Chapter 312: How Dare You Push Me Away?
Julie didn’t know how much time had passed. It could’ve been minutes or hours, but it didn’t matter anymore.
Everything else had faded into background noise, the forest, the mission, the idea that she was supposed to be resisting his affection.
All of it melted away under the soft weight of his embrace. She felt like she was wrapped in a cocoon of warmth, and it was just too nice to let go of.
She didn’t want to think about duty or roles or what she was "supposed" to be doing. Not when his arms around her made her feel like she belonged there more than anywhere else. And so, she didn’t resist.
She just let herself be held by Cassius, and felt every small motion of his hand stroking her back, felt the steady rise and fall of his chest beneath her ear, and just melted deeper into him. It was comforting in a way she hadn’t known she needed.
Her father had once told her something, something that always sounded a bit silly to her back then.
That after coming back from battle, sometimes shaken and silent and haunted by things he didn’t want to say out loud, he would lie down on her mother’s lap, and she’d simply run her fingers through his hair and murmur soft words.
And just like that, it was like none of the horrors had ever happened. He’d always called it his dreamspace, where everything faded, and only warmth remained.
Julie had never truly understood it. Not until now.
Now, with Cassius’s hand slowly tracing up and down her back, his warmth soaking into her like the gentle heat of a blanket fresh from the dryer, she understood...This, this was the dreamspace.
And just as she let herself completely relax into it, not even wanting to twitch a finger...
Cassius’s hand suddenly stopped.