Who was to say that even if Nikias finally caved and married someone of his parents’ choosing that Gavril and Marcella would even want to return?
So Aimilia returned to that bench beneath the tree and watched as the sun began to set, slowly painting the sky a brilliant orange and red, almost as vibrant as her cloak, behind the mountains.
That was how Nikias found her, the sun continuing to sink casting everything in its golden glow.
She saw him walking up out of the corner of her eye. She stayed perfectly still, like not moving meant he couldn’t see her and would eventually leave without a word despite the fact that she’d been looking out her window every night for him.
Instead, he just wordlessly took a seat beside her and followed her gaze out to the sun setting behind the mountains.
What was he after now?
He—
“I haven’t even spoken and your guard is already up.” Nikias laughed. “Can’t a man enjoy a sunset without it being some kind of attack?”
Aimilia scoffed, keeping her gaze straight ahead. “You’re not that man.”
Nikias’ eyes didn’t leave her, just slowly tracing over her face as his voice’s soft edge pierced her like a dagger. “What if I want to be?”
“Want it all you like, but whether your nature will ever change to match it is the real question.”
If Aimilia was being honest, she didn’t know what Nikias’ nature was anymore. She didn’t know what it ever truly had been. How did she reconcile what she knew now with what she’d always known?
His past didn’t erase his actions, nor did his current actions erase his past. If it was all true…
“Precisely.” Nikias didn’t even bother looking back at the sunset. He openly stared at her, a light in his eyes she didn’t really comprehend. “So what are you doing out here then?”
“I was thinking.” She looked at him out of one eye. “Now I’m having my solitude disturbed.”
She’d never admit to him the only reason she was annoyed was because of the fact that he’d successfully answered her silent summons. She wanted him there, but she didn’twantto want him there.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Why did she want him there?
“Not really.”
Nikias shifted, his cloak brushing her arm as he rested his hand on the stone, so close to touching her, but not quite. “Because you don’t want to talk about it or because you don’t want to talk about it with me?”
She glanced down at his fingertips, unable to stop herself before she looked back out at the sun.
“I don’t have anyone else I can talk about it with.”
Perfunctory, but no less painful for the confession to leave her lips.
Nikias watched her in the peaceful silence.
She blew out a long breath and turned to face him. She couldn’t believe she was doing this, but she couldn’t even confide in Gavril or Marcella because she couldn’t get a hold of them for more than two seconds.
And Nikias was there.
More than that.
For some insane reason he had looked at her and decided she was worth the humiliation of rejection—even more, she was worth whatever agony his parents’ could inflict on him.
No one had ever looked at her like that before.
“I’m lonely. Is that what you want to hear?”
