The nights were long. Sleep didn’t come easy for Samuel since the news. Not only about his brother’s unexpected and untimely passing, but about the news that they, the gods and other immortals, were becoming… mortal. Weakening. But not only that. All the potentially life-threatening things they have done in the last five years or so were catching up to them. He was sitting at his piano, fingers running gently on the smooth ivory keys, but not playing. He couldn’t keep his thoughts clear enough to play. But the knock at the door was enough to pull him from his deep thought. He walked to the door, surprisingly in his suit pants and his dress shirt rolled up to his elbows, opening the door only to see the once-goddess standing before him. “Oh, sweetheart,” he whispered as he stretched out his arms and pulled her into a hug.
Her brother’s arms wrapped around her and pulled her in tight for a hug, and at first it didn’t register. At first Eve didn’t move, didn’t say anything. Samuel’s whisper in her ear stirred something inside her, though, and she struggled to keep the tears at bay. She and her brother had never been particularly close, certainly not as close as she had been to Zeus, but there was an overwhelming familiarity and comfort to Samuel’s touch. After just a moment, without thinking, Eve’s arms wrapped around the man who had so lovingly and readily embraced her, and she shuddered. “Samuel, I....” Eve sucked in a breath. “I didn’t know where else to go.”
