He once believed he was broken beyond repair, a god beyond saving. Then Iliana smiled at him, and he felt something he’d nearly forgotten.
Hope.
Here she was, choosing to sit beside him. Laughing at his jokes and looking at him without fear or wariness. Just Iliana, seeing him as he was and deciding he was worth her time.
The notion terrified him as much as it thrilled him. If he let himself hope, what happened when it fell apart? She’d realize he was broken, bitter, and incapable of giving her what she deserved.
“My darling husband.”
Pasithea’s voice slid through his mind, sweet like honey. Poisoned honey. The timing felt as though destiny itself were mocking him. Of course. The moment he started to hope, the past came back to haunt him.
This time, he didn’t tense. He felt cold recognition.
“What do you want?” he asked. He didn’t bother acting as if he were interested in anything she had to say.
“To see you. Tonight,” she said, urgently.
“No.”
The simple word seemed to surprise her. “Hypnos, please. I want to see you. To explain everything to you. To give us closure.”
He looked down at Iliana’s peaceful face, remembering her words.I don’t need you to joke or to smile. I want you to be who you are, to feel what you feel. That’s all.
“I already have my closure.”
He meant it. Once, he would’ve begged for answers. Now, with Iliana at his side, her giggle still ringing in his ears, and her honest words embedding themselves into him, he didn’t need Pasithea to hand him closure. He was finding his own.
“What?” Pasithea’s confusion came through their connection. “The mortal? She does not even trust you, Hypnos.”
“She chose to be in my arms tonight.” The words came out steadily, with certainty.
“How can you know she is not using you? That she—”
“Even if that were true,” Hypnos cut her off, “it would be more honest than anything you ever gave me.”
And that was the difference. Pasithea had wrapped lies in sweetness, manipulation masked as love. But Iliana called him an ass to his face. Told him she was wary of him. She’d been honest about every feeling.
If Iliana were using him, she’d be candid about it. He’d suspected for a while now that what was going on between them was shockingly real.
When Pasithea spoke again, she lost her honeyed tone. “You’re making a mistake.”
“The only mistake I made was loving someone who saw me as a tool instead of a person.”
Iliana moved against him, her hand unconsciously clenching into his shirt.
“I won’t make that mistake again.”
“Hypnos—”
He closed their connection with more force than necessary. His shoulders sagged in relief and, for the first time, not regret.
On-screen, the protagonists confessed their love, and Iliana fell against him, giving up her fight to stay awake.
Hypnos tensed as soon as the curse moved in.
It always tested his defenses when she first fell asleep, searching out weaknesses and trying to slip past the barriers around her subconscious. Even though it was more aggressive than ever before, he wouldn’t allow it to overpower him. It couldn’t. At least not yet.
Not while he watched over her.
