Under the Water(Fem. Percy)

Chapter 35

"You sure you're fine with Cyreus coming back here?" Tulia asks. Her hair undulates into different styles in her concern. It's nice of her to ask, even if it won't mean anything. "Not going to destroy this place again?"

"It's a miracle I didn't get lectured the first time." Honestly, if I didn't know the damage I caused, I wouldn't know anything had to be fixed. The amount of power Dad had to have used to do this...no wonder he was forced to build the walls of Troy.

How would things be different if my hands were better suited for creation than destruction?

I shake that thought. "But it should be fine. I think I got it all out of my system."

"You think?" She snorts. "Whatever you say, princess."

She's not even for a minute before I'm in my room, yanking belongings out of my drawers and shoving them into a bag. It's not as fast I'd like, but I have to be smart. Underwear, shirts, pants, no socks. A few blankets. A pillow. My few pieces of chocolate.

I shove the last piece of clothing in, close the bag, turn to leave, and run face first into a firm chest.

"How did I know you'd be doing this?" Cyreus grabs my wrists. "Drop the bag."

"Let me go," I growl. This...This isn't supposed to happen. But no, of course he has to keep interrupting me, even if it shouldn't be physically possible. Did he sprint here?

"Like depths I'm going to let you go."

"Don't make me make you."

"Can you really?" He takes step after step until he pins me to the wall, my hands beside my head. My heartbeat thuds in my ears. He's close, so close that I can feel the radiant heat from his body as it cages me in. I swallow, and he ghosts his fingers along my jaw.

"What do you think you're doing, hm?" he murmurs. His gaze dusts over my features as he drinks in my face: my eyes and parted lips, the flushed pallor of my skin. There's attraction and...love in the way he looks at me. My breathing catches, and I brush my fingers against his side.

There's only a few inches between us. Two inches, our noses will touch. Three will seal our lips. And--this thought makes a shiver dance through me--if he moves to close it, I know I won't be able to stop him. My body is begging for his touch, skin tingling where his fingers grip me. If his hands slide lower, even under my clothes... Gods.

"Answer the question, Percy."

"Leaving," I say and putting it aloud renews my conviction. This isn't supposed to be happening. Not now. Not when it's probably my last chance to get out. The hand on my face drops, I whine at the loss of safe contact, and Cyreus presses his palm into my hip--and me further into the wall. His nose brushes mine. It makes my heart flutter, and I wiggle. But his grip holds firm. Panic rises in my veins. "Let me go!" I'm not letting my body betray me like this.

Fuck you, Eros.

He blinks languidly. A hum echoes from deep within his chest, and the vibrations seep into me. "You know I can't do that."

"Cyreus."

"How are you going to make me?"

"What?"

He lowers himself to be at eye-level. Auburn strands flow with the simple movement. "How are you going to make me let you go?" Breath-warmed water fans my face, and I breathe it in. His lips twitch into a smile; his hand massages my hip. I gasp. "I don't think you can."

"You're an ass." But he's not wrong. Training with him always ended with me pinned beneath him or held in a hold I don't know how to break.

"Now," he purrs, "that's no language to be in a princess's mouth." Cyreus slides his hand down, down, down. Long, thin fingers brush the curve of my thigh, rising and falling in time with the gentle puffs of water across my face. Swallowing, I stare over his shoulder. He wants a reaction, so I shouldn't give him the satisfaction. His brow furrows.