KEEPSAKE

chapter twentyfive

25 CATS OUT OF BAGS

ARTEMIS AND ADONIS WERE GIVEN A GUEST ROOM TO SHARE. IT WAS ON THE THIRD FLOOR, DOWN AN EMPTY CORRIDOR.

    "Artemis." Adonis raised a brow as the huntress roughly yanked the burgundy tasseled curtains together to shun the outside in.

She shot him a questioning look over her shoulder before doing the same to the other window.

"Why are you doing that?" He asked, laying back on his pillow stuffed bed. The sheets soft and much warmer compared to where he'd been sleeping the past weeks. Sleep was already beginning to overcome him, he could feel it right there on the tip of his tongue.

     "Isn't it obvious?" She shoots him a look over her shoulder before releasing a sigh and walking to her bed and sitting on the edge. "If I must explain, we don't need any unwelcoming eyes."

     Adonis nodded once, his eyes fading off somewhere else, somewhere unconscious.

     "Adonis."

     He mumbled a hmm.

     "You should bathe before you fall asleep."

     He shrugged, turning on his side and nuzzling his nose into the fresh scents of the comforter.

     Artemis cocked a brow after a few moments of silence. As smoothly as she could, she stood and slowly approached the other side of his bed to which Adonis' body faced. This close she could see the steady rise and fall of his chest, the muscles in his back aching for more of this newfound comfort. Artemis could very well feel the pain. Her body quickly relaxed into this new environment and became greedy for even more of it.

     His face was flush, cheeks pink, eyes shut, mouth open. He looked peaceful. Well, as peaceful someone like Adonis could be. Which was rather mound-fully lax. Especially compared to the ever moving Artemis.

     A breath of relief escaped her lips, sparing one last glance in Adonis' sleeping figure before she made her way to the en suite.

She turns the water off of the master bath, that could easily fit two, when it fills to her liking. Peels off her dresses, dips into the water and lets everything go. Her body finally relaxes. The tension shattering like glass.

The clock ticks and an hour passes with Artemis' skin still dripping and coated in bath water. If it wasn't for her finger pads growing course and pruny, she would live the rest of her days in that very jacuzzi bath. But a bed for a queen awaits her jaded carcass.

After she pulled on the navy blue silky pajamas Zeus' handmaids provided, she strolled back into the main room. Towing her feet quietly into the carpet so she doesn't fret the sleeping Adonis. Slipping under the covers, she dreamily dazes up at the ceiling for a few moments, wondering about tomorrow, Zeus, and the headache that comes every time she thinks of Adonis' departure. She sneaks a glance at him, he's turned her way so she can study him for the millionth time.

It feels like a gift every time she has the opportunity to lazily stare and admire his stunning godly looks.

     "Planning my murder?" Adonis suddenly murmurs into the bedsheets, eyes still sleepily shut.