Chapter 5

[1750 B.C.]

"You... were you worried?" I couldn't help asking, and Callisto looked at me as if that was the stupidest thing Asra had ever asked him in his entire life.

Of course, I should know.

Callisto couldn't care less about his concubine, but then... what the hell did it all mean?

"You..." he paused, his lips ajar.

I smiled.

"I'm sorry, darling," I said, sitting down on the bed.

I should leave.

"What exactly are you apologizing for?" Her voice was serious again.

I didn't know how to answer, this was certainly one of the few answers I didn't have to give him, so I looked to the window for anything I could use. He snorted.

"Are you apologizing for almost killing yourself? For being impulsive? For..." he stopped and even without looking I could hear his footsteps approaching the bed, "what the hell do you have on your head?"

"Brain matter and horns" I replied with a smile, turning my face to look at him, but Callisto didn't smile back.

"I could..." he stopped again.

"I'm fine," I said, trying to console him, even though it didn't make sense.

And it didn't seem to work.

"Do you know what means I had to resort to?"

Lucifer.

I knew.

It wasn't a dream, none of it had been, and all of it apparently wasn't either.

It was real, everything was real.

I swallowed hard.

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing" he muttered, "just... Don't do it again?"

I smiled.

"Don't put yourself in danger" he said sitting up in bed. His shoulders were slumped.

I didn't remember ever seeing him like that, so fragile, so gentle.

I put out one hand in his direction, and Asra's red, manicured fingernails touched his hand.

No, those were my nails now.

"I will not put myself" I spoke as firmly as possible, "I did not think she could force a spear when a blade sank into her body.

Because, in fact, she had never done that until the end of the book, until the final fight, when she drives the spear through Azrael and kills Callisto before begging her God for mercy, to save the child of her beloved daughter.

Elaine had gone off script.

He nodded.

"I know."

His eyes were watering.

"I thought you were going to die when I took you in my arms, and you wouldn't respond" he whispered, now moving closer to me.

If Callisto really cared about Asra, this changed things completely. If he felt something for her, even minimally, it meant that it hurt to see her suffer; it meant that for him, the thought of losing someone again was agonizing.

I wanted to hold him.

"You will never lose me," I spoke without a second thought, and my quartz eyes became too moist to hold the tears.

"You can't promise" he said like a frightened child practically begging for a certainty.

I smiled.

"I can" I spoke and without caring, I pulled him close into my arms.

There was no resistance, Callisto just allowed himself to be thrown into me, his face sinking into my neck, his arms wrapped around my hips.

The warmth of his body on mine was all I needed to make sure that it was real, that he was real, and that now, I was 100% conscious.

"Don't ever do that again" he ordered, tightening his arms around my body.

I nodded.

"Okay." He grunted.

"Don't put yourself in danger..." he continued, "don't even think about doing something that could hurt you."

I smiled.

"In that case, perhaps we should be more careful in the coming nights" I scoffed and watched Callisto turn away from me quickly, his face contorted into a frown.

That was not the expression of an adult, much less of the ruthless king I had read 953 pages of. It was the expression of a spoiled child who was being coldly wronged.

"You don't take me seriously," he said, sounding irritated, but I got up on the bed, got down on my knees and held his face between my two hands.

"Honey" I called him gently and his rose quartz eyes focused on me, "I will not put myself in danger, I will not do things impulsively, and I will take care when I enter into fights. I will train for my fighting style to evolve, but don't ask me to be a helpless damsel... I'm tired of it."

He bit his lip hard.

It was as if he wished to keep me there, in his room, guarded against the world and its dangers forever.

That wasn't what I wanted, I wanted to protect Callisto from the world that seemed to want his head.

"Okay" he murmured, and his lips were curled into an expression of displeasure.

I held back my laughter and for a moment allowed myself to be just me, moving closer to him and sealing his lips lengthily.

"I'm glad to know you were worried about me..." I whispered, and that was the greatest truth I had ever told him.

As if he knew it, Callisto grabbed me, his arm wrapped around my hip pulling me against him and his lips pressed against mine.

"I still owe you a few nights," he murmured in reply, and I smiled.

"You really are.”

"Then you will be my prisoner until every night is paid for" he said as he ran his lips down my neck, shoulder and collarbone.

I shivered. His lips were warm, and his touch was at the same time delicate and firm, it was tender, but charged with desire.

"Callisto..." I murmured, running my fingernails along his tattooed arms.

"It's okay, baby" he smiled, a corner smile that made my whole body warm up "I know you're tired, so for the first few nights I'll do all the work for you..."

I bit my lip hard and felt his fingers running up my thigh, taking with them the hem of the sweater I was wearing.

The only piece of clothing I was wearing.

"But when you recover" he purred "then I'll have to punish you for making me so worried".

I remembered well how Callisto's punishments worked, and at the thought of his body on mine, his mouth sliding over every inch of my body, I had to hold back a sly moan.

I really wanted this.