Chapter 14
Katie
“Is this really necessary?” I grumble from over Asterion’s shoulder.
All my wounds are much better. The swelling in my ankle has gone down, and the bandage soaked in the healing spring water has returned the raw skin around my waist to pale and unmarked.
I do not need to be thrown over his shoulder like I’m a sack of potatoes.
“Yes.” A Minotaur of many words.
I have come to the conclusion that Asterion doesn’t like to talk all that much, and usually that would suit me just fine.
After a few months on the streets, I have also become quite comfortable with the silence that comes with being on your own more often than not.
Compared to Greg yelling, I much prefer it.
But there’s just something about Asterion that makes me want to poke and prod and push at those boundaries.
A feeling I never had with Greg. Poking Greg was like poking a bear.
You’d rather the bear. Poking Asterion is… fun.
Despite his insistence on taking me to the Drakons, he hasn’t tried to eat me, and he’s tended to my wounds even though I’ve stabbed him twice.
He’s even fed me. If that’s all it takes for me to decide he’s a safe space, the bar really is low.
But do I trust him? That remains to be seen.
It’s clear he doesn’t trust me—and for good reason.
Even now, as we get closer to the Drakons, I’m still looking for opportunities to escape.
Being thrown over Asterion’s shoulder is making that far harder to achieve.
I huff another sigh. Asterion’s shoulder is probably going to leave a bruise on my stomach with all the jostling as he carries me up the mountain, and it’ll have been a waste of the water to heal the rope burn. He’s such a brute.
“What’s your deal with the Drakons anyway?” I ask.
“I would never make a deal with the Drakons.”
I roll my eyes at how he takes everything so literally. “I mean, what is your issue?”
There’s silence for a beat or two, and I don’t think he’s going to answer.
“The Drakons can be cruel. They have played this trick on me many times before—a long time ago. Before we were sequestered to Aeolia.”
The Drakons sound like dicks, and yet Asterion is going to give me to them. Does he not see how that makes him just like them?
“What trick?”
“I do not wish to speak of it.”
The end. Kapeesh.
I sigh again. “Are we there yet?”
“No.”
I wait a few minutes. “What about now?”
“No.”
I let the silence drag on until he thinks I’m done.
“Now?” I purse my lips, trying my hardest not to laugh.
He growls, his grip tightening around my thighs, causing arousal to flare to life at my core. We both groan simultaneously, and he stops immediately, sliding me to stand on my own two feet in front of him.
He bends so we’re face to face. “I have been itching to put my hand across your backside until you are dripping and needy and begging me for more. Unless that is something you want, I suggest you be quiet.”
I swallow thickly. “Quiet, it is,” I squeak.
I’ve never thought about being smacked as a form of pleasure.
The idea of someone raising their hand at me again has my skin breaking out in a sweat.
Very conflicting feelings swirl around my brain.
I shouldn’t want him to do what he’s said, so why does the way he said it have me rubbing my thighs together in anticipation?
“You will walk now. I cannot stand the smell of you.”
I scoff, slightly offended. I haven’t showered in three days. Of course I stink.
“You don’t smell any better,” I jab, taking a discreet sniff in Asterion’s vicinity, hoping to find the truth to my insult, except all he smells like is the wood fire from last night.
He cocks an eye at me like he knows exactly that before spinning me around and giving me a small shove forward.
“You will walk in front, little viper. I would not want you to slip away from me again when we are so close.”
“So, we are close?” I smirk over my shoulder at him, and he scowls back.
“You know, I don’t see what the difference is in handing me over to the Drakons and just letting me be on my merry way. Either option has you free of me.”
“I do not know how they did it, but they brought you here. It is their responsibility to return you to where you came from.”
“Two things.” I hold up two fingers over my shoulder as we continue up the mountain. “I don’t think the Drakons brought me here, and I don’t want to go back to where I came from.”
“What do you mean you do not think the Drakons brought you here?”
“Well, I woke up on the beach. The Drakons were already there, yes. But so was this shipping container, and it looked like it had been through a paper shredder or something. And also, it’s all still a bit hazy, but I’m pretty sure it was some of my ex’s goons that kidnapped me.
One of their names was Lachesis, which is kind of strange if you ask me, and I’m pretty sure they drugged me, considering how awful I felt when I woke up. ”
I shiver at the hazy memory of a gummy smile and a horrible raspy cackle.
“I do not understand. You saw Lachesis? You were not dumped in my labyrinth by the Drakons?”
“Oh no, I wandered in there myself looking for water and got lost.”
He grabs my shoulder, turning me to face him. “The Drakons did not put you in my labyrinth.”
“I just said that.”
It’s as if he needs to repeat it for it to make sense to him. I wasn’t even sure what I was seeing was real at the time.
“Lachesis is one of the Fates. This has been their doing. Why did you not say anything sooner?”
“You didn’t ask. The Fates are real people?” Who brought me here? Why?
“Deities, not people.” He groans, running a hand over his face. Then, without a word, he turns around and walks back down the path, leaving me standing there, halfway up a fucking mountain with my mouth hanging open.
“HEY! Now you’re leaving me? What about the Drakons?” I yell after him, but he’s already vanished from my sight.
“Fuck.”
What are my options? Stay here, where the Drakons will likely stumble across my path, since there’s only one of them.
Stay here, and the Drakons don’t stumble across my path, because who knows how often they travel it.
I might die of exposure before then. Or I can follow after Asterion.
At least until we get back down to the bottom of the mountain, and then I’ll do…
something. Anything. As long as it’s not with him.
“Fucking fuck.” I kick the rocky wall and then set off back down the mountain after Asterion, grumbling the entire way.
Asterion’s legs eat up the distance down the mountain much quicker than we managed on the way up.
Probably because he isn’t carrying me or having me slow him down.
I don’t catch sight of him again until night begins to fall, and I hate to say that it’s only because he stopped to make camp for the night.
Goose pimples prick my skin as a cool wind whips at my hair, and I attempt to rub some warmth back into my exposed arms. The change in temperature happens so suddenly that I look out expecting to see storm clouds brewing on the horizon, yet there is nothing but clear candy floss-colored skies as the sun begins its descent on another day up this fucking mountain.
Seeing the orange glow of the campfire throw shadows across the side of the mountain has me sighing in relief.
I pick up my pace, eager to warm myself by it.
Asterion is cooking something in his clay pot that smells divine as I tentatively approach.
What if he doesn’t let me stay? That’s what I wanted originally, right?
Except now, we’re both heading in the same direction.
It only makes sense to stick together until we reach the bottom. Plus, he has food.
My stomach growls right on cue, and Asterion glances my way at the sound.
“Um, hi.” I do a small finger wave. He turns back to his cooking without saying a word. “Do you mind if I stay with you until we get back down the mountain?”
“There is no we.” He doesn’t look up from his pot, giving it a little stir.
“No, right. I know. I’ll be out of your hair as soon as we’re at the bottom. I promise.”
He doesn’t acknowledge me, and I take it as a good sign because he’s not shooing me away either.
I park myself right next to the fire. The breeze picks up again, making the flames flicker wildly and causing me to shiver.
I look around at the sky that continues to darken, still expecting it to pour down with rain any moment now, but again, there’s nothing.
Asterion hands me a small bowl of broth, and I slurp it down greedily, groaning as I’m warmed up from the inside out.
I don’t know how something so simply made can taste so heavenly.
Maybe I’ve just had too many cold cans of spaghetti, or maybe Asterion is some kind of Minotaur wizard in the kitchen.
“Are you magic?” I break the silence.
“No.”
I nod, expecting nothing less than his typical one-word answer.
“Are you?”
Shocked, I snort. “No.”
“Why do you ask me such a thing?”
“This broth is so good. I just wouldn’t be surprised if you magicked it into existence at this point.” If I’m not mistaken, I see the hint of pink tinge his cheeks beneath his fur. I guess he doesn’t get many compliments.
“Can you cook?”
I look over at him, surprised that he’s asking me questions. Are we having an actual conversation?
“I can. I just haven’t had much need to lately.”
I expect him to pry, or maybe I’m just so used to the nosiness of people, but he takes my answer as it is, nodding in silence.
Should I tell him I was on the run? Living on the streets?
That I shot my ex? Would he care? Would he be horrified to know I almost murdered a man?
One who would’ve deserved it, sure, but people still tend to frown upon almost killing others.
I don’t know what I’d say if he asked. I don’t know why I care.