There was a warm breeze, and Hecate moved towards the stern, sitting down on a small bench and looking out at the water. She let herself take a deep breath and close her eyes, sending her power out from her in waves. It sometimes did her good to release waves of it, to keep it all from bottling up inside her. There was enough contained inside her at that moment, multitudes of hurt and attraction, and she didn’t know if she’d ever been in her mortal body this long. Her power might alert Hera but there was no intention behind these spells, rendering them weaker; she hoped it wouldn’t betray their location.
Her power poured out from her like water, invisible except in the direct sunlight, a sheen of red sparks that coated the end of the ship. It almost had a mind of its own, carefully avoiding the crew that were milling about, trying to accomplish their chores before supper was served. She felt Poseidon’s power still wrapped around the boat although she could tell that he was far off. Wherever he was, he was still doing them a favor, and she made a note to mention of his goodwill to Nyx.
As Hecate watched the waves in the wake of the boat, her heart felt heavy in her chest and her mind preoccupied. Even though every part of her soul and body cried out for Aeëtes, she couldn’t let herself give in. She blamed her acolytes, but in the end, she knew better. It was the dull ache of wounds that should’ve been healed hundreds of years ago, but Hecate had decided that they were better left sealed up.
She could no longer deny it—Hecate was lonely. The kind of lonely that crawled its way into every crack and crevice of your body and stayed there. It was a kind of loneliness that morphed with you until you were no longer separate from it.
The kind that made you tired.
So, so tired.
Hecate put her hand to her chest, as if she could physically stop the ache there, and let a few tears fall. She stood slowly, her hair loose from its usual braid and flying in the wind, and moved towards the ship’s edge. There was a small gap in the railing, where an additional ramp could be pushed out to dock, and she found herself standing in it. She held onto the banister with both hands, leaning forward until she was partially hanging over the water.
The wind whipped against her face, and she felt a rush of the sea air, and it soothed her. For a moment, she was wild—as wild as she had always been before the hurt and the heartbreak that caged a part of her. She was the weather—tumultuous and unpredictable, but always with its purpose. Hecate let out a quiet sob and released her tears to the sea, letting herself cry so she couldn’t tell what were her tears and what was the ocean’s spray. Her heart fluttered, and she knew why Aeëtes loved the sea.
She would not take him from it.
Hecate leaned out a hair’s breadth further, taking in another deep, sweet breath when there was a shout, and strong arms suddenly wrapped around her body and yanked her back.
“Hecate!” Aeëtes screamed, his voice full of fear. Hecate slipped as he pulled her away from the edge, causing both of them to fall to the floor.
“What the hell!” Hecate snapped, ending up on top of Aeëtes in a way that made her insides clench. She quickly shoved herself off him, her legs getting tangled up in the skirt of her himation.
“What were youdoing?” Aeëtes shook his head in disbelief, his tone furious. There was a deadly stoicism to it that made even Hecate shiver, knowing that this was Aeëtes at the most upset she had ever seen him. He climbed to his feet and re-tied the knot in his hair, kicking his foot into his sandal that had come off.
“I was just… It doesn’t matter!” Hecate stood, fidgeting, feeling the snakes on her arms flicker to life with her anger. Their presence didn’t even phase Aeëtes, who kept looking directly at her.
“Itmattersbecause you were hanging off the edge of a ship! A fast-moving ship, I might add,” Aeëtes growled, taking a step towards Hecate. “If you had fallen, you would’ve hit the side of the boat, likely been knocked unconscious, and drowned.”
Hecate made a tsk noise and shook her head. “I’m immortal, Aeëtes. It would’ve taken a lot more than that to kill me.”
He floundered for a moment, as if he had forgotten that detail, and blushed slightly, speaking quickly as if to recover.
“It certainly wouldn’t have been fun!” he shouted in response, his hands going to his hips as he stared at her, pointing an index finger in her direction. “Sure, maybe you wouldn’t have died, but you would have been injured. I have an immortal’s body, same as you.” Hecate tried her best to not picture it naked, failing miserably.
“Not the same as me,” she murmured under her breath, rolling her eyes because she knew that he had a point. Aeëtes let out a sigh and ran his hand through his hair, shaking his head and looking off into the distance. There was silence between them, one that was no longer comfortable, but empty.
Aching.
“All the same,” Aeëtes finally responded, waving a hand in the air. “I’m sorry if I ruined your grand moment of contemplation.” His voice lifted at the end, his face contorting into a smile. The smile that Hecate knew so well, and she couldn’t help but return it.
“I was just…breathing,” Hecate stuttered to find the right word, cursing herself again that she had been reduced to nearly monosyllabic conversations around him. She was never the type of woman to feel bad or awkward about a morning after, but this was something else entirely. There were—she now had to admit—feelings involved.
“Ah, breathing.” Aeëtes nodded, leaning up against the ship’s railing and crossing his arms over his chest. “Wonderful pastime, that.” He couldn’t help but toss a smirk in her direction. Hecate let out a scoff although there was no venom in it. She seated herself on the small bench, now across from Aeëtes.
“I needed a minute, that’s all. And the sea felt…” Hecate trailed off, her eyes going past Aeëtes to the horizon. His expression was one of awe and understanding, and the smirk on his face didn’t reach his eyes.
“I know.” He turned and looked out at the water, understanding what she meant. They sat there for a few peaceful moments, the quiet between them becoming something a little more alive. There was a lot that still needed to be said, but the silence didn’t feel as crushing as it had moments before.
Aeëtes had loved the sea for as long as he could remember. How many times had he hung off sails and riggings and the edge of ramps to get a taste of it? He knew that Hecate hadn’t been about to jump or anything close to it. Yet, when he came up on deck, the only thing he saw was her body hanging off the side of the ship. It had chilled him to the bone, as if there was a vortex in the pit of his stomach that absorbed all the heat in him. He had moved entirely on instinct, with one goal—to protect her.
It was that same intention, whether she believed him or not, that inspired his next statement. He coughed once and stood taller, as if he was preparing himself to strike an opponent with swords play, getting Hecate’s attention. When he spoke, his voice was quiet, barely intelligible over the sound of the waves beneath them.
“You know, I’m not giving up.”
Hecate froze in her seat. She didn’t know what she had been expecting from Aeëtes, but it wasn’t this. Maybe she was expecting anger, sorrow, or rejection—she did expect rejection, which was why she had to reject him first—but she wasn’t prepared for this. Her mind reeled as she stared at him, the first glimpses of golden hour light painting the side of his face. He was the most beautiful man that she had ever seen and there was no way that this was happening to her.
She must have fallen off the boat and knocked herself unconscious after all. Any moment now, Pelias or someone from the crew would haul her up from the icy cold depths, and she would be revived. Aeëtes would not be in front of her, telling her that he wasn’t going to give up on her. That he wasn’t going to give up on them.
