Part 3 (1/2)
V'Aidan sat high above the ocean, perched on a small ledge that barely accommodated his long frame.
He'd come to this place as far back as he could remember. Ever since he'd been a young child back at the dawn of time.
It was here he'd come after his ritual beatings that had been designed to strip his feelings and compa.s.sion away. Here he'd rested, waiting for the pain of his existence to lessen until he could again find the numbness he was sworn to live by.
Here on his perch he could hear the roar of the waves and stare out at the vastness of the water and feel oddly at peace.
Only now that peace was gone. Shattered.
Something strange had happened to him when he had made love to Erin. It was as if he'd left a piece of himself with her.
Even now, he could sense her. If he closed his eyes, he could even tell what she was feeling.
Worse, he craved her in a way that was all-consuming. He wanted to be with her again, to feel her soothing touch on his skin. He'd never once known such gentleness existed, and now that he did...
”You broke a rule, didn't you?”
He clenched his teeth at Wink's voice above him. Looking up, he met two large inquisitive silver eyes that were fastened on him with interest.
Wink was the last G.o.d he wanted to see at the moment. The son of Nyx, the night G.o.ddess, and Erebus, the embodiment of primordial darkness, Wink was technically V'Aidan's great-uncle and one of the oldest of the G.o.ds; however, he acted more like some prep.u.b.escent human. His youthful face was always beaming and bright and he wore his long brown hair braided down his back.
The most annoying thing about Wink was that he loved practical jokes and was forever making fun of the children of Myst.
”I did nothing.”
”Oh, come on, 'fess up, V. I heard your siblings talking about you. They said you took a human from them and vanished. Now, give me the dirt.”
”Go away.”
Wink smiled at that. ”Then you did do something. Oooh, and it must be good, for you to be so secretive.”
V'Aidan stared at the swirling ocean below. ”Don't you have something better to do? Like torment G.o.ds who can actually get irritated at you?”
Wink grinned even wider. ”Sarcasm. Hmm, someone's been around humans a long time.”
V'Aidan didn't respond.
He didn't have to. Wink moved toward his shoulder and sniffed like a puppy with a pair of dirty socks.
Wink's eyes widened as he pulled back. ”You are irritated at me, aren't you?”
”I can't feel irritation and well you know it.”It didn't work. Wink came around to float by V'Aidan's side, his eyes larger than saucers. He took V'Aidan's chin in his hand and studied his eyes. ”I can see emotions in there, swirling, mixing. You're scared.”
V'Aidan jerked his chin out of Wink's grasp and pushed him away. ”I most certainly am not. I fear nothing. I never have and I never will.”
Wink arched a brow. ”Such vehement denial. Your kind never feels such pa.s.sion when they speak, and yet you do.”
V'Aidan looked away, his heart pounding. He felt the strangeness of panic in his chest. And he remembered a time once, aeons ago, when he'd been a child and he had dared ask the wrong question.
”Aphrodite, why can't I have love ?”
The G.o.ddess had laughed at him. ”You are the child of Myst, V'Aidan. She is formless, shapeless.
Vacuous. The best you can hope for is to feel fleeting, muted emotions, but love... love is solid, eternal, and beyond your understanding or abilities.”
”Then why can I feel such pain?”
”Because it, like you, is a fleeting phantom. Like the great ocean it ebbs and flows, swelling to t.i.tanic proportions, then sweeping down into nothingness. It never lasts for long.”
Over the centuries, he had learned the G.o.ddess was wrong about pain. It, too, was eternal. It never went away.
Not until he had held Erin.
Closing his eyes, he didn't understand it. What had she done to him?
Wink poked him on the shoulder. ”Come on, V, tell me why you are in such a state.”
He looked up at his great-uncle. Trust of any kind was as alien to V'Aidan as love. Still, he needed Wink's experience. Wink had been around longer and knew more than he did. Perhaps Wink could give him an insight. ”If I tell you what happened, you must swear by the River Styx to tell no one. No one.”
Wink nodded. ”May Hades chain me in Tartarus, I swear by Styx to never utter a single word of what you tell me.”
V'Aidan took a deep breath and braced himself for betrayal. ”I had s.e.x with a mortal.”
Wink arched a proud brow and smiled. ”Nice, isn't it?”
”Wink!”
”Well, it is. I highly recommend it.” Wink paused speculatively. ”Was it a man or woman?”
”A woman, of course. What kind of question is that?”
”A very nosy one and in keeping with my charming personality.”
V'Aidan rolled his eyes. Now he understood what the other G.o.ds meant when they said Wink could be a major pain in the a.s.s.
”So,” Wink continued, ”was she any good?”
A wave of desire tore through V'Aidan, piercing his groin with heat at the very mention of her. Still, he refused to answer that question. It was personal and none of Wink's business.
”Judging by the look on your face, I'll take that as a yes.”V'Aidan growled at his great-uncle and sought to change the subject. ”Anyway, something happened.”
”Something?”
”It changed me somehow.”
Wink snorted. ”That's just stupid. If sleeping with a mortal changed a G.o.d, there's no telling what I'd be now. As for Zeus... perish the thought.”