Page 164 of Monsters in Love

His ears flicked, listening, and he shook his head, squeezing her tight against his chest. “No. Whatever you did, the merciful goddess heard you. Your charm has merely hurt it. Though it will not put it off for long, it grants us some time.”

With an unexpected burst of strength, Asterion’s pace picked up again, moving through the narrowing corridors until he reached a level room painted with the same symbol of the labyrinth that she had seen on her coin. The room was lit with torches lining the walls, and all around stood statues of the gods, their heads bowed as if staring at the staircase that descended at the center of the painted labyrinth. A soft sigh escaped him as he stopped, looking around the room. Vicky watched him, taking in the sadness on his face.

“This is Ariadne’s dancing floor,” he whispered. “It was her favorite place in the labyrinth. She would say, ‘Brother, come dance the labyrinth with me,’ and I would follow along the winding path, dancing the crane dance.”

Lifting a hand, she stroked his jaw. “You miss your sister very much. It’s okay to miss her.”

“I should not. She abandoned me, left me here alone.” His tone was so sad, so desolate that Vicky’s eyes pricked with tears.

Vicky swallowed. She understood all too well. “I know how that feels. I’ve been very angry with my father for years. He died—killed himself—when he was certain I was old enough to take care of myself. He wanted to rejoin my mother who died during the Ravening, but I felt like he abandoned me. That he chose his love for her over me.” She sniffed back the sob that rose. “Sometimes, there’s no right choice we can make when it comes to love.”

His head lowered so that his grief-filled dark brown eyes could meet hers in their mutual sharing of pain and loss. Asterion’s soft nose brushed her cheek and he nuzzled her, his breath warming her neck.

“I have not come to this place since she left. I have been too angry. But perhaps you are right and I can find a place within myself to begin healing. Hopefully, this will be the first step,” he murmured. “Come. Let me take you home.”

Cupping his jaw with one hand, Vicky smiled and nodded, her heart filling with love as he pulled his head back and turned toward the stairs. She rested her head against his chest, trusting him, her body swaying lightly with his every step as he began their descent into what, she couldn’t imagine.

The bright false sunlight poured over him, blinding him briefly as he exited the darkness of the stairs, and he breathed deep of the fresh, clean air perfumed with life. He had forgotten how different this place was from the labyrinth in which he had been imprisoned. It was a holy place, and though part of him was hesitant to take refuge there when it was a place of the gods, he had little choice in the matter.

Vicky turned in his arms, eyes wide with wonder. “Asterion, what… how is this place possible?”

He shrugged. “How was the magic that filled my home possible? Ariadne fueled it from here, the well of the gods. The magic that she established there for my comfort and to keep the torches lit for me were linked to the force of this place so that it would never weaken or pass with age. I do not know much about the things of magic, but this place is the source of everything. That I do know.”

He closed his eyes, dragging in another breath, allowing the peace to flow into him before opening them to look out over the flower-filled meadow. Insects hummed that existed nowhere on Earth as far as he knew, and in the grasses, he could see the quaking paths of rabbits as they fled before him at his first steps in the soft, eternal spring. He snorted with amusement. Of course. Of all creatures, rabbits would have found a way to occupy this place beyond. It was no wonder that there was an unending supply of them that found their way into the labyrinth above.

He could not even say for sure from where they came. Most things entered the labyrinth through the tunnels that connected to the mortal world, but there was another entrance here that his sister had mentioned as they played at the edge of the silvered lavender forest bordering the high walls of the valley’s perimeter. The forest there belonged to the gods and could be a portal itself at their will, but it was one that only flowed one way—into the holy well. There was no escape for him or Vicky through there, but it guaranteed a level of safety unlike anywhere else. The deep-ones, efficient and dangerous predators that they were, could not attack them there. That alone alleviated much of his concern.

This would be a good home, he decided as he walked through the grasses, enjoying the brush of the long green leaves against his fur. The give of the soil beneath his hooves was pleasant after so many years of hard stone. His head lowered as the tension from his body melted away. Although there was a chance that he would have to deal with the satyrs and any of the other occupants of the labyrinth should they find their way to this place, he considered the likelihood of that happening minimal. Spells hid the dancing floor from the eyes of those unworthy of entrance. It always had. That was part of the ancient test of the labyrinth.

A small hand tapped impatiently his chest, and he chuckled as she wiggled in his arms.

“You know you can let me down now, right?” she said as her head swung this way and that trying to see around his bulk.

“Maybe I like you where you are,” he replied complacently, rubbing his jaw against the top of her head.

She squinted up at him, her nose wrinkling as she attempted to scowl at him despite the humor lighting her eyes. She was coming to understand his playfulness, as subtle as it could be at times.

“Come on, bully, put me down. This place is great!” She squinted across the distance where the temple loomed on a hill. “Is that a temple over there?”

He inclined his head as he set her on her feet despite his own silent objections on the matter. He preferred to carry his mate, if truth be told, but he understood her desire to explore her new surroundings. The well of the gods was a magical place.

“Come with me. I will have to return to dig out supplies, but behind the temple there is a resting house where those who came here were provided lodgings. There will not be much, but it will provide shelter until I can return with whatever furs and supplies.”

Vicky spun around to gape at him. “Go back? You can’t be serious. No! Have you already forgotten the walls tried toeatus, Asterion!”

“I have not forgotten,” he replied dryly. “To be more accurate, it was trying to eat you. It does not enjoy the blood of the immortals caught here and will only consume us in a fit of rage as I once witnessed with one unfortunate creature, or to eat what it really wants.”

“And you don’t think it wouldn’t try to do just that?”

“Oh, it would want to, except without me carrying you, it would have a very difficult time. There is a reason that I survived long in the labyrinth, and it is because of this.” He pointed to the gold cuff banding his wrist. He knew it looked identical to the cuff on his other wrist if not for the symbols etched into it. “The glamour here allows me to pass through the corridors undetected. It makes me a superior hunter despite the shortcomings of my height and bulk.”

His mate’s eyebrows flew up as she inspected the cuff, her fingers brushing against the engraved symbols.

“Another gift from your sister?”

He nodded. “Her last gift, the day before she left. She gave its match to Theseus.” To his surprise, he felt no bitterness speaking the name of the male he hated most. “It was how he passed through safely and could exit again when no others could.” He scowled. “Not even I can manage to exit as he did. The labyrinth will not detect my passing through the corridors, but I was cursed to reside here. It will notice if I attempt to break free into the upper corridors.”

A sad smile crossed her lips. “She wanted to make sure you were protected when she could no longer be here.”

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