𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐍 The Reapers Mate

Seventeen

Eden

Jericho sleeps soundly with his arms wrapped around my waist. After returning to the room from his meeting with Hades I had already put on a face of indifference, trying to hide my inner termoil.

Though Jericho isn't an idiot, he knows something is wrong, but I've continually assured him it's just a mixture of everything going on. If his facial expressions are anything to go by he doesn't believe me and knows I'm just not telling him something..

But I can't. I can't tell him. Maybe it would be easier to just part ways after we finish our mission of finding Aries.

There's no way he'll want me.. I'm the only one who can grant him mortality. A child of his own. But I can't do it. I'm broken.

The memories play quickly behind my closed eyes of that fateful day I was denied my mortality. Light witches lose their power after they birth their first child. I guess Hades and Theia had the same idea. Have a child, gain your mortality.

But I was not granted my mortality. Nor was I granted my child.

My child.

My heart aches as I open my eyes and stare at the dark ceiling of Jericho's room as he sleeps with his arms around me, blissfully unaware of my thoughts.

I can't let my mind and heart linger on things that never came to be. I need to stay focused on the task at hand. I still need to find Aries, and I'm already a chaotic mess over that fact alone. Aries was my closest friend, she was always there for me, even on the nights I cried till exhaustion took me. She was always there for me, and I her.

How could I not have known you had such darkness in your heart, Aries..

"Eden.." Jericho sleepily mumbles. "Yes?" I answer him.

"You haven't slept at all, have you?" He says while burying his face in my hair. "I can't seem to, no.. My mind is a mess, I know within these next few days we'll find Aries, but I'm not prepared to hand her soul over.. And I know it's stupid of me." Tears begin stinging my eyes as I say this aloud to him.

"I can't imagine what you're going through, I've never had to endure handing over a soul I deeply cared for." He says to me, his words slightly comforting. "I don't blame you for being conflicted, Eden.. But I do have to do my job. When it comes down to it I will have to send her to Hades.. There's punishment for those who go against a god's orders." He finishes.

"Is that what those scars are from..?" I whisper to him. He takes a moment before answering, and I already feel bad for asking in the first place.

"Yes.. There are very few things that can scar a Reaper. Hades whips are one of those few things.. I left the underworld two decades ago, and searched for five years for Aries. For a long time, I didn't give a shit if this pathetic planet was cast into darkness, light would eventually win again, I've watched the battle between light and darkness since the beginning. So when I grew bored of looking for Aries I abandoned my mission. For two years I roamed doing whatever I pleased, till Hades caught me and sent me to the pits for the same amount of time, two years. Two years wasted because of my own doing. Two more years wasted as I was tormented day and night for going against Hades. So, technically, I searched for Aries for sixteen years." He finishes. My brain is reeling, trying to process everything he just told me.

"I'm so sorry, Jericho.." Is all I can think to say. "Don't be, I knew my actions would have consequences, and I did it anyways." He replies to me. "Sixteen years is a long time to have to track someone down.." I mumble. For some reason I hadn't thought it would take him so long to find her. Then again, Aries is basically a goddess herself. If she didn't want to be found it would be nearly impossible to do so.