Chapter 29
Elysia found it suspicious that she had made it through the night with no one knocking on her door or barging in and demanding to know everything.
She laboriously changed into a loose pair of cozy black pants and a soft oversized sweater.
Maybe they had already watched everything on the grid, but somehow, she doubted this considering neither Grim nor any of his reapers had responded to her call.
Something had gone wrong, she just didn’t know what.
Her ankle was multicolored and bulbous, and the bruising continued up her shin and calf, marking out the ugly map of her pain.
She poked at it with a wince. Seeing Maya was the first thing on her agenda today.
She’d arrived in a state of exhaustion so deep that she hadn’t even stripped off her river-drenched clothes before collapsing into the armchair and passing out.
Unfortunately, bathing was still out of the question—it was a small miracle she’d managed to change her clothing now, hopping around like a strange one-legged bird.
Tediously, Elysia hobbled through the house, following the sound of the daily breakfast din and clamor to the dining room.
The table was full with Aidan at the head when she entered.
Mouth tight and with bluish-purple under eyes, he snapped out the paper he was reading a little too aggressively, tearing it down the middle. Okay, then.
Grim sat two chairs down sporting an obvious black eye while he ate a hearty bowl of porridge in pointed silence.
His volt, the official name for Grim’s flock of reapers, picked nervously at their food, afraid to converse with one another.
Releasing the doorframe, she unceremoniously hopped into the room, making a beeline for the closest chair.
One of the reapers quickly kicked out Elysia’s seat, so she could grab onto the tall wooden post and slump down into the heavily embroidered seat.
She shot the woman a smile of relief. “Thanks.”
Grim looked even more miserable as he took in her appearance while Aidan unconsciously bent the metal spoon in his hand.
“Seems like a rough morning?” She tentatively dropped the question.
Aidan’s glare turned arctic. “You left a note. Again.”
Grim stared studiously at his porridge. He was obviously going to be no help.
It made her wish Maya was here, both for her broken bones and a little support.
Elysia paused, trying to think of an answer that would calm His Deadliness’s rankled feathers.
Somehow, she doubted explaining Beatriz’s tried and true advice that it was easier to ask for forgiveness than permission would be well received or that the idea of permission was gross.
She shifted her weight uselessly, the chair creaking beneath her as the pain distracted her.
It was up to her knee now, her foot turning strangely cold.
“You asked for me to communicate… And a note is communication.” Not her best work, but she was injured.
Maybe he would take pity. There was a coffee carafe just out of her reach, and she was itching to grab it.
She stretched, but none of the reapers helped her now, all of them either fixed on their breakfast or just flat out refusing to make eye contact.
Bet they regretted coming in here today.
Aidan flicked his hand, and the carafe shoved forward roughly to where she could grab it. Her mouth quirked up. That was a neat trick.
“Thanks.” Even as she poured out the coffee and added cream and sugar, she could feel the steady beat of Aidan’s stare.
Once she’d taken a good long pull, she set the weighty mug down, and sighed. “I’m sorry, okay? You’re so anxious all the time. I thought you would freak out and try to convince me not to go even though the fates are the ones who directed me to do it.”
Aidan dropped the mangled spoon as his pale cheeks colored.
“I am appropriately anxious,” he replied curtly, the angles of his face harshening as he looked away from her.
Her shoulders dropped. Amazing. She’d managed to make him feel bad for his singular neurosis when she was made of them. Taking another sip of coffee, she tried again, making her voice gentler.
“Really, Aidan, I’m sorry that I worried you. It looks like you were up all night.” Her heart softened as she said it—when was the last time someone had worried after her? Gage did, but for some reason, coming from Aidan the sentiment was different.
His profile thawed, and he turned back to her, his blue eyes still intense.
“A note may be communication, but you used it to avoid me because you knew I would fairly push back against the reckless haphazardness of your plan. The nearest body of water was over a mile from the temple, and you forgot you could travel to it! Did you think that made sense for an exit plan?”
“I thought I’d be able to go to the Bone Temple. How was I supposed to know they’d have someone who could block traveling?” Worked up, she leaned forward, putting a little too much weight onto her injury. Inadvertently, she let out a small pained sound, her hands reflexively reaching for her ankle.
Aidan’s eyes flared wide as he shoved away from the table in concern.
Straightening from his half-bent posture, his face went through a slew of emotions until there was only apology in his tone.
“Maya conveniently disappeared last night, after…an unfortunate interaction of mine with Grim, and I don’t know when she’ll be returning.
” He hesitated. “But I would be happy to ease your pain if you’d like.
These conversations can wait until you’re healed. ”
She looked over at Grim’s black eye, the reddish tones of the bruise making a half-moon on his brown skin.
“Aidan,” she chastised. “I asked him for help. If anything, you should thank him. It’s not his fault that the enormous bear-wearing god did something to prevent him from helping.”
Grim grunted, waving her off. “I let my best friend’s,” he paused, rolling his eyes, “platonic co-ruler almost get herself killed. At the very least, I should have been there for you, and I wasn’t. I didn’t account for Oren being a cantankerous, dramatic old bitch.”
Aidan wasn’t remorseful. “It was a punch. It was deserved. And we’re nearly unbreakable immortals. He’s fine. You, however, are not.”
He sat back down with his face pinched, and it was all Elysia could do not to laugh. People thought she could be prim, but Aidan’s tense rigidity when stressed was almost comical.
“I can wait for Maya to get back.”
Aidan undid the top button of his shirt as if he needed the room to breathe, his voice turning blunt. “Don’t be childish. You’re clearly in pain, and will need assistance with a bath. There’s sand and ash all over you, and you smell like a sweaty river.”
“Way to not sugarcoat it,” she muttered as she tenderly adjusted her leg, the mottled blackish-purple tones whitening then flushing with color as she moved.
She flicked her eyes back up, her voice hardening in challenge.
“And over my dead body am I allowing you to bathe me, so I guess you’re just going to have to deal with my stench. ”
Grim rattled the table in his haste to stand. Cutting his hand through the air to the door like a traffic director, he growled at his reapers. “Time to go.”
Relieved, the reapers mirrored his haste and practically flew out of their chairs, knocking against each other as they filed out of the dining room. Which left her alone with a wildly displeased god who looked like he would be more than glad to pick up the challenge she had laid down.
Room empty, Aidan’s voice became painfully low and controlled. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be chained here, unable to do a godsdamn thing while the woman I’ve waited lifetimes for rushes headfirst into certain mortal death?”
Elysia stirred her coffee, avoiding his gaze. It had been shitty to leave a note instead of talking to him. It had also been shitty to include Grim and Maya in her plans, but not him.
Anxiety closed her throat, refusing to allow any words out.
The space between the words in her head and them exiting her mouth was insurmountable.
Her chest squeezed like an old rag being wrung out to dry as she tried to force them out.
Her frustration mounted at her inability to extricate a simple apology, but the harder she tried, the further away the words slinked.
Aidan’s sharp, observant gaze tracked her struggle, and with a sigh, he slumped into his chair. “This is hard for you.”
Her frustration spiked even higher. He shouldn’t have to always bend for her.
She was grown, and yet when faced with emotional matters, she had no better skills than a child.
Until now, she hadn’t needed them. She knew how to hide her feelings, not express them, and she’d never had to learn to partner with anyone.
She had been a one-woman show her entire life.
He poured himself a cup of coffee, adding cream, but not sugar.
“You never drink coffee,” she said quietly.
“Tea didn’t feel strong enough today.”
“You were up all night.”
“I was.”
Guilt fell heavily, finally stirring the words on her tongue. “I knew going to Grim and Maya for help but not you was low, but I was afraid you’d say no, and then I’d have to blatantly go against you. Doing it this way… It was easier.”
Aidan gave a barely there nod, his gaze hard, but said nothing.
Gods. He was going to make her say it. She pulled at the cloth napkin in her lap. “I’m sorry, okay? It was shitty.”
He loosed a sigh. “And so was that apology.”
Her head shot up. “I’m trying!”
His hands hit the table. “Then try harder.”
“I don’t know how! I’ve never apologized!” The words burst from her mouth in a sudden yell.
Aidan’s lips curled in satisfaction as he rested his elbows on the table, perfectly calm in the face of her storm. “It’s just a muscle, Thorn. I’m not particularly natural at it myself, but I’ve had practice. Now try again.”