Page 156 of A Soul to Steal

Gideon wiggled his fingers to show he was waiting as his eyes narrowed further. Aleron’s wings lifted up and down, his fur and feathers puffed and raised. Likely seeing that Gideon wasn’t going to give up on this, he eventually placed the back of his hand in Gideon’s palm.

“What happened?” he asked quietly, his stomach knotting at the pain he must be in.

The entirety of his hand was burned to the point skin had started to peel away from his protruding knuckle bones. His fingers looked worse, but Gideon couldn’t fully inspect them with Aleron refusing to uncurl his fist.

“I do not want to say,” Aleron answered, before his orbs brightened in their orange hue. “I do not want you to be... upset with me.”

“Upset with you?”

His brows drew together, unable to understand how this could have happened during the night. Then it hit him, and Gideon let out a sigh while shaking his head. He petted his wrist, wishing to soothe him when it likely wasn’t helping.

“I’m upset with myself,” he grumbled, inspecting Aleron’s hand with annoyance. “You don’t have to tend to the fires Imake. If they burn out, then don’t worry about them. You always throw your wing over me anyway, and the fire is just to make light and keep me warm until I go to sleep.”

The fact he would do that... it just shows how damn sweet he is. How much he cares for me.If Gideon had known that Aleron would hurt himself, he wouldn’t have made the campfire. He’d rather stumble through the dark than Aleron be in pain.I could just use the lack of warmth as a way to get closer to him.

“Can you open your hand so I can see how bad the damage is?”

“This is not why I think you will be upset.” Aleron looked down at his own fist. “I broke one. I am sorry.”

Hesitantly, Aleron finally opened it.

Sitting in the centre of his big palm were two golden rings, the same ones Gideon had thrown into the fire the night before. The smaller ring, which had been intended for Gideon, was perfectly intact, while the larger one had been mangled and bent out of shape.

Dread crawled down his spine, paled his features, and he drew his stark gaze up to Aleron’s skull.

“I did not realise there were two, but the pain made me squeeze them and one bent in my palm. I thought they were coins, but once I saw them, I knew your kind wear them as decorations.” Aleron fidgeted on his feet, and once again said, “I am sorry. I did not mean to ruin them.”

A thousand words wanted to fall from Gideon’s mouth. He hadn’t wanted to see these again, didn’t want to touch them. He would rather forget their existence.

Instead, he grumbled as he took them and shoved them into his pocket. Aleron had fucking fished them from the fire. He absolutely refused to explain how much he didn’t want them.

“Thank you,” Gideon forced out through clenched teeth, then patted the uninjured part of his palm. “But don’t do that again. Humans have a rule: if it falls into the fire, it’s gone.”

“But your instrument and case were important enough for you to take them. I did not want you to discover something missing from them because you did not realise you threw it into the flames.”

Gideon’s features crinkled into a grimace, his heart squeezing with painful tenderness at Aleron’s considerate words and gesture. Yet, the lukewarm rings in his pocket felt heavy and hot, as if they threatened to burn a hole in his clothing.

“You’re so kind to the point of silliness,” Gideon mumbled, not meaning anything cruel but just stating the fact of the situation.

He took in the melted tips of Aleron’s claws, his destroyed fingertips, and the purple muscle Gideon could see exposed when it really shouldn’t be.

Unsure of what to do or say, he lowered his head and pressed his forehead against Aleron’s inner wrist.

“Don’t hurt yourself for me again, okay? I’ve hurt you enough, and I already feel terrible.”

How the hell did I ever think so badly of him?He wished he’d known Aleron was like this when he first opened his eyes on Earth. More than anything, he wished he hadn’t forgotten everything, so none of the past few weeks would have happened.

He was beginning to want to go back in time and start over.

“But I did not mind doing this for you,” Aleron stated with assurance. “You do not need to feel bad.”

It twisted his stomach more.

Gideon was getting tired of the way shame trickled down the back of his neck. He didn’t deserve this much consideration from Aleron, not when there were still so many things he needed to apologise for.

The things they still needed to discuss festered inside him daily.I made so many mistakes.

Gideon lifted his head to shout out, “I punched you in the fucking face, Aleron!”

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