Page 77 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Underworld

He was infuriating and demanding, but he was magnificent. There was no going back after this.

Charon had devoured me in a way I would never find on the surface.

I had had many lovers and none compared, none even came close.

For the first time in years, I felt alive, the high of euphoria and conquest thrumming through my veins. I felt sated.

Charon leaned back until he was sitting, a hand on each knee. Our heaving breaths raced against the rhythmic flow of the Styx.

His hair was mussed, a nest about his head. The white strands tangled in his horns and stuck to the side of his face and neck from perspiration.

As if matching my thoughts, his raspy voice filled the air. “You’re a mess.”

The words seemed harsh, but didn’t match the tone of praise.“Fates, I love seeing your cunt dripping with me like that. I could watch you like this for an age. I’d have to fill you over and over.”

I pulled my legs towards me and threw my chiton over to cover them.

“Too bad, Ferryman.”

My eyes roamed his body. Like me, he was panting, perspiration dotting along his temples. His chlamys had fallen off during our joining. His chiton was even ripped; the tattered fabric draped along his chest, revealing the byrsa of obols I so desperately sought.

It wasn’t tucked into the fabric.

It wasinsideof him.

The left side of Charon’s torso was hollow, ribs gleaming in the pale light of the Underworld. Obols were massed together where a heartshouldbe.

My eyes shot to his face, taking in the dried smear of silver blood. His eyes, the color of metal… the color of coins.

“The obols… They’re a part of you?”

Charon froze. He slowly glanced down at his chest, taking in the exposed cavity.

“Yes. I believe I had a heart once, but with each passenger the obol joins the others. The metal flows through me like blood. It has been this way as long as I can remember, and will remain this way as long as I can foresee.”

“That’s why I couldn’t steal one.” I nodded. “Would it have killed you?”

He cocked his head in thought. “Doubtful. One obol would hurt, excruciatingly so, but I think it would take many more or the entire mass to truly end me. If that would even work.”

He turned to look out over the water, the familiar gesture no longer infuriating as it once was.

“Can you not go home without the obol?”

Home.

Did I even have a home?

In the mortal realm I flitted from city to city. It was not safe to stay in one area for too long as a thief. People caught on. The job grew harder and harder until you’d inevitably get caught. I moved around, staying in taverns and inns, never having a settled place.

I hadn’t considered how empty it all was… Not until now.

“Hermes said I would need the obol to return to the mortal realm, yes.”

I couldn’t bear to call it home. Not when it no longer meant that.

Charon turned back toward me. His silver eyes fixed onto mine. For once, his gaze was open and unguarded. It shone with need and understanding… then hardened to resolution.

His features scrunched with pain and a cry ripped from his lips. I yelped, eyes wide with shock.

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