Page 41 of Artemis' Bow
“You’re okay. Shh, it was just a dream. We’re okay.” Jayden runs a soothing hand over the back of my head.
“I can’t. They can’t make me choose. I don’t think I can. Why would fate do this to me? What did I do to deserve all this pressure on me?” I ramble into his chest.
Jayden wraps his arms around me, pulling me into his lap. He rocks me back and forth as I silently sob. The worst part is that I can’t remember anything about the dream itself. Just the impressions that it was like the rest.
Hera standing over Jayden with a sadistic smirk as she made me choose him or the world. Does the queen know myweakness? If she does, Jayden isn’t safe anywhere near any of this.
“Maybe you should go to the underworld so you’ll be safe,” I whisper.
“That’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said to me, love.” Jayden’s arms tighten around me. “I go where you go, remember?”
“The queen could use you against me.” I cry harder.
“I’m not that breakable, Beth.” Jayden rubs my back.
He’s right but that doesn’t stop the overwhelming sense of dread and panic that are coursing through me. I won’t survive without Jayden. I can’t. Going to the underworld is the safest for him but he’s as stubborn as I am.
“I would feel better about what I’m expected to do if you were safe.”
“And who’s going to keep you safe?” he growls.
“I can keep myself safe.”
“So, you don’t think I can keep myself safe?” he asks, his voice tinged with annoyance.
“That’s not what I meant. You don’t have to be a part of this. I do. I am the stupid chosen one or whatever. I don’t want any of this, but I don’t have a choice.”
“If you don’t have a choice, then neither do I. Someone has to keep you safe and that someone is me.” He grips my biceps, pushing me back so he can stare into my eyes. “I love you. I. Go. Where. You. Go.”
“Your stubbornness is going to get you killed.” I sigh.
Jayden wraps his hand around the back of my neck and smashes his lips to mine. “I may be a stubborn ass, but I’m your stubborn ass and I’m not hiding out in the underworld like a coward while you run into danger alone.”
“It’s not cowardly to hide when the stakes are this high and you could be used against me.”
“This is my choice to make. And I have already made it. I’m not leaving you behind so just drop it, love. It’s never going to happen.”
“Fine.” I shift in his arms, glancing at the room around us. “Any idea how long we slept?”
“I would say we got a full night’s rest. I feel rested and ready to go find Artemis and get rid of the endless sun.” Jayden stretches his arms over his head.
His muscles bunch deliciously. I turn my gaze away from him before we’re late. It really should be illegal for him to look that good without his shirt on, like a traffic hazard or something.
If I was driving and saw him walking around shirtless, I wouldn’t have to worry about a vengeful goddess. My own distraction would be the end of me as I crashed the car.
Jumping from the bed before I make a poor decision and decide to keep Jayden in my bed and say fuck the world, I head to my dresser and grab the clothes I piled on top of it yesterday to travel in.
“Baby, you better get that sexy ass dressed before I do something about it, like drag you back to this bed,” Jayden says with a groan.
Glad I’m not the only one affected.
“We don’t have time for that, Jayden. I haven’t finished packing.” I snap my bra into place.
“You probably still have your bag half-packed from the last time.” He chuckles.
I pull my leggings up my thighs and turn to the closet. He’s not wrong. I never unpacked my bag from before. It’s an old habit from childhood when my mom would make us leave our house in the middle of the night, running from monsters discovering us.
I pick up my bag and rifle through it, making sure everything we need is in there. The shell we got from the dryad the firstmission for Zeus is in there along with some other things. I stuff a few changes of clothes into it and head to my bathroom.
