Page 100 of Invoking Ruin

“How long have I been asleep?” she asks.

“Two days. The Void took a great deal from you.”

“Two days?” She frowns at me. “Seems longer.”

“Too long.” I pull a lock of her silvered hair, twining it around my fingers. There’s a shocked gasp as she notices it, snatching the lock of hair away.

“The Void…”

“It drained you,” I agree. “Your mother has been bringing you what Tears she has, but that wasn’t much. You’ll recover in time.”

It doesn’t bring her much comfort. She looks utterly wounded. “But for now, I’m weak and pathetic,” she huffs, her head bent as she examines her hair.

“You’re beautiful and free.”

Her head snaps back up, and I give into the urge to kiss her, cupping her cheek as I take her mouth slowly, thoroughly.

She doesn’t put up with this for long, her hand on my chest, pushing me back. I bite back a laugh. Millennia, this goddess has chased me, and now that she has me, she keeps shoving me away.

“What do you mean ‘free’?” Her eyes narrow. “I’m not going to Tartarus?”

“No Tartarus.” I stroke her cheek, and then the bottom of her lip with my thumb. Her lips part, and I resist the urge to press on, to see if she would bite or let me in. “Apollo and Eris have decided you’ll remain banished from Olympus, and continue to live in exile on Gaia.”

Her breath catches, and I pause. When she says nothing, I add, “And Apollo has tasked me with watching over you. Keeping you out of further trouble.”

Her eyes widen. She shifts onto her knees to face me and tangles in the sheets. When she topples over, I catch her, dragging her in against my chest and grinning. “I didn’t take you for the clumsy type.”

“Shut up.” She slaps my chest, but the blow might as well have been from a newborn babe, with the force she’s able to muster. “Is watching over me something you want to do?” Her green eyes bore into me, trying to ascertain the truth from my expression.

“Why do you care? You’re getting your greatest wish: you and me on Gaia with nothing but our own desires to guide us. Now, you’re questioning it?”

The pout on her lips just makes me long to bite them, but I can sense her sincerity, and her conflict.

I tighten my arms around her. “Atê, if you don’t tell me what’s bothering you—”

“You can’t even say it, directly.” She spits, cutting me off.

More than fair. I brush her hair back from her face and run my fingers from her hairline down her jaw. “I want to be with you, Atê. I want the life you spoke of.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m in love with you.” The words come easily, brought to the front of of my mind by the paralyzing fear I’d suffered these past endless days. Now that she’s awake and able to hear me, I don’t want to keep it to myself ever again.

She freezes, her eyes so wide they’re likely to fall out of her face. The expression would be funny under different circumstances.

“You can’t mean that,” she whispers.

“Why not?” I do grin now, unable to help myself.

“Why would you want to be stuck with me?”

Sensing she won’t accept just any answer, I pause, waiting for her eyes to meet mine.

“Because you’re the only one who ever looked at me and saw me. Saw what I wanted and tried—in a completely ridiculous way—to give it to me. Because you know me better than anyone else. Also, you are wild, reckless, and dangerous to literally everyone. I find that irresistible.”

She starts to shake her head, to open her mouth and refute me, but I press on.

“You’re mine, Atê. You did everything in your power to ensure that. Don’t deny it now just because you’re a contrary thing who doesn’t know how to be happy.”

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