“You’re going to spin the story.”
“Of course I’m going to spin the story.” He shakes his head. “Go home. Stay there. Keep making heart eyes at each other for at least a month. I don’t care what you do after that, but you will keep to this timeline to avoid people asking uncomfortable questions. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” I whisper.
Zeus turns that cold gaze on Eros. “And you?”
“Loud and clear.”
“Good. Now get out of my office.”
I don’t know if I’d have argued further. Eros doesn’t give me a chance. He turns to me and, with a hand at the small of my back, guides me out of the room. It’s a small touch but no less dominant for it. We don’t speak as the elevator goes to the ground floor. Only then does he hesitate. “Are you up for the walk to our place?”
Our place.
He says it so freely, without hesitation or stumbling. As if the penthouse is really both of ours, rather than just his. As if this marriage was anything but a con. A month. A month is all we have left. After that, we’ll have no reason to stay married. No reason except for the love that’s threatening to rip a hole in my chest.
Eros told his mother he loved me. He told me he cared about me. But we’ve both spent so long pretending for other people, I don’t know what’s real and what’s not anymore.
“I can walk.”
“Okay.” He loops his arm through mine and turns us in the direction of his building.
It takes half a block for my feelings to get the best of me. “Eros—”
“Not here.”
Right. Not out on the street where anyone can overhear. I should be smiling up at him like the newlywed I am, but I can’t manage it.
As long as I’m moving, I’m okay, but the second we get back into Eros’s penthouse and he closes the door behind me, my knees give out.
He catches me before I hit the floor. Of course he does. Eros scoops me up and takes me into the bedroom that’s become ours. Only then does he sit me on the bed and crouch before me. The ice is still present in his eyes, but the way he holds my hands is soft and sweet. “Breathe, Psyche.”
“I am breathing.” Except my voice is too high and thready. And I can’t stop shaking. “What’s wrong with me?”
“Adrenaline letdown.” He rubs my hands gently. “It will pass.”
Of course he would know. He’s been in dangerous situations over and over again. I’ve only done it twice, and the feeling bubbling up inside me after the assassination attempt in the parking lot was nothing compared to this.
My throat is too tight, but I have to get the words out. “I’m sorry.”
He frowns. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m sorry. You told me to stay here and I couldn’t. I couldn’t let you bear the burden of hurting her. She’s your mother.”
“She’s a monster.”
“That doesn’t mean you don’t love her.”
He sighs and moves to join me on the bed. “No, that doesn’t mean I don’t love her, if you can call it that. I…” He curses. “I’m fucking furious with you. You put yourself in danger. You didn’t fucking talk to me. I thought I was going to show up and find you dead. I can’t… Psyche, I don’t care what burdens I have to bear; they’re more than worth it if you’re safe.”
I reach out tentatively and sink my fingers into his curls. “I had things under control.”
“In hindsight, I’m aware of that, but there were so many variables.” He shakes his head, the move tugging on my hold a little. “You were faking it, weren’t you? Being that scared.”
I shudder to think back to the moment I was crouching on the ground, staring down the barrel of a gun. “Only partly.” I swallow hard. “She needed to think she’d won. She’s too vain not to say all the ugly stuff out loud, and I needed that on the video.”
Eros stares at me. “You’re terrifying. Do you know that? Absolutely terrifying.”
“I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or not.”
“Neither can I.” He leans down and presses his forehead to mine, a grounding touch that eases some of the tension in my chest. “So. A month left.”
Just like that, it’s back. “That’s what Zeus said. I expect he doesn’t want anything to detract from the narrative he’s going to spin, and once he announces the engagement with Callisto—” I break off. “I can’t believe she did this.”