Theron caught me, lifting me effortlessly off my feet again before I could escape. Then he walked us to the bed, sitting down with me, positioned on his lap.
“No, he needs to know his place,” he stated, and this time, there was something almost amused in his tone. The tent fell quieter after that, the distant sounds of camp muted. And suddenly the world felt too big again, too heavy. The humor thinning at the edges. I stared at the entrance to the tent for a moment, guilt rising again in a thick wave.
“He’s sad,”I whispered.
“He is angry at himself”, Theron corrected, then sighed. “And he was frightened.”
I turned my head to look at him, squinting.
“Are you ever frightened?” I asked.
His mouth twitched with a smirk.
“No.”
I poked his chest gently. “You should be.”
“Why?” he asked with a raised brow.
“Because I’m trouble, remember?” I informed him with great sincerity.“And I’m in your tent,”I whispered playfully.
That earned me a low chuckle, but it faded quickly as he looked down at me, his gaze shifting to something more human. “You were nearly taken tonight,” he said, his voice soft. “This is no joke.”
My smile slipped and I swallowed hard.
“It was my fault,”I whispered, and the words came out thick, clumsy, but true. His gaze sharpened on me.
“Did you ask to be taken?” he pointed out.
“No,” I muttered, rubbing my nose with my sleeve, thankful it wasn’t wet, or that would have been eww.
“Then it was not your fault.”
“Yes,” I insisted, my eyes stinging again. “I didn’t wake Aster… although I had no idea where his tent was in my defense… of course I knew where your tent was… It's very nice by the way… But I wasn’t about to wake you up, ‘cause that would have gotten me into trouble.”
He huffed. “You are trouble, but despite that, if ever you are in need of me, I will be here for you, little mortal.”
“Aww, that’s nice… but really, I mean, am I that little?” I complained, making him chuckle, and it was such an attractive sound, I think I might have sighed. I know I would have swooned, but I was already sitting on his lap… yey, lucky me. However, it would have been better on Atlas’s lap, because I loved him.
“Tiny,”he teased, patting me on the head, making me fake outrage.
“Oi, you big brute and, anyway, that’s what heels are for.”
He winked at me, making me blush, but then I thought of Atlas doing it, and I got sad again.
“What is it?”
“I didn’t think. I just… I just wanted him…Atlas. ”
The confession hung in the air, and I hated how honest I could be when I was too drugged to guard myself. Theron’s hand lifted, slow, and brushed a strand of hair off my face with careful fingers.
“I know,”he murmured.
I stared at him, then hiccupped a laugh, because the tenderness in that gesture made my chest ache.
“You’re a confusing man,” I told him.
“Um, am I?” he replied dryly.
