"She went mad when she learned what I'd done to her. What Eros had done..." Julian buried his face in his hands as memories tore through him. "I was a fool to ever believe Eros could make someone love me."
Grace reached up and brushed a gentle hand across his face. He stared at her. She was so beautiful sitting there. The tenderness in her gaze amazed him. No woman had ever looked at him that way.
Not even Penelope. There had always been something missing when his wife looked at him. Something missing from her touch.
Her heart, he realized with a start. Grace had been right. There was a difference when someone's heart wasn't involved. It was subtle, but he had always felt the hollowness of Penelope's caresses, heard the emptiness in her words, and it had burned him all the way to his blackened soul.
Suddenly, Cupid materialized next to Selena, and gave him a sheepish look. "I forgot something."
Julian let out a long, acerbated breath. "It seems to me, one of you is always forgetting something, and usually, it's the most important something. What did you forget this time?"
Cupid refused to meet his gaze. "As you well know, you're doomed to feel compelled, shall we say, to pleasure the woman who summons you."
Julian glanced to Grace and his groin tightened viciously in response. "I'm very much aware of that fact."
"But are you aware of the fact that every day that passes without your having her, more of your sanity will slip away? By the end of the month, you'll be a stark raving loon from sex deprivation and the only way to cure it is to give in. If you don't, you, my brother, are going to be in so much physical pain that it will make Prometheus's punishment look like he spent eternity in the Elysian Fields."
Selena gasped.
"Isn't Prometheus the god who supposedly gave fire to mankind?" Grace asked.
"Yes," Cupid said.
Grace glanced nervously at Julian. "The one who was chained to a rock and had a buzzard eat his innards every day?"
"And every night he grew a new set for the bird to eat," Julian finished for her. The gods certainly knew how to punish those who displeased them.
Bitter anger coursed through his veins as he glared at Cupid. "I hate all of you."
Cupid nodded. "I know you do. I just wish I had never done what you asked. I am sorry for it. Whether you believe it or not, Mom and I both are."
His emotions churning, Julian could say nothing as desolation rushed through him. He saw Penelope's face in his mind and winced.
It was one thing for his family to punish him, but they should never have gone after the innocent.
Cupid placed a small box on the table in front of him. "If you're to have any hope for freedom, you'll more than likely need those."
"Beware of Greeks bearing gifts," Julian said bitterly as he opened the box to find two pairs of large silver shackles and a set of small keys resting in a bed of dark blue satin. Instantly, he recognized his stepfather's intricate work. "Hephaestus?"
Cupid nodded. "Not even Zeus can break them. When you feel your control slipping, I would advise you to fasten yourself to something really solid and keep..."-he directed a glare at Grace-"her at a distance."
Julian took a deep, ragged breath. He would have laughed at the irony, but he couldn't quite muster it. One way or another during his incarnations, he always seemed to find himself chained to something.
"It's inhuman," Grace gasped.
Cupid gave her a fierce stare. "Baby, believe me, if you don't chain him down, you will regret it."
"How much time do I have?" Julian asked.
He shrugged. "I don't know. It largely depends on you and how much self-control you have." Cupid snorted. "Then again, given it's you, you might be able to slide by without using them at all."
Julian closed the box. He was strong, but he wasn't as optimistic as Eros. His optimism had died a slow, painful death long ago.
Eros clapped him on the back. "Good luck."
Julian didn't speak as Eros left them. He stared at the box while Cupid's words sifted through his mind. If he had learned anything over the centuries, it was to let the Fates have their way.
It was stupid to even think he had a chance to break free. This was his lot and he would accept it. He was a slave, and a slave he would remain.
"Julian?" Grace asked. "What is it?"
"We can't do this. Just take me home, Grace. Take me home, and let me make love to you. Let's just get it over with before someone, most likely you, gets hurt."
"But this is your chance for freedom. It could very well be the only shot you have at it. Have you ever before been summoned by a woman with Alexander in her name?"
"No."
"Then we have to do this."
"You don't understand," he said between clenched teeth. "If what Eros said is true, by the time that last night arrives, I won't be me."
"Who will you be?"
"I'll be a monster."
She looked skeptical. "I don't think you could ever be a monster."
He glared at her. "You have no idea what I'm capable of. And when the gods' madness comes upon you, you are beyond all help. All hope."
A knot settled tight in his stomach.
"You should have never summoned me, Grace." Julian reached for his drink.
"Did you ever think that maybe this was what was meant to be?" she asked suddenly. "Maybe I summoned you because I was meant to free you."
He looked across the table at Selena. "You summoned me because Selena tricked you. All she wanted was for you to have a few nights of pleasure so that you could go off and find a decent man without fear of him hurting you."
"But maybe-"
"No buts, Grace. It's not meant to be."
Grace's gaze fell down to his wrist. She reached out and touched the Greek writing that ran from his inner wrist halfway up his arm.
"How beautiful," she said. "Is it a tattoo?"
"No."
"What is it?" Grace persisted.
"Priapus burned it there," he said, avoiding the answer.
Selena sat forward and looked at it. "It says 'damned for eternity and beyond.' "
Grace closed her hand over the writing and met his gaze. "I can't imagine what you must have suffered all this time. Any more than I can understand why your own brother would do such a thing to you."
"As Cupid said, I knew better than to touch one of Priapus's virgins."
"So, why did you do it?"
"I was stupid."
Grace ground her teeth, wanting to strangle him. Why couldn't he just answer her questions? "What would make you-"
"I have no wish to discuss it," he snapped.
She released his arm. "Have you ever let anyone close to you, Julian? I bet you've always been one of those men who trusted no one near your heart. One of those guys who would rather have his tongue cut out than actually let anyone know you're anything but impervious. Were you like that with Penelope?"
Julian looked away as memories poured through him.
Memories of a childhood spent in hunger and deprivation.
Memories of nights spent in agony of...
"Yes," he said simply. "I was always alone."
Grace felt for him. But she couldn't let him give up.
Somehow she would find a way to reach him. To make him want to try and break the curse.
Surely there had to be some way to make him fight this.
And she vowed to find it.