Chapter 4: Eros

I stared at the tall man in front of me, processing what Thief-- no, Eros had just told me.

He was a God. A God of Love.

Thinking back to all the odd moments I've witnessed ever since the day I'd met him, what he said must have been true. His sweet as honey voice had an entrancing effect on me the first time I heard it. Though compared to Lena, mine was very brief.

It explained why he'd called me 'human' so often, and why his soul had the same blinding glow as my grandfather's, who was also a God. It also explained why he knew Nephos, who was one of my grandfather's dragons before he became my mother's.

But the most convincing proof of his identity stood right beside me. Hector was gazing at me with intense adoration in his eyes which were void of any emotion until Eros shot him in the heart with his arrow.

"You're a God of Love," I said with a confirming nod of my head.

"Yes. Though my specialties lie in carnal love," Eros explained. "My mother specializes in the rest, but she's been teaching me how to master them as well."

"Why didn't you tell us who you really were?" I asked.

"You never asked," he repeated the very words I'd said to him when he asked why Lena and I didn't tell him that we were princesses.

"Fair enough," I sighed. "I never did ask. I never even asked what your name was. I assumed that you were simply a--"

"Thief?" Eros smiled in amusement. "I quite liked that nickname. But what I enjoyed even more was your complete disinterest in me. You're not a mere human, are you? If you were, you wouldn't have escaped the allure of my voice as fast as you did when we first met."

"God Helios is my grandfather," I said.

He nodded. "I've suspected as much when Nephos came to get you. If he's your grandfather, enough of his blood must run in your veins to resist me."

"She resists you because she is my love," Hector interrupted, taking my hand in his. "I freed her from that cage and now we can be together."

At his mention of the cage, I suddenly remembered where we were. A dimly lit room with a single cage in the middle of it where I was locked in only moments ago.

"I have to find Lena," I said, pulling my hand out of Hector's grasp and walking toward the door. If Rib was looking for the Helm piece, he would have taken her too, possibly locking her in the same magical cage as he did with me.

"Wait," Hector said, making me halt. "I know the way around this place. I know where your friend is kept. I can help."

Before I could respond, the door opened with a creak, and Lena walked in with a sword in her hand and a headband with the bandits' embroidery around her forehead. When she saw me standing beside Hector and Eros, she let out a sigh of relief. "You made it out that damned cage too."

"How did you get out?" I asked. Eros only had one arrow and he used it on Hector.

Lena shrugged. "I seduced the guard into unlocking the cage. Then I knocked him out as soon as he did and took these with me before coming to find you two." She pointed to the sword and the headband. "Were you locked in this cage together?"

"No," Eros said. "I came in here after getting out of my own cage. I too seduced my guard into releasing me."

Lena laughed. "We all had the same idea then. Is he the one you seduced, Cassia?" She looked at Hector, who wouldn't stop staring at me with lovesick eyes.

I felt my cheeks heat up in embarrassment. While they were able to escape from their cages with their own abilities, I'd required an arrow of the God of Love. Seduction simply wasn't something I excelled at.

"Uh...yes. He...is," I said slowly, not daring to look at Eros who I could feel was watching me in amusement. I cleared my throat. "Let's leave this place before Rib discovers we're gone."

"Can I come with you, my love?" Hector asked. "It would hurt me to be away from you."

I started to shake my head no, but then I got an idea. "Hector, I need you to stay here and watch Rib and the other bandits. If they discover where we are and plan to attack us, you must come and warn me."

He looked upset that he couldn't be by my side, but nodded. "If that's what you wish, my love. I will protect you." Then he glanced at the door. "I know a way for you to escape from this place unnoticed. I'll show you."

As Hector led the way out of this large brick structure, Lena walked closer to me. "It's incredible. You have him completely wrapped around your finger. You must teach me your ways."

I gave a nervous laugh. "I didn't do much."

Hector stopped at a door at the end of a dark hallway. I could see sunlight creeping in through the small cracks around its frame.

"This is your way out. Keep an eye out for people with this symbol." He pointed at the embroidery on his headband, his eyes serious. "And hide yourselves from them. You have to be careful. There's a lot of us here."

Lena took off her headband and tucked it into the pocket of her dress.

"Thank you, Hector," I said.

"Anything for you, my love." His eyes softened.

I was the first one to walk out of the door, stepping out into a busy market filled with people. Merchants were shouting over one another, arguing whose produce was fresher. Customers bickered over the rising prices of flour. Children ran around with wooden pinwheels, screaming with joy.

A small boy bumped into me and fell to the ground, his lips quivering as he was about to start crying. "My pinwheel!"

I picked up the pinwheel he'd dropped and crouched down to give it to him, a smile on my face. "Here you go, little one. It's right here." I blew on it to make it spin. "See? It works wonderfully."

The boy's lips stopped shaking, stretching into a happy smile instead. He got up, dusted off his pants, and took his pinwheel before running back to his friends.

"Oh Gods, the sun is bright today." Lena closed the door behind her right after Eros stepped out. She shielded her eyes with her hand.

"I have plenty of shade inside my shop," a merchant across the street called out. He stood outside of his bookshop, beckoning us with his hand. "Come in, come in. I have books of every kind."

"Every kind?" I said. Perhaps he had old books about the Helm of Darkness in his shop. I wanted to know more about it.

"Every kind." The merchant nodded with a lopsided grin and a wiggle of his brows.

I crossed the street to enter his shop and frowned when I looked around its bookshelves. There wasn't an old book in sight. The books here weren't even titled. They were simply bound my coloured leather in different shades of red.

"The intensity of the colours signify the intensity of the content within the leather." I jumped when the merchant came close to whisper in my ear.

Lena and Eros walked into the bookshop and looked around at the books with raised eyebrows.

"Open one. I'll let you take a peek," the merchant said to me. "But only a peek. You have to pay for the rest."

Curious, I opened one that was the deepest shade of red. I dropped it as soon as I did, my cheeks matching the colour of its leather cover.

Where there should have been words, there were drawings... Sinful drawings.

"Liked what you saw?" The merchant smiled, picking up the book I'd dropped from the floor. "Two golden coins and you can have every page to yourself."

I shook my head. "I don't want it."

"Too intense?" he mused. "Perhaps you can start with the rose coloured one and work your way up. If you buy all of them, I will give you a very good deal."

Suddenly, an end of a wooden stick hit the back of the merchant's head.

"Leave the child alone, you revolting creature," an old woman who held the wooden staff threatened. Her black shawl was a stark contrast to the white of her hair.

"Ow!" he complained. "Get out of my shop you old hag! I'm trying to sell my books to the passionate youngsters. Begone!"

He yelped when he got another thwack on the head.

"Come with me, children," the old woman said to Lena, Eros, and I before limping out of the shop on her short legs, leaning on her wooden staff as she walked. Her back was curved like a wilting flower and the hump on her neck pushed her head downward. "These merchants will latch onto you until you spend all your coins if you aren't careful."

Relieved to leave the bookshop, I started to follow the old woman.

"How much is this one?" Eros asked the merchant who was nursing the back of his head and cursing in pain. In his hand he held the very book I'd dropped earlier when I saw the illustrations inside it.

The merchant's eyes lit up at the prospect of making money. He immediately approached Eros and raised two fingers in the air. "Two golden coins. But for you, I'll drop the price to three."

Eros raised one brow. "You do know that you just raised the price, don't you?"

The merchant smiled slowly, showing the two silver teeth in the back of his mouth. "Fine. Four golden coins."

Eros shrugged. "Two it is then."

Thwack.

This time, the wooden staff hit the back of Eros's head, making him drop the deep red book in his hands. "Ow!" he exclaimed.

"Don't even think about buying anything from this revolting man." The old woman narrowed her eyes at Eros. "Out the door. Quick." She smacked his arse with her staff.

Yelping, he ran out the door and the rest of us followed, leaving the merchant angry and penniless. "Don't come back to my shop the lot of you!" he yelled after us. "You're no longer welcome!"

The old woman rolled her eyes and kept walking down the busy streets of the market.

I fell into step beside her. "Do you happen to know any bookshops that don't resemble the one we'd just left? Are there any with ancient books and history?"

"I have what you need in my shop," she responded. "We're almost there."

I nodded, frowning a little and letting her walk ahead. Was she also a merchant?

"I don't trust her," Eros whispered, careful not to let the old woman hear him.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Her hits were too strong." He rubbed the back if his head. "An old human like her shouldn't have such force." He lightly patted his behind with a wince.

"You'd be surprised at how strong humans can be," I told him. Though I meant what I said, the clear distrust in his eyes when he regarded the old woman made me wary.

"I trust her," Lena said. "And it's not as if we're bound to her in any way. We can simply stop following and go our separate ways."

"That's my shop over there." The old woman pointed to the small inn at the end of the street. "I hope you don't mind if I treat you to some warm mushroom soup and freshly baked bread. I've made too much to eat it all myself."

Eros raised his brows at the mention of food. "Perhaps I've judged her too harshly," he whispered.

"That would be lovely, thank you," Lena said to the old woman.

The inn looked very small from the outside, but as soon as we entered it, the place was vast, splitting into several large rooms and even a staircase that lead to the upped floor. It looked more like a home than a shop.

When she noticed my confusion, the old woman smiled. "My shop is behind that wooden door. Feel free to look around while I prepare the table. Will you help me, child?" She asked Lena who nodded in response.

"Thank you," I said, smiling back. Then I made my way to the door of her shop. The handle turned easily when I opened it, revealing a large room lined with bookshelves that were filled with books and scrolls. There were two big chests in the middle of the shop and they were closed shut with red locks.

Eros followed me into the shop. "What are you looking for?" he asked when he saw me searching through the books.

"Clues," I said distractedly as I opened a book about ancient tools.

"Clues about the second piece of the Helm?"

I nodded. "We only know that it's somewhere in Gora, but where?"

Eros hummed in thought. "I don't believe it would be written in books. If it was, that potato merchant and his bandits would have found the Helm by now."

I sighed, closing the book and putting it back in its place. "You're right. It wouldn't be that easy." Then I met his gaze. "You mentioning the potato merchant reminded me of something. Why were you stealing that day at the Soleil Market? And why are you in Asterin in the first place?"

"I ran away from Olympus," he clipped. "It's not something I'd want to discuss with anyone. As for the stealing," he shrugged, "I didn't have human money with me, and I was hungry, so I simply took what smelled good."

"Thief," I said.

Eros smiled slowly, looking down at me with his honey eyes. "Humans are thieves. They steal from the earth and claim everything as theirs, even earth itself. Dividing it into their territories. So what if I take some of their creations? It's nothing in comparison."

I widened my eyes when he pulled out the dark red book from that sinful bookshop. "When did you manage to steal that?" I demanded.

"Before I asked the merchant for its price," he said, opening up the book. "Whoever drew these is very talented," he mused while flipping through its pages. Then he slammed it shut and offered it to me. "Would you like to look through it?"

Heat crept up my cheeks and I shook my head. "No. You can keep it."

"Are you certain?" Eros teased. "It illustrates a story of seduction. You might learn something from it."

Anger flared up within me and burned off my embarrassment. "I may not know a thing about seduction, but I don't need to. I can kick anyone's arse with any weapon."

"Seduction can also be a weapon," he said. "And one can wield it without having to spill any blood."

I didn't want to admit that he was right, so I simply scowled and turned away from him,  pretending to look for a book.

"The table is set!" Lena called out from somewhere in the inn.

When I turned back around to leave the shop, Eros was already gone.

The food had seduced him.

~~~

By the time we'd finished dinner, the sun had set and it was too dark to go looking for the second Helm piece.

Aside from owning a shop, the old woman sold rooms in her inn when travellers visited Kingdom Gora. She'd offered us rooms to stay in for the night and we'd accepted.

I walked into the room that Lena and I were sharing tonight. It was a simple room with wooden floors, and there were mattresses rolled up in the corner with pillows and blankets stacked on top.

Lena came in with a towel around her hair just as I finished rolling out the mattresses on the floor. "I'm done washing up. There's a bucket of hot water near the bath basin. The towels are on the other side of it," she said with a tired yawn. "Go. I'll finish the rest."

I gave her the pillows and blankets before walking out of our room. I yawned as I sleepily walked into the bathroom, the long day finally catching up to my body as my muscles ached to be submerged in hot water to release their tension. After pouring water from a bucket into a bath basin, I sunk myself into the tub.

When I finished washing myself, I wrapped a towel around my body, then reached for a second towel to dry my hair, but there were no more left. Sighing, I wrung the water from my hair and let it hang to dry, small droplets of water spilling down onto the exposed skin of my arms and chest.

I screamed when a man with horns and legs of a goat walked into the bathroom with a bucket of hot water and a towel over his right shoulder. He screamed back and slapped a hand over his mouth when he made a bleating sound of a goat, dropping the bucket.

"Who are you?" I asked.

The satyr cracked his neck from side to side and his horns disappeared into his head, his legs becoming those of a human. "And who are you?" he demanded.

"I'm a guest. I bought a room here," I said.

"I can't believe the old hag let someone stay in my inn," the satyr cursed under his breath.

"Your inn?" I frowned, tightening the knot on my towel. I thought the old woman owned this inn.

"If you're done here, you may leave," he said, looking away from me. "I need to wash up."

As soon as I stepped out of the bathroom, he slammed the door behind me.

I turned to knock on it. "I left my clothes there!"

The door opened and a hand shot out with my clothes in its grip. I took them, opening my mouth to thank him, but he closed the door before I could.

I started walking back to my room, lost in my thoughts, when my face slammed into a naked chest. I stumbled backwards and looked up to see Eros looking down at me.

"I heard you scream," he said. "Are you all right?"

"I...am," I said distractedly.

During my time in training, I've seen many bare torsos of men, but none of them were as beautifully sculpted as his. It's as if every muscle and every crevice was carved with a sculptor's careful hand. Beautiful and strong. Godly.

I heard the door of the bathroom open behind me, followed by light footsteps, and then came a clearing of a throat. "You forgot your undergarments. Thought you mind need them."

I turned to see the satyr standing with my washed undergarments in his hand. I'd left them hanging on a rope near the window to dry, away from my other clothes.

Horrified, I snatched them from his hand. "T-Thank you," I said and pulled them close to myself.

The satyr's face looked redder than what mine felt like when he looked away and nodded, before going back to the bathroom.

Eros started laughing when I turned to face him. "You should see the look on your face. You look completely mortified."

"It's because I am mortified." I scowled and started walking to my room.

"Water's dripping from your hair to the floors," he said behind me. "Someone might slip."

I willed the water droplets to splash onto his face, then smiled when I heard him yelp in surprise.

"Good night!" I waved my hand and walked away.

What I saw when I entered my room made my blood run cold.

The old woman was standing over Lena's sleeping form, chanting something under her breath.