Page 49 of Song of Memories

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Orpheus was pacing. It was a nasty habit, one that had driven his staff to fury for years. He always managed to start kicking furniture and ripping rugs whenever he got to pacing. Like everything that Orpheus touched, he lost control of his emotions and eventually ruined it in a false display of ownership. The issue Orpheus was now facing was that he had tried to own nature itself; he had tried to wrestle Eurydice, a nymph and one of Pan's chosen, into a place of submission. There was no possessing the wild. It could and would not be contained. Gaia herself would waken from the earth if anyone was ever successful.

So Orpheus paced.

He hadn't returned to his own household. Every surface was covered in dead vines and thorns, and the mess was proving impossible to clean up. Every time someone tried to clear out some of the foliage, the thorns specifically, they would magically reappear. They would never regrow—nothing was growing in Orpheus's house. They would simply reappear. Eurydice's curse was proving true; it was not an exaggeration that everything was affected by her incantation.

Even when the serving staff were bringing in food, fresh produce died as soon as it crossed the threshold. No one really needed to eat in the Underworld for survival, but it was still regularly a part of everyone's routine for the comfort and familiarity of it. Now, Orpheus was finding no solace in his own home. The garden was a charred mess and looked as though a wildfire had ripped through it. Although Eurydice's anger could be compared to a wildfire, it was just as destructive and obliterated everything in its wake.

"Orpheus, sit down and have a glass of wine," Perseus snapped, rolling his eyes. He had been less than sympathetic to Orpheus's plight; his main concern had been the effect on both his and Orpheus's reputation.

"I will have her again!" Orpheus growled, pushing the golden hair off his forehead. His eyes were red, and there were bags under his eyes. He hadn't slept since Eurydice left, and it was beginning to show on his face and in his temperament. He was possessed with a nearly supernatural obsession for revenge. Orpheus had lost the support of his patron, his mortal life, and now his muse. He'd already lost Eurydice once, and this time around, people wouldn't be sympathetic about it. When he'd returned to the mortal world without Eurydice, it only pushed Orpheus's fame higher. There was nothing the Greek people loved more than a tragedy. Now the citizens of the Underworld wouldn't be as forgiving.

Everything hinged on getting her back. Orpheus's thoughts shifted to a dark, angry place, which was a more ominous side effect of Apollo's influence.

"I'm sure you will," Perseus rolled his eyes, "but drink something to take the edge off because you're going to make a hole in my floors."

Orpheus grunted angrily in return, plopping himself down on one of the chaise lounges. He snapped his fingers, and a serving girl practically leaped to hand him a glass of wine.

"You're being no help," Orpheus snapped angrily, gulping down half of his wine in one sip. "If you aren't going to contribute anything other than sarcasm, I'd rather drink alone."

"You're in my house," Perseus reminded him with a sneer. "Yours is covered in thorns because you couldn't keep you woman under control."

"Fuck you," Orpheus hissed, nearly spilling the rest of his goblet. "You try marrying a muse and see what that gets you."

"No, thank you. I decided to eliminate the women in my life that were threats."

"I never understood that." Orpheus rolled his eyes. "I'm not sure how a woman hiding in a cave was a threat to you. Unless you're that fragile."

"Watch it," Perseus growled. He jumped to his feet and stalked over to where Orpheus was sitting, jabbing his finger in Orpheus's face. Orpheus dropped his cup, sending a crimson red stain splattering across the pristine floors. Orpheus was on his feet in a second, responding by shoving Perseus's shoulders. Perseus went sprawling, landing in the puddle of spilled wine.

"All right, cut it out!" Perseus snapped, holding his hands up in mock surrender. Orpheus and Perseus were already breathing hard, both of them frustrated and already fairly well imbibed for the time of day. "I'm not your enemy here. I'm only saying that drinking in my house and moping aren't going to do anything. Why don't you just let her go? She's one woman, for fuck's sake." Perseus rolled his eyes and pushed himself up, wiping at some of the wine on his tunic.

"I wish I could," Orpheus grumbled, plopping back down on the chaise rather unceremoniously. "You know that my reputation wouldn't take it well. Everyone is expecting me to be with Eurydice now that we're both in the Underworld."

"All right." Perseus crossed his arms across his chest, trailing his thumb across his lip as he began to think. "So you need her to play house with you. You don't actually have to be in a relationship, but for all intents and purposes, you need people to assume that you are. You need her complicit."

"Yes, alive would be helpful." Orpheus grumbled again, motioning for the serving girl to bring them another round of wine. "I'm so glad that you're here to help."

"Hear me out," Perseus groaned. "No wonder Eurydice left you. You can't listen for shit. I'm starting at the beginning. It's called making a plan. You should try it," Orpheus said nothing but handed Perseus a glass of wine apologetically, motioning for him to go on.

"We know that murder and maiming are out of the question if we need her alive and willing to play house with you. So the question becomes—how do we get Eurydice to go along as your wife?"

"Blackmail, I'd assume is the answer you're looking for." Orpheus took another sip of his wine and began pacing again, except this time Perseus joined in. They began mulling over all of the ways they could try to get Eurydice in line, but every idea came up short when dealing with the premise of an enraged muse and nymph.

"What does she love? Flowers, the fucking trees?" Orpheus quipped frustratingly. "We can't exactly set a field of flowers on fire and expect her to pretend to be my wife for all eternity."

Orpheus and Perseus went back and forth long into the night. They practically held their own caucus, debating every which way they could try and get Eurydice under their thumb. The wine continued to flow as they ate and drank their way through their scheming, until finally, they were both half-collapsed on the floor in the early hours of dawn.

Orpheus was propped up by the leg of a chair, and Perseus was lying on the ground. The early rays of dawn were starting to creep into the great hall, and the conniving duo was nowhere closer to hatching any sort of scheme that would help them get Eurydice under Orpheus's control.

"If only we could call on H-Hermes," Orpheus hiccuped. "The trickster would know of a way or two to sort this out."

"Can we not call on him? There's nothing keeping us from petitioning the gods. If he runs his mouth about it, we can always pass it off as a trick of Hermes's." Perseus picked his head up from the floor, his eyes brightening as he thought of asking a god for assistance.

"Hermes won't work." Orpheus shook his head. "Eurydice is one of Pan's creatures. Hermes won't do anything that could or would affect his son. He's sneaky, but he has loyalties." Perseus made a discontented sigh and lay back down on the floor.

"Well, then I don't know. Apollo is gone, and he is the only one who ever showed you favor."

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