He liked it so much it hadn’t taken long for it to become their drawing room and he often passed hours there with her, tending to his business while she read or helped him with his work.
All in all, they had fallen into an easy rhythm and shared the kind of life he had never dreamed of having, one that often filled his heart to bursting.
That heart filled to bursting all over again as he gazed at his love, watching her as she tended to her garden, quietly singing to herself. She gently lifted her left hand, brushing a rogue wave of spun gold behind her ear only for it to slip forwards again and brush her cheek as she bent over something. Her cerulean corset and trousers accentuated her curves, had his mind racing forwards and blood rushing as he flexed his fingers, able to feel the buttery softness of the leather against them already.
No more pretty dresses for his goddess.
He had tried to buy her one and instead she had requested the clothes she wore now.
Something she could move in, as she had put it.
And gods, the way she moved.
He had been hard as stone the moment he had seen her in the tight clothing, aching for her then as he was aching for her now. He sighed. One thing hadn’t changed between them yet though. He still found things difficult from time to time, had yet to shatter the hold his past had on him enough to find release within her, but every time he failed, his little goddess was gentle with him, soothed him before rage took him, coaxed him back to her, and he was sure it was only a matter of time now.
Calindria was quite insistent that it was.
He hadn’t believed her at first, but now he did.
Every day he spent with her he was healing, putting his past behind him in the quest for a brighter future.
Calindria noticed him the moment he had passed the black fluted columns that lined one end of the pool, stood and turned towards him in one motion. Her face lit up and his heart lit up with it as she ran to him, as she leaped into his arms and curled hers around his neck.
Thanatos wrapped his arms around her and held her to him, captured her lips and savoured the desperate way she kissed him—a way that confirmed she had missed him as much as he had missed her.
Gods, how he had missed her.
Not long ago he would have been eager to return to his castle so he could be alone, and now he was eager to return to it so he could be with her.
He pulled her closer to him, cursing the black metal plates of the armour that protected his legs and hips as they hindered him, stopping him from being able to feel her body pressing to his.
She pulled back, stealing the pleasure of her lips from him, and her blonde eyebrows met in a frown that darkened her blue eyes. They turned troubled as she gazed into his.
“It didn’t go well?” Her soft voice undid him.
He had been aching to hear it as fiercely as he had been aching to feel her pressed against him. When he shook his head, she sighed, the sound melodic, and shifted her left hand. She twined the hair at the back of his head around her fingers, maddening him, stoking that fire she always ignited in him.
“We will find her one day, Thanatos. Perhaps next time I could come with you and my brothers? I could use my connection to the earth to root her out.”
The urge to tell her she would be remaining at the castle, far from any danger, barely rose within him before it was vanquished by a stronger need to keep her by his side, close to him where she would be safe. Not only that, but he could see how much she wanted to help, had listened to her speak at great lengths of how she needed to help her family. Her brothers wouldn’t be pleased about it, and he doubted Hades would allow it, but Thanatos was close to agreeing to his persistent little goddess’s demands that he take her with him. He knew in his heart that she could be a great help to them on this hunt, and he knew in his soul that she could handle herself, and also how desperately she wanted to spend time with her brothers.
But not in the way she had before her captivity, tailing them around the palace grounds and waiting for them there, tucked safely away and protected.
She wanted to show them that just as they had grown into strong, capable warriors, she had too.
“Hypnos came by to visit,” she said.
“I know,” he grumbled and his expression must have blackened because a little crease formed between her fair eyebrows. “Mother mentioned he has been visiting you.”
“Visiting me?” She frowned properly now and then something lit her eyes and she sighed. “Your mother is trouble. She teases you too much, putting thoughts into your head that are harmful. Hypnos came to see you and left as soon as he realised you had not returned yet. We barely exchanged pleasantries… and besides… why would I want him when I have you? I mean no offence to your twin, but you, my handsome god of death, are the only one for me.”
“What if something happened to me?” He flinched as he let that slip out.
Her look darkened, a flicker of red chasing around her pupils. “Then I would go into the veil and bring you back. I want no other. You are not Hypnos, and Hypnos is not you… and you are the only one for me.”
She put more force behind those words this time, driving them home, making him believe them.
He dipped his head and captured her lips again, kissing her softly this time, relishing every light brush of her mouth over his and how she sank against him, melting in his embrace. A shiver rolled down his spine as she feathered her fingers across his nape, heat blooming in its wake, and he tightened one arm around her back and dropped his other hand to her bottom. She gasped into his mouth as he clutched it, kissed him harder and gripped his nape, holding him to her.
His possessive little goddess.
She had shown him more than once that there was a darker, more dominant side to her just as there was to her brothers and her father. A wickedly possessive side. It had come out around her brothers’ females too, whenever any of them dared to gaze upon him or say anything kind about him. His little goddess didn’t like to share.
He didn’t like to share either.
He wrapped his wings around her, concealing her from view even though there wasn’t a soul for miles, keeping her to himself.
When he focused to teleport, to whisk her to their bedroom, she tensed and pushed back.
“Wait.” Her blue eyes were hooded, hazy with desire that said she didn’t want to wait, that she needed him as fiercely as he needed her, but there was a spark in them too, a light that shone like a beacon to him, drawing him towards her.
Making him curious.
She pushed from his arms and he growled and unfurled his wings, tried to grab hold of her but she pirouetted around his hand, evading him. Her smile was teasing, tempting, luring him into following her as she bounded away from him. If she wanted him to chase her, then he would.
And he would win.
He beat his wings and shot after her, swept around her and landed before her and she gasped, her blue eyes widening and a horrified look crossing her face. Not because he had startled her.
Her gaze fell to his feet and relief washed across her delicate features. “Oh, thank the gods. I thought I was going to have to kill you there for a moment.”
Thanatos looked down at the pointed toes of his metal boots.
Blinked.
Calindria crouched and reached her hands forwards, carefully ghosted them over the small bush he had almost crushed in his haste to capture her, and then looked up at him. Her smile was dazzling.