Chapter 14 - What He Feels
Silence stretched between them.
Heavy. Charged. Unbreakable.
Athena finally found her voice.
"Athena," she whispered.
Her own name sounded foreign in the massive stone room.
The man in front of her didn't look away.
"Athena," he repeated, like he was testing the shape of it.
Like it meant something.
Behind her, the two men remained perfectly still. Watching. Waiting.
But Athena couldn't feel anything except the man standing in front of her.
Her heart was racing so hard she thought she might faint.
His eyes never left hers.
And then he took a step closer.
Not touching.
Just closer.
The space between them felt like it was alive.
Her breath grew shallow.
She didn't know why she wasn't afraid.
She should have been terrified.
She had been kidnapped.
Taken from her home.
Brought somewhere impossible.
And yet...
Standing here, looking into his eyes...
She felt something she didn't understand.
Familiarity.
A warmth spreading through her chest that made her dizzy.
Silas inhaled again, slower this time.
His eyes darkened.
Rowan and Kade exchanged a brief glance behind her.
They saw it too.
The shift.
The way their King's entire body had gone rigid.
Like every instinct inside him had just locked onto one thing.
Her.
Silas spoke without looking away from Athena.
"Leave us."
Rowan hesitated. "My King-"
"Now."
They obeyed immediately.
The massive doors shut behind them with a heavy echo that made Athena flinch.
She was alone.
With him.
Her hands trembled at her sides.
"Why am I here?" she asked, her voice barely audible.
Silas studied her face.
Her eyes.
Her scent.
Everything in him was screaming a single word.
Mine.
But he didn't understand why.
"You were brought here for your safety," he said calmly.
"My husband-"
A low sound rumbled in his chest before she could finish.
Not anger.
Something darker.
Possessive.
"Your husband," Silas repeated, like the word tasted wrong.
Athena swallowed.
"Yes."
His jaw tightened.
"He will not be a concern to you here."
A strange warmth spread through her chest at the way he said it.
Like he was promising something without saying it directly.
She shook her head slightly. "I don't understand any of this."
Silas stepped to the side slowly, circling her like he was studying something rare.
Precious.
Her pulse hammered in her ears as she turned to keep him in sight.
"You don't remember anything before you were five years old, do you?" he asked quietly.
She froze.
Her heart skipped.
"How do you know that?"
He stopped in front of her again.
Because he didn't know how he knew.
He just did.
Silas looked down at her like he was seeing something no one else could.
"You are not what you think you are, Athena."
A chill ran through her.
Fear finally creeping in.
"What does that mean?"
His eyes softened for the first time.
Not weakness.
Something deeper.
Recognition.
"It means," he said quietly, "that you were always meant to find your way here."