The late afternoon sun was already out by the time we finished eating and the restaurant had emptied out quite a bit.
Not that I had noticed any other people around us, I had been too caught up in watching Theo talk and smile and just being himself.
He was always breathtaking, but seeing him so carefree and relaxed was another level of happiness.
“There is one last thing we need to eat,” I said with a sheepish grin and gestured to the waiter.
“Could we maybe get two Zerquins and a spoon?”
The waiter looked surprised, but nodded anyway. Theo was laughing hard when the waiter returned with a small tray and two Zerquins already cut up, smelling heavenly.
“Someone told me once that this was your favorite food.”
Theo grinned at me and nodded, taking one of the Zerquins in his hand.
“I haven’t eaten one of those in centuries,” he admitted while lifting his Zerquin in the air, and we toasted each other with the fruits.
It was just as delicious as I remembered, and we were both laughing from the sensation in our mouth and the sour tasteit left on our lips.
Our conversation slowed down, and we both sat there in amicable silence, watching the people on the street walk by, enjoying the last rays of sunshine for today.
“Thank you for spending the day with me, Mae,” he said softly, and as I looked up into his face there was the essence again, swirling purple behind his eyes.
I gulped and put my hand out on the table. He placed his hand right beside me, so that our little fingers almost touched.
Almost.
Chapter 27
We walked back to the Celestium in silence, both very aware of what the day still had in store for us. It had been easy to forget why we were here when we had been walking around the city today, but now I was reminded that we were not here for pleasure, but because a war was coming. This was one of the last normal days we would experience for a while and the weight of that knowledge hung heavy across our heads.
When the Celestium came into sight, I sighed.
“It’s probably best if we don’t walk in together, or the Abbot might throw a fit.”
Theo nodded and we just stood there, looking at each other as if neither of us wanted to be the first to say goodbye. Theo lifted his hand and reached down to my face. He stopped just stretches away from it and I thought he was going to draw back again. But he steadied his hand and lifted it to the side of my face, where a strand of hair had been pulled free and hung loosely down across my cheek. When his fingertips brushed the side of my face and he tucked the strand back behind my ear, I felt everything at once in this one touch.
Like liquid sunlight on my skin, warm and soft and a little ticklish. He didn’t pull his hand back rightaway but stayed where he was for a few seconds longer than necessary, searching my face for something that I wasn’t sure he was going to find. As he pulled his hand back, tears were stinging behind my eyes, threatening to roll down my cheeks there and then, in the middle of the street under the lanterns that had come on earlier.
I gave him a weak smile and turned around, hiding my face from him as I walked back to the Celestium without another word. Because nothing I could have said in that moment would change a thing. He was a God and he had a prophecy to fulfill.
I quickly walked up to my room, trying not to break down and cry. Only when I had reached my room did I let go of all the emotions that had been building up inside me.
All the pent-up anger, the confusion, happiness, and uncertainty mixed together in one big ball of emotion, spilling out through my eyes and down my cheeks. I didn’t know how long I cried, but I felt exhausted from it. I prepared a bath and tried to calm down my breathing. I had to have all my wits about me tonight for the conclave, the fate of the mortal realm depended on it.
I couldn’t allow my personal feelings to get in the way of fulfilling the prophecy and ruining my chance to ever see Theo free to live his life the way he wanted to.
Even if that meant never seeing him again, because the fact remained that I was just a mortal girl, wordsmith or not. I had no place here in Aerethia. Pushing those thoughts away, I relaxed into the tub and buried my head under the water. I just wished I could stay there and never come back up again.
* **
10 years ago
The door to my room was nearly kicked open when Larna stormed into the room.
“Maelis, get up. Get up, quick now,” she shouted.
I sleepily opened my eyes.
