Chapter 11 #2
With that, she turned and walked away, rejoining a group of women who immediately huddled around her in support.
“Well, that was dramatic,” Aiden commented, dryly.
“Shut up,” I muttered, sitting back down.
“You never mentioned you were still involved with her,” Draco said quietly.
“Because it wasn’t important.” I pushed my plate away, appetite gone. “It was casual. She knew that.”
Percy’s dark eyes studied me. “You sure she was aware of that?”
“Can we not do this right now?” I glanced toward the door Jupiter had disappeared through. Through the bond, I could feel her hurt, but I could also feel her frustration at the fact that she was hurt. This whole situation was beyond fucked.
My room was dark when I entered, but I didn’t bother turning on the lights. I stripped off my shirt and collapsed onto my bed, staring at the ceiling. Jupiter’s presence in my mind had dimmed to a faint pulse, like a distant heartbeat I could barely detect.
She was still blocking us out, which was a little trick I knew she’d been working on all on her own. Sometimes her presence would go silent, and it was like a splash of cold water on my brain.
A soft knock on my door interrupted my brooding.
“Not now,” I called, assuming it was one of my shield brothers.
The door opened anyway, revealing Lyssa’s silhouette against the hallway light.
“How the fuck did you get in here?” I demanded, sitting up. Shield quarters were supposed to be secured against unauthorized entry.
“I told the guard I was delivering something for Director Waverly.” She entered, closing the door behind her. “We need to talk, Eris.”
“No, we don’t.” I stood, keeping my distance. “You’ve said more than enough for one day.”
Lyssa’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, roaming over my bare chest before meeting my gaze. “I was upset. You can’t blame me for that.”
“She had nothing to do with what happened between us.”
“Didn’t she?” Lyssa stepped closer. “Everything was fine until she showed up with her nonsense.”
“The bond wasn’t planned,” I said firmly. “It was an emergency. She nearly died saving Aiden’s life.”
“How convenient.” Her voice dripped with bitterness. “The Assembly’s pet project just happens to form an emergency bond with the most powerful shield at Dominion.”
I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You weren’t there. You didn’t see what happened to her.”
“I know you,” she said, moving closer still. “This is your chance, isn’t it? The Ophis designation bonded to the Nightfall Shield. You’ll be legends.”
“This isn’t about power.”
She was close enough now that I could smell her perfume, the same scent that had once drawn me in, but now smelled stiflingly sweet. “Don’t pretend you don’t care about legacy, about being the best.”
“Stop,” I warned, stepping back.
“What does she give you that I can’t?” Lyssa reached for me, her fingers brushing my chest. “Is she that good in bed? Have you fucked her yet, or are you all taking turns?”
I grabbed her wrist, removing her hand from my skin. “That’s enough, Lyssa.”
“Tell me you don’t want me anymore,” she challenged, her eyes glittering in the darkness with fake tears. “Tell me you prefer her, a woman you barely know, over what we have. You know she can’t fuck you the way I do.”
“What we had was sex. I told you from the beginning it wouldn’t lead to a bond.”
“We could have been amazing together. My Libra magic complements your Gemini perfectly. Everyone expected us to bond eventually.”
I released her wrist and stepped back. “I never lied to you. I never promised you anything.”
Her expression hardened. “So that’s it? You’re choosing her?”
“The bond is already formed. It wasn’t a choice, but I’m not fighting it either.”
“Because it’s convenient for your ambitions.”
I felt my temper rising. “Because Jupiter is brave and powerful and saved my shield brother’s life without hesitation.
Because she nearly died doing it. Because when the bond formed, it felt right in a way I can’t explain to you, nor should I have to.
She might be the best thing that’s ever fucking happened to me. ”
Lyssa’s face contorted with hurt and rage. “You’ve known her for what, two weeks? And you’re already this devoted? Was I really that forgettable?”
“This isn’t about you, don’t you fucking get that? Not everything is about you! The bond happened. It’s done. We’re done.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” she said, her voice dropping to a whisper. “There are ways to break bonds, especially new ones. We could—”
“Get out. Now.”
“Eris—”
“We’re done, Lyssa. We were never anything but casual to begin with, and you knew that. You were a good fuck while it lasted, but that’s all it ever was. I would have done this nicer, and in private, but the way you treated her was fucked up.”
She recoiled as if I’d slapped her. “Don’t pretend like you and Percy weren’t saying the same shit last week. You’re going to regret this, Eris. When she shows her true colors, when the Assembly reveals what they’re really planning with their precious Ophis, you’ll wish you’d listened to me.”
“Goodbye, Lyssa.”
She stormed out, slamming the door behind her. I collapsed back onto my bed, exhaustion washing over me. Through our bond, I felt a flicker of concern—Draco, probably sensing my distress.
I’m fine, I projected, though I doubted he would believe it.
Sleep evaded me that night. I kept thinking about Jupiter, about the hurt I’d felt through our connection before she’d shut us out. I needed to make things right, but I wasn’t sure how. Apologizing had never been my strong suit.
Morning came too quickly. I dragged myself to the training room, hoping Jupiter would show up for our scheduled session. To my relief, she was already there, working through stretches with Draco. Her face was carefully blank when she saw me.
“Morning,” I said, trying to sound normal.
She nodded in acknowledgment but didn’t speak. I felt her wariness, her guard still firmly in place.
Percy and Aiden arrived moments later, and we began our training in awkward silence. The bond felt strained, Jupiter’s participation minimal and mechanical. It affected our performance; movements that had been fluid yesterday now felt disjointed and forced.
After an hour of increasingly frustrating exercises, Percy called a halt. “This isn’t working. We need to address the elephant in the room.”
Jupiter crossed her arms. “Let’s just finish the damn session.”
“The bond is weak today,” Said Aiden. “We can all feel it.”
She looked away. “Maybe that’s for the best.”
“You don’t mean that,” Draco said.
“Don’t I?” Her silver eyes flashed. “You heard what your axis candidates think of me. ‘Myth bitch that should have stayed buried.’ So poetic.”
I stepped forward. “I never said that. Not like that.”
“But you did talk shit about me,” she challenged, finally meeting my eyes, the silver in hers icy. “To someone you were sleeping with.”
“Before I knew you.”
“You still don’t know me, Eris. You might think you do because you can hear me, or feel my emotions, but it’s just the magic. You don’t actually give a single shit about me.”
She was wrong. But that was the worst part of this whole fucked up situation.
None of us knew her. Not really. Was she hot as fuck?
Yeah. Was she fierce? Double yeah. But did I know what made her that way?
Did I know the reason she sometimes woke up screaming in the middle of the night?
I felt her through the bond, and tried to block the deep things out, but I was beginning to wonder if this was the real thing, and we needed to lock the fuck in.