𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐍 The Reapers Mate

Nine

Eden

I wake up to Jericho lightly caressing my face, still tucked into his side with his arm wrapped around me, my head resting on his chest.

Images of last night flash through my mind, causing my body to heat at the knowledge I let Jericho do as he pleased with my body, exposing me to him entirely.

His fiery touch that scorched my body in pleasure beyond the imagination.

We hadn't even actually had sex, he'd only touched me.

What would it be like to actually..

"I'm sorry to wake you, I'd let you sleep longer, but the sun has been up for a bit now, we need to get moving, there's a town nearby, we can gather some supplies there." Jericho says, bringing my mind from the heated thoughts lingering there.

I sit up and try to smooth out my hair, knowing it must look a mess. I should have brought a comb. "I thought you said we needed to leave before sunrise? The sun looks like it's been up for longer than you're letting on.. You shouldn't have let me sleep, not with the journey ahead, we're going to fall too far behind her-" I stop as Jericho holds up a hand. "Aries can't hide from me, and she can't run, not for long. It's not a matter of 'if' I am going to catch her, it's simply a matter of 'when'." He says.

I'm getting tired of his attitude towards the situation, as if it's not as urgent as it truly is, maybe throughout his existence he's forgotten how to care for things properly, watching things come and go for so long, it would make sense to eventually become detached, knowing you will have to survive no matter the state the world is in.

But that's not me, I may have lived a long life, but I've not lived so long that I've grown callous towards humanity and the other beings that inhabit this planet, and their outright suffering.

Wars have raged on behind the safety of my forest, Aries must be caught and dealt with immediately, Mother's magic must choose again, and we witches will help restore balance, as is our duty.

The magic will choose again, I pray to the goddess it's not me, though I don't see why the magic would choose me.

Time and time again, I'm proven I'm unworthy of greatness, unworthy of more.

"Well if it's alright with you, I'd actually like to move things along as quickly as possible, if you don't recall I have an entire coven waiting for me, and apparently an entire world to help right things in." I say to Jericho, my voice trembling as I speak, hating the vulnerability within it.

He grabs my backpack, the only item we have with us other than the clothes we wear. "Eden.. This burden is not yours to bare, I will retrieve Aries and deliver her to her judgement, this is not yours alone to suffer through." I shake my head at Jericho's words. "No, Aries must pay for what she's done! She will suffer at my hand for her betrayal of the coven! She will answer to me!" Memories of her beautiful face pass through my mind, leaving me feeling broken. Aries turned her back on the world, but her betrayal feels so personal.. How could she do this to me? I thought I meant something to her.

But I was just a pawn in her game.

Jericho looks pained as he answers me. "Eden.. I can't let you do that. This matter truly is to be dealt with by the gods. They will decide her fate."

"And what happens when things don't go in her favor?" I inquire, curious. Jericho looks void of emotion as he answers. "She will be wiped away from existence, her soul will be denied any rest, any sanctuary, never to return to the world of the living. Her life cycles will end, indefinitely."

I can't help the emotions that drift through my mind, seemingly at a battle with myself.

It's what she deserves.