Chapter 3: Enduring Their Games

*Deimos’ POV*

Heiro looked at me over the woman’s shoulder with a sly smirk. Eris – her name sparked something in me. It meant chaos and I couldn't help but wonder if she'd live up to the name in the right setting.

"What do you say, pet?" Heiro asked her as he moved in closer, sandwiching her between us. "Want to see how the other half lives?"

I waited for her to try and get away from us but she stayed put. "I don't have anything nice to wear." The way she said it made it feel like a secret just between us.

Reaching over, I traced my fingers over the curve of her freckled shoulder. "I think what you have on now is perfect."

She turned and looked at me over her shoulder, water dripping from her nose and chin as she came out of the water. "What kind of party is it?"

"The kind that could change your life," Heiro answered her.

I could see the apprehension on her face. But, that just made it all the richer. "I don't think it would be wise for me to leave with two men I only just met."

"There’s actually four of us, but good thing we've already met. And, you met our other friend already as well." Kyros would most likely string us up for inviting her, but he would get over it.

She audibly gulped. "What other friend?"

"Kyros, you met him in the market this morning, remember?" She slowly sank back into the water.

I moved my fingers from her shoulder down to her lower back and made small circles. I couldn't be positive, but it felt like she was pressing herself back into my hands.

*Atlas Demeas’ POV*

Heiro and Deimos had been gone for ages. They were just supposed to relieve themselves and return. I was ready to leave.

I climbed out of the pool and nodded to Kyros. "Let's go find the idiots before they find themselves in trouble."

Kyros rolled his eyes but followed after me.

We walked over to the women’s side where Heiro and Deimos were supposed to be. I heard talking and a low laugh as we got closer. When we rounded the corner from the dark hallway to the low-light of the bathing area, I spotted three bodies in the water.

"What are you doing?" I asked when I realized it was Heiro and Deimos with some unknown woman.

Deimos waved to us and then returned his attention to the woman he had trapped between him and Heiro. So, it was going to be that kind of night…

"What did you find?" Normally the bathhouse was empty on this side after nightfall. No woman with any kind of common sense would travel around the city at night by herself, and certainly not to the bathhouse alone.

"Why don't you two join us," Heiro called out and then he leaned in and whispered something into the woman’s ear. She looked at me with eyes wide and an expression akin to fear.

The poor girl was going to need a miracle if she was going to survive the night having caught their attention. I nearly pitied her.

All the same, I waded into the water. When Kyros asked me what I was thinking, I simply shrugged. As I stepped deeper into the water, I pulled my damp hair into a knot on the top of my head with a leather tie from my wrist. The woman watched my every move out of the corner of her eye.

I heard Kyros enter the water behind me. Reluctantly, no doubt.

"We need to get going," he said in a low growl as he came up beside me. "Not playing with some toy at the bath house. There's plenty of things to play with at the party."

"I don't know," I said loud enough for everyone to hear. "This toy is nice to look at." She snapped her eyes to me and her brows pulled together in a suspicious knot.

Kyros splashed me as we came up to the side of the woman, effectively closing her in against the wall that was on the other side. Surprisingly, she didn't seem all that nervous. In fact, she seemed somewhere between intrigued and eager.

I watched as she avoided looking at Kyros completely. How interesting. Deimos seemed to pick up on it as well.

"Eris, dear, these are my friends Kyros and Atlas," Deimos whispered into her ear. "And how rude of me, my name is Deimos and this is, of course, Heiro."

"It's a pleasure," she said, finally looking at Kyros.

Deimos was watching Kyros with a devilish smirk. He was up to something and knowing him, it was something devious.

"You're the girl from the market," Kyros said, finally joining the conversation.

Eris didn't take her eyes from his. "You're the brute that ran into me and almost knocked me over."

The three of us watched Kyros clench his jaw with rage and he stood out of the water, taking a step towards Eris. My blood felt near frothing as I waited to see what he might do. If he hit her, the night was going to take a turn I wasn't exactly prepared for.

Luckily for her, he stopped short and simply glared at her. "I'm not some brute," he retorted.

She laughed condescendingly and the light sound of her giggle danced off of the water that lapped at her throat. "Clearly," she said as she made a show of looking him up and down.

*Eris’ POV*

My heart thundered in my chest cavity at their proximity. I knew that I was playing with fire, but I couldn't help but be drawn in by the warmth of all that they had to offer me. They were giving me a taste of something I'd desired since I could remember, and I wasn't going to let it just slip through my fingers because they terrified me.

And they did, in fact, terrify me. But, they were the way out of my boring life if I could just play my cards right. I just had to endure their games if it meant experiencing how the other half lived.

I supposed it also helped that they each appeared to be carved from marble by some master artist with an eye for beautiful faces.

Kyros, the brute, looked as if he wanted to annihilate me. I didn't blame him, I was pushing his buttons. The others seemed to enjoy it though, and that seemed as if it might be my ticket into their inner circle. There would be time to regret my words later, but now I was blinded by desperation and the need to escape my meager life; by any means necessary.

"We need to get going," Kyros said without taking his eyes from mine.

Deimos spoke from where he was still wading behind me. "We were thinking of bringing little Eris here as our guest. Doesn't that sound like a fun idea?"

Kyros turned his heated gaze on Deimos. "Absolutely not."

"And who died and made you Emperor?" The one with the long blond hair asked, I believed him to be Atlas.

The brute splashed angrily at the water. "Whatever," he bit out and then turned his back to me as he made his exit. "I'll be outside."

We all waited for him to leave before anyone spoke. "Maybe I shouldn't go," I said softly, hoping they would call my bluff.

"Ah," Deimos pressed himself against my back and I felt every inch of his hard body mold to mine in the warm water. "Don't pay him too much mind, he'll come around once he has some wine in him."

I spun to face him, keeping our proximity. "Are you sure? I wouldn't want to cause any trouble." I dipped my mouth below the water and looked up at him through my lashes.

Deimos grinned impishly and the other two laughed. "I think you've already made quite the ripple, and the night is young. I think we are all eager to see what the rest of the evening holds," Heiro said over my shoulder. He pressed his smooth cheek to mine and I had to fight the urge to press further against him.

Deimos and Heiro were so close, it was heady and intoxicating. I'd never been so close to two men like this before; naked and exposed, alone.

Atlas reached for me then and pulled me slowly from between them. Then, I felt his hand wander down to the mound of my stomach and pull me to him so that his chin was resting on my shoulder from behind. "Tell me, Vasilia The Younger, should I rescue you from these two animals?"

Dancing on the edge of danger like this was the most alluring thing I'd ever done. I couldn't stop myself from turning and pressing my lips to his ear. "And who is to say that it is not you that should fear me?"

He threw his head back and laughed, gripping my plump hip with greedy hands. I yelped at the sting of his grip but he didn't let go.

"Let's get you dressed, then. Shall we?" Atlas pushed away from me, sending me stumbling back into the other two like some play thing. They each reached for me and then there were four hands on me, each touching a more sensitive area than the last.

When a knuckle grazed the apex of my thighs, I let out a whimper. "Indeed," Heiro said with a voice like dark, elderberry liquor. Then, they were all swimming away from me in the direction of the exit.

Something throbbed deep in my belly and I had to take a breath before I was able to move and follow them.