Chapter 22 - What He Doesn't Say
Athena didn't realize she had stopped walking until she was only a few steps from him.
Silas hadn't moved.
He stood in the center of the courtyard like he had been carved from the stone itself. Still. Patient. Watching her with that same unreadable intensity that made her chest feel too tight.
"You knew I would come out here," she said softly.
It wasn't a question.
"Yes," he replied.
Her breath caught.
"How?"
Silas didn't answer immediately. His eyes moved over her face slowly, carefully, like he was searching for something.
"Because you are beginning to feel it," he said.
"Feel what?"
He stepped closer.
Not threatening.
Not forceful.
Just... closer.
"The part of you that has been quiet for a very long time."
A chill ran through her.
She swallowed. "I don't understand anything you're saying."
"I know."
She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly aware of how exposed she felt standing in front of him.
"My eyes," she said. "They looked different this morning."
Silas's jaw tightened slightly.
"What did you see?"
"Gold."
He exhaled slowly through his nose.
Like that confirmed something he had already suspected.
Athena's heart began to race again.
"What is happening to me?"
Silas took another step forward.
Close enough that she could feel his warmth.
Close enough that her breathing changed without her permission.
"You are not sick," he said calmly. "You are not losing your mind. And you are not in danger here."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"No," he agreed. "It doesn't."
She stared at him.
"Then answer it."
Silas held her gaze for a long moment.
Measuring.
Choosing.
"There are things about you that were hidden from you when you were very young," he said carefully. "Things that are beginning to wake up now that you are here."
Her chest tightened.
"Hidden how?"
"By magic."
The word made her flinch.
"That's not funny."
"I'm not joking."
Silence fell between them.
The wind moved gently through the courtyard.
Athena shook her head. "Magic isn't real."
Silas didn't argue.
He just watched her with a look that said he knew something she didn't.
"Your husband comes from a family that practices it," he said.
Her heart stopped.
"What?"
"He knows."
The words hit her like a physical blow.
"No. James wouldn't-"
"He would," Silas said quietly. "And he did."
Her mind spun.
She took a step back.
"You're lying."
"I don't need to lie to you."
Her breathing grew uneven.
"He said they were just old traditions. Old family stuff."
Silas's expression darkened slightly.
"Yes. That is what they call it."
Athena pressed her hand to her chest again.
Her pulse was racing.
Her thoughts tangling together.
"Why am I here?" she asked.
Silas stepped closer again, his voice lowering.
"Because this is where you were always meant to be."