Chapter 33

I jerked upright, the remnants of sleep still fogging my mind.

"It's alright, you're safe." Aryx's quiet voice was soothing. A fresh citrus smell wrapped around me as he stepped through bright beams of morning light, pouring through a wall of glass to my left. Sweat drenched the gauzy sheets resting over me. I stroked the clean bandages now wrapped around my arm. My throat was dry and chafed, making it hard to swallow the lump in my throat.

"Where are we?" I asked, peering down at the satin shift draping low over my pale skin.

"We're in Altair's palace, above the city. You've been sleeping for three days now. Try not to move. I don't think your hands are fully recovered yet." He sat on the bed next to me.

"Three days?! What happened to Rah? We have to make preparations." I leaned forward, pausing as a bullet of pain pierced through my skull.

"Easy, easy. Everything's okay. Altair is handling our transport. There are a hundred ships to take us and our armies across the sea. You need to rest and focus on recovery." He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

"I've had three days of rest. We need to end this. Now." I swung my feet to the ground, ignoring the cramp in my right hand.

"Elpis. Please, just take a breath." He stood over me, holding out his hand.

I took it and stumbled to my feet. The muscles in my calves felt brittle, as if they'd shriveled while I slept. I flexed my toes and took a dizzy step.

"We need to alert Procyon. It will take weeks for his men to travel from the Western City. We're running out of time. Every breath wasted is an opportunity for Tethys to get one step ahead," I snapped, leaning against the wall for support.

"Fine, fine. Send the arrow. And Rah's here. He returned to Altair's side when the god appeared after you passed out. That old snake just snapped his fingers and materialized out of thin air. If it's that easy for him, I'm not sure why he sent us on a death mission to retrieve his bird." Aryx scowled, brushing his fingers through his hair.

"And Arcturas? Where is she? I need my wolf."

"Arcturas is outside with Kratos. The two have been inseparable since we've arrived. Altair claims he isn't a savage who lets beasts dine at the dinner table beside him. She's waiting for you, don't worry," he said.

"Fine." I wrapped a loose white robe around my night dress, tying the golden rope tightly across my waist.

Twisting my hair into a low knot at the nape of my neck, I smoothed the sleep from my skin. "Let's go send that arrow."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Aryx asked. He held up a delicate silver chain that held my key.

I swiped it from his hand and quickly fastened it back into place.

"The key to your heart," he sighed, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Say another word and this key very well might unlock some place else.," I hissed, glaring at his perfect ass in those leather pants.

He chuckled and laced his fingers through mine. "You're just a ball of sunshine in the morning."

"Oh, shut it. Let's go. We've wasted enough time already." Before hearing his response, I rushed through the bedchamber door.

Altair's palace was as every bit adorned as the jewels that dripped from his smooth, brown skin. Unlit golden candelabras, mounted in pairs, lined the narrow walls of glass. Woven rugs stretched across gilded tile, reflecting the early coastal sunlight. Peaceful crystalline waves stretched as far as the eye could see in either direction.

I continued down the hallway, stopping only when I realized I had no clue where to go.

"The stairs on your right lead up to the terrace." Aryx pointed to a set of stairs carved from white sediment.

I hobbled breathlessly up the flight, clinging to the golden railing for support. After three days in bed, my muscles groaned and cramped against the movement.

Potted agapanthus and lavender rustled in the gentle breeze. Their sweet, delicate scent, contrasting the sharp salt of the ocean below, wafted through the small terrace. A trellis of wild jasmine hung overhead. Its small, white blooms speckled around each wooden beam. I leaned over the stone railing, breathing deeply as the tropical sun rays warmed my face.

"It's beautiful here, isn't it?" Aryx wrapped his arms around my waist, his body pressed into my back.

"I've experienced nothing like it before," I said, tracing the veins of his hands. "When I was a child, we'd vacation here in the Southern City for a month or two, probably to escape the harsh cold of the North. Building sandcastles and swimming was all I looked forward to for the rest of the year. One of the few memories of my father I have left is sitting on his shoulders as he waded out into the water, pretending we were explorers on a noble quest. But this view, the scent of the air? It truly is breathtaking."

I smiled, feeling the warm caress of the sun across my face.

Brushing the loose strand of hair aside, Aryx kissed my cheek. "Maybe one day we'll make memories here together."

I straightened against him. Until this moment, every minute brought a new mountain to climb- both literally and figuratively. I hadn't thought about the future. The after. There was only now. Something snapped in my throat.

I couldn't do this. I couldn't let myself envision a future with the man who embraced me. As deeply as I cared for him, and as profound an impact he had on my life, my freedom was mine alone. I'd grown to depend on Aryx. That realization terrified me more than anything else I'd faced. I turned to him, swallowing hard. A speckle of lightness bounced from his eyes, content wrinkling at each corner of his mouth. What I had to do was going to hurt.

"Our agreement hasn't changed, Aryx. I'm fighting beside you, but for a different end goal," I said, my voice shaking.

"What?" he said, taking a step back.

"Don't misunderstand. I care about you, maybe a little too much, but I care about my freedom more. My future is mine alone. I'm sorry." I stopped breathing as darkness flooded across his eyes.

"Aryx please. You have to understand," I pleaded, reaching for his hand. He ripped it away from my grasp.

"Trust me, I understand entirely." He turned away. "The bow's over there with a full quiver in case you miss the first shot."

"Where are you going?" I asked, reaching out again for his wrist.

His heartbeat pounded through his veins as he flicked my hand away and started for the stairs.

"A walk," he said in a voice clipped and sinister. He disappeared into the palace.

Sighing, I picked up the bow.

Maybe this had been a mistake. I'd blinded myself with these feelings I didn't quite comprehend.

I knocked an arrow.

Toying with his emotions, had I created a narrative that our lives would intertwine when everything was all over? What did that make me?

I pulled the string.

The lies I'd told him, the lies I told myself, they were just that. Lies.

The arrow whizzed through the air as I released it, stopping short and plummeting to the waves below.

At the end of this all, only one thing mattered: my freedom. My choice to live quietly somewhere far away where no one could find me, where no ghosts of my past lurked in the shadows. Where I could just be.

I knocked another arrow.

My feelings toward the half-god were strong, yes, but were they powerful enough to drown out the life I'd be forced into? The prophecy connected us together. The chains of fate bound me to him. If I stayed, if I built a life with him, it wouldn't be my own. It'd be decided for me. Just as everything else had been in this world.

I let the next arrow fly. Like the first, it arced into the ocean.

Did this make me just as much of a manipulator as he had been? I sighed, lowering the bow. Only one arrow remained. Knocking it, I sucked in a breath, clearing my head. My eyes closed, letting the caress of the sea enwrap me in its hypnotic tendrils. Breathe, Elpis. Think of your life, you and your wolf. Somewhere deep in the forest, somewhere like the clearing. The ocean sounds faded into a staccato of woodland birds. The warmth of the sun transformed into a blazing campfire with meats, fresh from a hunt, roasting on skewers.

That was what I fought for. I had allowed myself a distraction. I lost sight of the future I yearned for. It wouldn't happen again. Even if it meant breaking the heart of the strongest warrior I'd ever known, then so be it. Under no circumstance would I concede to a future controlled by someone else.

When I finally felt ready, I opened my eyes and released.

The arrow spurted through the sky, flying true until vanishing into the westward horizon entirely .