Chapter 37 - Show Me
Athena didn't remember leaving her room.
One moment she was staring at the mirror.
The next, she was walking the halls with purpose she didn't recognize in herself.
Her heart wasn't racing from fear.
It was steady.
Determined.
She found him in the main corridor without asking where he was.
Silas turned the moment she approached, like he had felt her coming.
Her voice didn't shake.
"Show me."
He studied her face carefully.
"You are certain?"
She nodded once.
"I'm done being told things. I need to see."
Silas held her gaze for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
"Come with me."
He led her through a quiet part of the fortress she hadn't seen yet. A narrow passage carved deeper into the mountain, away from the main halls, away from other people.
The air here felt different.
Heavier.
Still.
They stepped into a wide, empty stone chamber lit only by a single torch.
Silas stopped in the center of it and turned to face her.
Athena's hands trembled slightly at her sides.
"What are you going to do?"
"Something you will not be able to explain away," he said calmly.
Her breath caught.
Silas closed his eyes.
Athena watched as his posture changed first.
Subtle.
His shoulders broadened slightly.
His breathing deepened.
When his eyes opened again-
They were no longer blue.
They were silver.
Bright. Reflective. Inhuman.
Athena took a step back.
Her heart slammed against her ribs.
His fingers flexed at his sides, and she saw it.
His nails lengthened into sharp, dark claws.
Not slowly.
Not painfully.
Naturally.
Like they belonged there.
A low, rumbling sound vibrated in his chest.
Not a growl.
Something deeper.
More primal.
Athena couldn't move.
Her mind screamed that this wasn't possible.
But her body...
Her body felt like it recognized what it was seeing.
Silas took one slow step toward her.
Not threatening.
Grounded.
"You see," he said quietly, his voice deeper now.
Her lips trembled.
"You're not human either..." she whispered.
He shook his head once.
"No."