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As if she was always meant to be at Elysium. With me.
But not in the darkness.
Aurora turns her attention back to me and catches me staring. She smiles softly and reaches across the table to lay her hand over mine. "Thank you, Hadria. Truly." Her eyes glisten. "This means…more than you know."
I curl my fingers around hers, giving a gentle squeeze. "You deserve to feel the sunshine on your skin. I'm sorry it's been so long."
We linger like that for a moment, hands entwined, gazing at one another. Aurora breaks the spell first, slipping her hand from mine with a self-conscious tuck of her hair behind her ear.
"Aurora, I—" I stop, unsure how to continue. I want to say so much but the words clog in my throat.
She glances up and gifts me with a tremulous smile. "It's alright. I think I understand what you want to say." She reaches for my hand again, more tentative this time. When I thread my fingers through hers, she exhales softly. "This—being here with you in the morning sun—is enough for now."
Words seem inadequate for the change taking hold between us. As we eat, sharing pastries, savoring the buttery crumbs, I feel a rare sense of peace settle over me.
And before long, the sun climbs higher, chasing away any lingering chill of night. I stifle a yawn behind my hand. "I should probably get some sleep," I say with mild reluctance.
Aurora nods. "Of course. Thank you again for breakfast. And for the gardens. I can't tell you what this all means to me."
I wave off her enthusiasm with feigned nonchalance, secretly pleased. "Yes, well...try not to spend the whole day digging in the dirt, hmm?"
She laughs, and the sound lifts my spirits in a way I can't explain. "No promises," she teases.
I lean back in my seat for a few more moments as I watch Aurora put down her cup of coffee and descend the stone steps, making a beeline for her beloved flower beds. Watching her roam freely across the grounds leaves me feeling both happy and strangely vulnerable. Like I've given up some measure of control.
As if she might just walk out the front gates and never return…
Alone again, I gaze out over the grounds bathed in sunshine. My world seems different in the daytime, changed in some indefinable way. Perhaps it's just that I'm not used to this unusual light as it casts familiar vistas in a new hue.
Or perhaps the change lies within me, wrought by the presence of a radiant young woman who prayed for a monster to save her.
The ruthless Hades, undone by innocence and light. What would my enemies and allies say if they could see the effect Aurora has had on my ice-cold heart? I bark out a short, humorless laugh.
Love is not for people like me. And yet…
The problem, of course, is that this isn't love. Can't be. Not while she is my prisoner.
Not while I'm keeping her here against her will.
CHAPTER 29
Aurora
I've never felt morealive at Elysium than I have today.
I spend all day out in the garden, though around an hour after Hadria left me, I ran inside to get a hat and beg some sunglasses from a housemaid. I'm not used to thelight. My eyes feel weak, my skin burnishing too quickly even in the gentle hours of the morning.
But I have never been so happy in my time here as I was today. Never felt more cherished, more understood, more…
More loved, maybe.
I think everything will be alright. I think, if Hadria can temper that iron will of hers, allow me the things that I need…
I need my freedom. And I still want it.
But Hadria's right. While Nero still seeks me—while he still lives—I can never be free, not really. I can never live without looking over my shoulder. Those silly ideas I had to run away, live on the streets—it would only make it easier for him to snatch me back again.
No. Until Nero is dead and gone, I'm safest here at Elysium, with Hadria.
