Fourth Arc (Thorns of The Black Throne) - 419. Not A Word
With a tired breath, he moved toward the bath. The inner chamber was dim, steam already curling from the surface of the water—the servants must've prepared it earlier, hoping he'd return before it went cold.
Angel stripped out of the rest of his clothes slowly. Shirt over the head. Buckles undone. Boots kicked off one by one. Each piece hit the ground heavier than it should. Like even the clothes were exhausted.
He stepped into the bath.
The water was still warm. Barely. But it wrapped around his muscles like a sigh. The tension in his shoulders didn't leave, but it loosened.
Angel leaned back against the smooth edge of the tub, letting his arms float slightly at the surface. His hair slicked back from his forehead, clinging to his neck. The water turned cloudy near his hands—dust and something darker peeling off his skin.
He stared at the ceiling.
Didn't blink.
Didn't think.
Except… he couldn't stop thinking.
'Why does it feel like Erebus is holding its breath?'
He'd felt it. He knew he had. The pull wasn't imagined. The bracelet wasn't lying. The vision wasn't false.
Then why won't the mountain open?
What was it waiting for?
Who was she?
He closed his eyes and thought.
Maybe he wasn't born with darkness.
Maybe he was just a piece. A pawn. A next step.
Angel ran a hand down his face, wiping water from his eyes, and dragged it slowly through his hair.
'Damn it.'
The knock caught him off guard.
Soft. Once. Twice.
Then the door creaked.
He didn't look up.
"Angel?"
Rose's voice. Groggy. Sleep-thickened. Concern buried under calm.
"I didn't mean to wake you," he said, quietly.
"You didn't," she murmured. "I waited. But… you didn't come."
She stepped in slowly. No judgment. No heat in her voice. Just… presence.
The kind that didn't demand answers, but quietly waited for them.
Her eyes flicked toward the cloak discarded on the floor—wet, streaked with earth and pine needles, half-curled like something wounded. Her gaze lingered. She said nothing at first. Just let the silence stretch, respectful but quietly pointed.
Angel looked at her through the rising steam. She wasn't trying to corner him. But she saw everything. Always had.
He should've expected the question.
"Where were you?" she asked finally, voice low and careful. "You left without a word."
He took a slow breath. "Just checking something around the border."
Her brow lifted just slightly. Not a full suspicion, not quite disbelief. Just… a pause.
"The border?" she echoed. Her gaze slid to the cloak again. "Not to Erebus?"
Angel didn't answer immediately. Instead, he sank a little deeper into the bathwater, letting it lap over his collarbones. His hands rested on the edges of the tub, fingers twitching slightly. Not from fear. Just from tension. The kind he hadn't let go of in weeks.
"No," he said at last. "Erebus… I don't think I'm ready for it."
That was the truth. Or part of it, at least. The rest—that he'd gone, that the mountain refused him, that something was watching him and waiting—stayed locked behind his teeth.
Rose didn't press. But she didn't buy it either. Her silence was softer than his, but no less heavy.
"You climbed something," she said quietly. "There's blood on the sleeves."
Angel exhaled, lips curling bitterly. "It wasn't the first attempt."
She stepped closer, brushing her fingers over the clean towel on the nearby chair but not sitting down. "Why go without me?"
"You know why."
"Tell me anyway."
His eyes finally lifted to meet hers. Tired. Steady. "Because I don't know what's waiting at the top. And if it's something that breaks me… I don't want you to see it."
Rose's expression didn't change much. But her voice lowered. "If it breaks you, I want to see it. That's what I'm here for."
That hit deeper than it should have.
He looked away again.
"Princess Jane of Pontus is almost here," he said instead, shifting the topic like a sword deflecting a blade. "I can't afford to be absent when she arrives. If Erebus holds answers, I'll find them another way. Through books. Records. History in Pontus vault. I'll start there."
Rose didn't respond right away.
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