Page 66 of Left Hand of the Divine
“You can’t run from this,Asteri,” he said as he pulled back and looked deep into my eyes, like he was searching for something. My backbone, maybe? Lord knows I needed to find it for whatever was going to happen next.
“I know.” I sighed and stepped away from him. “I just wanted a minute where I was a person enjoying the warmth of someone else,skiá.Come on. Let’s find the others.”
I turned to walk into the mansion, but Erebus clasped my hand, holding me back.
“What did you call me?” he asked, his voice breathless, his fingers tight around my wrist.
“Erebus?”
He stepped closer, and his expression darkened, his shadows moving beneath his skin. “You said ‘skiá’.”
Had I? I didn’t remember saying that. “I don’t even knowwhat that means.”
“It means shadow. Nyx used to call me that. I always called herAsteri. My star.”
Panic squeezed my chest. How could I say something and not remember it? My blood turned to ice as fear crept in. Was I slowly turning into Nyx? Without even realising it?
“Are you alright?” a male voice said, interrupting my tumbling panic.
I turned towards the top of the stairs to see Rayne staring at the two of us with a worried expression.
My mouth felt like sandpaper. “I’m fine.”
I pulled my hand from Erebus and walked up the stairs. I needed a minute away from him. From that look of hope and desperation burning in his eyes. The hope and desperation that I was someone else.
Frustration flooded my mind. How could he be so sweet to me one minute and then hope I was someone else the next? The emotional whiplash was doing a number on me and made me want to scream the place down.
Rayne instantly tried to pull me into a hug as I reached the top of the stairs, but I couldn’t take it. Couldn’t deal with the bittersweet feel of being in his arms. Not right now, anyway. I needed a special kind of strength to walk the fine line with the twins, and right now, my head was a mess. I needed a distraction.
“I’m sorry,” I said as I brushed past him. “But I can’t.”
His face was pained, but he let me go, understanding what I needed more than I did probably. I leapt up the stairs, following the pull of the mate mark on my chest. I needed to be withsomeone who wanted me for me, who could touch me because they were free to do so.
Someone who could love me without restraints.
I barged into Atticus’ room without knocking, my eyes instantly landing on him as he lounged in the window seat, his gaze pouring over some ancient looking book. Gods, he looked good, his midnight blue hair draped around his face, his brow dipped in concentration. Who knew studying could look so sexy?
“Kitten?” he said as he glanced up at me, worry pinching his mouth. “What is it?”
“I need you,” I gasped, barely holding it together. “I need… I want…”
A slow smile spread across his face, and his eyes darkened with need. “I know what you need. Come here.”
He patted the top of his thigh, and I instantly walked over to him and straddled his hips, the raging range of emotions instantly settling as I curled up in his lap. Atticus gripped my chin and pressed a soft kiss against my mouth.
“Are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?” he asked, ghosting his lips over mine.
I tried to demand more of him, but he smiled and held me back.
“Ah, ah, kitten. Tell me what’s the matter.”
“Later,” I moaned. “I just need to get out of my own head for a minute. I promise I’ll talk later, but for now, I need you.”
“As you wish.” Then he crushed his mouth to mine. It was pure fucking bliss. A cool touch against my fevered skin, like diving in a lake after being burnt by the sun. His tongue flickedacross the seam of my lips, and I let him in, opening wide under his gentle touch. This was what I needed.Love.
Atticus hooked his hands under my coat and pushed it off my shoulders. I grabbed the hem of my vest and pulled it off in one swift motion, needing his touch on my skin.
“Gods, you're beautiful.” Atticus hummed against my mouth, his fingers trailing over the mate mark on my sternum. Tingles spread across my chest and down my arms as he touched the thick black runes that swirled on my skin.
