Page 44 of Celestia, Year Four

I stopped for a second, tugging him to stop too. He turned his gaze to me and I whispered, "Do you really like me?"

He was quiet, staring into my mismatched eyes. I decided to elaborate.

"You know with the bond you made… you can't be with anyone else? You're stuck with me," I stressed, needing it to be nice and clear.

He simply nodded, and I frowned.

"Odion," I said again. "What if someone else comes along that catches your interest?"

"No one will come," he mumbled.

"That's not true. You don't know that," I argued. He looked away, and I took two steps to stand right in front of him, demanding his attention. "Odion."

He closed his eyes for a moment and when they opened, they were pure black, leaving me speechless as my eyes widened.

His arm slipped around my waist and without warning, his lips landed on mine.

I didn't dare move, my eyes still locked on his calm gaze. I couldn't ignore the tenderness of the kiss and allowed my eyes to close as I melted against him.

I kissed him back, and he lowered his hands to my ass, gripping it gently and making me moan. He slipped his tongue into my mouth and I allowed my hands to rest against his chest, gripping the cotton material of hisshirt.

"Bibibibi."

With a final kiss, we both pulled back and looked down to see Momo eyeing us curiously.

"BIBO!" She lifted her hands with a happiness.

Odion sighed. "Yes… we made up," he grumbled.

"Bibibibibi." Momo began to sing and ran away to play with more leaves.

I needed a second to catch my breath and hesitantly looked back at Odion, his pure black eyes slowly turning back to their usual light lilac eyes.

"I know what I want. I won't change my mind," he whispered and pulled away to turn around.

"Odion… are there two sides to you?" I questioned.

Now I was really curious because of the shift in his personalities. When we'd first met, he was dominating and had a big ego.

However, the time I'd met him in Theo's place, he was as he was now, kind-hearted and sweet. He was especially shy in this side versus the other side that showed immense confidence.

He was silent, and I walked around him to see his bright red face.

"Not really… it's complicated," he muttered, and I slid my hands into his, noticing the slight tremble in them.

"Do you mind telling me?" I asked. "If you trust me with the information that is. You don't have to tell me."

He lifted his gaze to stare into my eyes. "Sometimes, the Darkness influences my actions. It's… impulsive. When I first met you, it wasn't the time in the forest during your Trial. It was in Omako Forest… during your exam."

"You… were there?" I asked.

"I sensed something was off there and wanted to investigate. I only knew a bit of Esme's past with the Council and was wary of them. Especially because they knew what Orion was. There were a few Forsaken prowling around, which was what irritated the Rhinroy. I defeated two of the four of them, but two slipped out of my grasp. By the time I tracked them down, you guys were already fighting them, and I couldn't interfere," he revealed.

I stood there speechless.

Shit, there were more of them back then?! He… protected us.

"I figured the Council was trying to hurt you. Now that we know the backstory, it makes more sense. A Forsaken incident had happened before like that, so I assumed they were plotting the same thing to occur and they could blame it on some miscalculation or something. The only reason why you got praised was thanks to that Othello dude. When the Magnor guy came after you'd vanquished the Forsaken, Othello arrived shortly after. He spoke to Martz and was furious that a Forsaken was even in the area. I think that's the reason he's not on the Council anymore, because he can't be manipulated," Odion explained.

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