Heirs of the Gods

Ch 75: Trust

Adrenaline was a marvellous thing. It was like food for the body, fuelling one to do unimaginable things.

Adrenaline was the only thing keeping Ella on her feet. The only thing propelling her forward. If she were to stop enough to have it settle, she'd curl up and shrivel, like a dying flower. She couldn't stop, not until she was out of the castle. Her body supplied her with the necessary strength to move forward.

She stormed past the scandalised guards, into the furious and raging storm. Blindly, she made her way, dragging her numb legs across the knee-high snow.

"Wen!"

Ella trudged ahead, head bent down against the wind. Her cheeks were frozen and damp from the sticky tears still leaking down her face.

"Wen!"

She didn't even have to turn to know it was Aedion. She could have known it was him without even hearing his voice, attuned as she was to him. It made the knot in her throat squeeze like a vice.

"Wen, stop, please," he insisted, closer now. She didn't even bestow him with a tilt of the head. Barely visible in the raging storm, she could see the petrium, her goal.

A hand on her shoulder made her halt, strong as steel and just as firm. "Leave me alone," she spat, whirling to look at him.

Aedion bit back a gasp when she did. He took in what she knew was her splotchy, swollen and tear-streaked face. She didn't care. On any other occasion, she would have been mortified. Now, she was absolutely numb.

"Please," he said in a pained rasp. "You can't leave, you need to understand. Callan just--"

"You knew," she seethed, balling up her fists. "You knew and you didn't say anything! You let me go around like a dimwitted idiot, lying straight to my face!"

"I didn't lie. You need to understand," he insisted, still holding onto her shoulder. The grip was tight, like he could indeed anchor her and keep her from leaving, like he could force her to understand.

"I don't have to understand anything! That's all everyone says! When has anyone taken the time to understand me?" she raged. "When has anyone considered what I might feel? You clearly didn't, you preferred to stay silent and keep me in the dark."

"What was I supposed to do!" he yelled, tugging on his hair with his free hand.

Thick raven locks stood on end, sending snow flying everywhere. It was stuck to his long, sooty lashes and the tip of his nose. In any other occasion, she would have thought he looked beautiful. All-black in a frozen Winterland. Now, he looked like a stranger. Not her friend. A handsome stranger who had deeply, irrevocably hurt her.

"It wasn't my secret to tell. It wasn't my choice to make. Was I supposed to betray Callan and go behind his back? Stop and think for a second!"

"You were my friend!" she sobbed, beating a curled fist on his chest. He didn't even flinch.

Out in the middle of a snow storm, Aedion wore nothing but a thin black top. He'd not even grabbed a coat. Still, the cold didn't seem to bother him, nor did her fists. Nothing did.

"You were my friend and you betrayed me! I let you in, I showed you parts of myself I'd never showed anyone else. I trusted you and you spit on that. You knew exactly what it would do to me, how much it would hurt me when I found out and you. didn't. care."

Each of her words was emphasised with a beat of her fists on his chest, but it was like hitting a solid wall of steel. Aedion didn't stop her, he only allowed her to wail against him. The only sign her words affected him was the flickering pain in his eyes and the quivering of his hand on her shoulder.