Chapter 34 - What It Means
They stayed like that for several seconds.
Foreheads pressed together.
Breathing uneven.
The air between them thick with everything that had just happened.
Athena's mind felt foggy. Overwhelmed. Her lips still tingled from the kiss, her chest rising too fast as she tried to catch her breath.
She had never been kissed like that before.
Not by James.
Not by anyone.
This had felt... different.
Deeper.
Like something inside her had been reached, not just touched.
Silas was the first to move.
Slowly.
Reluctantly.
He stepped back.
His hand slipped from her waist, but his eyes never left her face.
She felt the distance immediately.
And hated it.
"Why did you stop?" she asked softly.
His jaw tightened.
"Because if I didn't, we wouldn't."
The honesty in his voice made her swallow hard.
She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to steady the whirlwind inside her.
"I don't understand what's happening to me," she admitted.
Silas studied her carefully.
And for the first time since she had arrived here, he looked... conflicted.
"You deserve to understand what this is before we let it take us further," he said quietly.
Her brows pulled together.
"What is this?"
He exhaled slowly, like the answer weighed more than he wanted it to.
"This is not just attraction," he said.
Athena's heart pounded in her ears.
"Then what is it?"
Silas stepped back another pace, putting space between them that felt far too large.
"It is something older than either of us."
Her chest tightened.
"Stop talking like that," she whispered. "Just tell me."
He looked at her for a long moment.
Like he was standing on the edge of a decision he had been avoiding.
Athena's voice softened.
"Please."
Silas's expression shifted.
Something resolved behind his eyes.
And Athena knew, before he even spoke, that whatever he was about to say...
Was going to change everything.
"Then tell me," she said.