Moonlit Vows Of Vengeance

I still feared what had happened earlier. I couldn’t leave him alone like this.

So I stayed.

I sat beside him through the long, heavy hours of the night, the cold seeping into my bones, the silence pressing against my skin.

Somewhere along the way, I must have fallen asleep.

When I woke, morning light bled weakly through the narrow window, and the small room smelled of old wood, blood, and bitter herbs.

I blinked slowly, disoriented.

I was lying on the bed — covered with a rough, scratchy blanket.

Cassius sat upright in the battered chair beside me, his arms crossed, his gaze distant.

I scrambled up quickly, heart thudding, pulling the blanket tighter around myself.

"I’m sorry, Athena," he said roughly, his voice still hoarse from the night before. "I didn’t mean—"

I widened my eyes a little more sharply, cutting him off without words.