The Fugitive - Chapter 173

Nyx dissolved into the shadows. She made sure Erebus couldn’t track her shadows, putting a barrier between them though they had similar powers. The goddess arrived in her bed chambers, where Acacius was sleeping on the mat and multiple cushions in front of her large indoor pond. Only a few candles and torches had been left alight, keeping a soft golden glow on her servant’s features.

Nyx walked past him; her chilling presence made him jolt awake. She wasn’t loud; in fact, all her movements were lithe and silent and known to be a little creepy, like the shadows that followed behind the bottom of her dress sometimes.

“Oh, you’re back!? Nyx..” Acacius began, his voice high pitched, startled at her sudden appearance, but he trailed off because Nyx was already disrobing, revealing her naked back to him. “Erm.. Nyx what…” He shook his head and kept his eyes from trailing down to look at her body, then his eyes widened, and he rushed towards her. “What happened?! Who-”

“I will see you in the morning, Acacius. Maybe you will sleep better knowing your master has returned safely,” Nyx replied coolly as she approached a basket and pulled out a navy dress that didn’t have bloodstains on the back of it. She never calls herself his master, they were more friends than anything, but her mood was low after her interaction with Erebus.

“Nyx-” Acacius began in a concerned voice.

But Nyx snapped at him, blowing the candles out with her rage. “What do you not understand..” She began slowly through gritted teeth, turning her head to look at him. Her golden freckles glowed under her eyes, revealing dark depths that swirled chaotically as shadows grew behind her. “You. Are. Dismissed.”

Acacius opened and closed his mouth, then bowed his head looking more hurt than scared. He really was a foolish fellow. She could kill him by accident. The servant rushed off, closing the doors behind him.

Nyx sighed and placed her hand on the side of her head. Erebus was too sensitive, the gods had mocked him once, and then all chaos ensued, making everyone fear him and what he was capable of. But she would have to watch her words around him.

It was then the goddess decided to pay attention to the other presence in her quarters.

“What do you want?” Nyx asked the phantom hiding in the dark. He’d already started filling her bathhouse up with steaming water when she started stripping. Still, the goddess walked naked towards the bath through the archway that separated her bed chambers to her private bathhouse. The marble was still of the same cream and dusty pink hues; to the right of the rectangular bath was another archway revealing part of the end of the large lake. The reflections of the stars, glowing waterlilies and fireflies, along with the candles that suddenly flickered to life around the bath, made Nyx’s tense body relax.

Even if Gabriel was the one leaning against the pillar, arms crossed, hair straight and flowing down his shoulders, standing on the step between the lake and bath. “I came for my answer..” Gabriel began as he strolled towards her and stopped when she held a hand up to stop him from getting any closer to her. But the angelic-looking god tilted his head to the side after inhaling through his nose, almost smelling, and his eyes widened. “What happened?” He asked curtly; his voice deepened, and he took another step towards her.

Nyx scoffed and dropped her chiton on the ground and grabbed one of the towels left on one of the benches on the side, wrapping it around her body carefully before turning to climb into the bath. But before she could, Gabriel was next to her, his hand on her upper arm stopping her from sinking into the water. He was looking at the back of her head, then down to her back where her blood had dried. Erebus had shoved her into a sharp rock, stabbing her partially in the back, and her head was wounded from the impact. Whenever he snapped, the god of darkness had been like that before, but he’d never injured her so severely before.

Her injuries were already healing; Nyx could feel the damaged muscle tissue repairing and building itself up slowly at a snail’s pace. That wasn’t the point, though. Some gods like her father and Erebus could heal quickly, she healed slowly, and other gods couldn’t heal themselves.

Now Gabriel had suddenly turned up and looked concerned over her injuries. “Do not act like you care, Gabriel,” Nyx said quietly; all the anger in her voice had gone from seeing his crystal blue eyes looking at her with so much.. love. How could he look at her like that when she hadn’t seen him in a whole week. With a flick of her wrist, half of the candles blew out, making the lighting even darker, and she pulled her arm out of his grasp. Gabriel looked wounded by her words but let her step down into the bath.

“Of course, I care. Why would I not?” Gabriel asked quietly, watching her hiss and the water smearing with blood.

Nyx sat across from him, the water going up to her collarbone. She stared at him, taking in his striking features that looked all the more enticing under the candlelit lighting. But she looked past his looks, her body feeling cold and numb and unforgiving to any near her right now, including the man who she had obsessed over for the last week.

“It is obvious we are attracted to each other, and you want to bed me. But do not act like there is more to this,” Nyx sighed tiredly, closing her eyes and mind off from the stunning man before her. She leaned her head back to rest on the marble flooring, but her head was still sensitive, and she grimaced from the pain, opening her eyes and tilting her chin back down only to inhale sharply at Gabriel crouched in front of her. He kept his clothing on, his hair dangled in the water, and instead of his seductive approach like last time, he looked at her angrily and concerned.

Gabriel reached out towards her face, and she leaned back, flinching slightly. His eyes darkened, and his lips thinned, dropping his hand to rest on the marble slab by her head. “This is more than about fucking, Nyx,” He growled. “If it was that, I could choose my pick of women to help relieve myself.” His harsh words stung, and she couldn’t understand why. Gabriel’s face softened, and he brushed his thumb across her cheek, the action causing warmth to spread across her cheeks.

Gabriel smiled gently as he watched the growing blush. “But I don’t want that. I want you, and what this is that I can already feel between us. If you want me to prove myself, I will.”

“He says after already seeing me naked and sharing bathwater,” Nyx replied dryly with a wry smile.

The corners of his lips twitched up as he looked at her fondly before his eyes lowered to her body and back up. “You didn’t seem to mind showing me your.. stunning body.” His other hand was by the other side of her face, and she could hear his hand gripping the marble floor and even causing it to crumble slightly. She didn’t know what his powers were, but it seemed one of them had to be super strength. “And you haven’t pushed me away or disappeared on me. Although I have waited here four nights now.”

Nyx blinked back at him in shock. “You’ve been in my quarters waiting for me?” She asked in disbelief. Only Acacius knew she was away; even Lyra and the others don’t know, the goddess feared it would get back to Khaos. Though she secretly suspected her father knew, he was a primordial god, the first to emerge from the dawn of creation. Nothing would really escape his notice.

Gabriel smiled and nodded. “My servant informed me of your disappearance..” He trailed off after reading her features, and he smiled again. “Kairos is a very capable aide of mine. There isn’t anything he cannot do or doesn’t know, and that includes the secret disappearance of the goddess who has bewitched me so.”

Bewitched?

“I can see, though, that the timing is wrong. I AM concerned about you, and I wish for you to tell me what happened. Who else otherwise would you tell? You already sent away your most loyal servant,” Gabriel added as he searched her eyes for answers.

Nyx sighed and rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky you’re handsome and charmingly persistent,” Nyx grumbled as she closed her eyes, feeling the weight of her lids too much in the warm embrace of the water and having Gabriel in front of her, almost protectively in the shield of his arms placed by the sides of her head. She found it so strange that his presence was soothing, and she felt relaxed instead of on edge.

Gabriel grinned at her comment and winked, making her insides coil and her stomach flutter with butterflies. No, she wasn’t swooning, but she couldn’t deny his sexiness.

“Don’t swoon yet. I don’t want you bumping your head on the floor,” Gabriel whispered with a smirk. Nyx rolled her eyes then paused at his comment. Did she say that bit out loud? “So.. will you tell me while I rinse out the blood from your hair?”

“You want to serve me?” Nyx asked in disbelief. Usually, Lyra would wash her hair, and even though she made it sound like something only a servant would do, the idea seemed quite intimate.

Gabriel nodded; his eyes were alight with amusement at her reaction. “Relax, I’ll take care of you.”

Nyx eyed him suspiciously, then relented, turning around and tilting her head back while he grabbed the golden jug on the side and filled it with the water, pouring it over the top of her head gently. His hands ran through her hair, and she found herself relaxing further to his touch.

“Hmmm.. I got on the wrong side of someone dangerous,” She admitted, feeling a pang in her chest for calling Erebus dangerous.. But he was, just not generally with her.