Chapter 25 #2
I opened my mouth to defend Aster because, in my head, Aster was my friend, and Theron was, well, terrifyingly beautiful. But still, the man who had threatened to turn me to stone, and yet the thought tangled in my brain like a ball of yarn.
Instead, I reached out and ran my fingers along Theron’s arm.
His muscle shifted beneath my touch, solid as stone, warm as skin.
“Oh,” I murmured reverently.
Both men went still.
Theron looked down at my hand as if it had become a creature in its own right. Aster stared at it with horror.
“What are you doing?” Aster hissed.
“Investigating,” I replied, very serious. “He’s very… firm.”
Aster looked like he might choke.
Theron’s mouth twitched, the ghost of a smirk appearing.
“She inhaled the green fungus,” he said to Aster, returning to the subject as if that was the most normal sentence in existence.
Aster’s eyes widened. “The Hypnóphyllon?”
Theron nodded once. “It should have knocked her out.”
Aster’s gaze snapped to me, alarm surging. “Yeah, or even killed her! Alex, gods… how do you feel?”
I blinked at him, then smiled sweetly.
“Like,” I said slowly, searching for the words, “I want to hug everyone. And also kiss someone. Maybe. But not you, we are friends and I like Tiff, I would never do that… oh but wait, I like Atlas, and he likes me. Maybe I shouldn’t kiss you then, Theron.”
Aster made a sound of pure suffering.
Theron’s laugh finally broke free, and the sound of it surprised me so much I burst into giggles too, clutching my stomach. The laughter spilling out like it had been trapped inside me for days. Aster looked between us like he couldn’t decide if he was furious or horrified or both.
“This is not funny,” Aster growled.
Theron’s eyes glinted.
“It’s a little funny.”
“It’s hilarious!” I corrected, then tried to demonstrate this by swaying side to side, as if about to start dancing, with my hands lifting dramatically. “We should celebrate,” I announced. “I didn’t die, guys, woohoo! It’s a good day to be alive and dancing.”
“No dancing,” Aster said immediately, stepping forward.
“Yes,” I said, and I tried to spin, which resulted in me wobbling, fumbling for my top as if I had suddenly decided clothes were optional.
Aster’s eyes widened with pure panic.
“Alex. Gods… what are you… No, stop!”
Theron’s hand shot out, catching my wrist with effortless control, not harsh, just firm enough to anchor me back into place.
“You are undressing,” he said with a sigh.
“I’m dancing,” I argued.
“You are attempting to dance and undress simultaneously,” he corrected, and the calm in his tone was so infuriatingly composed that it made me laugh again.
Aster pressed a hand to his face.
“What do we do?” he demanded through his fingers. Theron’s amusement faded slightly, replaced by a calm, assessing seriousness.
“She must sleep it off.”
Aster exhaled sharply, running a hand over his face.
“Fine. Like I said, I’ll take her back to my tent.”
Theron’s gaze sharpened.
“No.” The single word dropped into the space between them like a stone.
Aster’s head snapped up. “Excuse me?”
Theron stepped closer, and the air in the tent seemed to thicken to the point of choking.
“She was put under my protection,” he said evenly. “She is my responsibility until she reaches the treasury and the torch is in your hands.”
Aster’s nostrils flared. “She is my responsibility!”
“And yet, she was taken.” Theron’s eyes flashed. “And I was the one who brought her back.”
The words landed like a blow.
Aster stiffened, guilt cracking through his anger, and I felt it, even through the haze.
“Stop,” I said suddenly, stepping forward, swaying slightly as I tried to put myself between them. “Don’t fight, please.”
Theron’s hand caught my waist, immediately steadying me.
Aster’s hand reached for me too, then stopped, uncertain. I looked up at Theron, pouting.
“You were meant to be my friend,” I accused.
His gaze softened, just slightly.
“I was truthful.”
“You were mean, truthful,” I corrected.
Aster let out a humorless sound, like a laugh grown from disbelief and threat.
“If you touch her,” he began, voice dropping, dangerous, “If you take advantage of this…”
Theron’s expression turned cold. The warmth vanished, replaced by something almost dangerous. Something that reminded me too clearly of what he had done in the woods, the ease of it, the brutality contained behind precision.
“I do not know what kind of rulers you have served,” he said quietly, every word precise,
“But do not place your filth upon my name. I would never take what is not freely given.”
Aster held his gaze, jaw clenched, then swallowed.
Theron stepped closer.
“Never question my honor again,” he said, and it wasn’t a threat so much as a law. Aster’s shoulders rose with a breath, then dropped, fury strangled by shame.
“Fine!” he snapped at last. “But if she comes to harm in your care…”
“She won’t,” Theron said simply.
Aster’s gaze flicked to me then, and the fear in it made my chest ache.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered again. Aster’s expression broke, softening despite himself.
“You didn’t mean any of this, it is not your fault Alex.”
“Yes, I did,” I admitted solemnly. “I mean, I didn’t mean to get kidnapped. But I did mean to find Atlas.” Aster’s eyes closed briefly, pain tightening his face. Theron’s hand tightened at my waist.
“Go, I need to get her settled so she can rest,” Theron said to Aster, voice calm again. Aster’s jaw clenched.
“I’m not leaving her.”
“You are,” Theron replied, and it was said with such certainty that Aster looked like he wanted to argue, then realized there was nowhere for the argument to land.
Aster turned sharply, storming toward the tent flap without another word. I lunged forward, reaching for him.
“Aster, I’m sorry…” I called, voice wobbling. “You need a hug.”
Theron caught me, lifting me effortlessly off my feet again before I could escape. Then he walked us to the bed, sitting down with me, positioned on his lap.
“No, he needs to know his place,” he stated, and this time, there was something almost amused in his tone.
The tent fell quieter after that, the distant sounds of camp muted.
And suddenly the world felt too big again, too heavy.
The humor thinning at the edges. I stared at the entrance to the tent for a moment, guilt rising again in a thick wave.
“He’s sad,” I whispered.
“He is angry at himself”, Theron corrected, then sighed. “And he was frightened.”
I turned my head to look at him, squinting.
“Are you ever frightened?” I asked.
His mouth twitched with a smirk.
“No.”
I poked his chest gently. “You should be.”
“Why?” he asked with a raised brow.
“Because I’m trouble, remember?” I informed him with great sincerity. “And I’m in your tent,” I whispered playfully.
That earned me a low chuckle, but it faded quickly as he looked down at me, his gaze shifting to something more human. “You were nearly taken tonight,” he said, his voice soft. “This is no joke.”
My smile slipped and I swallowed hard.
“It was my fault,” I whispered, and the words came out thick, clumsy, but true. His gaze sharpened on me.
“Did you ask to be taken?” he pointed out.
“No,” I muttered, rubbing my nose with my sleeve, thankful it wasn’t wet, or that would have been eww.
“Then it was not your fault.”
“Yes,” I insisted, my eyes stinging again. “I didn’t wake Aster… although I had no idea where his tent was in my defense… of course I knew where your tent was… It's very nice by the way… But I wasn’t about to wake you up, ‘cause that would have gotten me into trouble.”
He huffed. “You are trouble, but despite that, if ever you are in need of me, I will be here for you, little mortal.”
“Aww, that’s nice… but really, I mean, am I that little?
” I complained, making him chuckle, and it was such an attractive sound, I think I might have sighed.
I know I would have swooned, but I was already sitting on his lap…
yey, lucky me. However, it would have been better on Atlas’s lap, because I loved him.
“Tiny,” he teased, patting me on the head, making me fake outrage.
“Oi, you big brute and, anyway, that’s what heels are for.”
He winked at me, making me blush, but then I thought of Atlas doing it, and I got sad again.
“What is it?”
“I didn’t think. I just… I just wanted him… Atlas. ”
The confession hung in the air, and I hated how honest I could be when I was too drugged to guard myself. Theron’s hand lifted, slow, and brushed a strand of hair off my face with careful fingers.
“I know,” he murmured.
I stared at him, then hiccupped a laugh, because the tenderness in that gesture made my chest ache.
“You’re a confusing man,” I told him.
“Um, am I?” he replied dryly.
I reached up and cupped his face with both hands, my fingers spreading across his jaw like I was trying to memorize him, like I was trying to steal the shape of him and keep it.
“You’re too handsome,” I whispered, deeply offended. “It’s not fair.”
His eyes glinted.
“Is it not?”
“It’s very not,” I confirmed, then sniffed his neck again dramatically. “And you smell good. You’re like… like expensive.”
Theron let out a breath that might have been laughter.
“I am not expensive,” he said.
I nodded seriously.
“Yes, you are.” He shook his head once, then shifted me in his hold. I ended up half on his lap, my legs stretched out. My head against his chest, my fingers idly tracing patterns along his tunic, and in the lantern light, the fabric caught in faint glints.
“This is nice,” I murmured.
“It is dangerous,” he corrected, though his hand slid slowly along my back in a steadying motion that betrayed him.
I tilted my head up, the giddiness fading into something softer again, sadness creeping in around the edges.
“Do you think Atlas misses me?” I asked.
Theron’s gaze held mine for a long moment, and in that lantern light, he looked older than he had in the throne room, not aged in body, but what was behind his eyes. As though he had watched too many people love each other and then lose each other.
“Undoubtedly,” he said.
“How do you know?” I whispered.
His mouth softened, the faintest curve appearing, not smug, not amused, but almost sad.
“A girl like you only comes once in a lifetime,” he said quietly. “And once she does, you are not eager to let her go.”
My chest tightened. I swallowed hard, my eyes growing heavy.
“Aww, that’s sweet,” I whispered, voice slurring slightly. “You’re a big… big stone teddy bear.”
He huffed softly.
“Do not tell anyone else that.”
“I won’t,” I promised, then smiled, my eyes fluttering.
“Your secret is safe with me, handsome.”
My hand slid along his chest again, fingers lazy, content, and I felt him go very still, like he was fighting something in himself. Something instinctive and sharp, held back only by control and honor, and maybe the fact that I was too vulnerable for anything else.
I yawned, my eyes hurting as I tried to keep them open.
“Do you think we’ll be reunited, Atlas and me?”
“Yes,” he murmured.
“Soon?” I pressed, like a child demanding reassurance. Theron’s gaze lowered, his thumb brushing once across my cheek.
“Soon,” he promised.
The warmth of his arms, the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, the lantern light swaying softly above us, all blurred into something safe and hazy, and my body finally surrendered to exhaustion. As I drifted, I heard his voice again, quieter than before, meant for no one but the dark.
“And when you are,” he whispered, so softly I almost thought I imagined it…
“I suspect I will miss you, too.”