Chapter 22 #2
He turned by the door, and I felt his impatience bloom. But I also felt something calming…
"Oh no you don't," I moved up my mental barriers.
He was not going to subdue me like that.
Not ever again. If I had learned one thing, it was how to seal my mind off from him.
He looked irritated. I smiled smugly. Then I shot a slew of emotions at him, fury, indignation, frustration—every last feeling he had caused me in the last few days.
He staggered for a moment, looking utterly perplexed.
"Two can play that game, buster." I hissed.
He laughed. "Alright. I get it."
I stepped closer, "Do you really?"
"What's happening here?" Ashley asked, confused.
"Just a little mental battle." I threw over my shoulder.
Dravok took my arm and pulled me out into the hallway. "Excuse us for a minute," I managed before the doors closed behind us and we were alone. Well, alone with several guards, but that was better than Ashley and Xandros.
The door sealed with a soft hiss. Silence dropped like a blade. For a heartbeat, neither of us moved. Then I turned on him.
"Don't," I snapped, jabbing a finger at his chest. "Don't you dare do that again."
His brow furrowed. "Do what—"
"You know exactly what," I cut him off. "That." I tapped my temple. "Sliding into my head like you own the place. Smoothing things over, dulling what I'm feeling so I behave the way you want."
"I wasn't—"
"You were," I accused sharply. "And I am done pretending it's anything other than what it is.
" The words came faster now, hotter, as years of restraint around other people cracked under a pressure I didn't even know I'd been carrying.
"You don't get to decide for me. Not where I go, not what I do, not what I feel.
You don't get to kidnap me, drag me across the galaxy, walk into my mind like it's yours, and then act like we're partners in this. "
His jaw tightened, but he didn't interrupt. Neither did he try to enter my brain. Good. Because I wasn't finished.
"If this—" I gestured between us, sharp and furious. "—if this is going to work at all, you start using your words. Not your powers. Not your… whatever the hell that is." I exhaled hard. "You talk to me. You ask. You respect that I have a choice."
His gaze held mine, steady, unreadable. Then, "I do respect that," he tried.
"Do you?" I stepped closer. "Because it doesn't feel like it."
For a moment, something flickered across his face. Not anger. Not arrogance. Something… tighter. Regret.
"I misjudged," he admitted, just as quietly. "The situation. And you. I got carried away by my own selfish reasoning."
I huffed a humorless laugh. "That's one way to put it."
"I will not do it again."
The words landed heavier than I expected. Firm. Absolute. Arkhevari. I studied him, searching for the loophole.
"Ever?" I challenged.
His gaze didn't waver. "Ever. I swear." Then he amended, "Unless your life depends on it."
I hesitated.
…fair. Annoyingly fair. My shoulders dropped a fraction.
"Don't make me regret trusting you on that," I warned.
"I won't."
The certainty in his voice did something to my chest. Tightened it in a way I didn't want to examine too closely. God. This man—alien. Whatever he was. He was going to drive me insane. I scrubbed a hand over my face, the last of the anger bled out, leaving something rawer behind.
"You were just going to leave, like that." I wanted to know, because, yeah, I was still a little piss-hurt about that.
He rolled his eyes, "It wasn't like I wasn't going to come back soon."
Oh, that arrogant little bastard. "That's not the point."
He stilled. I met his eyes again, forcing the words out. "I didn't even get a goodbye."
For all his self-proclaimed godliness, he was pretty dense when it came to emotions. Because he looked awfully confused.
"I didn't think you would want one. I'm just going to get Nythor. Like you humans say, it's no big deal."
His arrogance was insufferable. But wasn't that one of the reasons I lo… liked him so much?
"You don't get to decide that either," I said softly.
Another pause followed, then he stepped closer. Giving me every chance to stop him. I didn't. My pulse kicked up the moment I felt his body heat.
"Very well," he said, voice low. "Then say what you need to say."
What I needed to say? That was the problem. There was too much. Too many things tangled together—anger, curiosity, fear, something dangerously close to… something else.
"You're infuriating," I started. His mouth twitched. "Arrogant. Controlling. Completely incapable of respecting boundaries."
"That has been noted," he agreed.
"And—" I faltered, then forced it out anyway. "—you scare the hell out of me."
That wiped the faint amusement from his face. "I will not harm you. Not ever."
I shook my head. How dense was this god imposter?
"I know, that's not it… Sometimes, things are out of your control…
" he gave me the look, and I amended, "Things might not go the way you like…
" damn him, there was that look again. Like nothing in the universe could ever hurt him.
"That doesn't mean you can't hurt me," I finished.
Something in him went still.
"I understand."
I let out a slow breath. "And you're going anyway. Alone."
"Yes."
"Into something we barely understand."
"Yes."
I shook my head, a sharp exhale escaping me. "God, you're impossible."
"So I've been told."
I took another step closer. Close enough now that I could feel his breath. I managed a "Be careful." There was so much more I wanted to say. For some reason, this goodbye didn't feel like his promised: only a few hours.
His gaze dropped to my mouth for the briefest second. Then back up.
"I intend to return," he repeated.
I reached for him before I could overthink it. Fisted my hand in the front of his shirt and pulled him down. This time, there was no hesitation. No restraint. The moment our mouths met, everything else fell away. The anger. The arguments. The fear. All of it burned out under the sheer force of it.
His hand came up to my waist, pulling me closer, firm, unyielding, like he'd already decided I belonged there. Heat flooded through me, sharp and immediate.
God.
This—
This was a terrible idea. I leaned into it anyway. Because for once, I wasn't thinking. I wasn't analyzing. I wasn't questioning whether it made sense. I just… wanted. I was also done pretending I didn't.
His breath was unsteady when he pulled back, resting his forehead briefly against mine. For a moment, neither of us spoke. Then, quieter than I had ever heard him, "Aelyth."
The word echoed through my head, my chest. Lighting on fire whatever it touched. It resonated so deep inside of me, it had to be some kind of ancient recognition.
His palm touched my cheek almost reverently. I looked up and nearly drowned in his dark black eyes, now filled with a myriad of golden flames.
"Aelyth." I agreed.
His next words hit like a shockwave. "I love you."
"...what?"
He stepped back slightly, as if giving me space to retreat. I didn't. But I didn't move forward either.
"You are my Aelyth," he stated, as if that explained everything. "What I feel for you is not… transient."
"That's not what I asked."
"I know."
His gaze held mine. Steady. Certain. Terrifyingly so.
"I love you," he repeated without hesitation. Without any doubt. Just truth.
My heart slammed against my ribs. Too fast. Too hard. This was insane. This was impossible. This was—
And yet…
I had felt it.
In him.
In myself.
That pull. That connection. That… bond.
My throat tightened.
"I—" I stopped, shook my head. "I can't… I'm not there."
"I am aware."
The faintest hint of amusement touched his expression. "I have had longer to come to terms with it. You will soon be able to admit it to yourself, too."
That arrogance again. Despite everything, a breath of laughter escaped me. Silence settled between us again. Different now. Not tense. Just… heavy. Real.
I swallowed.
"Just… come back," I told him.
That was all I could give right now. His hand came up, brushing briefly against my cheek. Careful. As if I might break.
"I intend to," he repeated.
Then he stepped back.
And this time—
He left.
I stood there, staring after his retreating form, the doors already sealed, the corridor swallowing him whole as if he had never been there at all. Silence rushed in behind him. Too loud. Too empty. I didn't move.
I love you. The words echoed, sharp and impossibly clear, as if he had spoken them again right there behind me. I let out a slow breath, my hand still curled where I had grabbed his shirt, my fingers slowly loosened as if I had to consciously remind them he was gone.
He loved me.
A startled, almost disbelieving laugh slipped out of me.
"Of course he does," I muttered. "Of course, the alien god I've known for—what—a week?—just casually drops that like it's the most natural thing in the universe."
A week. Had it really been a week? It felt like—I frowned, the thought slipped sideways before I could catch it—longer.
It felt like longer. Like I'd known him in a way that didn't fit into days or hours or anything that made sense.
Which, considering everything else, was not exactly comforting.
I dragged a hand through my hair, pacing once across the corridor, then back again, restless energy buzzing under my skin.
He loved me.
The words should have been absurd. They were absurd. Statistically improbable. Logically indefensible. Emotionally reckless to the point of insanity. I pressed my fingers against my temples.
"You don't fall in love in a week," I muttered out loud, as if saying it would anchor it. Make it real. The guards sent sideways glances at me. I ignored them. "You don't just… meet someone, get kidnapped by them, nearly die a few times, and then—"