Page 51 of Thanatos' Craving

My shoulders slumped in defeat.

I couldn’t understand how Athena was so sophisticated and logical, nearly normal for a god, and Thanatos wasn’t. Why was that?

This is what I’d thought about for days. It was driving me mad, and the more I thought, the more my head hurt. Then when he walked into the room, all the pain melted away.

My body liked to be near him. I didn’t feel panic. I wasn’t fearful of him. My mind got in the way though. If I followed my body, followed the instinct of what my heart said, it would say to give him a chance.

That is how you get hurt in the end. I’d given my heart away before, to family, like you are supposed to. All to get rejected, to have it crushed by my own flesh and blood, who created me. It was shattering.

To yearn to be close to someone I didn’t know was dangerous, even more so with a god. Especially one who couldn’t explain his own emotions.

He might want me now, but he could toss me away.

Athena hummed and stroked my hair again and led me to a chair and had me sit. The table beside it held books, just like every other surface of the place where Thanatos lived—where he wanted me to live.

“You are a strong human, and I know you have burdens you carry. They would not be as heavy if you allowed someone to carry them for you.” She walked away from me and went to the curtain. “The Fates have led you here. It is time to give up some of that burden. You are safer here than anywhere on earth.”

That’s hard to believe when I’m next door to the Lake of Fire.

Athena let out a playful laugh.

“I’ll be keeping tabs on the both of you. Again, please keep an open mind.”

I grumble and cross my arms. “No promises.”

I stayed sitting in that chair for hours. I had lost all track of time, the only way I knew what part of the day it could be was the meals and snacks that Thanatos brought me.

He never let me go hungry, that was for sure.

I contemplated a lot of what to do about my treacherous body and conflicted feelings towards Thanatos. I also entertained thethought of making a daring escape through the haunting depths of the Underworld and pleading with Hades for salvation, which seemed utterly absurd. Ultimately, I browsed the large section of books that surrounded me. Each book, adorned with ancient Greek or Latin text, failed to grab my attention. Just as I reluctantly reached for yet another book, the distinct sound of nails clicking against, stone floor caught my attention.

As I turned my head, a wave of surprise washed over me. There stood Fluffy, his eyes beaming at me, but he appeared different from the Fluffy I remembered.

He was fat.

There wasn’t another way to put it. My little beastie was fat. He was happy to see me, but he was so round around his belly I wondered if he was pregnant.

“Oh little beastie.” I cooed.

Wait, I shouldn’t call him little. That’s lying.

His ears drooped, and I realized I’d said it out loud.

Damnit.

“No, no, you have so much love to give. Come here!” I held out my arms, and he happily slinked his tail around my arm and purrs deep in my chest.

I’m going to kill him. Going to kill Thanatos for feeding the beastie too much.

“I think whoever gave you too many snacks is in trouble. Do you have a tummy ache?”

Fluffy doesn’t respond to my words. He rolls over and expects me to rub his giant belly and even though it’s large, he looks sort of cute fat.

I rubbed him for a moment until I have to roll him over to get him back to standing. He grunted and groaned and got back on his four legs. Yeah, he would not be a sneaky little beast anymore. He was a tank.

“Let’s go find your master and figure out what to do about this. What did you do? Get into the cookie jar?”

Fluffy stared at me until he opens his mouth and burped. The force was powerful enough that I could smell the remnants of chocolate and peanut butter.

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