going nowhere.”
My breath hitched at his declaration.
Music burst to life around us as the show started. One might have expected that to break the bubble surrounding Cronus and me, but it didn’t. He pulled me against his side, holding me like I was precious, adored, cradled against his chest as everything went briefly dark in the theatre.
Lips pressed against mine, so fast I wasn’t even sure I’d felt it, but then he went back for a second kiss, pressing into the corner of my mouth, lingering for a moment, as our energy mingled together.
My eyes burned at the perfection of the moment, and the fear that maybe everything was too perfect. If my life experience was anything to go by, something was surely about to come along and destroy it all.
#CanWeGoBackToTheRoomAndHaveSexNow
Bright lights burst to life across the stage and the background noise of chatter died off as the curtains parted. There was a hushed sort of energy, and even me, wrapped up in the Titan beside me, noticed.
A live band was the first thing to appear, setting off into an upbeat number, drums and bass the defining beat. It was designed to pump up the audience and I could already see them wiggling and bouncing in their seats as the beat took hold.
“Magic,” Cronus said with a shake of his head and short laugh. “Typical Jessell.”
Magic? It wasn’t until a few moments later that I realized exactly what she was doing. The emotions of the audience, the higher they ran, the more energy she stole from them. The music was enhanced, the atmosphere electric. I realized then that she was a witch or crone or whatever you call them. Just maybe a different kind.
And she hadn’t even stepped onto the stage yet.
The music died down and everyone appeared to hold their breath … waiting. Waiting for the appearance of the seer.
Cronus was unnaturally still beside me, his heart steady under my ear, but I felt his tension. “Fuck,” he muttered, and then he was up, pulling me with him.
Locked on the stage, as they were being magically pulled to do, no one turned to us.
“What—?” I barely got the word out before he pulled me behind some curtains and then we were zapping away.
Wherever we landed, it was dark, and I blinked trying to orientate myself. Cronus meanwhile had let me go and appeared to be in some kind of scuffle. As the lights flared on suddenly, I blinked against the dots dancing before my eyes.
What in the fuck was happening?
“You were running, old friend,” I heard him say around the time my vision returned.
Cronus held a petite young woman up against the wall, pressed just inches from her terrified face. She was mid-twenties, curvy in all the right places, and had long, dark red hair that hung over one shoulder. Do these fuckers ever age? So far only the Fates had looked old, and that was because they wanted to.
“I had my energy hidden,” he continued. “How did you know I was here?”
Huge, light brown eyes shifted to me for a blink, before they turned back to Cronus. Her voice was husky and breathy, words spilling out of full lips. “I’ll always know your energy, Cronus,” she said, body trembling. “I could scent you in the room. That distinct smell of power and sex appeal.”
Fuck, she was all kinds of perfect, and the way he held her had me feeling the sort of anger that not hours before had black shit streaming out of my fingertips. I needed to dial it back. Especially after he’d just told me he wasn’t going to let even death break us apart.
#Mine #Mine #Mine
Cronus moved back, just enough that she could breathe easily and stand on her feet. She barely even reached his abs she was that tiny, and the way he crowded over her had my body reacting. #EyeTwitch #PunchASeer #INeedTherapy
“Why are you here, Cronus?” she bit out, and I forced myself to look away from them, needing a five-minute breather.
The room was painted a light dusty pink, filled with fluffy white lounges and about a million cushions. It was Jessell’s dressing room, and judging from the mess of papers and makeup on the floor, she’d been trying to flee when Cronus had zapped us here. He’d known she was running. Somehow.
“You owe me,” he was saying now, arms crossed as he glared at her. Personally, I thought he was far less angry than he should be considering she betrayed him and