Page 65 of Beg the Night

I ignored her again for a few seconds, but she wouldn’t let it go.

“It has to be more entertaining than laying here and staring at the ceiling. Please?”

“It’s about people doing things.” I flipped a page for emphasis.

She flopped back. That was fine with me. As long as she quit pushing. “You really are an asshole, you know that?”

“Trust me, I’m aware.”

I scanned each line, wishing, not for the first time, that I knew what the story was about. I imagined it was a historic record. An account of a time before the Ministry corrupted the world, ruining everything it touched. It could have been a book about peace. A book about love. It could have been about any number of things.

Maybe I would’ve told Athena what the book was about if I could have actually read it. But, then again, maybe not.

Getting close to her would only make things harder when we went our separate ways after the claiming. My powers were already seething over the thought of it, pulling at my skin with the shadows that pulsed in my veins.

But she would never be safe with me. She would never be happy if she were chained to me.

It was better for both of us if she stayed far, far away.

A soft whimper woke me,and instantly, I was ready to fight, ready to kill if I had to.

But there was no imminent threat looming over my head. The dungeon was dark, and all its occupants were still asleep.

Including the woman writhing on her cot beside me, her head slicked with sweat. Her eyebrows were drawn together, and she mumbled words that sounded likeit wasn’t me.

“Athena,” I whispered.

She didn’t respond, only continued whimpering.

“Hey, wake up.” I considered tossing my book onto her cot. Surely that would wake her up. But a pull in my torso urged me to go to her, to do more than simply wake her. It was the stupid claiming causing my power to want to comfort her.

Through the connection we’d established, I could feel her. Though this wasn’t like before. This time, the desperation coursing through her was palpable. I could feel a chaos, a dark, looming energy that might have frightened me if I hadn’t felt that exact darkness every day of my life.

So I did the exact opposite of staying away from her.

Silently, I pushed myself off my bed and made my way to hers. She was curled on her side, close to falling off the edge, leaving plenty of room for me to slip in behind her.

She was oblivious to my presence at first, still jerking against visions I couldn’t see. But when I wrapped an arm around her torso and pulled her body to mine, whispering her name, she stilled. She wasn’t fully awake, but the move distanced her from the nightmare. “Athena,” I repeated. “It’s just a dream.”

Her heart thundered as she slowly made her way to consciousness.

“Sinner,” she breathed.

“Sleep. I’m right here.”

It was stupid. It was fucking idiotic. A girl like her didn’t need the likes of me anywhere near her, but it put my power at ease to think that she was safe.

Almost instantly, she relaxed against me. The summoning feeling of the darkness that slept inside of her started to fade. I kept my arm wrapped tightly around her, my hand splayed across her stomach.Sleep.

She didn’t speak again. Didn’t ask any stupid questions. Didn’t respond with a quick remark or give me shit about crawling into her bed.

She just adjusted her body against me until she was comfortable.

And for what felt like the first time in a long, long time, I slept soundly.

TWENTY

athena

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