14. Liora
Liora
When she opened her eyes, the first thing Liora saw was the chandelier hanging over her head, attached to the vaulted stone ceiling by a thick, shiny gold chain.
Then, she became aware of the large, warm hands wrapped around hers.
Maldenis was asleep in the chair beside the bed, his upper body slumped forward onto the mattress, her hand enclosed in both of his.
She squeezed his hand.
“Wha—” He bolted straight up, glancing around. His hair was a mess, and there were dark circles under his eyes. “Oh. You’re awake,” he breathed.
“Hi,” she rasped, her throat dry as a desert. “Do you have any—”
He was already reaching for the glass of water on the bedside table. “Here,” he said, holding the straw to her lips. As she drank, she could feel his gaze sweeping over her, as if he were assessing every inch of her.
“Thank you,” she said as her lips released the straw. “Where are we?”
“Brontaios’s house. More like mansion, really. He insisted we come here.”
“We—” Her fingers gripped at the blankets. “The girl—”
“Is fine.”
She pulled the blanket aside and made a motion to get off the bed. However, a wave of dizziness passed over her. “Oh gods…”
Maldenis let out a long-drawn sigh. “You’re much too weak. When was the last time you had some food?”
“Breakfast?” She eased back against the pillows with a slow and deliberate motion.
“Yesterday,” he snorted, then replaced the blanket back over her. “Will you be still and rest? Gods, I’ve been going out of my mind with worry.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m never letting you out of my sight ever again. This must be how Hektor feels.”
He was worried? For me?
The thought of it made something warm pool in her belly.
But she also reminded herself that this was all temporary. And maybe what he said about “never letting you out of my sight” was just a result of his sleep deprivation.
“I just need some food,” she told him. “And I really need to check on the girl.”
“She’s fine,” he assured her. “No, don’t try to get up. I swear, she’s good. Resting, like you. Maybe she’s already up and about.”
“Are you sure?”
“We would have heard something.” He jerked his thumb behind him toward the door. “She’s in the room next door.”
She grabbed for the blankets once more. “Then I can still check—”
“For the gods’ sake, Liora, stop being stubborn.” Though he made no move to stop her, the seriousness in his tone made her freeze.
She could only stare at him, puzzled by his strange behavior.
Perhaps sensing the tension in the air, he rolled his eyes. “I should use my hypno-powers on you.” He waved his fingers at her face.
“Pffft. Won’t work on me. Hecate nearly fried my brain with her training, but now I’m hypno-proof.”
“Aww, really?”
“Yes, really. Maybe you should learn some of it.”
“Maybe.”
“You win, I’ll stay and rest.” She sank back into the soft pillows. “Now tell me what happened. All of it.”
So, he told her everything from the moment she blacked out. The final blast destroying the hunters, but rendering her and the girl unconscious. Her siblings calling on Hecate. And the titan arriving with her protégé Ariadne, who had taken one look at both of them and set to work on healing them.
“And then we brought you here, so you could rest.”
“And Hecate?”
“She left once she was satisfied Ariadne had it under control.”
She wasn’t surprised at all. Hecate was a busy goddess, after all. Plus, she wasn’t exactly the mothering type, not even to her former students.
He shifted in his chair. “Which brings me to the part where I have to tell you something you’re not going to love.”
She tsked. “Just say it.”
“The poison is still in you. And in Korinnae.” He held up a hand before she could speak. “You’re healed, mostly. But not completely. Ariadne explained it—magic stuff, I didn’t follow all of it—but basically the treatment has to be administered regularly.”
“Until when?”
“Until they find a permanent cure. She and Hecate are working on it.”
Liora stared at the crystal chandelier. “Oh no.”
“Don’t.” His voice was firm. “They’ll find it. And if for some reason they can’t.” The end of that sentence hitched, like his voice was caught on something. “I’ll find it.”
She looked at him. “You?”
“Me.”
“Maldenis,” she began, trying to gather the emotions slowly brewing inside her. “One year and one day. We agreed—”
“I know what we agreed to.”
“So, you understand that in a few months we go back to our lives and you go back to your bar and—”
“We’re not.”
She blinked. “We’re not what?”
“Divorcing.” He said it the same way he’d said I’ll find it.
Like it was already decided.
Like he’d had a while to sit with it and had arrived at the only possible conclusion.
“We’re not doing it.”
“And why not?”
“Duh,” he said without missing a beat. “Because I love you.”
He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. No speeches, grand gestures. Just…exactly the way he would do it.
“You love me,” she repeated.
“I do. Embarrassingly so, if we’re being honest.” He tilted his head. “Your turn.”
“Your turn?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s not how this works.”
“Oh, isn’t it?”
They stared at each other for a long time, waiting for the other to break, as if the first to speak would be the loser.
Liora supposed, just this once, he could win. “I love you too,” she said. “You complete and utter menace.”
His mouth spread into a smile. “See? That wasn’t too hard, was it?”
She laughed, which pulled at something in her side and made her wince. “I’m fine,” she assured him as he quickly reached for her. She grabbed his hands instead and folded them into hers. “Really, I am. And, I guess I should say I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? No—”
“It wasn’t fair what I said to you about your past, especially now that you’re trying to make amends.
I shouldn’t even have said it, then all the hunters came and the giant explosion nearly killed me.
” He paled at her words, but she squeezed his hands in a gesture that let him know she was here, alive.
“But, you’re right. Korinnae shouldn’t have to hide who she is, not if that’s what she wants.
And we will protect her. After all, she’s also your sister. ”
“I…yes.”
A strange expression passed over his face; likely, he hadn’t processed that information yet, but Liora trusted he’d be able to navigate those feelings. And she’d be there with him.
“I’m sorry too,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said what I said before about you. The best thing about you is that you care about others and want what’s best for them. Don’t you ever change that about yourself. It’s one of the things I love about you.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, and you got great tits—hey!” he cried when she smacked him on the side of the head.
She smirked at him. “You sure you wanna stay married to me?”
His expression softened. “I’m sure. Should I get down on one knee to prove it?”
“You don’t have knees,” she pointed out. “And it’s a bit too late for that.”
“Fine, if that’s what you think.”
“Wait, what about a ring? Do I get a ring?”
“Do I have to get you one?”
She pouted. “Well, when you put it like that—”
“I’ll get you a ring.”
“You don’t have to get me a ring.”
“I want to get you a ring.”
“Fine,” she said. “Get me a ring.”
He caught her gaze, their eyes locking as a smile of amusement spread across his face. His real smile, one that hid nothing from her.
She, too, did not have to hide anymore. No more quiet and constant warnings, no more truths to swallow.
There was nothing wrong with her. And while she always knew that, it was here in this realm, as she negotiated the terms for a ring she didn’t need from a husband she didn’t want in the first place, she finally found a place where she could be herself.