Page 43 of Song of Memories

Eurydice was silent for a perilous, disturbingly long minute. Even Hermes, who was standing in the corner with a delighted look on his face, didn't say anything.

"You have been 'putting up with me'?" Eurydice fumed. Thorny stems had started growing out of her hair, tangling with her braid.

"That's not what I meant..."

"You callous fool!" Eurydice spat. "Orpheus, you are everything that could be wrong with a man. I cannot, c-cannot..." Eurydice cursed herself as her voice broke. She didn't want to show a single stitch of vulnerability in front of Orpheus; but curse her naive heart, which had simultaneously been reminded not only of Orpheus's betrayal, but also of how much she really had loved him.

"I cannot stand to look at you," Eurydice continued. "I refuse to be in your presence, and I forbid you to ever be in mine again." Orpheus started to interrupt, but Eurydice stopped him with a glare. "If I had my way, every flower would die when you laid eyes upon it. The trees would keep the air from you; the stones would throw themselves at your body in my vengeance," Eurydice started to shout. Twisted, angry thorns started creeping in from the outside and covered the floor, effectively pinning Orpheus in a corner of the room.

"You decided that you wanted to rebuild a relationship based on lies, you used me! You wanted me to forget all about the fact that you left me to die in between worlds while you ran towards the sun. Never again, Orpheus, never again."

"If you would just listen to me!" Orpheus pleaded, dropping to his knees. Eurydice took notice of the pained look on his face when he landed in thorns.

Eurydice took one step closer, spinning her pointer finger in a small circle. The thorns responded, twisting themselves around Orpheus's wrist. Eurydice snapped her fingers, and the thorns pulled free, drawing blood from Orpheus. He howled in response, grabbing at his wounds. The foliage cleared a path for Eurydice as she stepped towards him, bending down and grabbing his chin. She forced him to look up at her, her eyes ablaze with fury.

"Orpheus, with your blood to mark this deal, I abandon you. Your god abandoned you, and now your muse leaves you bleeding in a bed of thorns. May you never sing my name again."

Eurydice turned on her heel and walked out, refusing to listen to Orpheus's cries of protest as they echoed out behind her. She waved her hand in the air, and the vines and thorns shot forward. Eurydice was content to let them overtake the entire house.

Let Orpheus pluck and prune them out of his precious estate, thorn by thorn. Eurydice's thoughts were wicked and full of vengeance while her heart was bleeding, matching each drop of Orpheus's red blood on the white marble floor, drop for drop.

Eurydice walked right out of the house and towards the garden, collapsing only when she retreated to the shade of her grove. As she wept and struggled to contain her composure, the meticulously cared-for garden started dying.

Every petal fell to the ground and browned. The green grass withered underneath Eurydice's feet. Everything keeled over and dried out, a physical manifestation of the life that Eurydice had once thought she would have—now dead and dying all around her. She didn't know who she was anymore; if only she'd never met Orpheus.

"Musicians, eh?" Hermes's soft voice appeared in the fruit grove. "It seems like a rite of passage that every woman has her heart broken by a musician at least once. I know I have." Hermes shrugged.

Eurydice was silent for a moment, looking up at Hermes in a mild state of shock. Hermes waggled his eyebrows dramatically, and Eurydice couldn't help it; she started laughing. She nearly rolled over onto her side, hugging her ribs until they hurt from laughing too hard. Hermes plopped himself down in the dirt next to Eurydice rather unceremoniously, watching with a sad smile as her laughter turned into tears.

"Oh, sweet muse," Hermes sighed. He opened his arms up and pulled Eurydice into his chest. She started crying harder, every last tear wrung out of her. Hermes said nothing; he simply held her and waited for her soft cries to end. He busied himself by plucking some of the errant thorns out of her hair. Eurydice finally sat up slowly and pulled away from Hermes's grasp, wiping at her eyes.

"I'm terribly sorry. I don't want to cry any more over him, but..."

"Eurydice?" Pan's voice suddenly rang out through the courtyard. "Are you here?" Eurydice and Hermes turned around, just in time to see Pan running down the central aisle of the garden.

"What happened?" Pan took in the sight of Eurydice, red-eyed and sniffling, next to Hermes underneath the dying tree. "If Orpheus did something, I'll kill him!" Pan roared, his worry turning to rage in a matter of seconds as he comprehended the look on Eurydice's face.

"No need," Eurydice shook her head and stood up slowly. "I ended things with Orpheus."

"You... You ended things with Orpheus?" Pan repeated, his voice suddenly turning as quiet as a whisper. There was a stunned look on his face that Eurydice didn't know how to comprehend.

Did Pan never suspect I'd actually leave Orpheus?

"Pan," Hermes interjected. He stood up to his full height, looking every part the stern father. "Maybe this isn't the best time for this conversation. I was going to walk Eurydice back to her home."

"Like hell you are," Pan growled. "What are you even doing here?"

Eurydice held up her hand and silenced the two gods. "No, Hermes." She turned to Pan. "Pan and I need to have a conversation."

Pan's face morphed once more, suddenly looking concerned. He walked closer to her until he was standing in the grove between Hermes and Eurydice.

"All right," Pan nodded slowly, "I suppose we are due for a conversation. I sensed your magic and all the plants in the garden dying...and last night..."

"No," Eurydice cut Pan off with a snap, "that's not what I want to talk to you about."

Pan blanched and looked over at his father. "Can we have this conversation in private?"

"At the moment, I'm inclined to do whatever the pissed off immortal nymph wants me to do." Hermes shrugged. "I don't feel like having thorns wrapped around me between my legs."

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