Hecate sucked in a sharp breath at the feeling of his arm at her waist. She found herself fighting the sudden impulse to draw her body close to his, to surrender to that grip and feel his warmth flush against her. Aeëtes froze as soon as he heard her gasp, wondering if he had done something wrong. He didn’t let go of Hecate, his eyes scanning hers for a sign of discomfort. When Hecate met his gaze, she found herself flushing, his eyes full of warmth and concern. He was so attuned to her, that every noise or movement she made, he followed.
They stood there for a moment, nearly paralyzed with the tension between them, until Pelias coughed twice. He had settled himself down on a bench, fiddling with the oars to make some noise to break the trance. Hecate shook her head and stood up taller, stepping away from Aeëtes and adjusting herself before sitting down.
“Excuse me,” she offered lamely, “I just don’t have my sea legs, is all.”
Aeëtes nodded once, his body tense as he looked anywhere but at Hecate.
“It happens to all of us.” His voice was soft for a moment until a mischievous smirk lit up his face. “Except for me, of course—agh!”
He toppled over as Pelias dropped the oars in the water, surging them forward. The momentum caused him to fall, and Hecate let out a loud giggle before clamping her hand down over her mouth. Pelias began roaring with laughter as he watched Aeëtes sit up from the bottom of the boat and take a seat.
“Except for you!” Pelias could barely speak, “Hecate, you should know, the first time that I was ever on a ship with this man…”
“Don’t you dare!” Aeëtes pointed at Pelias. “Or I will tell everyone what happened that time that we were in Athens!”
That immediately made Pelias go quiet, his face turning just as red as Aeëtes’s.
Hecate merely smiled, looking back and forth between the two men as they rowed towards the ship. “Well, now I know what stories to get out of you both when you’re drunk.”
17
As the rowboat approached the ship, everyone held on tightly as they prepared to be pulled up to deck. Once the small dinghy had been secured, Aeëtes hopped off first, turning around and extending his hand to help Hecate. She looked away awkwardly, pretending to fuss with her hem, letting Pelias climb out next. There were more crew members crowding around them, asking about their heading and helping secure the lines. It took everything in Hecate to reach for another man’s hand.
She did her best to make it look purely coincidental, as if she wasn’t avoiding Aeëtes, but both of them knew better. As soon as she felt the sailor touch her skin, it felt wrong.
Hecate quickly stepped on deck and walked past the crew, disappearing down the steps to her assigned cabin. With every step that she took, she could feel Aeëtes’s eyes watching her. Hecate felt her heartbeat quickening, as if something was boiling beneath her skin, desperate to get out. It was all that she could do to make it to her cabin in one piece. She quickly threw the door open and stepped inside, taking precious seconds to lock it before sliding down to the ground. The cabin was small, but clean and well-furnished, with a table, a bed, and some barrels being stored in a corner.
“This isn’t like you,” she hissed, reprimanding herself out loud as she watched a few flickers of her magic ripple. “Get your head on straight! It takes more than a few paltry touches from a man to get you all weak in the knees.”
Hecate took a harsh tone with herself, ignoring the other part of her brain that wanted to argue it was about more than a few, measly touches. It hadn’t been,technically, but there had been a tension between them since the moment they met. It was approaching a dangerous boiling point.
On Aeaea, something had finally snapped between her and the crown prince. It was something small, and that was all that it took. Hecate was unable to deny that she was affected by Aeëtes. It didn’t sound like much to admit, but that was a big admission for her. Even if she never said it aloud. Aeëtes was so encouraging of magic, and his response to the island had been drastically different from any man that she had ever known. Even Circe had told her to trust him, and she had turned more men to animals than Hecate cared to count.
“Circe, you traitor,” Hecate grumbled half-heartedly, standing up and beginning to pace.
She had seen Aeëtes in a moment of crisis—those moments where all pretense was stripped away, and you must act so quickly, that your truest self was revealed.
What had Aeëtes done?
He had runtowardsdeath for Circe and Hecate. It was a far, far picture from the spoiled, annoyingly cheerful persona that she had constructed for Aeëtes. Hecate desperately wanted to believe that he was always smiling because he had no real problems in life. He was an immortal crown prince, with the best of both worlds. She knew it wasn’t true.
“This will be over soon…” Hecate sat on the bed, burying her head in her hands. “Then you can go back to the Under—”
She was cut off by a sharp knock at the door. Without thinking, Hecate stood up and threw the door open, barely holding in a gasp as she came face-to-face with Aeëtes.
“Aeëtes.” Hecate’s eyebrows shot up, clasping her hands in front of her as she tried to sound more composed than she felt. “What do you want?”
Aeëtes shook his head slowly, leaning against the doorframe as he chewed on his lower lip. Hecate fought the rush of heat that it sent through her, seeing how he filled up the entire space. His eyes zeroed in on her. She felt like prey…and didn’t want to run away nearly as much as she should. Aeëtes chuckled softly, running a hand through his thick curls before crossing his arms over his chest.
“What do you want me to do for you, witch?” Aeëtes’s voice was low, and it sent her blood on fire. The air between them seemed to solidify. Everything left unsaid was threatening to come bursting to the surface, everything that had been building from the moment they laid eyes on one another.
“I don’t know what you mean.” Hecate blushed, taking a few steps backward. Aeëtes took one step forward, ever cautious, still giving her space to deny him.
“You do, though.”
“I most certainly don’t.” Hecate mentally chastised herself. She hadneverbeen so tongue-tied around a man. She was one of the few goddesses who was neither a lifelong virgin or hadn’t taken a long-term consort. When it came to her interactions with men, they were straightforward. She had never allowed herself to feel anything for them.
Aeëtes looked at her like he could still hear her thoughts, his head turning to the side as a positively devilish smirk grew across his face.
