Pandora's Mistake (Fate of Eros #0) (The Fate of Eros Series) (5 page)

Prometheus lifted his hands in surrender. "You don't understand, this is a stressful job-"

"But I am your girlfriend!" Hecate shouted. "And you can't spend all your time neglecting me for your work."

Prometheus had never actually called her his girlfriend before and although he enjoyed spending time with her, he found the label she had placed on them suffocating.

Prometheus sighed. "I've been stressed out lately. You have no idea what is going on. I've had a lot to deal with."

Hecate turned to Ronius. "Leave us." She glared at him as she spoke. He obeyed her reluctantly.

She grabbed Prometheus by the hand and stared into his eyes. "Tell me. This is what girlfriends are for-you to confide in."

Prometheus searched her eyes. "This is dangerous information and you can't tell it to anyone."

Hecate squeezed his fingers. "You can trust me."

"You know how Cronus has been acting strange lately? Rhea keeps giving birth and the babies miraculously disappear."

Hecate nodded her head. "But it's really none of our business. As long as Cronus lets us live our life, I don't care what he's been doing with his."

Prometheus ran his hand through his hair. "He's been eating his children."

Hecate's mouth dropped open. "What?"

"I thought Cronus' temper was a bit out of control, but I had no idea it was this bad. He received a prophecy from the Fates that because he killed his father, so would he be killed by one of his children. So he's imprisoned them inside his belly."

"He's our king though," Hecate said. "And we can't do anything about it."

"That's where you're wrong. Gaia worked with Rhea to kidnap one of his sons. They tricked him into eating a rock by telling him it was the baby. The child's name is Zeus. They will raise him into adulthood and then cut open Cronus' stomach, which will incite a war."

Hecate was pacing. "We must tell Cronus about this immediately."

"We can't because I've already agreed to help Gaia."

Hecate's hands went to her hips. "Why would you do such a thing? I always thought you were intelligent."

"You haven't thought things through," Prometheus said. "The Fates have already decreed that it will happen. We can either go along with it and be on the winning side or fight against it and be forced to face the same punishment Cronus will. If I fight for Zeus, I will win his favor and when he takes his place as leader of the gods, then you, I, Epimetheus, and the humans will be protected."

"Where's your loyalty?"

Prometheus shrugged his shoulder. "One god ruling over another doesn't matter to me. I just want to protect those who I love."

Hecate chewed on her cheek. "I suppose so, but it doesn't feel right."

Prometheus shrugged his shoulders. "Either way, it's already been decided. Cronus knows nothing and I will stay on his good side as long as possible. I will feed information to Zeus and betray the other Titans in the heat of battle. I will tip the scale to their favor."

Hecate grabbed his hand again. "I will help you."

"Good," Prometheus said. The part he didn't tell her was that if she hadn't agreed to it, Gaia would have locked her up inside the Earth for eternity if she needed to.

Prometheus would protect his creation at all costs.

*** *** ***

Pandora interrupted his memories. "Is that what you did to me?" Fear crossed her gaze.

Prometheus tilted his head, confused. He had no idea what the two of them had been talking about anymore. "What do you mean?"

Pandora stared into his eyes earnestly. "You can make creatures feel desire for you like you did to the raven. Is that why every time I look at you my heart leaps in my chest and butterflies fill my stomach?"

Prometheus raised an eyebrow. "You're attracted to me? Even looking like this? What is wrong with you?" Already a trail of blood was beginning to run down his side towards the ground as the raven ripped into his liver.

But he understood it: even sweaty, Pandora was beautiful to him. Enough to make his heart beat like a kangaroo in his chest in ways that Hecate had never been able to.

Pandora blushed. "You have no idea what I am talking about, do you? Never mind, you obviously didn't do it."

The two sat in an awkward silence as she pressed the wet rag against his sweating forehead.

"Just so you know," her voice was so soft, it was almost a whisper. "I don't think Zeus should be doing this to you. Next time he and I speak, I will ask for him to let you go."

Prometheus laughed. "So you truly are naïve and it's not just an act?"

Pandora's eyebrows wrinkled together and she drew away. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Prometheus shook his head. "You haven't been in the world long enough to know that the Olympians don't care what you have to say. You're just a means to get revenge on humanity. Whether you die or live, they couldn't care less, as long as you go along with their plan."

Pandora glared at him. "Zeus promised he'd listened to me whenever I was upset, as long as I continued to worship him. He's shown me nothing but kindness. He fed me on Mount Olympus, kept me warm, and gave me a nice bed. He treated me far better than your brother has!"

"The Olympians aren't kind," Prometheus said. "Their motivation is usually power. People will do as many stupid things for power as they will do for love. Love is what got me here. I know what it means to value something like that above everything else. I see the lust for power in their eyes."

It's the same as the lust I have when I look at you.
Prometheus thought it, but he couldn't say it.

Pandora patted the cloth against his cheek a few times, chewing her lips as she contemplated this. "Oh."

Prometheus stared at Pandora for a long while. Her eyes were large like a doe's. He would grab her at that moment and press her lips against his if only his hands weren't tied.

His brother had made a huge mistake bringing her here. The more he learned about her, the more he was intrigued by her. She was a horrible temptation. The Olympians must have gifted her with many ways to seduce men.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked once he couldn't take her biting her lower lip anymore.

Pandora giggled. "It's silly. I was just remembering something Epimetheus did for me last night and how it made my burns feel better. I thought maybe I could do the same thing for you."

Prometheus' eyes widened; his breath hitched in anticipation, even though he wasn't sure why. She bent over, looking down at one of the places where the raven had pecked him when he'd missed his mark. He wanted to yank her head away. She was risking her life by exposing her vulnerable neck to the raven's beak in such a way, but his mouth was frozen. He couldn't ask her to stop and all he could think about was how the raven's beak was the size of her head.

She closed her eyes and pressed her lips gently to the wound. The softness left his body bucking as goosebumps spread all over him. How did he have goosebumps with all this heat?

"You need to never do that again."

But before his protest even left his mouth, she had already pressed her lips against his. Their mouths melted together and became one as passion took over their bodies. He had never felt an aphrodisiac like it. It took away all his pain, made him forget that he was crippled, chained to the ground as he was. All he wanted to do as their tongues danced together was grab her by the waist, throw her to the ground, and make love to her. She shuddered and sighed against him and there was never a sound that was more glorious.

His chest contracted and just in time she pulled away. He vomited blood all over the ground beneath her feet and was too ashamed to look up and see the disgust he assumed was written across her face.

He swore at her instead. "Get away from me!" His voice was deadly, as if she were the one who was stabbing him to death and not the raven. In truth, her presence was exciting him too much and that was making him sicker than ever.

The raven pecked him harder. Prometheus' fervor had excited him. He screamed and an inferno exploded in the sky as he desperately prayed in his mind for the raven to calm down.

Pandora was gone when he finally looked up and she had taken the meat she was cooking with her.

Damn you, Zeus,
Prometheus thought.
She's already gotten to me.

Pandora was supposed to wait for Epimetheus' return to escort her back safely, but after the way Prometheus had yelled at her, she grabbed the meat and ran. She knew what kind of violence Prometheus was capable of. Even if he were able to keep his promises to Epimetheus under normal circumstances, he was under duress and not fully aware of what he was doing.

Pandora was so blinded by her tears that she tripped over a man resting on the ground, and almost fell into the campfire used for cooking. She stumbled clumsily to her feet and sighed sadly as she bent to pick up the chunk of meat covered in dirt. She dusted it off, wondering whether she should bring it home anyway.

She flinched when the man and his friends got to their feet. They towered over her, surrounding her, and looking like Epimetheus did right before he was about to hit her. They chuckled. She laughed along with them, unsure what was so funny.

"Bring your tits over here," said the tallest man, who also seemed to be the leader of the group. Pandora wrinkled her nose at his smell. "I'd like to see a pair of real ones. The pictures of goddesses I masturbate to are getting old."

Pandora stepped on a rock as she backed away from him and fell towards another one of the men who was missing his teeth. She didn't know what a "tit" was. Maybe he was asking about the meat she was carrying. She wasn't willing to share.

"You smell pretty," the man with a gummy smile told her. He reached out and stroked her hair a few times with his greasy hands.

Their skin glowed like hers did in the sun. It was silvery and shiny, but like peeking at treasure through a layer of dirt. They weren't clean like she and the Titans were. They were also skinny.

And they all seemed to desire her. Zeus said he wanted to make a woman so humans could procreate and all the men she met seemed to want to have children with her. Why hadn't Zeus created more women yet? Didn't he want all of them to have one?

And maybe if these men had a woman they wouldn't be so dirty or hungry. The women could cook for them.

The leader of the group was in front of her. He reached out his hands before she could stop him and started to massage her breasts. She shoved him away and wrapped her arms tightly over her chest. What was he doing? No one was
ever
supposed to touch her there! She wouldn't even let Epimetheus' hands near there if he tried.

He licked his lips as he stared down at her. She realized that he was staring at her like a famished wolf would stare at the chunk of meat she had.

She screamed at the top of her lungs and tried to run, but his friends pushed her back towards him. He wrapped his arms around her and forced her back against his chest. He began to fondle her again, until the two of them were suddenly greeted by a roar. Epimetheus ran up behind the leader, grabbed him by the waist and hurled him in the air.

His friends ran off as Epimetheus punched him in the head. The man curled up into a ball, screaming in pain in the dirt. Epimetheus grabbed his axe and chopped off the man's head.

Pandora screamed and covered her eyes. Blood splashed on her robes. She had seen him do the same thing to animals, but never to a human. Did he intend to devour this human now that it was dead? She shuddered at the thought. Would he eat the man raw? Would she be next?

They left the man's body behind to Pandora's relief. He grabbed her by the hair and yanked her by it all the way home.

"I told you not to wander around alone!" he roared as he threw her to the floor of the cave.

"Prometheus made me leave!" she insisted and got a kick to her leg for it.

Epimetheus breathed in and out deeply, his hands continuing to clench. Pandora had her hands covering her face, until he eventually calmed down. They washed off the dirt on the meat and Epimetheus started to devour it. She preferred it over uncooked lamb, but had lost her appetite after finding out what Epimetheus was truly capable of.

"Why are you being so quiet?" he asked roughly.

Pandora flinched. "Because you killed that man."

"And you're afraid I'll kill you?"

She could tell by his face that he wished her to say no, so she didn't dare say anything else. "No." It wasn't worth a slap to the face to tell the truth.

He wrapped his arms around her and she cowered. He tried to kiss her on the cheek and she moved away. "That man was hurting you. You are my wife, so you are mine to kiss and touch. No one else's."

Realization dawned on her face. "Marriage means that I can only touch and kiss you?" Why hadn't anyone explained any of this to her?

He nodded his head. "It means you belong to me. There is more to marriage than this. Soon, I will take you naked to my bed and enter you.

"I'm waiting for you to be ready. I am great at sex, so I want you to enjoy yourself." His eyes narrowed. "But if you make me wait for too long, I will have to force you to consummate the marriage."

Pandora didn't understand what he meant by enter her. Enter her where? And how would he get inside her? People can't crawl into each other. His real form was giant, too, so she'd have to be the one going inside him if one of them crawled into the other. Maybe he'd shrink himself further?

"So if I were to kiss someone else, you would kill them in the same way?"

Epimetheus nodded his head and Pandora felt scared. She had kissed and touched Prometheus this morning.
But he can't be killed,
she reassured herself.
He's immortal.
She better keep what she had done a secret anyway.

"Are you going to kill me now, too, because you feel I betrayed you?" Why did she ask that question? She must have a death wish.

"Of course not," Epimetheus said. "I already punished you for it by pulling your hair."

Epimetheus pulled off a chunk of the meat and handed it to her. "Eat." And she ate before he got even angrier with her. The tender meat tasted like dirt.