Cyane didn’t have that. She had no family. She could die today and no one would attend her funeral. She’d had friends, but they’d all come and gone, as temporary as a breeze. Nobody had latched to her like family.
Sometimes, she imagined she was a puddle lying on uneven asphalt, and once the sun came out, she’d evaporate. There were no ponds, streams, lakes, or oceans to protect her from the world, to fall into and become apart of. No, she was alone.
She glanced at the lone chair.
“Thank you,” she said eventually. “For the gift.”
It wasn’t actually hers. It wasn’t actually like she needed nor wanted it. At least that’s what she told herself. The room she wished for was always in a home in her head, a real home. This place wasn’t home.
She hoped she wouldn’t be here long enough to call it hers.
Ours.She blushed.
“You’re welcome,” he said.
He strode to her, stopping short of touching her. Cyane’s instinct told her to back away, to put space between them, but she stood her ground. This was different, he wasn’t coming at her with ferocity. Instead, he towered over her. She strained her neck to look up at him.
The only noise in the room was her thundering heart.Please don’t hear it.
“You don’t need to watch me anymore,” she said a little breathlessly. “I won’t run.”
Cerberus tilted his head and reached up between them. His fingers caught a tangled strand of her hair. The light tug was enough to make her skin prickle with goosebumps.
“You swore an oath yesterday, bound yourself in the greatest way. Why?”
“It’s not hard to swear an oath if it’s true.”
“Would you have done it if I hadn’t asked?”
Her brow furrowed. “I’m not sure.”
“Kneel for me.”
The order came as a surprise. “What?” she asked.
He released her hair. “Kneel.”
“W-why?”
“Because I ask for it.”
Cyane fumbled, nearly tripping on the blanket when she realized what he was asking of her. This wasn’t about proving to him that she wasn’t there under false pretext, that she was innocent in any transgressions she might have made—her soul was on the line, was it not? No, this was something else.
But to kneel before him, after all that had happened, after what she was up against?
“Kneel,” he ordered again.
The demand settled and took root inside her. It sprouted and grew, overtaking any fight she might have had.
It felt right.
So right that she wanted to scream and cry for all the women and men who’d fought against this. Those who fought for power themselves, so they could make the choice to subjugate or not.
Cyane unclenched her fingers and let the blanket go. It fell to her feet where it vanished into the floor.
This was about Cerberus and her. No one else. If only she could see his face...
She let her arms drop as she lowered to the ground slowly, her gaze following the sharp outlines of his armor. She settled on her knees. She bowed her head.
