Truly afraid she was going to get lost and not make it back to her room for Otho to bring her to dinner, Malisa decided for the time being to spend her time exploring her immediate surroundings, leaving the rest of the domain for another day.

As she expected, the door on the left side of the windows opened up to a bathing room large enough to house a pool that looked like it disappeared over the very edge into the clouds below. Already filled with water from an unseen source, it was warm and steaming and welcoming and Malisa promised it she would return once she finished exploring her new surroundings.

Across the room, on the opposite wall and through the other door was another room lined with windows, only this one was more of a lounge with a large chaise on one side of the room, a plush couch on the other, both looking out into the endless sky. The perfect room to read, or take her key, or just watch the clouds pass by. Hours could be spent there without realizing it...

Shaking her head she stepped out of the sitting room. The last thing she wanted to do was waste any time in the domain— she was there for a purpose, and would not let any immortal temptations distract her from her task. In a way, she was lucky that there was no one else there who could risk taking her time away from her focus— Otho was no more than a kind general, and Mero she would be happy to never spend time with again. Eros would most likely never give her the light of day except for this dinner, but she would figure out what it was she'd need to do to convince him to remove his curse from her life.

Thoughts of dinner reminded her that she had been going nonstop and still hadn't showered or changed since the day before. Returning to the main bedroom, the opened armoire greeted her on one side, the luxurious bathing pool on the other, and in the center, the welcoming bed, where the satchel her mother gave her now rested.

Sitting on the bed, she grabbed the satchel and shook it, spreading its contents onto the bed for inspection. She didn't know when her mother had packed it, but it looked like it had been prepared well in advance of their escape, as if just waiting for the right time to be taken to leave. Within was a travel cape specifically for rain, some dried meat rations, another bottle of wine, and some herbs and bandages for wound care, if needed. There was also a sheathed dagger as well as a stoppered vial of a dark red liquid she could not identify.

The items were simple but packed with purpose. She just wished she had the time to ask her mother about them before they separated. She replaced the items back into the satchel, not worried of anyone finding them, but also not going to take the chance of anyone taking them from her either. Looking around quickly for a decent hiding place, she decided she'd hide it at the bottom of the armoire beneath and behind the colorful silks, at least for the time being.

Those very same silks distracted her enough that she started removing each dress, one at a time, and laid them out on the bed and chairs around the room to get a better look at the vestment offerings provided for her. They were beautiful, and expensive, and knew that no mortal hands could have worked with such materials that looked as though they were made from the elements themselves. But she would not be able to run well in the if the moment came to it, with the layers of skirts on each, and that was a thought she shut in the back of her mind as she stuffed the dresses back into the closet, keeping out a soft pink garment for herself to change into once she was bathed.

The bath in question was as warm and welcoming as she had expected, the water scented with rose petals and tinted with pink bath salts to match the wispy clouds beyond the windows. Malisa hadn't realized how tired she was until the heat from the bath began to soothe her tense muscles and allow her to finally relax. After washing her golden brown hair with a similarly scented soap, she rested her head back against the edge of the tub and closed her eyes as she exhaled.

What in the gods' names was she doing there?

Offering to visit Eros' domain was predominantly suggested in a fit of panic, and she knew she didn't have enough time to process the events that had transpired. She still didn't. And she still wasn't sure she wanted to.

Escaping the moral realm— escaping Boreas— that was her true goal. She didn't want to leave her mother behind, and she still couldn't understand why she was so adamant about not visiting Eros. True, she spurned him, and also true, he shot her with an arrow and cursed her unborn child... but it was eighteen years. And wasn't figuring out how to break the curse more important than pride?

Was it?

In eighteen years, did she even know the meaning of pride? She caused the death of those who brought her into the world, those who cared for her as a child. And then she was alone— should she have thanked her mother and Boreas for that? Could she have been better off not wanting to share her time, her space, her breath with anyone else? If not for that curiosity, would Ander and Demetra still be alive?

She closed her eyes tighter to the flashes of memories. The blood splattered wood. The broken bodies, The lost souls...

It was all her fault. And she owed it to their memories to make it right.

And she'd do whatever she'd need to to make Eros remove his curse.

Whatever it took.

***

A shove of her shoulder had Malisa blinking away in a room much darker than the one she was in.

No, she hadn't been moved— she had fallen asleep. And the once dawn-hued sky was now a star-speckled night.

And standing above her was a very annoyed Mero.

"When you didn't respond to Otho's incessant pounding on your door, I took it upon myself to let myself in. We assumed you had either fallen, fallen asleep, or fallen in the bath." He gave her a rather suggestive look and smirked. "Close enough."

That look was enough to remind her that she was still in the bathing pool... and very naked.

"Do you mind?" she asked, quickly sitting and wrapping her arms around herself to cover up as best as she could.

"Not at all," Mero purred but leaned back just enough to allow her to step from the tub unmolested.

Though by the look in his eyes, it seemed that was exactly what he wanted to do.

"I thought you hated mortals," she said as she kept her back to him while she wrapped a too-soft towel over her wet skin.

"Whoever told you that?"

She shrugged. "Otho mentioned you couldn't be bothered with us."

"Otho needs to learn to mind his own business."

"Is he wrong?" she asked with a glance over her shoulder, finally looking at the general for the first time since he arrived.

"Do you want to find out?"

Mero stood in the same black armor she had seen him in before, with the same sword strapped between the same black wings. He even maintained the same scowl on his stubbled face, his black hair swept over his brow like he had run a hand through it before entering her room.

Nothing about him seemed welcoming, and maybe that's why Malisa wanted to push and see how far she could go.

Turning to face him fully she dared one step towards him, and then another, maintaining the dark gaze he gave her as he stood there, unflinching as though just as curious as to what she would do as she was.

"Is it because we're feeble?" she taunted.

"You are that." He smirked.

"Our pathetic lifespan?"

"Partially."

"How easy it is for us to give ourselves to the gods?"

The corner of his eye twitched and he frowned. "Mortals are weak of mind and even more so of heart."

"And yet your lord seems to fancy them enough to take them to his bed, and even conceive with them." Though Malisa truly didn't want to know how many times Eros had done that with someone other than her mother, or the number of siblings she may or may not have out in the world.

"What my lord does is not my concern, nor does it reflect on my personal beliefs."

"And what are those?" she asked boldly, still standing there in only a towel, her wet hair dripping down her back, her shoulders.

He peered at her as if remembering something, a flash of memory causing him to almost hesitate before answering. "Let's hope you don't find out," was all he said before turning and walking from the bathing room. "Get dressed. Otho will be waiting for you once you're ready. And Lord Eros does not enjoy being kept waiting."