Aimilia dumped the blankets on the ground. He looked her over as she ran her hand across her leg, but there were no obvious burns and she didn’t seem to be injured.
Nikias’ hands were shaking. He didn’t know what to do now. What did she want from him?
“Nikias, I?—”
Nikias moved back to her, sitting on the edge of the cot. “Aimilia, please, don’t toy with me.”
“I’m not. I just… I can’t promise you anything.” But he could hear what she wasn’t saying. “And right now, getting through this tournament is the most important thing. I can’t… You have to let me get through this before anything else.”
“Will going through this give you the answers you’re looking for?”
“Will going on this mission give you what you’re looking for?”
His own fateful question echoed in his head, no matter how hard he tried to bury the memory.
Aimilia took a deep breath, her voice weak and watery. “I think so.”
Faustina’s response echoed next.“Yes.”
But this was not the past. Aimilia wasn’t Faustina.
Without another word, Nikias reached into his pocket and pulled out the engagement necklace with his name etched onto it.
Aimilia let out a soft gasp. “Have you had them all this time?”
Nikias took her hand and turned it palm up, placing the necklace with his name on it into her hand as he caught her gaze. “I have carried them with me every day since I made them. But… I’m not going to ask you to marry me again.”
Her eyes doubled in size. “You’re not?”
Nikias closed her fist around them, squeezing her hand. “No. You know I’ll be yours the second you so desire it. For whenever you find the answers you’re looking for, if you choose me, wear it and I’ll know your answer.”
Aimilia whispered, “And what if I never do? How long will you wait before you finally find another wife?”
“I’ll wait for the rest of our lives, Aimilia. If I don’t marry you, I’m not marrying anyone. I don’t want just a queen or a mother to my children. I want you. I—” The words caught in his throat. Her own voice echoed in his ears from his nightmare.
His scar burned and the memory of Hypatia’s vision threatened to overwhelm him.
And before he could try to overpower the clawing agony of saying those words and never hearing them in return, Aimilia held the necklace to her chest. “I… I understand, Nikias.”
Nikias shifted back, nodding and swallowing the words once more.
He didn’t have any idea what else he was supposed to do. It wasn’t a rejection, and somehow that was worse.
He turned on his heel and hurried to the door, just barely hearing a soft “Thank you” as it shut behind him.
Chapter 52
AIMILIA
Aimilia needed distance, but she wanted Nikias. At least, the person Nikias seemed to be in front of her.
It had taken all her willpower to turn her head.
Everything was such a mess.
She turned the necklace over in her hand.
Setting aside Hypatia’s premonitions and the possibility Nikias was playing her again, where did that leave her?
