Medusa's Desire (The Fate of Eros #1) (The Fate of Eros Series) (15 page)

Medusa looked down and her eyes widened. She was invisible, so she couldn't see her legs, but the baby's thick blonde hair was slowly appearing in mid-air as she slid out. Soon her whole head was there.

She pushed again and the child fell out. Medusa glanced up and saw a messy bundle wrapped in Perseus' arms. He laughed and the baby cried. He took his sword and cut the umbilical cord. Medusa tried to reach out and grab the child before Perseus locked gazes with it, but stronger contractions shook her body.

He gently set the child on her stomach as she shouted. Something was wrong.

Perseus' eyes widened as he reached down to feel what was going on. "I think there's another one."

She felt the pressure of the second baby's head and pushed as hard as she could. She was light-headed, but luckily this birth came more easily. She didn't have the energy to put more effort into it.

Perseus laid the second baby down, crying on her belly. He cut this one's umbilical cord as well. Medusa looked down and saw that the first child was a girl and the second, a boy.

Medusa looked into their eyes. They wouldn't turn into stone because she was still invisible, but she had to know whether they were monsters like her. If she turned into stone, it would be okay, but not if Perseus did.

Unfortunately their eyes weren't open, so she couldn't tell whether they had the curse or not, but she lost her breath looking at the curly hair that framed their chubby faces. She hadn't expected to fall so in love with helpless creatures. They were both beautiful as she had been when she was human. Once they stopped crying and she held their hands, peace flooded her body.

It broke her heart. She didn't want to have children that would suffer as she had. What if they were monsters? She wanted them to live a normal life.

How was she going to take care of them? She was on the run with Perseus from the gods' wrath!

Medusa flipped them over carefully. They had no scales and seemed human. Strange that they would turn out so perfectly, despite the fact that they had a sea god for a father and a monster for a mother. She hoped that the likelihood of their eyes being cursed like her own was very small.

She held the babies in her arms and sang to them. She rocked them back and forth, humbled by their beauty. They didn't cry anymore.

One of the babies had hair so blonde it was almost white. She grabbed Medusa gently by the nose.

"Your name will be Pegasus," she whispered to the girl.

Pegasus cooed in approval.

She lifted the other child. He twisted his mouth. She imagined him growing into adulthood and becoming a warrior.

"You will be Chrysaor," she said.

Medusa took his silence as an agreement.

She didn't know what to do with them. Even though her life wasn't a place for babies, she couldn't leave them behind or allow them to fend for themselves.

"Look!" Perseus pointed at a horse and boar traveling over one of the sand dunes a short distance away. She knew immediately that something supernatural was happening because these creatures were not native to the area. In fact, Poseidon had both a horse form and a boar form that he transformed into frequently. He must have sent them.

Her heart pounded. Did this mean the gods knew she was alive or was it an automatic response set up to rescue the children once Perseus cut off her head? Were they there to retrieve the children before they died inside her?

The horse was a chestnut mare with a shiny black mane and tail.

The boar was snorting. It had dark fur and menacing tusks.

The babies struggled in her arms as they turned and saw the animals approaching.

She clutched her babies closer. "I wonder what they want. Maybe you should chase them away."

The truth was, she knew these animals had come to take her children. Poseidon would never trust her to raise these demi-gods by herself and he was stealing them from her. As impractical as it was, she didn't want to let them go. She had just met them and barely given them their names.

Pegasus turned into a small white horse and tumbled from her lap. She had tiny wings on her back that were folded over. She struggled to stand, trembling on her new legs as she limped to the mare. They nuzzled each other's necks as tears dripped down Medusa's face.

She held Chrysaor tightly, even though his struggles had intensified. Chrysaor squealed and then turned into a winged boar. He looked too delicate to survive the desert as he charged towards his new mother.

Medusa stood and ran towards them. She clutched Pegasus by the mane, but Pegasus kicked her. Her own children didn't want her and it was probably in their best interest for things to be that way.

Medusa sobbed. A part of her was happy that she had already found them homes, but another part wondered why she wasn't fighting harder for them. She could never look into their eyes like a normal mother could and they'd have to live in isolation with her, but she would have loved them as much as another mother.

They charged away from her and she chased after them. Unfortunately, her weak limbs cramped up and blood dribbled between her legs as she collapsed.

She watched them disappear in the distance. "Come back! Please!" She reached towards them futilely.

She was happy that her children had not been born in a cave with her sisters. They would have probably met one of their gazes as the three of them cooed over the children and their short lives would have ended when they became rocks.

Perseus rubbed her shoulders and told her that they should camp for the night. Medusa nodded her head and he carried her back to where she gave birth to her children. The ground that had been covered in blood and amniotic fluids had grown into plants and bugs of various kinds, some of which were her favorites. She ripped apart the leaves and chomped down on them to help regain her strength. She couldn't taste them.

Perseus held her. He said nothing, but he didn't need to. Somehow he could sense the fact that she wasn't ready to talk about it yet.

Poseidon had stolen the one good thing she could have gotten out of being raped by him. She ground her teeth. They would have to fight the gods harder.

As they went to sleep that night, Medusa wondered what her kids would grow up to be. She hoped when they found out who their mother was, they would understand why she had given them up and not hate her for the decision.

Perseus held Medusa as they lay down. Tears dripped from her cheeks. She shivered as he stroked her, finding comfort in his caresses. She couldn't sleep, though–she had too much on her mind.

She waited until Perseus' breathing grew heavy and then lifted his arms gently. He rolled over.

Next to him was the endless wallet. She reached for it, surprised by how light it felt in her hands.

Inside, she found the mirror shield. She caressed it gently and then lifted her helmet off.

The blonde-haired woman she had seen earlier stared back at her. Her blue eyes were anxious. More than anything she wished to hug that woman, the one who was a stranger to her now, and looked so worried about what the future held.

That woman would have been able to keep her babies and marry Perseus if she wanted to. She envied her.

Medusa wished she could hide Perseus in one of her caves. Every minute they spent flying closer to civilization filled her with dread. She was scared that she'd lose Perseus. She was the only woman around at the moment, so of course he thought he had feelings for her, but once he saw other females again and realized just how soft their bodies were, he'd leave her. He loved the woman he saw in the mirror after all, but that wasn't the real her.

She stared at her reflection, memorizing the color of her ivory skin and tint of her rosy cheeks. She watched her eyes and the way they turned cold as ice when she was upset, but melted like a pond when she relaxed. She had seen herself this way so many times when she was a human, but now it was weird.

She tried to become the woman in the mirror. She looked at Perseus and pretended to deserve him. She tried to imagine a life where her babies were still with her. She wished to feel normal, even if it were just for a short while. It didn't work.

She put her helmet back on and curled up next to Perseus. She forced herself to enjoy the moment before it had to end. Soon she was sound asleep.

*** *** ***

It took several weeks of flying and making love before cities popped up in the horizon. Medusa shut her eyes when she saw the first one and chanted under her breath that it would be okay.

They hid from the populations-linking arms and using the cliff faces as cover when they traveled.

Perseus found it easier to get food. They had no money with them and he refused to steal, but these places were inhabited because they had nearby water sources, which meant there were many wild plants to munch on or animals to hunt.

The sky was bright blue, but the sea was restless. Cliffs emerged on the beaches that waves beat against. The jagged edges of the rocks were dark. If Medusa were to fall on them, even her thick skin could be ripped to pieces. The lovers held hands and Medusa smiled as she touched Perseus. He made her feel safe in an otherwise unwelcoming world.

Their happiness was interrupted by a piercing scream. She saw the look on Perseus' face and knew the sound of a frightened woman made him think of his mother.

They flew over rocks until they spotted movement in the distance. The woman was chained to a cliff face inside a cave. She was young and naked. Why, oh why, did she have to be nude?

She was tempted to cover Perseus' eyes, but she was still invisible, so her hands were see-through. It would do no good.

Medusa's body stiffened as they neared. The woman's features took shape. She had dark skin the color of mahogany and black hair that framed her face in ringlets. Her curvy body swayed seductively as she fought against her bonds. Her full lips parted so she could scream. Her dark eyes widened as they approached.

Perseus' eyes flickered over the woman's body. Of course he had noticed her. He wasn't blind. Medusa frowned.

Men wearing robes wandered away from the woman. They chanted as they moved. They had thick accents, but it sounded as if they were saying the word "Ketus" over and over again. She wondered what that was. Maybe they were interrupting some kind of religious ritual.

For the first time, she noticed a town that had been built behind the cliff, protected from the ocean by the giant rock. The town wasn't in good shape. A crumbling castle could be seen in the distance. The mud and brick houses the residents lived in were mostly destroyed, as if a tsunami had hit. Beds had been laid outside, surrounded by temporary shelters built with twigs and leaves. All members of the family, young and old, were working together to form and bake new bricks in the sun.

The marketplace in the middle was small and meager compared with what it must have once been. People shouted to others and held up their merchandise. The ocean was loud, so she couldn't hear their voices, but she could see them moving rapidly.

She admired the way their dark skin shone in the sun. They had the same coloring as the woman.

Perseus landed in front of the cave and walked up to the woman. He yanked at the chains that bound her hands and feet.

"Get me out of here!" she screamed. Her voice was thick with an accent, but she spoke their language fluently. "I will reward you handsomely. I am the princess here. My name is Andromeda and I can give you anything your heart desires."

"I want nothing more than to save you," Perseus said. "Regardless of who you are."

"Now is not the time to be modest. You've been given the opportunity to become wealthy, but first you must rescue me." Andromeda yanked on the chains. "It isn't working! You should use your sword. She'll be here soon and we can't fight the Ketus on our own! All of my father's warriors have tried!"

He lifted his sword. "I need you to stay still. The more you move, the harder it is to get you out." His sword clanged against her chains as he tried to cut her free.

Andromeda was whimpering. "Why did my mother do this to me? She should have known that blasphemy against the gods would lead to suffering. The city was destroyed all because my mom insisted on claiming that I was more beautiful than the sea goddess."

Medusa's heart pounded. She didn't want to sympathize, but she did. Her mother had done the same thing to her and she would pay the price for it the rest of her life. As much as Perseus' body pressed near this woman made her jealous, she also wished for the woman's freedom.

"I'll be right back," Perseus said. He grabbed Medusa's arm and pulled her outside the cave entrance. He kept up the appearance of leaving for a moment to think.

"I need your help to free her," he mumbled into her ear. He couldn't open his mouth much or he was at risk of Andromeda noticing he was talking to someone.

Medusa was okay with Perseus helping, but resented the idea of assisting a woman that her boyfriend had been staring at, even if she didn't deserve to die.

"I can't," she murmured.

His face twisted. "What do you mean? How could you say such a thing?"

Medusa swallowed. It felt petty now. "You were staring at her when we arrived. I'm afraid that if I help your rescue, you'll fall in love with her instead of me."

He stroked her cheek and his eyes softened. "How could you think I would be so fickle? She may be beautiful, but she isn't you. No one has both the heart and body that you do."

Medusa frowned. "What do you mean 'she may be beautiful'?" Her stomach filled with anxious butterflies.

He didn't have time to answer, though. The villagers had abandoned their work; they were pointing and shouting. The sea gurgled beneath the cliff face and Andromeda's voice grew high and hysterical. She was kicking and screaming.

Perseus grabbed her by both shoulders. "You need to turn the monster into stone."

Medusa bit her lip. "I can't do that anymore. I'll never blend in to normal society if I keep using my powers to solve all your problems. Can't you slay it or something?"