Chapter Twenty

Aliana's POV

“Indeed,” Erebus exclaimed before I could ask, his arm draped around the goddess and fed her a grape. “It takes a real woman to handle that horned beast. But I’m sure you can do it!”

“Thanks?” I said or asked lamely, feeling awkward and--- well, very human all of a sudden. They both laughed, and I couldn’t help smiling too. There was something effortless about them. The way they moved in sync, the way Nyx touched his arm when she passed behind him. They were beautiful together, luminous even in shadow…

“Eat, little one,” Nyx said, shoveling more food in my direction. “Erebus takes offense when mortals hesitate.”

There was enough to feed an army, but I didn’t dare to say that out loud. I couldn’t remember the last time I ate, and as the scent of all the baked goods drifted towards me, my stomach decided that now was the perfect time to growl its hunger – loud and obnoxious!

“I’m sorry, little girl,” Ani grinned and kissed the top of my head. “I should have fed you first.”

“That sort of was the plan,” I reminded him, feeling embarrassment burn my cheeks. Before I could remind him WHY our plans had been interrupted – and kept being interrupted – I grabbed a stack of pancakes, not wanting to risk insulting the gods of night and darkness.

And fuck me!

“This is incredible,” I managed, the first bite nearly made me moan. It was sweet, warm, fluffy--- freaking perfect! “Better than anything I’ve had on--- erm, Earth, I guess?”

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” Erebus chuckled, clearly pleased, but didn’t elaborate whether I was on Earth or not. I wanted to ask, but I never got the chance. Both of them lunged into a competition on who could interrogate me more. And what, you might ask, did the gods of this “magical, blow-your-mind beautiful, had a freaking living dragon”- realm want to know?

The modern world!

They asked about everything from music, cities, TikTok --- hell, even the internet was a foreign concept to them. If it wasn’t for the absurd question, it would be easy for me to forget that I was sitting across from ancient beings older than civilization.

It was almost laughable seeing Nyx listen like a scholar, fascinated by every word about the most mundane brain rot. Erebus laughed at my descriptions of traffic jams and online dating, declaring that he wanted to try it too. After clarifying that it was only for singles, he just laughed it off and said it didn’t matter to him...

“I’d find my Muse again and woo her as if we’d never met before,” he said so genuinely lovingly, I felt like I was intruding on a private moment. As he spoke, he looked to Nyx, his eyes sparkling with love and adoration, making the goddess blush and smile the way only a woman in love could...

“So, you are… each other’s--- Muse?” I dared to ask, not knowing if it was an “only woman”- thing or if it was mutual. Hell, I didn’t even fully understand what it meant yet, but if Nyx and Erebus were anything to go by, it seemed very---

Passionate!

“Oh yes,” Nyx offered freely, taking a sip of her cub and glancing over at Erebus. “We emerged close to each other. When I saw that he wasn’t just my kin but a Muse too, I knew I had to take the chance and make him mine.”

“I wasn’t too opposed to the idea,” Erebus smirked and leaned closer, kissing her cheek. “Of course, Eos did try to get her hands on me, too. But a flickering light can never compare to your brilliance, my love!”

That--- made me even more confused!

Not the Eos part, strangely...

Eos was the personification of dawn, who brought light to the world and dispelled the night. She was the daughter of Hyperion, the Titan God of Heavenly Light, and Theia, the Titan Goddess of Sight. Additionally, her siblings were Helios, the God of the Sun, and Selene, the Goddess of the Moon.

Powerful family kind of shit!

She was said to be a beautiful young maiden, with wings like an angel and rosy fingers – whatever the hell that meant! She rose from the horizon each morning in a chariot pulled by winged horses, and sometimes dispensing dew from a pitcher, blessing humankind.

Cute girl, right?

Yeah, the story wasn’t over yet!

It was also said that she was cursed by Aphrodite with insatiable lust for mortal men – yes, you read that right! She was cursed to be eternally horny, leading to numerous love affairs. Her most famous mortal lover was Tithonus. Eos begged Zeus to grant him immortality, but forgot to ask for eternal youth, leading to the poor man’s everlasting aging...

Fun shit!

And she’d tried to snatch Erebus away from Nyx?

Because he was a Muse?

“What does that mean?” I asked, leaning closer. “To be someone’s Muse?”

Nyx and Erebus stilled, blinked at me as if I suddenly spoke a language they didn’t understand. Slowly, they turned their heads to Ani, who, until that point, had been quietly eating his meal. Turning to him, I furrowed my brows in confusion, wishing there was a way for me to understand what all of them obviously knew…

“Ani?” I asked gently, needing to know more than anything. Needing something in this new mad world to make sense…

The horned god drew in a deep breath and set down his food, his eyes distant as if contemplating how to explain. Well, as long as he didn’t try to hide anything from me, that was a small comfort…

“As I said, a Muse--- AH!” He suddenly snarled, his hand flying to his head as if someone had struck him. But even before I could really react to it, his eyes snapped open, blazing red with fury that even had me jumping back.

“Excuse me,” he growled between clenched teeth, voice tight with restraint. “I’m needed!”

Before I could ask what he meant, he vanished!

No light.

No sound.

Just--- gone!