Page 88 of Axios

“By the gods, answer me!”

“Because they aren’t me, Quill!” Theon shouted. His shoulders slumped and he lowered his gaze. “They aren’t me.”

I could not see Quill’s face, but his spine straightened and he became very still.

“It is like a dagger to the heart when you are with them,” Theon said in a melancholy tone. “It twists my insides to know you pleasure them. That your lips touch theirs.”

“I… I did not know that’s how you felt.” Quill shook his head and took a step back. “Why did you keep this from me?”

Guilt prickled my ears at eavesdropping on their private moment, one not meant for prying eyes. Curiosity had always been a flaw of mine, and when it concerned those I cared for, it only worsened.

“I hoped you would realize you felt the same,” Theon responded, his voice shaking. “But I can see that will not happen. You will never feel as I do. So leave me be.”

When he pushed from the archway again, Quill let him go.

Once Theon was out of sight, Quill growled and punched the pillar before sliding down the marble and putting his face in his hands.

I wanted to approach and comfort him, but Eryx tugged my arm.

“We should go,” he said. “Give him this moment alone. It is not for us to see.”

After glancing back one last time, I nodded and returned with him to the barracks. We crawled into our bed, the one we shared every night, and I found my favorite spot between his arm and chest to relax.

I was nearly asleep when Quill entered. He walked soundlessly to his bed and lay down. Theon had moved farther away than usual, and in the dark, I saw Quill raise up a little and look in his direction before turning over.

Seeing them at odds with each other pained me, and I wished that with time, they could make amends.

The following morning, I woke to Eryx holding me. His breath tickled the back of my arm, and I gave a sleepy grin before gently moving him aside and sitting up.

Theon and Quill had found each other in the middle of the night and were cuddling as Eryx and I had been moments before.

As the day progressed, neither of them said anything in front of us about their conversation from last night, but they behaved differently, as if they’d talked in private and came to some kind of understanding.

They were not bickering anymore and were back to their old, playful selves.

“Do not pressure them,” Eryx told me whenever I mentioned my interest over them. “If they are meant to be together, they will be. You cannot force a man to love another. It is a decision made by the heart and nothing else.”

Of course he spoke the truth, but it did not make the waiting any easier.

Chapter Twenty-Three

381 BC-Nearly One Year Later

“You are growing strong like your father,” Haden said as he picked up his son. Leo squirmed in his arms before grinning and slapping at Haden’s face. He looked at the toddler and creased his brow. “Yet, you have your mother’s spirit.”

I laughed.

Haden placed Leonidas back on the ground and watched with a father’s pride as Leo waddled around the yard, stopping every so often to pick something from the grass.

Leanna was inside preparing fruit and nuts for a midday snack and would join us shortly.

“He’s beautiful, Haden,” Eryx said, watching the boy. Then, an impish grin appeared and he added, “I do not see how someone so ugly could have helped make him.”

“Says you,” Haden snarled and pushed Eryx away. “My beautiful wife believes me to be handsome, so your opinion matters not.”

“What is it you speak of?” Leanna asked, appearing with a small wooden platter of food in her hands.

Upon seeing her, Haden’s face softened and he pulled her to his side. “Only that your opinion is all I care to hear.”