34. Day and Night
34
Day and Night
Calliste
She returned to the same spot the next night, praying her cocoon of energy would hold.
It did, just enough to continue fortifying it. She was more cautious this time, remembering the warning and anticipating another attack.
But the mysterious entity remained silent, only communicating through aggressive stabs of hostility. It made her progress frustratingly slow, depleting her energy quicker than she was willing to acknowledge.
“Its resilience surprises me,” she remarked to Hypnos two nights later. “I give it my all every night, but I can only move forward in tiny increments.”
He stared up at the tree, his jaw clenched tight. “This whole… creation makes me uneasy.”
Calliste paused. “What do you mean?”
“It’s too clever. Whoever is behind it knows the Condemned are a disposable and lowest denomination of living energy. They figured out they can be used in a place where immortals cannot use their powers without rousing Erebus.”
It’s a she. She figured it out. Calliste bit her lip, debating whether or not to tell him about the voice that spoke to her two nights ago.
She should. He was her guide and ally.
He’s not entirely honest with you.
Deep inside, she could sense it in the way Hypnos looked at her, or spoke in measured tones, withholding something.
She let her energy ebb for a moment and stared at the top of the tree. “So, someone is channeling their power through the Condemned the same way I use my goddess’s power?”
Hypnos cast her an appreciative glance. “Precisely so. The Condemned are the vessels of our enemy’s energy. This is also why you can fight it—because our adversary is also limited in that way.”
“But how did they manage to pull the prince’s tree here?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted, also looking up. “It’s one of those things that I cannot explain, but I’m certain once we uncover the identity of our adversary, it will be obvious.”
She fell into silence and resumed channeling her energy, watching the tendrils of Epione’s power unfurl against the red ivy. The two energies warred until the green luminescence overpowered another leaf of the ivy. A single leaf.
It was a lesson in patience.
Hypnos crouched beside her, his silvery gaze intense. “What does it feel like, to be righting the fate of a kingdom?”
She hissed as the vine lashed out with a particularly vicious backlash of energy, gritting her teeth. “Painful.”
“Yet you keep going.”
She closed her eyes for a moment, waiting for the nausea and the spasms in her hands to pass, thinking about the sleeping prince. And his complicated father. “I have to.”
***
Everything slid into an odd routine.
Nights in the Underworld.
Days slept through.
Breakfasts in the afternoon and chats with Melitta.
But she was looking forward to the dawns most. They released her from the gnawing frustration of a fight—and the king would carry her back to the chamber.
Only him. Without a single exception. Always at the same time each morning.
He rarely spoke. It may be because she was too tired to open her mouth, let alone her eyes. All unfolded in silence, split into precious slices of closeness, chaste and searing all the same.
He lifted her up as if she were a kitten, tilting her against his chest to carry her.
She’d always take advantage of that moment to inhale the scent of earthy spices and sea breeze on his clean skin as he rocked her gently in his arms. In the rhythm of his steps down the quiet corridor, the light passing across her face felt like kisses.
She imagined them to be his.
And that was even worse, because her body stirred with heat that had nothing to do with the sunlight enveloping her, but everything with the warmth of his body against her skin.
She resented the moment he laid her on the bed and drew the covers over her, severing the closeness between them. She’d mutter her thanks, still fighting sleep and clinging on to the moments with him for as long as possible.
He was a mere sound by then. He’d pull the drapes to make sure the room was shadowed, his footfalls barely audible. Those were the last moments in his presence—a few extra beats of silence laced with his breath and scent.
Sometimes he lingered, but this could be just him steeling himself before facing the world and the demands of the kingdom. After all, it was the beginning of his day, and her chamber was the last stop before his long day of work.
She savored the last of his presence with greed.
Once the door clicked quietly behind him, the dimness in her chamber smothered her. She would let go, slipping away from her frustration as far as she could.
***
One morning, she broke their unspoken pact.
It was after a particularly exhausting night, when the other energy was relentless and brutal, leaving her drained and dispirited.
She held on to him as he carried her back. As he rested her on her bed, she reached out and grasped his wrist just as he was about to step away after covering her with a blanket. “Majesty?”
He froze, as if her touch turned him into a stone. “Yes?” he asked in a hoarse voice.
Her face hidden under her spilling hair, she forged on. “Can you stay with me… for a moment?”
From so close, it was easy to catch his surprised inhalation. “Stay with you?”
Mortification hit her hard, curdling on her tongue. “No. It’s fine.” She let go of his hand and buried her face into the pillow, hoping he’d leave soon.
But he didn’t. For a moment, he was utterly silent. Then his deep, clear voice filled the sunlit space between them, coming from close. “Of course I can.” His weight pressed down on the bed as he perched on the edge.
She turned her face slightly toward him, only catching a glimpse through her hair.
“You’re always so exhausted and cold.” Darkness threaded into his voice. “Is there anything I can do? Anything I need to know?”
For a moment, guilt smothered her. To him, she sat through the nights using her healing powers. But the truth was so wildly different. What would he say if he knew about Hypnos taking me to the realm of the gods that he cursed? The truth will have to wait. “Only that I’m doing my best.”
“I’m certain of that.” He fell silent, staying beside her.
She must have fallen asleep soon after that, because she dreamed of him taking her hand and pressing his lips to its back before tucking it next to her face and leaving.