And suddenly, I didn’t know who to be angry at.
Zagreus told me. With that flat, cruel honesty only he possessed. She left me. She chose to vanish. And he was right. A person forgets the one who loved them in order to protect what they loved most.
She had forgotten me.
I tried to speak, but the words crumbled before they left my tongue. I seriously didn’t know where to start. Didn’t know how to ask the questions that had festered in my chest for years. Didn’t even know if I wanted the answers.
Was I so easy to abandon?
Was I so unlovable?
The heat of his palm was burning through the silk now, steadying me and grounding me in the most terrifying way. I could feel the tension in my spine begging to snap. I couldn’t even cry. The tears were struck behind some dam I’d built long ago, some inner wall that kept me from breaking completely in front of him.
But my heart was screaming.
It wanted answers.
It wanted her.
And somewhere, it was him too. Or maybe just the dark promise that came with him. The certainty that whatever nightmare came next, he’d be in it.
Maybe that’s what scared me most of all.
I was so engrossed in my own world that I didn’t notice the lights from streetlamps had turned into the full-blown city ones. The car began to slow as we entered the city area.
Lights flickered past the windows in dizzying streaks, neon signs, the flashes of traffic signals, and the occasional glow of the pedestrian’s phone. Civilisation. The closest I’d been to human life in… I didn’t know how many days. Maybe weeks. Maybe a lifetime.
And I was panicking.
My breath hitched, and my chest tightened. It started in the pit of my stomach, the nauseating pressure crawling up my spine. I wasn’t used to this anymore. I had forgotten the noise, the motion, the scent of fuel and concrete and life.
I had almost forgotten I was a painter.
An artist.
I used to love the chaos of crowds, the richness of movement, and the silent stories I’d capture in brushstrokes. But now? Now every shadow was unfamiliar. The city wasn’t familiar anymore. It was a monster with too many eyes and no mercy.
The car rolled to a slow stop, and before I could process it, the doors opened, the chauffeurs in crisp white uniforms, holding umbrellas, speaking rapid Italian.
And then the flashes. So many flashes, I almost went blind.
Camera shutters burst like flames, so bright and blinding white, exploding my vision. I staggered back instinctively, eyes wide, lips parting on a silent gasp. It was all too much. Too fast for my brain to register. The world tilted on its axis, voices blurred, and I didn’t recognised being shouted at.
I couldn’t breathe.
A sharp ringing started in my ears. My heart thudded, slamming against my ribcage like it wanted out. My throat closed, and the edges of my vision started to dim. My lungs refused to fill.
Oh God, please, please, please,please…I can’t do this. I can’t breathe. I can’t live. I can’t… see.
When I thought I’d faint and fall, a strong hand wrapped around my waist with brutal certainty, yanking me into the solid heat of his chest. I collided with him, hands splaying across his suit, all silk and muscle and something darker underneath. Zagreus didn’t say a word.
But his touch devoured the chaos and the panic.
He leaned down, his nose grazing the shell of my ear, and his warm breath danced as he inhaled deeply like he needed it. His palm at my waist slid lower, curving around my hip, pulling me tighter until not even air dared to exist between us. His other hand ghosted over my nape, fingers tangling in the loose strands at the base of my neck. Anchoring me to him.
And gods, it worked.
The panic didn’t vanish, but it shifted; it became something molten, something more wicked that curled in my belly. I felt his mouth brush the side of my throat, and my hands trembled across his chest.
