Page 41 of Voices in the Stars
“I thought I just watched you die,” I hissed out instead, “and all you have to say is some bullshit?”
“Like you really care,” she scoffed, pulling away from me as she sat up.
I stood, hands shaking. If I had proven one thing in our time together, I thought it would’ve been that. All I did was care. I chased after her to protect the people of the town. I followed her into the Fae’s home so they didn’t eat her. Just now, I tried to help Ezryn’s crew fight off a dragon before jumping into the water to save her. All I’d done was care about her. I was a fool for ever thinking I would be strong enough to kill her.
“What is wrong with you?” I asked instead, once again, pacing in front of her.
“Excuse me?” she asked, anger tearing through her voice. Good, she should’ve been angry. Because I was pissed. “I risked my life to save everyone,” she continued.
“Exactly,” I snapped, focusing on that rather than how I felt. There was no point in bringing it up when this was how she still viewed me. I kneeled in front of her, forcing her to look at me. “You risked your life without a single thought in that pretty little head of yours.”
“Should I have just sat back and watched everyone around me die?” she argued, straightening to get in my face. My fingers twitched with the need to grab her neck again. Her eyes were so pretty as they widened when I did that last time. “No, you wanted me to hide and pretend nothing happened.”
“Yes,” I growled. “If the choice is between you or someone else, never pick someone else.”
It was foolish that I had to explain this to her. Everyone knew this. It’s why everyone cowered from me. To save themselves. Everyone but her.
“No,” she snapped.
It was quick, but I saw it. Her eyes flickered down to my lips. My hands shook as I sat in front of her, warring with myself to not do what my body was screaming at me to do. As she looked up at me underneath her lashes, I was helpless.
She might’ve been clueless to the power she held, but that didn’t make her weak. At any moment she could turn on me, choosing to join my father in the end. My brain and heart were at war with each other. One knew my concerns were irrational. I’d been the evil asshole this entire time. Cece had done nothing but risk her own life. That alonemade me hesitate. It took me years to get over what happened to Nari. I was only a child when she died. I would’ve been a fool if I didn’t realize that losing someone now would destroy me.
None of that mattered as my arms wrapped around her. I pulled her close, my lips finding hers. My eyes slid shut as her lips met my quick pace. Her hands slid through my hair, and I groaned into the kiss as her hands found the base of my horns. Sparks shot down my spine as her nails scratched along them. Just as I nipped at her bottom lip, she pulled away.
The world spun around me. All I wanted was to taste her again. As I opened my heavy-lidded eyes, emotions flashed across her face. My hands dropped from her back as regret sunk like a pit in my stomach. I shouldn’t have done that. Not when she still thought of me as some uncaring monster. I tried to hide my feelings, but the hurt radiating across her face told me how well that went. It felt like a dagger to my chest.
My mouth opened to explain, but she was already shoving me away. I stayed on the ground as she threw my jacket at me. As she stood, she hissed in pain. My hands shot out as she wobbled. The glare she gave me had me dropping them back to my sides. Her hands shook as she lifted the side of her shirt.
I sucked in a sharp breath at the dark purple bruising that went from her hip up to her chest. There was a raised, jagged line running through the center of the bruising. How the dragon didn’t slice through her, I had no idea. I thanked the gods for saving her, though.
“You got incredibly lucky,” I voiced, words thick in my throat before I stood, grabbing my jacket and the gold dagger she had used to stab the dragon while she was focused on the wound down her side.
“I know,” she mumbled, slowly lowering her shirt.
I didn’t know what to say. We had about a day’s walk until we reached the closest town. The way she hobbled around the little clearing made my heart clench. I’d offer to carry her if I didn’t think that would get me stabbed worse than the dragon. No. I needed to accept she wanted nothing to do with me. She thought I kidnapped her. There was no way I couldfix any of this.
“C’mon,” I said instead, turning toward where we needed to go next. “We have a ways to walk now. Since someone jumped off our fastest means of travel.”
When I wasn’t fearingfor my life, this world was beautiful. I’d accepted the fact that this was where I was stuck, and that the man next to me was, most likely, no longer going to kill me. I might as well have made the most out of being here, then. Flowers of every color poked out of the ground around us. The trees were more spread out than the others we walked through, causing plants of all sizes to grow around us. There were leaves the size of me dangling from vines that wound up the tall trees. Silver light from the now rising moon illuminated Atlas as he walked in front of me.
I chewed on the inside of my cheek as I followed him, thoughts raging inside me. Every fiber of my being wanted to bring up the kiss. Why he would do something like that. How I wanted him to do it again. My brows furrowed at that thought. Just a few days prior, these thoughts would have disgusted me. I was in danger of falling into a pit I always wanted to avoid. Caring for Atlas meant being okay with everything he’d done. With the way he treated me when we first met. I wanted to be disappointed in myself, but I failed every time. There was something going on that I didn’t know about, secrets that Atlas knew. The guilt that tainted his face when I asked to go home haunted me.
There was no sign of it now, though. His shoulders were no longer tense. His face would occasionally smooth out of the scowl as he glanced back to make sure I was still following. Our pace went from rushing to our destination to a casual stroll. It was more than that, though; it was like he was trying to stop us from getting there. There was no other wayI could think of it. There was a heavy weight between the two of us, like the world was waiting for something bad to happen, and I was letting him lead me right to it.
Atlas slowed even more until he was walking next to me.
“Fera are some of the simpler creatures that live here,” he said, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“What?” I asked before I fully took in his words.
Atlas smirked down at me. “Forgot your own curiosities already?”
I rolled my eyes, fighting the smile that tugged at my lips. “No, just wasn’t expecting you to feel so chatty.”
“I’m trying my hand at the whole being nice thing.” He gestured with his hands into the air.
I snorted a laugh at him. He acted like it was some absurd concept that he’d never used before. Then again, with the comments he’d made about always putting myself first, this really might’ve been the first time he had.
