Eris (The Lost Goddesses #4)

Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

B ianca waited until Enzo was out of sight before she looked imploringly at Eris. "Be a dear and fetch me my cigarettes, will you?"

Eris smiled at the older woman's sneakiness and hurried to oblige. The mother-of-pearl case was sitting on the coffee table next to her half-eaten sandwich. Eris grabbed it too. The lights above her flickered, but she ignored them. Her chaos didn't always like electricity, and she had gotten used to it over the years. Eris took the items back to Bianca.

"You should finish eating too," she said, placing the sandwich before her. The lights flickered again, and Eris sighed.

"Is that you or the wiring?" Bianca asked, lighting her cigarette.

"Me. It's been good all night. I don't know why it's starting up now."

"Probably because Enzo has left." Bianca blew out silvery smoke. "What? Didn't you realize that? He's the key to your curse. Of course he's got immunity to it."

Eris slumped in a chair and put her head in her hands. "Fucking Fates."

She had thought that she was just getting better at controlling the curse. All those hopeful experiments she had done at the bar had been successful not because of her but because he was working there.

Bianca patted her head. "Don't feel bad about it. You have had a busy night and haven't had time to notice."

Eris lifted her head, and Bianca pushed the cigarettes back toward her. Eris lit one with a smile. "Hopefully, as soon as the palladium is back, it won't ever be an issue again."

"Enzo will look after you until then. He won't be able to help himself. Protecting and caring for women is just who he is. That's why that bitch of an ex-wife broke him so hard," Bianca said. At Eris's inquiring look, Bianca looked about and said, "It's not my place to give details, but she was proper crazy. Enzo did his best to help her, and she nearly killed him. He gave up on therapy and on life afterward. He needs this journey as much as you do, goddess. Take care of each other, and you will both be better for it."

Eris had a thousand follow-up questions she forced herself to swallow. Asking his nonna about it felt like a betrayal of Enzo. Finally, Bianca put out her cigarette and ate some more of her sandwich.

"It's late, and I need to sleep soon. Go and see what is taking the boy so long. I want to kiss him goodbye," Bianca said. They were interrupted by a knock on the apartment door. "Now who is that?"

"That will be Claudius, your new helper," Eris replied and went to get the door.

"I do not need a babysitter!" Bianca called in outrage behind her.

Eris ignored her and opened the door. Claudius was tall, built, and handsome as hell, like all of Rom's wolves. He was also sensitive to magic. His mouth fell open as he looked around him.

" Salve , Claudius. Yes, she is a devotee of Aphrodite. Close your mouth," Eris said and gestured, "This way."

Bianca was sitting like a queen on her throne, looking imperious and pissed off. That is until Claudius stepped into the room, and her smile went impish. "Eris, dear, I change my mind. I absolutely do need a babysitter."

" Buona sera, signora ," Claudius said, and ever the charmer, he took Bianca's hand and kissed it. "It looks like we shall be neighbors."

"How delightful," Bianca replied, fluttering her long lashes. "Eris? Go and see what's keeping Enzo while my new friend and I get acquainted."

Eris stifled her laughter, but Claudius grinned wide enough that she could tell he was in no danger.

Eris left them to get to know each other and went to find Enzo. The lights flickered until she made it to the door connecting the two apartments, and it was a visual confirmation that Bianca was right about Enzo affecting her curse. Eris made a mental note to call Thoth about it before going through the door.

Enzo's apartment was spacious and boldly decorated with dark green walls and black trims. It was intensely masculine, and the lingering smell of plaster and paint suggested he had done recent work.

"Enzo? I just wanted to see what was taking..." Eris said, and her tongue failed on her.

Enzo was putting clothes in a large duffle bag, and he seemed to have misplaced his shirt. Her brain registered a solid block of man torso, incredible biceps, and chest hair that was probably as soft as his beard. That wasn't what made her veins turn to fire. Scars crisscrossed his back and his chest. Swiping lines from a blade. Eris's power roared for vengeance, and she vanished in glittering darkness to reappear beside him.

"Holy fucking shit, Eris! You scared me half to death," Enzo said, eyes wide. "Are you shedding glitter?"

Eris growled, her fangs dropping in primal fury. She placed a talon-tipped hand on the scar stretching across his abdomen.

"Who did this to you?" she demanded.

Enzo's expression clouded with pain. "My ex-wife tried to kill me so no one else could have me."

Eris could taste human blood in her mouth. "Where is she now?"

"She's... She's not going to be able to bother anyone again," Enzo replied, his eyes clouding with old pain. "She's locked up."

Eris could see the pulse hammering at his throat, and she knew that she was scaring him. She couldn't stop. Couldn't move. Fury was clouding her vision, her reason.

Enzo's warm hand cupping her cheek cleared some of the darkness from her eyes. "Eris? Take a breath and come back to me."

The flecks of night that had been swirling about her settled, and her talons retracted. "If anyone hurts you again, I will kill them," she hissed before her fangs disappeared too. "I will rip out their spines and beat them to death with them."

"Graphic," Enzo said, his lips twitching in the corners. "Is this a god's strange way of saying that you like me?"

"I have claimed you. 'Like' has nothing to do with it. For this service you will perform for me, you will have my protection for your lifetime and beyond. I will see you taken to Elysium myself," Eris said, and the vow twisted around her heart.

"I don't know why someone claiming to protect me is working for me right now," Enzo whispered. He leaned over and kissed her gently on both cheeks. "Thank you, Eris. No one has ever tried to protect me before. It's always the other way around."

Eris wanted to curl into his hard heat and lick the flickering pulse at his neck. She swallowed the lump in her throat. Their night wasn't over, and they didn't have time to go where a kiss might have taken them.

"We... We need to go," she said and stepped away from him, removing her hand from the scar. Her stomach clenched with fear as she watched him pull a shirt on. He could have died, and she never would have known him or had a chance to break her curse. She could feel the vow binding them together, and she would protect him from now on. No matter what happened.

Enzo lifted his duffle and grinned at her. "Okay, goddess, let's go say goodbye to Bianca and start our quest."

Eris nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Enzo's hand rested briefly on the small of her back as he closed the apartment door behind them. Bianca's laughter tinkled through the rooms, and Enzo sighed. "You got a man to look after her, didn't you?"

Eris grinned. "Why? Are you worried you're going to end up with a new nonno?"

"Don't even put the idea in my head," Enzo whispered by her ear, his warm breath sending a shiver down her spine.

"Enzo, darling, come and meet Claudius," Bianca called.

Claudius was sitting on a chair beside hers and looked comfortable being there.

Enzo looked between them and gave Claudius a level stare. "Don't play cards with her, or she will take all of your money and all of your clothes."

Bianca clucked her tongue. "Do not listen to him, Claudius. I would never take your money. Your clothes on the other hand…"

Claudius and Eris laughed. Enzo just slapped a hand over his face.

"Just behave yourself while I'm gone, nonna," he said and moved to kiss her cheek.

Bianca held his face between her hands. "I have never behaved a day in my life, and I am not about to start now, nipote. Maybe you shouldn't behave either, hmm? Have fun on your trip."

"I will message you if we have any reception at the stops," Enzo promised her. He gave Claudius another stern look. "I'm serious. No gambling. Make sure she eats something proper occasionally."

"She will be in safe hands. So will the bar." Claudius held out his hand, and Enzo dropped his keys into it. "You are Rom's family, which means you are my family too. You don't have to worry about anything. Except for Eris. Always worry about Eris."

Eris smirked. "Wise advice, wolf."

"Eris doesn't scare me," Enzo said and smiled softly at her. "She's claimed me, after all. It's everyone else that needs to be worried."

"Did she now? How interesting," Claudius replied, his eyes full of mischief and delight.

"Time to leave," Eris said and finally hustled Enzo out of the apartment.

Downstairs, he stood by her car and glanced up at the apartments. He looked tired and worried. "I hope she's going to take it easy on him."

"He handled Roman senators at the height of their power. I'm sure he can handle your grandmother," Eris tried to reassure him.

Enzo only shook his head. "That's because you don't know her."