Chapter 25 The King’s Betrayal
“So… that was er… different,” I murmured, my voice still breathless.
“And I mean different in a good way, of course! Er, not that I know any other way. Oh God, clearly, I’m not good at the after-sex bit, so please feel free to shut me up now.
” My rambling made him chuckle, his arm tightening around me before his sweet words hummed in my ear.
“You’re perfect…” Then he teased, “No gagging required.”
I laughed, making him grin down at me. We were both still sprawled on the forest floor, my head resting against his chest while I tried to remember how to breathe. Clearly, he recovered faster than I did.
“I’m sorry if I was too rough with you,” he said quietly after a stretch of comfortable silence had fallen between us. His voice was tinged with concern. “I never expected… I didn’t know…” His words trailed off until I gave a soft laugh.
“It’s not something I usually advertise. Hey, I’m Alex, the virgin. How’s your apocalypse going? Better than mine, I hope,” I teased, and the sound of his deep chuckle rumbled beneath my cheek.
“What I mean is…” he started again, struggling. “If I had known I would have suggested we take it…”
I cut him off by finishing that sentence.
“Slow? No offence, but I don’t think that’s our style,” I joked, but when I looked up and saw his face was still thoughtful, I gave him more.
“Hey,” I said, reaching up to cup his cheek from where I lay half across him, my body angled to the side.
“Atlas, I woke up this morning in your arms and ever since I have been hoping you would kiss me, even before, if I am being honest. I also did so knowing what it would likely lead to, and I have been living in hope for that too. Trust me, even outside, on this hard, cold floor… It was perfect.”
He still didn’t look convinced.
“You deserved more than…”
“Than what?” I interrupted softly. “A quick romp in the woods? Because that’s not what this was, Atlas, and you know it. This… thing between us, it’s been building for a while. What did we expect would happen the first time we, you know…” I paused, and a faint smirk tugged at his lips.
“Kissed,” he concluded, finally grinning once more, making me nod. “Alright, then allow me to apologize for scaring you,” he added with a heavy sigh. “I… I have never lost control like that.” The regret in his voice was unmistakable.
I was about to ask him what he meant by that and if he could explain it to me, but then he started to shift beneath me.
“Come on,” he said after a moment, brushing a stray leaf from my shoulder. “We need to set up camp before nightfall.”
“Okay,” I said with a smirk, but you know you’re not getting out of this conversation, right?
I’m gonna need to know what that was.” I tried to keep my tone light because, clearly, he needed it.
I had never seen him so unsure of himself, and despite not knowing him for long, I felt like I knew him enough to say that much.
“We will,” he promised, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smile. “Just not naked, with you in my arms, while I’ve got a stick trying to make its way somewhere it shouldn’t.”
I burst out laughing, shaking against him so hard that it made him laugh too. His eyes widened in surprise, like he was seeing me laugh for the first time, and for a moment, he looked utterly enchanted by it. Like he couldn’t quite believe he’d been the one to make me erupt this way.
Probably not the reaction he had expected after turning into a beast, but what could I say? Love the man, love the monster. Who knows, maybe I’d get T-shirts made.
We both shifted until we were standing, his large hand reaching down to pull me up.
I glanced around, relieved to find most of my clothes still intact.
The same couldn’t be said for him. The only thing left for Atlas to put back on were his trousers, which somehow made the view even more distracting.
Especially as they were full of tears and didn’t end up hiding much.
“So, Your Majesty,” I teased, raising an eyebrow. “Are we going to turn up at the hotel with you half-naked, or do you actually have some spare clothes packed?”
He gave me that infuriating smirk, the one that managed to look both regal and sinful at the same time.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “I think it’s about time my subjects see a new side of me.”
“What, your ass?” I shot back. “Baby steps, Atlas. Let’s start with you smiling at them once in a while, before we turn you into a nudist king.”
He threw his head back and laughed, the sound echoing through the forest and warming something deep inside me. Our playful banter continued, light and effortless, and I found myself smiling far too easily.
Thankfully, we weren’t far from Acelin, or rather, from his spare clothes. I couldn’t help but smirk as I watched him pull on a fresh shirt, feeling ridiculously happy despite everything that had happened in the last few hours, the last few days.
It was a strange kind of bliss, fragile but real, and I didn’t want to ruin it by thinking too hard about what was coming next, because deep down, I knew the truth. Now that he understood what I was, the key to the Rift, he would soon have to leave. And the irony wasn’t lost on me.
This time, he didn’t insist I sit idle while he worked. Instead, he let me help as he handed me tent poles and rope, and together we set up camp. The task went quicker with the two of us, and by the time night began to settle, the fire was crackling again, casting warm light over his face.
Just like the night before, we found ourselves sitting by the flames, but this time there was no space between us. His shoulder brushed mine, and every small contact felt charged, tethering me to this fragile peace.
“Go ahead and ask,” he said at last, breaking the comfortable silence.
I turned to him, blinking. “Am I that obvious?”
“Yes,” he said with a soft smile, picking up my hand. His thumb traced lazy circles along my palm, then followed the delicate lines of my fingers. “I can practically feel you vibrating next to me as the questions want to explode out of you.”
I laughed quietly, but my voice softened as I asked, “I need to know, Atlas… what happened to you today? What was that?”
His hand stilled, his gaze shifting to the firelight that danced across his features as he released a sigh.
“It’s… part of my ancestry,” he said finally, his voice low and even.
“The royal bloodline traces back to the god, Ares. He was a fierce and untamed warrior, a God of war, of vengeance and justice. I can’t go into too much detail here but know this…
a gift was granted to my family many generations ago.
A gift, or perhaps a curse, depending on how you see it. ”
I frowned before asking, “What type of gift?”
“It was meant to help in conquering conflict,” Atlas said quietly, his voice low as he stared into the fire. “To protect our people from those who sought to take our lands. To defend, to survive.”
“Like a weapon?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yes, very much like a weapon. Only this weapon came at a price. For those with the strongest will, those who had found their anchor, could control it.”
“An anchor?” I repeated, the word catching in my throat.
He released a slow sigh, his shoulders sinking as if he debated whether to speak the next truth.
“A weapon without its anchor is too dangerous to unleash. The rage consumes. It takes away the part of you that remembers any good in the world. It was a gift once, given by Ares himself, but it was tainted by greed. It never began as something evil, but over time, through kings who craved more than they were given, it became corrupted. And when a gift like that is corrupted, no matter how much good comes after, what was done can never be undone.” His words lingered between us, heavy and sad.
“I think I understand,” I murmured. “So, this rage, the thing that transforms you… it’s never happened before?”
He shook his head.
“No. It is not something one can train for, nor is it something that can be taught. Once it’s unleashed, unless there is an anchor, it consumes completely.
It has the power to destroy armies, to win wars, to devastate worlds if unchecked.
It continues to grow, feeding from the Gods themselves until you become nothing more than a vessel of destruction. ”
My heart thudded hard in my chest, each beat a warning that I already knew where this was going. Still, I asked the question, the one trembling at the edge of my voice.
“When you chased me in the woods… when I touched you and you… you calmed… does that mean…?”
Before I could finish, he shifted closer. His hands came up to cradle my face, strong and steady, his thumbs brushing along my cheekbones. His gaze locked on mine, unflinching.
“Yes, Alexandra,” he said reverently. “You are the anchor. My anchor. The one fated to be mine.”
I gasped, my breath catching on the confession.
“But how can you be so sure?”
His lips curved faintly, the gentleness in his eyes undoing me.
“Because I know there are only a few things that can awaken the rage of Ares. Some spells can call it to the surface, there is the desperation of a lost battle, the weight of injustice,” he paused, his thumb tracing the line of my jaw.
“Then there is the sight of their anchor being harmed.
The ultimate sin, a threat to the King's fated. That is the most uncontrollable of all. The rage lust will stop at nothing until every threat is destroyed.”
I swallowed hard, my pulse a frantic rhythm against his palms.
“I was always meant to find you,” he whispered. “You are a gift from the gods, in more ways than one.”
My breath hitched. His words wrapped around me, too powerful, too impossible, yet I felt their truth in the trembling of my chest.
“I know this is a lot,” he continued, his voice softening. “We have only just… begun this, and before that…” He trailed off, his throat tightening.