Forbidden To Love (The Erosians) (17 page)

“You told me that the greatest gift in this world is love, that the only bond that can’t be broken by anything but death is love and that one thing we all deserve above anything else is love. Well, I’ve given I don’t know how many people that gift and now I’ve found it there's no way I'm not letting it go.”                                                                                    “Acacia, he will kill Josh, and he will banish you,” Allana insists.                                                                                                  “You always said the path to true love never would be a smooth one,” I try to joke. Allana collapses back against the wall, a look of desperation clouding her face.                            “Allana, what sort of life am I even living? He can’t kill me if I'm already dead”                                                                      Allana starts to shake as she folds me into her arms.              “Amora said you lied.” I suppose now is as good a time as any to get some answers. “She said you were the one that had the affair which angered Eros, and it wasn’t with a mortal, it was with another God.” I stare blankly at her as she pulls away from me. A wash of composure overcomes her as she regains control.                                                                                    “The past is the past. I'm more concerned with your future than what has previously gone on.” Allana’s motherly tone returns as she gets up and walks downstairs to clean up the mess Eros’ tirade has caused.                                                        I head back to my room. I no longer feel like going out tonight or trying to get more answers from Allana. My injuries are more painful than I’d like to admit. I know the crack in my hip will have healed by the morning but the bruising there, and on my neck, won’t go for a few days.

I can
’t risk running into Josh just yet either. I don’t feel like causing any more upset than I already have, and I don't want to have to try explaining these bruises to him. Curling up on my bed I see the light on my mobile screen light up. I reach across and open the message.                                          “I’ve missed you so much. Can’t wait until tomorrow. Sleep well, my angel.” I turn my phone off as it becomes washed in my tears. How can I carry on with Josh? Allana’s right, Eros will kill him, and he will banish me to hell.                            But living here like this, helping others fall in love and always having to deny my own needs is a worse form of hell. If I give in and avoid Josh we’d need to move. I couldn’t handle seeing him every day, but I don’t think I could bear being apart from him either. The only reason Eros found out was because Amora went blabbing to him and Allana went pleading to him. If I kept those two in the dark, there would be no problems. No one would ever find out. I could be with Josh and keep Allana happy.                                                                      But no one could ever find out - Josh’s life is too valuable.

Take the Stand

~13~

The sun is bright as it breaks through the cracks in my blinds. I bring my arms up over my head and push my feet as far down as they
’ll go, stretching my body thoroughly and awakening every bruise I suffered yesterday in the process. Josh’s image soothes the pain. Monday morning has never been so welcome. I'm actually desperate to get to school, just to be near him                                                                                    I open my eyes and give them a second to adjust to the light. The little flecks of dust in the air swirl above me. The plan I’ve formulated goes through my head. I'm going to enjoy as much time as possible with Josh at school where neither Amora nor Allana can intrude or go running back to Eros, and I'm still going to the ball with him. We will just meet there instead of him picking me up, which is a small sacrifice to make if it means we get to be together, and we get to live.                                                                                                  Well that’s my other-world dilemmas sort of solved, but the dance is this Friday and I have nothing to wear. I’ve been so caught up this weekend trying to plot how Josh and I can carry on that I haven’t even used the days wisely and visited any shops to get a dress. I shake my head, how stupid is it that now the momentous decisions about risking the life of the one I love has been made, I can make the smaller ones about sequins and silk.                                                                                    I could ditch school to get a dress, but that means ditching a day with Josh and that’s just not an option. I’ll go to the mall after school one night this week and do some speed shopping. I’ll tell Allana I'm doing overtime on match-making to keep my mind off of Josh.                                          Rubbing the last bit of sleep from my eyes I grab my towel off the back of my dressing table chair and head for the shower. I reach for the door handle when I'm almost blown back across the room by a strong wind attacking me from the left. My French doors are open? What the hell? I haven’t opened them, and they were unquestionably shut last night before I went to sleep. I gulp as I cautiously look around my room for any sign of an intruder, or worse, the intruders themselves.                                                                                                  My room looks the same as when I went to sleep, and nothing seems to be missing. I cautiously walk over to the open doors and peer out onto the balcony.                                          There is no sign of an unwanted visitor there either. I slam the doors shut and lock them tight. With a deep breath,  I head back for the bathroom, trying to shake off the creepy feeling of being watched.                                                                      As I come down the stairs showered and dressed, making sure I wear the polo neck jumper that I stuffed at the back of my wardrobe, to hide the bruising around my neck. The smell of freshly baked waffles reaches my nose. Allana still wants us to go along with the mortal act. I wander into the kitchen, to find Amora sitting reading a magazine with some celebrities splashed all over the front and Allana leaning over a plate piling waffles onto it.                                          “Hey, Cas, come sit. I made your favourite.” She points to the waffles, and I smile. I never said they were my favourite, I just said they were the least cardboard tasting food. Allana starts to pour me some juice. I do my best to put on a dejected sad face. As far as they’re concerned, I'm following Eros’s every command and today is going to be my first day without Josh.                                                                                    “She doesn’t know how much longer you’ll be here, so she’s making the most of you now,” Amora states to me without looking up from the gossip. I’m amazed at her ability to ruin a day without even interrupting whatever she happens to be doing.                                                                      Allana scowls at her. “Isn’t there some unsuspecting boy’s life for you to ruin?”                                                                      Amora throws Allana a ‘who do you think you are?’ look but calmly folds her magazine in two, she leaves it on the table and walks out towards the driveway.                         
                 “Thanks for reminding me” she winks as she leaves. I'm not used to seeing Allana so fried like this. Amora is usually the over emotional one.                                                        Allana busies herself washing the dishes she just used for breakfast. I turn back to my waffles and take a bite. They’re warm and drizzled with syrup, but the effort is all wasted on me.                                                                                                  “Is Amora right?” I mumble through mouthfuls of waffle.                                                                                                                “Mmm,” Allana responds, not looking up from wiping the sides. But if she scrubs any harder at that one spot, she’s going to go through the counter.                                                        “Is she right?” I ask again, my mouth now clear.                            “About what?” Allana casually asks as if the last few days haven’t happened. But I can see the stress etched around her eyes as she turns to face me. If she didn't try so hard to pretend nothing is happening, and let me in on what’s going on, maybe she wouldn’t be so worried. If she’d just open up and stop pretending like everything is now fine.              “Oh, you know, just about me being eternally damned to hell, nothing major.” The mocking tone seeps through to my voice before I can stop it but hey, maybe it will snap Allana out of whatever daze she’s got herself into.              Allana waltzes over to me and pours me more orange juice, bringing the juice level with the rim of my glass as I haven’t even sipped the first lot she poured me. Her hair falls out of the bun she’s tried to scrape it into, and she coolly smoothes the loose strands behind her ears. She straightens herself up before me and paints a calm smile onto her lips.              “You have nothing to worry about. You’re going to cool things with Josh, Eros will stop wanting to kill him, and we can all go back to normal” she lightly announces with a small nod.                                                                                                  “You mean we can all go back to being miserable.” I drop my fork to the table and lean back. She might be able to go back to living in this delusional world, but I love her too much to see her hurt again by Eros, which will happen if she never wakes up to what he is.                                                                      “You know, Eros doesn’t want any of us, so why can’t he just give us up,” I ask angrily. Being angry at Eros is easy for; I wasn’t created already in love with him like Allana was. I can’t even imagine how horrific this must all be for her. She has to tell me, her love rival, to stop seeing someone else because I belong to the man she loves! A man that will never love her back.                                                                                                  I wish I could do something to help, but Allana would only be released from his spell if he was dead, and I'm all out of plans for how to kill a God centuries older than me and a million times stronger. If Eros would just disappear it would solve all our problems.                                                                      “There are things that are best left unsaid. You’re going to be late for school.” Allana leans against the sideboard and motions for me to go. I pick up my brown leather bag from the kitchen table and walk out the back door shaking my head all the way. It isn’t fair. Eros is just selfish and spiteful and an idiot. I start the car and turn the cd up loud. I can see Josh sitting in the passenger seat as he was just the other week – it already feels like an eternity ago. But now it’s time to begin the first day of my double life.                            My nerves start to rattle as I contemplate what’s ahead of me, but I know I have to go through with it. Seeing Josh hurt by leaving him is not worth seeing Allana happy that I obeyed her, but in the same way, seeing Allana hurt by my disobedience is not worth seeing Josh happy at my loyalty to him. I need to do both; I will have happiness in some sort of life.                                               
                                                                 By some miracle,  I arrive at school on time. My stomach flutters as I walk past Josh’s car and head into school. I approach my locker and my heart skips a beat as I see Josh waiting there for me. If Eros finds out and sends me to the Underworld, the smile on Josh’s face as he watches me approach will be worth every second of punishment I’ll endure.                                                                                                  “Hey,” he whispers, snaking his arms around my back to pull me against him as tightly as he did when we were in the cave.                                                                                                  “Hey,” I whisper back, my entire body relaxing into his; I hadn’t realized just how tense I was. He lowers his head to my neck, nuzzling in softly, planting kisses down to my collar bone.                                                                                                  I can’t believe he’s doing this in the middle of the school with everyone around. My heart could literally burst with happiness that he doesn’t seem to mind who sees that we’re together.                                                                                                  “Did you enjoy your weekend?” he asks still holding me by my waist                                                                                                  I turn towards my locker, but he doesn’t release me. Instead, he takes my bag from my shoulder and puts it in my locker for me. I grab my books from the bottom shelf as he closes the door for me. His white shirt is unbuttoned at the top revealing part of his chest, which is a deep golden colour from his weekend at the beach. I wonder how far that tan spreads across the rest of his amazing body; I bet it’s like the yellow brick road leading to the fun parts.

“
It was ok, I could think of a few improvements for the next one” Josh raises his eyebrows at me suggestively, and I blush “How was yours?”                                                                      Josh takes hold of my hand and starts walking me to class. As far as I can remember we have first period French together.                                                                                                  “It wasn’t bad,” he starts as some of his football guys walk past us. He high-fives them and they whistle when they see us holding hands, Josh laughs waving them on.                            “Busy though. I swear everyone in the state decided to come down to the beach this Saturday - well everyone but you.” His grin spreads remembering our secret pact.                            “I would have done, but I genuinely feared for the rest of the population,” I say trying to keep as straight a face as possible. He smiles and my façade is breached he brings his free hand up to cup just under my chin.                            “Judging by what I’ve already seen of you, I can confirm you most definitely would have been a distraction.”              I hit him playfully; he hasn’t actually got much of my body left to see. Man am I grateful Prometheus sculpted me the body of a Goddess.                                                                                    “The state thanks you, Miss Acacia Rose, for staying home this weekend,” he salutes to no one in particular, “but I don’t. I missed you so much.” He kisses me lightly leading me into French straight into a deafening barrage of what are apparently whispers!                                                                                    “Yeh they’re together.”                                                                      “I hear he saved her life and now he’s making her repay him.”