Chapter 19
That night was the most uncomfortable Cronus and I had ever had. I pretended to be asleep after he finished his shower and came to bed, not flinching as his weight sank down the side of the massive bed and he slipped in under the covers beside me. After everything, I wished he’d slept on the couch, but since I was “asleep” I couldn’t suggest it.
Instead, I continued to mull over why our bond was allowing more and more space to come between us. It scared me. If the bond broke would Cronus even stay around anymore?
“I know you’re awake, human,” he said, his voice a quiet rumble in the air, the crashing waves in the background the only other sound.
“Tired,” I mumbled, wanting to escape this whole fucked-up situation.
Cronus let out a long sigh, and before I could stop him, he rolled over and wrapped me up tightly in his arms. My heart pounded hard and a strangled moan died on my tongue. I opened my mouth to protest, but he shut me up when his lips pressed into mine, his tongue sweeping across mine in a claiming sort of touch before pulling away just as quickly and leaving me breathless.
“Now shut up and go to sleep,” he growled. “We need to rest or we’ll be useless against the sins.”
A strangled snort escaped me. Like I was going to be able to sleep with a giant god wrapped around me like…
* * *
The sunrise wokeme and I looked down to see that now I was the one wrapped around Cronus, his huge body sprawled out underneath me. I’d kicked off the blankets because he ran about ten degrees hotter than a human, and somehow that had been the most restful sleep I’d had in a long time.
Turning my head, my cheek pressed to his chest, I watched the full rise of the sun, the soothing thud of his heartbeat in my ear. Right then, I couldn’t imagine feeling more content. I hated that the sins were out there trying to ruin lives. What if we failed? What if this was the last sunrise I ever saw? Last swim in the ocean? Last kiss?
Turning away, I choked back a small gasp. Cronus was wide awake and he was watching me, his eyes hooded, the blue blazing in the new light. I had no idea how long he’d been watching me while I stared into the sun, but there was softness in his face that wasn’t usually there.
His hand came up and tangled in my long hair. I’d braided most of it last night because it was crazy unruly when left to its own devices, but as always, half the strands had escaped. “Your hair is truly spectacular,” he said, voice husky. “The humans must have been jealous growing up.”
I shrugged, even more captivated by him than I had been by the sunrise. “Not really. My shitty life didn’t exactly make anyone envy me, even for great hair days.”
He nodded like he understood. And maybe he did. After all, his offspring killed his family and then locked him away for a thousand years. No one’s life was perfect apparently. Not even gods’.
“We should go,” he said, and I sprang out of bed.
“Yep, definitely. Just give me a few minutes to shower and get dressed.”
Cronus nodded, sitting up so he was leaned against the wooden bedframe, his chest looking even more bronze than usual. How, I couldn’t tell you, since he hadn’t exactly been out tanning. But apparently he could just get hotter at will.
#Fucker
Dragging my ass off the bed, I rubbed at my chest and was relieved that the necklace felt a little lighter today. Less of that dark feeling and heavy weight seeping into me. My shower was moderately fast—I had to shave and wash my hair since I had no idea how long it would be until I got to do it again. By the time I was done, dressed in my last sets of clean clothing, Cronus had ordered us breakfast.
He had it set out on the table outside, where we could sit and feel like we were basically eating on the sea. “Get started,” he told me, “I’ll freshen up too.”
My stomach growled and I didn’t need to be told twice, diving into the fresh fruit and yogurt, pastries, and eggs. Everything was so tasty that I couldn’t stop once I started. Hopefully Cronus wasn’t too long or I’d eat it all before he got some. The only thing I didn’t touch was the meat.
A splash out in the water drew my attention, and I saw a school of fish and … a few dolphins, maybe. I caught a glimpse of a fin and hoped it wasn’t a shark. I mean, we were safe up here, but other people were out swimming in the early morning. Some right near the splashing.
No one seemed panicked though, so I just enjoyed the show and ate more food.
“I’m not feeding you enough,” Cronus said from the doorway, and I jumped a little. Dude was so fucking quiet.#GetHimABell
Looking down, I felt a little guilty that I’d eaten so much. Not to mention I also felt a little sick now that some of it had a chance to sink in—I’d eaten so damn fast.
“Uh, yeah, sorry about that,” I said, softly dropping the pastry that had been halfway to my lips. “I was stupid hungry, and now I think I’m going to explode.”
Cronus laughed, and he looked carefree. For him. My new life goal was to see him laugh all the time, because I could get used to this view. “You need the food more than me. I can fuel myself in other ways. Never worry about taking too much. It’s all yours.”
Other ways?One day soon we were going to have a very serious conversation about the gods and all the ways they were different to humans.
Cronus sat across from me and picked at the food that remained, finishing it off fairly quickly. Both of us were silent, watching the water and world around us, but unlike last night, the tension was gone. We weren’t “fixed,” by any means, both of us were still clearly running from our feelings, but we were okay.
