Maybe I can release that. If only for tonight.
Adonis looks downright tormented, his gaze jumping from me to Hephaestus and back again. “Eris…”
I never wanted to give you up.
I don’t say it. Even I’m not bastard enough to voice such an unforgivable thing in this moment. I’ve missed him. I don’t deserve him back in my life or my bed, but I don’t have the walls in place to stop this.
I don’t want to stop it.
Just like that, I decide. I relax against my husband’s chest and tilt my head back, pressing my throat more firmly into his palm. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? To make me feel better, my perpetual knight in shining armor.”
Adonis’s mouth goes hard. “You don’t have to say it like that.”
“But she’s right.” Hephaestus’s words rumble against my back. “You’re the good one, Adonis. Better than both of us combined.” He drags his thumb up and down my throat slowly. “Leave her in my care and who knows what damage I might do.”
Adonis crosses his arms over his chest and glares. “You’re trying to manipulate me and you’re not even doing a good job at it.”
“Why bother being good at it?” He moves his arm by my waist, hooking the edge of my shirt and lifting it a few inches. Not enough to flash anyone, but it’s close enough that Adonis’s gaze sharpens on my newly exposed thighs. “You want it. She wants it. What’s the point in playing games?”
“Because you’re fucking with my heart.”
Hephaestus hesitates. It’s only because I’m pressed so tightly to him that I feel his breath hitch. “You aren’t the only one with a fool heart tangled up in this. Stop playing the martyr and get on your knees.”
I draw a shocked breath, but it’s lost in Adonis’s obedience. He curses and sinks to his knees slowly before us. “I won’t get out of this unscathed, and I resent you using me like a pawn between you.”
I need to say something, to stop this or reassure him or…something. This night has taken a twist for the unexpected and Adonis is right. We need to stop. This wasn’t simple from the beginning, and it feels like every step we take only makes it more complicated, entangles us further.
But I can’t quite manage to speak as Hephaestus lifts my shirt, baring me from the waist down. He’s still stroking my throat with his thumb, a possessive and strangely gentling movement. When he speaks to Adonis, he sounds almost tender. “You may have started out like a pawn, but you didn’t stay that way for long.”
“Don’t.”
He ignores Adonis’s protest. “Last night meant something to me, no matter how messy it is. Now, you know what she needs. Give it to her.”
“What she needs is a good night’s rest and an increased security force.”
I can’t let that stand. “I know what I need. I don’t need the two of you to decide it for me.”
Hephaestus gives a rough chuckle. “By all means, Wife, use your big-girl words and tell us.”
I need to be safe. I need to have one corner of this godsforsaken city where I’m able to rest and not have to worry about a knife in my back, literal or otherwise. I need to stop hurting the people I most care about with every move I make.
I don’t say the words. I can’t. Not now. Not ever. They might honestly be here to make me feel better, but that doesn’t change the fact that both have worked against me in the last few days. I can’t trust them.
Gods, I’m so tired.
I close my eyes. For once, the truth works better than any lie could. “I need to come so hard I forget everything that happened today.”
Adonis exhales harshly. For a moment, I think he’ll start arguing again, but he just runs his hands up my legs, careful to avoid the scattering of bandages. They’re both touching me so gently. Adonis and I were together long enough that we tried every flavor of sex we were interested in, so gentle isn’t out of the realm of normal for him.
But my husband?
There’s no time to spiral into worry about what this might do to the power games between us. Not with Adonis pressing my thighs wide and wedging his broad shoulders between them. I go up onto my toes, but he anticipates me, draping one leg over his shoulder.
Then his mouth is on my pussy and I can’t think of anything at all.
Giving up control feels a bit like jumping out of a plane. The ground approaches with each slow drag of Adonis’s tongue against my clit, but I don’t care, because in this moment I feel weightless and free. I close my eyes and give myself over to this experience. Gods, I missed you.