adonis stared at the wall in front of him, slack jawed. Finally, he put his phone in his pocket and immediately punched a hole through the drywall. "Those motherfuckers!" He punched it again. And again. Then he kicked it.
"Adonis! Stop." Soft hands on his arm stalled his movements, and he looked down at Sage. "What happened?"
Hurt replaced his anger, and he had to control his emotions. He knew they didn't like him. Never had. But this was a whole new level. "It would seem the Arcadians have developed a pill to control the lust that comes with being a satyr," he said through clenched teeth. "And none of them thought to tell me about it."
Not even his brother, his twin. Ariston had broken his curse, so he wouldn't need any special pills. Adonis' shame sank in. Maybe he didn't merit relief from this curse. Maybe he had deserved to never be able to free himself from it and to be left in this abandoned house to rot alone.
"A pill that…" Sage shook her head. "I don't understand. What does that even mean?"
"It means that once we arrive at The Aegean Inn, you're free to go. It won't matter that you cancel out the curse for me. They had a way to prevent me from going mad with lust all along and never bothered to extend that courtesy to me."
The weight of despair nearly overwhelmed him. It was for the best, really. He couldn't break his curse, couldn't have Sage, and she couldn't save him.
Nobody could.
9
Sage gripped the steering wheel tightly and stared straight ahead. She'd never been emotional, but Adonis' words continued to make her feel like a waste of space around him. Was he so eager to get rid of her? Not like she hadn't been considering leaving before, or had tried, but still. It felt crappy being kept around not for her, but because she could combat his curse. And it felt worse to be tossed aside the moment she wasn't needed.
She couldn't come to terms with what happened with Calix. At the same time, the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. He hadn't seemed to notice her that fateful day they'd had sex, and then she approached him. He'd been surprised to see her yet instantly interested. They flirted a bit and then sneaked away to the bathrooms. Even though the place wasn't great, he'd been absolutely amazing. And that, other than a few facts about him working at the inn she and Adonis were now headed to, was all she remembered.
How could she ever apologize to him? Of course, that meant she would need to see him again to do so. Would she see him this very day? Anxiety gripped her, and she rarely suffered from the ailment. Beside her, Adonis didn't say a word. Anger radiated from him. It bothered her that, despite her own upset, she still wanted to comfort him. Stupid empathy. Feelings were the worst.
As she drove around one of the city squares, Adonis lowered his seat back and glanced over at her. "Horns," he explained.
Probably wise not to show them off if the police were looking for others like him. "I thought you said there was a way to use glamour to hide them." There was still so much she needed to learn. And though the prospect of learning excited her, she'd rather do it without so many distracting feelings.
"I said if we had the means. I currently do not, and that is one of the reasons we're going to The Aegean Inn." He considered a moment then added, "And even then, I could only use it during daylight hours thanks to Apollo."
"Is there any god you haven't pissed off?"
The look he gave her could burn through mountains, but he didn't respond.
Brushing it off, she turned on her blinker and stopped at an intersection. A Halloween display in a store window made her smile. Jack-o-lanterns and a big werewolf howling at a moon with a witch flying over it. "We're almost there."
He shrugged as she made her turn. "I've never been in the building, so I wouldn't know."
The bitterness in his tone hardened something inside her. He might have made mistakes, but if the curse did what he said, didn't it make him a greater risk to not help him? They should want him to have the pills or whatever it was he didn't know about.
Parking near the inn wasn't an option with no empty spaces, so Sage managed to parallel park a street over. "We're gonna have to walk a bit." It was late afternoon but not too crowded in the area they had to cut through.
With a sigh, Adonis righted his seat back and exited the car. "Let's get this over with, I guess."
Did he want to be rid of her so badly? Whatever she did, she wouldn't show him how that upset her. At least, she'd try not to show him. Emotions tended to run wild at the worst possible moments.
They traveled quietly down the sidewalk, turning onto the street that housed The Aegean Inn. Sage had never been inside of it, but she had always thought about staying
