The wallscreen casts a pool of flickering, jewel-toned light over our naked bodies. The old earth film makes for a pleasant backdrop of color and sound, but neither of us is paying much attention. I lay sprawled on my stomach across the luxurious synthe-fur blanket we've tossed across the floor. Aidoneus is stretched out beside me, stroking my hair.
"You're sure they'll come off on their own?" I ask after a minute, turning my cheek to rest on my arm as I look into his icy eyes.
"Mhm. You just need to relax. That's how it is with the other Variant types who can grow things on their bodies, unless they're making a conscious effort to maintain it."
His fingers travel through my hair to trace slow patterns across the skin of my neck, upper shoulders and arms.
"Just give it time."
I close my eyes, focusing on my breath and the gentle, fluid movements of his hands. Eventually, clouds of lavender begin to drift from the vines like fragrant snow. Then the roots loosen where they tap into my flesh, which heals rapidly when they fall away.
Each time a branch comes loose, something scuttles from the shadows to snatch it up. I piece together what it looks like over time—some sort of ancient, eight-limbed fossil of a crustacean, articulated with additions of silver joints and fixtures.
"Why don't you use servitors?" I wonder aloud.
Aidon's eyebrow shoots up, but his tone is evasive. "I have a Guardian."
"Other than that."
"Later," he says with an enigmatic smile. "We're supposed to be relaxing now, remember?" His fingers travel down my back, to the last few stalks sprouting from my skin.
Grumbling a bit under my breath, I close my right eye-keeping the other open for just a moment longer to glare up at him. But my lips betray me, quirking upward.
If he thinks I'll forget to ask again, he's mistaken.
By the end of the movie, my tangled botanical wings have been reduced to a dusting of tiny petals intermingled with my mane.
After a while I fall asleep, awakening only somewhat when Aidon lifts me off the ground and carries me back to bed. I smile to myself as he tucks me carefully under the covers before sliding in himself and cuddling up at my side. Within heartbeats, I'm fully unconscious once more.
When I wake, it's with the evanescent mist of beautiful dreams still lingering over my consciousness. His breath drifts across the nape of my neck, one hand curled around the point where my waist meets my hip, the other tangled in the mess of my hair.
"Kore?" He murmurs. "Did you sleep well?"
"You have no idea," I breath, stretching as I twist around to face him. "But as good as my dreams were, this is even better." I wrap my arm about his waist, reaching upward to explore the muscular planes of his back as I bury my face against his neck. Drink in his scent.
"I wish our honeymoon could be longer," I add after a moment. "Three days suddenly doesn't feel like enough."
"I agree," he says, twisting a lock of my hair between his fingers. "But weren't you the one insisting on the importance of attending university?"
"Doesn't mean I can't complain about it," I grump, words muffled as I nuzzle closer. "Can't you order them to start semester a few weeks later or something?"
He laughs. "That'd be a bit of a misuse of my power, don't you think?"
"Ugh," I groan, stretching my neck up to nibble at his ear. "Ethics."
YOU ARE READING
The Persephone Variant
Science FictionA science-fantasy romance inspired by the myths of Hades and Persephone ~~~ Twenty-year-old Kore's got her whole life ahead of her. All she has to do now is die. Finally of age for exposure to the pseudovirus, she's soon to be transformed and rebo...
