Page 74 of Touch of Death
“Whatever happened between the two of you while I was gone has awakened something in Hazel that even Hades will be unable to resist. We cannot afford to have that amount of desire quelled with satiation before she faces him.”
32
Hazel
Asly grin splits Eros’ face as he glances between us, leaving me feeling exposed. Even without sight, it's as though he can sense what happened between us.
“So, what exactly did the two of you get up to while I was away?” Eros asks.
“That is no concern of yours, Eros,” Death replies coldly.
“See, that is where you are wrong,” he snorts. “That isexactlymy concern. I need to know how best to intensify her allure, and whatever the two of you did seems to have done just the trick.”
“We kissed,” I say as Death falls quiet, clearly unwilling to share the details of what happened between us. Not that I want to either, but what choice do we have?
“You kissed?” Eros asks, blinking in surprise. “Kissed, how exactly?”
My cheeks burn as I search for the words to explain what happened, but I am saved from having to do so as Death speaks up. He gives Eros just enough details to paint a simple picture of how I fell in the pool, and we ended up discovering we could touch.
Eros’ brow furrows as he listens, stepping absentmindedly toward the pool. He stops just short of it, crouching to dips his fingers into the strange water within.
Shaking his head, he chuckles to himself.
“I should have known,” he says, rising to his feet. “Leave it to my brother to have a pool of longing in the middle of his private gardens.”
“A what?” I ask, watching as the liquid coats the tips of his fingers.
“If touched, the liquid will quite literally cling to those who long for another. Mostly harmless stuff, though it can become dangerous enough to drown you should your longing be too great … and you happen to fall into it.”
I don’t understand how that has to do with Death and I being able to touch.”
“It may or may not have anything to do with it, but it is very possible that falling into it created enough of a barrier between the two of you to be able to touch.”
I nod as if this makes any sense to me.
“And what about the longing?”
My question apparently isn’t as subtle as I thought by the way Eros grins at this. He crouches down again and plunges his hand into the liquid, his head tilted slightly, as he glances in my direction.
“It does not create longing, only reveals it. True longing, that is.”
I watch as the liquid slowly climbs up his arm, not unlike the way I’ve seen Death’s veins grow inky in his fury. The gold trails over his skin, spreading across his chest and up his neck and half his face before he pulls his hand out.
He looks down at the gold vining up his body before slowly lifting his pale eyes to mine. My breath catches in my throat as I realize what he’s telling me, and then, he rises and shakes the liquid from it. I can’t help but watch as it glides over the ground to collect once more in the mirrored pool, as if it had never left.
Eros snaps his fingers, drawing my attention away from the shimmering water and back to him.
“All right, there is no time to lose. We have … three, perhaps four hours left to practice before twilight.”
“Why twilight?”
“Because pools of longing are known to be far too powerful to mess with at night, and we must have time to prepare for the masquerade. Now, are you ready to get back in the pool?”
“What?” Death and I ask together.
My eyes slide back to the still waters at this. Even now, it looks so harmless, but I suppose that should serve as a lesson to me about this place.
Nothing is as innocent as it appears.
